As a FODMAP aware mostly vegetarian, I am always struggling for easy and speedy protein sources. I recently posted a high protein chocolate chia pudding and I want to keep the party going with a new recipe for this cottage cheese chocolate mousse. It is high protein, easy to make and tastes like an absolute treat.
Cottage cheese chocolate mousse
I would describe this recipe as a filling dessert. Is it a health food recipe? Not really. Is it an easy swap from a regular chocolate mousse? Definitely.
The mousse uses cottage cheese as the base, of course. I like to use a high protein brand to make it a filling snack, but you can use whichever brand you like. There are also lactose free brands available in the Australian market, if you need a low lactose treat.
Next, we’re using Dutch processed cocoa bloomed with boiling water. Blooming cocoa brings out the deep chocolate flavour, meaning you get more bang for your buck. While any cocoa will work here, I find Dutch processed to have a rich, deep chocolate flavour and colour that I much prefer.
Next, we’re using melted dark chocolate and some sweetener to provide that classic, delicious flavour. I personally love using Whittakers Dark Ghana along with maple syrup to sweeten. This combination results in a cottage cheese chocolate mousse that is deeply chocolatey and perfectly sweet.
Finally, we’re getting a little bit of help from our friends: chia seeds. A small amount of chia seeds add fibre, but they also help to firm up the mousse as it cools. They bind all the liquid ingredients together without being noticeable at all.
Can you taste the cottage cheese?
If you’re really searching for it, you can taste a smidge of something right at the back there. However, if you didn’t tell a person that it contained cottage cheese, I truly doubt that they would pinpoint it.
The cottage cheese is thoroughly blended so that the texture is 100% gone. There’s maybe a tiny tang of an acidic cheese (when you compare it to a mousse made with cream) but it’s not super obvious.
Choosing good quality chocolate and cocoa will really help disguise the hint of cottage cheese. I also like using maple syrup as the sweetener because it gives a caramel layer that acts as a further disguise. There are some other options for disguising the flavour:
- Add some good quality vanilla extract.
- If you like a twist, add a splash of peppermint extract or almond extract (only for people without nut allergies).
- Personally, I find salt seems to exacerbate the taste here so I leave it out. Cottage cheese often has quite a high salt content anyway.
- Make the mousse a bit sweeter. This will help disguise any remnant tang.
- You could stir in some berries before chilling for a choc-berry mousse. The fresh pop of sweetness would be helpful in disguising the flavour.
- I have tried adding a sprinkle of baking soda after blending. My theory was that it would give the mousse a bit of fluffiness and disguise the acidic back note at the same time. I am not sure whether it 100% worked but you couldn’t taste it, so worth a try!
Ingredient notes for your cottage cheese chocolate mousse
As we have discussed, this recipe uses cottage cheese. You can use high protein, lactose free, low fat – whichever variety you like. In all my tests, I used Bulla high protein cottage cheese which is also a low fat variety.
I have not tested a cottage cheese alternative in this recipe. The cottage cheese is a fairly important component here and has a more subtle taste than yoghurt. If you don’t want to use cottage cheese, try my blended chocolate chia pudding or lactose free or dairy free chocolate mousse recipes instead.
I haven’t tested this recipe without the melted chocolate. There are other recipes online that only use cocoa, but I wanted a full fledged chocolate mousse vibe.
Maple syrup is my sweetener of choice here. It’s perfectly caramel in flavour and easy to use – it doesn’t need to dissolve like a granular sugar. You can experiment with whatever you prefer, but I haven’t tested it. As always, I haven’t tested sugar substitutes here either.
I love using Dark Ghana by Whittakers in this recipe. It is actually accidentally dairy free. You can use a similar dark chocolate and a lactose free brand of cottage cheese for a low lactose dessert.
FODMAP notes
A quick discussion of the FODMAP content, if you will permit me. This cottage cheese chocolate mousse contains a few ingredients that are unclear on the Monash app.
