Recipe: Protein Muffins

When mai manthing decided to begin his fitness quest, I decided not to derail him by eating my usual foods. So we compromised and worked together to formulate recipes that would adhere to his nutritional requirements, while still tasting like food. The serving size for this recipe is 2 muffins, nutrition facts will be edited in once I find the file. If you don't use supplements, feel free to omit the protein powder -I'm not sure how it will affect the final product tbh. Enjoy!

Add to a food processor or blender:
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1 cup fat-free cottage cheese
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
8 egg whites
14 pitted dates
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/4 cup flax seed
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
4 servings whey or soy protein powder - for the brand we use 1 scoop/serving = 24 g. protein, or 96 g. for the whole batch (any flavor - we're using vanilla ice cream now, but strawberry was very good)

Blend thoroughly to combine, and empty into a bowl. Gently fold in 1 c. of finely diced fruit of your choice (Keep in mind that bananas will skew the calories). Distribute evenly among 10 oiled/sprayed muffin cups.

Bake 16 minutes at 400°F (we use Imperial system.. sorry~)

The muffins can be cooled then frozen in pairs as a prepared breakfast, stored in sandwich or snack bags. Just thaw a bag overnight and microwave 30-60 sec and gtg. Blueberries, strawberries, peaches, or apples work well in this recipe. Smashed raspberries or blackberries are delicious as well. If you try it, let me know what you think.

Thank you for the recipe. I will definitely try this.

Could you add a picture/description of the ingredients list from the protein powder you're using?

And for those using °celsius, 400°F = 200°C.
Do you bake it on normal oven function or use top heat / recirculating air?
+ where do you place the baking tray, middle or bottom of the oven?
+ I assume your c. = cup? What's the volume of the cup you're using?
+ Same question for the "serving" of protein powder you use, could you measure that in gramms or centiliters? Or do you use serving as in recomended daily amount of protein calculated using weight? (e.g 2g of protein/10kg of bodyweight)

Thanks, will let you know what I think about it once I tried them.

Could you add a picture/description of the ingredients list from the protein powder you're using?

And for those using °celsius, 400°F = 200°C.
Do you bake it on normal oven function or use top heat / recirculating air?
+ where do you place the baking tray, middle or bottom of the oven?
+ I assume your c. = cup? What's the volume of the cup you're using?
+ Same question for the "serving" of protein powder you use, could you measure that in gramms or centiliters? Or do you use serving as in recomended daily amount of protein calculated using weight? (e.g 2g of protein/10kg of bodyweight)

@Preeh; thanks again! Here is a link we use to order the powder:
Amazon.com: Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey Gold Standard, Double Rich Chocolate, 5 Pound, 80 Ounce: Health & Personal Care

We use regular bake function, middle rack. "c." is cup - I will edit the original post to reflect this.

Serving for the protein powder is based upon the recommended serving. That brand is 1 scoop = 24 g. protein.

Hi, I tried the recipe though I did make some changes to the ingredients.

I used:
2 cups of whole grain oats = 250g
2 cups of cottage cheese (not fat-free version) = 500g
10 egg whites
1 vanilla pod
200g of died fruit (I don't like dates)
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup of seed mixture = 100g
1/2 tsp. of cinnamon
1/2 tsp. of clove
I used a different protein powder so I had to take 8 spoons which is about the equal amount of protein (20g/2spoons).I used a basic formula whey protein with a soy protein isolate (brand is Sponsor) because that was the one I have at home it has a vanilla taste.
Additionally I put in my essential fatty acids (EPA and DHA) 3420mg DHA and 1080mg EPA.
In the end my blender looked like this:
http://i.imgur.com/srCVR60.jpg

I filled in 1.5dl muffin forms - I was able to get 12 muffins with that amount.
pre baking picture: http://i.imgur.com/WhDFdUH.jpg
I baked it for 18mins at 200°C on lower rack, the one in between middle and bottom. Sorry but I have no idea what it's called in English...
post baking picture: http://i.imgur.com/BVFEJuI.jpg

Now proceeding to my opinion about the muffins: (keep in mind I used a slightly different version and it was my first try as well)
The taste is good (3/5) unfortunately it tasted a little fishy due to the fatty acids that are made from fish. <--- my fault, you can cover it with more cinnamon and clove. I liked the pieces of fruit in the muffins - they get soft during baking and taste amazing even though they were dired before.
The consistency is not to my liking (1/5) - way to compact and not that fluffy. I will try using some Xanthan (E415) and baking powder next time to increase the air in the muffins and make them fluffy.
The preparation is easy (4/5). Though make sure your blender has enough power to blend all the stuff. I probably shouldn't have used double the amount because it didn't mix the ingredients well and the oats were floating on top as well as the fatty acids. So it didn't get stired and mixed up properly. Additionaly the knifes of the blender got really hot, so the mixture was staming by the end of the blending process. I'm not sure if this actually has an influence on the consistency because the egg white would start to get cooked in the mixture before baking.
Summary (2.6/5) It's an easy recipe and the taste is great. It can be improved imho but I like the basic idea behind it.

To be honest I was quite sceptical about using the flavoured protein powder - but the flavour isn't strong in the end and the flavour of fruit and vanilla is stronger.

@Preeh; How bout trying to beat the egg whites with/without some sugar separately and then fold it into the blended mix? Would that work for fluffing the muffins up?

The substitutions seem to have changed the way it mixed up. I think we are making more soon, will post them. The dried fruit may have changed the consistency too. As I understand it the dates are specific since the recipe contains no flour. I'm actually fond of dates, so it wasn't an ingredient I considered replacing. Good luck troubleshooting!