Peanut Butter Chocolate Cottage Cheese Cheesecake Cups
Published 1/15/2024 • Updated 12/25/2024
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You’ll absolutely love these peanut butter chocolate cottage cheese cheesecake cups! They’re protein-packed thanks to blended cottage cheese and taste just like cheesecake, but with added protein.
Raise your hand if you love the cottage cheese dessert trend! We certainly are! Whipped cottage cheese is super creamy, delicious and protein-packed. And today we’re sharing our new fave healthy dessert — these peanut butter chocolate protein cheesecake cups. Can you say delish?!
Why You’ll love these Cottage cheese Cheesecake cups
The combination of peanut butter and chocolate is a crowd-pleaser and the cottage cheese cheesecake filling is ultra creamy and simple to make. These cups are made with 3 layers — graham cracker crust, peanut butter cheesecake filling, and a chocolate magic shell.
Peanut butter + chocolate = love
3 layers of heaven
Super nutritious and protein-rich
What You Need for these Cottage Cheese Cheesecake Cups
This peanut butter chocolate cheesecake is composed of 3 different layers. Yes, you get three bites of flavor in every bite. Here’s what you need:
Graham cracker layer
- Graham crackers
- Butter
Cottage cheese(cake) layer
- Cottage cheese
- Honey
- Peanut butter
Chocolate layer
- Semi-sweet chocolate
- Coconut oil
Variations
- Sweetener: you can swap out honey for maple syrup or agave.
- Nut butter: any kind of nut butter will work for this recipe. Feel free to try almond butter or cashew butter.
- Graham crackers: chocolate graham crackers would work and be delicious as well!
- Fat: you’re more than welcome to use coconut oil instead of butter.
Our #1 Tip
Make sure to use full-fat cottage cheese. Not only will it make your cheesecake cups luscious and creamy, but they will taste better too.
Nonfat cottage cheese has a higher water content, which will make the filling more watery. And, if you plan to freeze them, they may be “icy.”
Storage
Store your peanut butter cottage cheesecake cups in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Peanut Butter Chocolate Cheesecake Cups
Ingredients
Graham cracker layer
- 9 graham crackers, full sheets
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
Chocolate layer
- 6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, chopped (~¾ cup chocolate chips)
- 2 teaspoons coconut oil
Cottage cheese layer
- 10 oz. 4% cottage cheese*
- ⅓ cup creamy, all-natural peanut butter (we used Smucker’s All-Natural)
- ¼ cup + 1 tablespoon honey
Toppings
- Flakey sea salt
- Mini chocolate chips
Instructions
- First, preheat the oven to 350ºF and line a muffin tin with muffin liners. Generously spray with nonstick cooking spray.
- Prepare the graham cracker crust. Place graham crackers and butter into a high-speed food processor. Process on high until the mixture forms a crumble.
- Spoon 1 tablespoon of the graham cracker crumbs into each muffin cup. Use a spoon to press the crumble down into the liners.
- Bake the graham cracker crust for 5 minutes at 350ºF. Remove the crust from the oven and allow the crust to cool.
- Prepare the chocolate layer. Add the chocolate and coconut oil to a microwave-safe bowl, and microwave on high in 20-second increments, stirring in between until the chocolate is fully melted.
- Scoop two heaping teaspoons of the melted chocolate onto the top of the graham cracker crust. Spread it evenly over the crust and transfer the pan to the freezer for 10 minutes.
- Prepare the peanut butter layer. Add the cottage cheese, peanut butter, and honey into a high-powered food processor and process on high until thick, creamy, and no lumps. This will take between 2-4 minutes depending on the food processor used.
- Scoop 1.5-2 heaping tablespoons of the cottage cheese mixture to the top of the chocolate layer and evenly spread the layer out. Top with mini chocolate chips and flakey salt.
- Transfer the pan to the freezer and freeze for at least 2 hours to firm up.
Tips & Notes
- Store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- Any nut butter can be used in place of peanut butter.
- Cottage cheese: fat-free cottage cheese tends to be more watery than full-fat cottage cheese, which will cause the cheesecake to become “icy” if frozen. We suggest using full fat.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I couldn’t wait for it to freeze completely…it’s that good!
The chocolate layer is a little hard but tastes just like cheesecake!
I burnt the crust but had the rest of the components made so improvised these into bars. Amazing flavour.
Ali! You are the winner of a Great Jones King Sear for your submission on this recipe. Check your email 🙂
So easy to make and so delicious!
These little cups are amazing and so easy to make!! Will add a bit more coconut oil to the chocolate layer the next time I make them so the chocolate layer is a bit softer, but they were a hit! Great for a healthier little sweet treat!
I am loving these cottage cheese desserts! I cannot believe how much this tastes like actual cheesecake. Made these to test before bringing them to a Super Bowl party. Yum!
Absolute favorite recipe of the Dessert Protein Series. The peanut butter and cottage cheese layer is so delicious. I’ll definitely make these again!
Amazing!! So far I’ve made four of the protein dessert series recipes and this is my favorite. Easy to make, my preteen even helped. My whole family loves them.
These are so good and easy to make!
These are my fav. recipe from the protein series so far! Delicious!!!