Firstly, dark chocolate. Monash says that dark chocolate is low FODMAP in serves of up to 80g (as of March 2025). In serves exceeding this, they say it contains moderate amounts of lactose. This is fine if you are using a dark chocolate with added milk, of course.
However, their entry for 85% dark chocolate (which presumably has no added lactose) gives a threshold of 20g. They don’t specify an upper limit or what FODMAP, if any, the chocolate may contain.
Onto the cocoa. Monash say that cocoa is low FODMAP in 8g serves. Again, they don’t provide upper thresholds or which FODMAP might be an issue. FODMAP Everyday say that a low FODMAP maximum threshold of cocoa is 50g per person. Their app indicates that a 5g serve of cocoa has small volumes of fructans (5%) mannitol (10%) and GOS (10%).
Maple syrup is another confounding entry. For a long time now, Monash have specified that maple syrup is low FODMAP in 50g (2 tablespoon) serves. There is no upper limit given. FODMAP Everyday, on the other hand, say that maple syrup is low FODMAP in up to 50 TABLESPOONS or 1000ml.
Finally, the cottage cheese. Both apps only have an entry for regular cottage cheese and both say it is low FODMAP in up to 57-59g serves.
TLDR
If you need this cottage cheese chocolate mousse to be low FODMAP, simply use lactose free cottage cheese. Although neither app has an entry for it, the only FODMAP in cottage cheese is lactose. Like lactose free cream and yoghurt, it should be a FODMAP free food in the absence of lactose.
Every other ingredient is well under a low FODMAP serve when divided into four portions.
More high protein gluten free recipes
- Gluten free high protein bread (with a vegan version as well)
- Dairy free gluten free protein mug cake
- Green protein pasta sauce
- My high protein Ninja Creami ice cream e-book with 10 exclusive flavours
- Gluten free protein pancakes without protein powder
Cottage cheese chocolate mousse
Ingredients
- 20 g Dutch processed cocoa
- 60 g boiling water
- 100 g good quality dark chocolate, melted and set aside to cool a little (I like Whittaker's Dark Ghana here)
- 500 g cottage cheese (lactose free for a low FODMAP option)
- 50 – 100ml maple syrup or sweetener of choices (added to taste and according to how sweet your chocolate is)
- 10-15 g chia seeds
Optional:
- 2 extra large egg whites
Instructions
- In a medium heatproof bowl, pour the boiling water over the cocoa and whisk to combine. This will bloom the chocolate and deepen the chocolate flavour. Set aside to cool a little.
- Melt the chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl using your preferred method. Set aside to cool a little.
- Combine all ingredients in your high speed food processor and blitz until completely smooth. There should be no lumps and no chia seeds – just a smooth chocolate mousse consistency.
- Taste the mixture and adjust according to your preferences. If you add a lot more of a liquid ingredient (namely sweetener) than specified, you might need to add more chia seeds to enable the mousse to firm up.
- When you're happy with the taste, pour the mixture into 4 clean glass jars or serving vessels. Place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes and up to an hour. You should be able to invert the jar upside down without the mousse slipping. You can also make this recipe the day before.
- Eat within a few days. Store leftovers in airtight containers (this is why jars are so useful) in the fridge.
Optional egg white addition:
- Once you have made the mousse, transfer it into a large mixing bowl. Use hand beaters or a stand mixer to whip the egg whites until soft/medium peaks form.
- Use a silicon spatula to gently fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture. Continue gently folding until they are incorporated and there are no big chunks of egg white.
- Pour the mixture into your serving vessels and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. You can also make this recipe the day before.
Notes
- Read the body of the post for tips, tricks, substitutions and everything else.
- Read the body of the post for extensive FODMAP notes.
- The egg white option is just that: an option. It makes the mousse delightfully fluffy but it is still delicious without. Raw egg carries a small risk in Australia and might be more or less risky depending on where you live. If you are immune compromised or cooking for someone who is, consider making the egg free option.
No Comments