The Styler culinary project (RBC-Ukraine) published a simple recipe for a cottage cheese bake with chocolate, shared by blogger Elena Mandziuk on her Instagram page. The main highlight of the recipe is baking in an air fryer: the dessert is ready noticeably faster than in a conventional oven, and a golden, crispy crust of almond flakes forms on top. According to Mandziuk, this is one of her children's favorite dishes, and the cooking process is maximally simple, requiring no mixer or complicated equipment.
The base: cottage cheese, eggs, and semolina
The first step is preparing the sour-milk cottage cheese. The blogger advises draining any excess liquid if the cottage cheese is too wet, since the texture of the finished bake depends on the consistency of the cheese. In a bowl, combine 700 g of cottage cheese, two eggs, and two tablespoons of semolina, add sugar to taste, and stir the mixture thoroughly until smooth. For this recipe, it is enough to mix the ingredients with a spoon or spatula — a mixer is not required.
Chocolate and crispy almonds
Next, chocolate is added to the cottage cheese mixture: ready-made chocolate chips or chopped pieces of a dark chocolate bar will work. Distribute them throughout the mixture so that every slice contains some chocolate. Fill the baking dish with the cottage cheese mixture, smooth the surface, and generously sprinkle with almond flakes. According to Mandziuk, this is the ingredient that makes the dessert especially appetizing: during baking, the flakes turn golden brown, become crispy, and create a contrast with the tender cottage cheese center. The blogger notes that she eats these crispy pieces first.
Air fryer vs. oven: time and temperature
In an air fryer, the bake is ready in about 20–25 minutes at 180 degrees. If using a conventional oven, it will take noticeably longer — around 50–60 minutes. After baking, let the dessert cool slightly: this makes it easier to slice and the texture becomes more stable. The serving is versatile — the dish is suitable for a family breakfast, a quick snack, or with tea, and it does not take hours to prepare.
How to adapt the recipe to your taste
The recipe is easy to adjust: you can make the bake sweeter or, conversely, reduce the amount of sugar if there is enough chocolate. The key feature of the dish is the combination of a tender cottage cheese base, pieces of chocolate, and crispy almonds. According to Mandziuk's recommendation, the almond flakes should not be skipped, as they are exactly what brown and give the dessert its texture. Previously, Styler published other simple homemade recipes, for example, a semolina pie with plums.
