Muffins are one of my favorite baked goods and I love them because they are so versatile (see Chocolate Chip Muffin with Pumpkin Purée) and you can easily transform almost any baking recipe into a muffin recipe. As I am training and eating a lot, it sometimes becomes a little difficult to eat enough protein to give my muscles the fuel they need. I don’t want to consistently drink protein shakes (even if I enjoy them a lot!). And as I recently started to enjoy baking, I want to share my Protein Powder Apple Muffins recipe with you.
Protein Powder Apple Muffins
Upfront: those muffins are not low-carb, even though I maintain a low-carb diet with plenty of success. The carb intake per muffin is reasonably low for muffins. I personally eat these muffins either as a quick breakfast or after a workout, when your body needs both protein and carbs anyhow and is in a position to work with it (see here and here). Make sure to not overdo it on the carbs, though.
As for the protein powder you can use whatever you feel like. I personally would opt for either unflavored or vanilla flavored versions of any kind of protein powder (vegan, whey, matrix).
Another reason why I didn’t make the muffins very low-carb is because of the portion size. Instead of a few big muffins (think: “American cupcake-sized”) I prefer to have many small ones. This makes it much easier to integrate them into my diet. In an airtight box in a fridge these protein powder apple muffins stay easily fresh for up to 8 days (at least that’s how it was for me).
Change it up, make it vegan
The recipe for the protein powder apple muffins is basically a German style cheesecake. If you want to make them vegan all you need to do is substitute the low fat curd cheese with silken tofu and make sure to use vegan protein powder.
You don’t have any apples or other fruits at home? No problem, as the apples main purpose is to change the taste up a little. Leave them out or use any other fruit you like. Baking doesn’t need to be difficult, it needs to be fun!
Protein Powder
I’m constantly trying to add protein powder to my meals and baked goods and I need to pass on a word of caution. Firstly, whenever you add protein powder or use it in order to supplement all-purpose flour, for instance, you also need to adjust the level of liquid you add. Protein powder binds a lot more fluid than flour does. That being not tricky enough, depending on the kind of protein powder and the brand, this amount will never be exactly the same. So when you use it, play around with the fluids but be cautious. Overdo it and you’ll mess up the recipe. Underdo it and baked goods might end up very hard and chewy.
I hope you’ll enjoy my protein powder apple muffins!
- 100 g brown sugar
- 100 g vanilla sugar (home made)
- 100 g protein powder (unflavored or your favorite)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 200 g all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
- 450 ml soy milk
- 2 apples (whatever you have)
- 250 g low fat curd cheese
- 1 muffin tray
- 20 muffin paper liners (optional)
- Cut apples into small pieces and coat them with 1/2 a tsp of cinnamon.
- Pre-heat your oven to 180°C (circulation setting).
- Put all dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.
- Put soy milk and low fat curd cheese into a large bowl and mix until you have a smooth dough. Depending on your protein powder you might need to add a little more liquid or a little more protein powder until you reach the best consistency. The dough should slowly run off a spoon.
- Fill muffin liners halfway and add a few apple pieces each, then cover the apple pieces with more dough.
- Put muffins in the oven and bake for around 20 minutes until evenly golden brown. Enjoy!