I Made Bethenny Frankel’s “Magic” Bagels — And I Can See Why She’s So Obsessed With Them
“You’re in the presence of bagel greatness.”
I’m also on TikTok (for now?)
So, naturally, the algorithm sent Bethenny Frankel my way — and I have to say, I’m thankful because this space is pretty informative and entertaining. Like, the B put me on to one of my favorite at-home iced latte recipes.
So, I’ve been watching her content since, and recently, Bethenny shared a series of videos rhapsodizing about these bagels she made, and they looked good. Like, really good.
They had this golden crunchy crust on top and bottom of the bagels. And interestingly, more than half of it was made up of dairy. Cottage cheese, in fact. Yup.
If you’ve been on a gains journey or who keep up with food trends, you know cottage cheese and cottage cheese bread recipes have been a thing as of late. Bethenny’s recipe amps it up a notch with the ratio (normally 1:1) and intensifies the cottage cheese amount.
The bagels looked stunning, and Bethenny’s enthusiasm further piqued my curiosity. I had to give this recipe a try.
Note: Bethenny has been, and still is (?), workshopping variations of these bagels, so we’ll test two versions that she shared so far today.
Here’s how they turned out!
Here’s what I used for the first batch:
First, I preheated the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. An important note: The sheet pan needs to be left in the oven, per Bethenny, as this ensures the crispy bottoms of the bagels.
Then, I moved on to blending the cottage cheese and scraping it into a large mixing bowl.
I then added 1 cup of all-purpose flour and 1.5 teaspoons of baking powder.
I mixed everything together in the bowl since it was all already in there, but Bethenny prefers to mix on a flat surface. The dough mix was very sticky and this is where the rubber spatula came in handy. I forgoed the scraper.
I then quartered them in the bowl and dropped them onto the parchment paper. If you need help molding, you can add light touches of flour to help it take shape.
Next, I poked a hole through the bagels and followed it up with an egg wash. Truthfully, I ended up using my fingers instead of the fork. The fork picked up too much product.
Side note: courtesy of Google AI, if you don’t have a brush, it suggests a corner of a wet paper towel or a leafy vegetable, like lettuce or cabbage. Lol.
Now for the fun part: Giving these bagels a sprinkle of kosher salt and everything bagel seasoning.
Then, finally, they went into the oven for 25 minutes (or, for my oven, close to 35 minutes.)
The results? Look at how plush and springy they were!
Honest thoughts: I found them delightful! My only qualm was that even with the extra oven time, the insides of the bagels were a bit gummy, even after letting them rest for 15 minutes and toasting them. It made me wonder if this could just be the nature of cottage cheese bagels. Still, I can’t knock too many points off because the outside was crispy — and most importantly, I found them to be tasty and a pretty effective bagel alternative! I can’t say they’re 100% bagel — maybe sort of like an English muffin meets bagel variety, but they definitely fulfill a bagel craving.
Now, onto the second batch!
First things first, I preheated the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit like last time. The sheet pan was left in the oven.
I added 1 cup of all-purpose flour, 1/2 cup of cottage cheese, 1/2 cup of Greek yogurt, and two teaspoons of baking powder to the large mixing bowl and gave it a rough mix.
For this batch, I decided to employ Bethenny’s preferred method of bagel mixing. I folded and formed the dough on parchment paper on a flat surface.
Once the dough came together, I finally decided to test the scraper. That feeling when you cut into the sticky dough and it’s a perfect cut every time is *chef’s kiss.* But honestly, no biggie if you don’t have one. I only used them very briefly to cut and divvy up the dough.
Then I shaped them into little circles and poked a hole through. I noticed that this mixture felt more dense. I followed it up with an egg wash and a sprinkle of kosher salt and everything bagel seasoning.
They went into the oven at 375 degrees for 25 minutes (again, me, it was closer to 35 minutes).
The results? I mean, they as looked gorgeous as ever!
Honest thoughts: They were even gummier! They had a lumpier look to them, and as you can see, the cottage cheese didn’t fully incorporate into the dough. I let them rest for 15 minutes before toasting them, but the dough on the inside still wasn’t able to get toasted and I didn’t want to risk burning the outside of the bagels. For this batch, I’d rate them teetering around 7.5/10, which isn’t bad. The outside was still crispy and held shape really well, but compared to the whipped cottage cheese version (which I rate 9.5/10), these were definitely second best.
Final thoughts: These bagels are still absolutely worth a try! They’re easy to make and an easy breakfast or lunch. I had one buttered with a sprinkle of kosher salt on top and the other with garlic and chive cream cheese. Another day, I had them with peanut butter and honey. All were amazing! They store well, too, and I’ve learned that if you freeze them and toast them, they dry out in the process and develop a more bread-like consistency on the inside. Sure, buying bagels on most days is an easier choice, but these bagels are at least a bit healthier and not at all difficult to make. I won’t be making them every day, but they will definitely be a part of my meal-prepping rotation.
