This post is sponsored by Breakstone’s. Find their creamy cottage cheese and smooth sour cream at a retailer near you.
These Cottage Cheese Mummy Brownies have an extra protein boost from Breakstone’s cottage cheese and are a perfect treat for Halloween parties! Kids will love the playful mummy-inspired decorations and candy eyes, and you’ll love that these brownies are a little more wholesome than your average boxed mix.
tips for
Piping the Mummy “Cloth”
The key to nailing the mummy effect is the piping tip! You basically want to drape narrow strips of icing onto the brownie so it looks like tattered cloth that’s falling off a mummy. I used a Wilton #101 piping tip.
Oh, and don’t forget to lock in the candy eyes with icing!
Cottage Cheese FTW
Cottage cheese may be having a multi-year moment right now, but I’ve loved it for many more years as an easy and versatile way to hit my protein goals. Breakstone’s is the perfect choice for all your cottage cheese creations – it’s made with high quality dairy and whips up into an ultra creamy consistency. As for the protein content, their 4% milk fat version boasts 12 grams of protein per 1/2 cup serving.
If you’ve ever seen brownie recipes that sub out the butter or oil with applesauce or Greek yogurt to cut down on the fat content, this is the same idea. I love the cottage cheese here though because the flavor is more neutral and the bit of saltiness of the cottage cheese actually helps enhance the sweet, chocolatey flavor of the brownie. The texture turns out a little less fudgy than a traditional brownie that’s loaded down with butter and sugar, but the icing really sets these brownies apart without being too much of a fat and sugar bomb.
Ingredients and Substitutions
Here’s what you’ll need to recreate these Cottage Cheese Mummy Brownies:
- Breakstone’s Cottage Cheese – 2% or 4% will work great here.
- Flour – I tested the recipe with all purpose flour, so I can’t vouch for any substitutions like GF 1:1 flour.
- Cocoa powder – In my opinion, dutch cocoa powder has the best flavor profile for baking. In this recipe, I swapped out 2 tbsp of dutch cocoa powder with black dutch cocoa powder for that extra dark color that contrasts so nicely with the icing.
- Chocolate – Chopping up a semi-sweet bar of chocolate will give you maximum meltiness, but chips work in a pinch. I’d recommend regular size chips instead of minis if you opt for those.
- Instant espresso – Helps give you that deep, rich chocolate flavor. Instant coffee works too.
- Baking powder – Just a bit of baking powder gives these brownies some lift so they’re not too dense.
- Salt – A little salt brings out the sweet, chocolatey flavors.
- Sugar – Regular old granulated sugar works best here. I don’t recommend subbing it with a liquid sweetener or brown sugar, but a 1:1 low carb sugar substitute should work fine.
- Eggs – The glue that holds the brownies together! I don’t recommend subbing them out.
- Butter – I like the flavor of butter better, but you could use a neutral tasting vegetable oil instead if you prefer.
- Vanilla – An essential seasoning for baked goods, I don’t recommend skipping it!
Oh, and a quick note on the serving size – I included nutrition info for the brownies exactly as pictured here, but they are actually pretty large for a single brownie. You may want to halve them for a more appropriate serving size, especially for the kiddos! I’m sure they won’t complain about more candy eyes being involved 😉
Shop for This Recipe
Cottage Cheese Mummy Brownies
Ingredients
- 1 cup AP flour, (125 grams)
- 2 oz semi sweet chocolate, chopped into chunks, (56 grams)
- 1/2 cup dutch cocoa powder*, (56 grams)
- 1 tsp espresso powder
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup Breakstone's 4% Cottage Cheese, (234 grams)
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar, (150 grams)
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Cream Cheese Icing
- 1 cup powdered sugar, (120 grams)
- 1 oz whipped cream cheese
- 1 tsp milk
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350°F. Line an 8×8" baking pan with parchment paper and set aside.
- Sift the dry ingredients except the chocolate chunks into a large bowl. Set aside.
- Add all wet ingredients except melted butter to a food processor and blend until smooth. With the food processor on low speed, drizzle in melted butter.
- Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients. When most of the flour is no longer visible, add chocolate chunks and finish mixing, being careful not to overmix. The batter will be very thick.
- Spread batter in an even layer in the prepared 8×8" baking pan. Bake at 350°F for 25-30 minutes or until the middle rises and is no longer wet to the touch. Set aside to cool.
- Once cooled, cut the brownies into 8 rectangles. Use a hand mixer or whisk to blend the cream cheese icing ingredients until smooth. Add candy eyes to each brownie, then with a piping bag and number 101 tip, pipe the cream cheese icing onto the brownies in stripes.
Tips & Tricks
- *Dutch cocoa powder: To get the extra dark color you see in the photos, I swapped 2 tbsp of dutch cocoa with black dutch cocoa.
- Storage: Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- Making ahead: These brownies are best made and served in the same day. If you have to make them ahead, store the un-iced brownies in the fridge covered tightly with plastic wrap.
- Nutrition: Scan the barcode below or search for “Peanut Butter and Fitness Cottage Cheese Mummy Brownies” to log this food in My Fitness Pal.
Nutrition Information
Leave a Reply