Good Start Breakfast Muffins
 

My wife has a hard time getting breakfast on her way out the door. She tends to grab a granola bar or similar, because she just needs something she can grab and go. Unfortunately, she ends up with not enough protein and fiber, and the bars wear off quickly - a problem, since she is on her feet all day. She asked me to invent a muffin that would be satisfying, but higher protein and fiber. I based on a few recipes around the web, and tweaked until I was satisfied. They do have a bit of sugar, but it works out to very little (20 calories worth) per muffin. Sarah takes two for her breakfast, and eats one on the way to work and the other an hour or so later. So I package them up into baggies of 2 muffins, keep enough out for the week, and freeze the rest...they thaw beautifully.

Recipe makes 12 muffins.

1 cup rolled oats
1 cup nonfat buttermilk
2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 egg
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup Splenda (you can do these all sugar or all Splenda..or another sweetener...this is what works best for me).
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 servings vanilla protein powder (Ours is 110 calories for 25 grams of protein, we get it at Trader Joes)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp fresh grated nutmeg
pinch salt
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup blueberries (fresh or, if frozen, thawed)

In a medium bowl, combine the oats and buttermilk. Soak for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 12-cup standard muffin tin with cooking spray.

Add the applesauce, egg, sugar, Splenda, vanilla, protein powder, salt, and spices to the oat/buttermilk mixture. Stir well until combined.

Add the flour, baking powder, and baking soda, and mix until just combined. Fold in the blueberries.

Bake at 325 degrees for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out cleanly. You don't want these to get too dark - protein powder, at least ours, gets very bitter if it gets overbrowned.

Nutrition info per muffin:
Calories: 130
Fat: 1.6 g (.4 saturated)
Carbohydrate: 20 g
Fiber: 2.5g
Protein: 10g

They also have 25% of the DV for calcium, since it's in the protein powder.

Just in time for migration season! I'll have to try these this weekend. This time of year we tend to do a lot of running out the door in the morning :) I've been working with coconut palm sugar because it is lower glycemic. Can't wait to try these.

Those sound really good! I will have to try them too :). Thanks!

That's awesome! I want to make these, asap. I'm exactly like your wife, when I'm in a hurry before class I grab a granola bar or sometimes even just a banana, and I'm starved.

Where do you get whole wheat pastry flour? Is that different than whole wheat flour you can get at a regular grocery store? And is that 110 cals for 3 servings of the protein powder?

Thanks for the recipe! :)

Hmmm, I wonder if these could be made gluten-free? They sound yummy!

What's the measurement of "3 servings of protein powder"? For the protein powder I use, one serving is 3 tablespoons, and I'm assuming you do not mean 9 tablespoons in this recipe.

Thanks for sharing!

My protein powder has 25 g protein and 110 calories per 2 scoops. I put 6 scoops into the recipe (for a total of 3 servings), and calculated those 75g protein and 330 calories into the total for the recipe. So if your protein powder was 3 tbsp, the equivalent would be 9 tbsp (it absorbs into the applesauce and doesn't end up lumpy).

Whole wheat pastry flour is lighter than regular whole wheat flour (less gluten), so it results in a less-heavy muffin. You could sub regular whole wheat flour, but not sure on how it would affect texture.

On gluten free - not sure! I'm sure you could experiment!