UPDATED TO ADD: I have now posted these in Double Chocolate flavour as well…click here!
I love lemon poppyseed muffins.
And I am also constantly on the search for a healthy baked good that I can enjoy with my morning tea and that will give me a good protein punch to keep me going.
(By the way, if you are interested in a lemon poppyseed muffin recipe that isn’t specifically a protein muffin, click here. The muffins in this link can easily be made vegan by using Earth Balance and non-dairy milk of your choice).
Copyright to The Guiltless Life
I was disappointed with protein muffin recipes I’ve tried in the past for two reasons:
- I find them rubbery and dry
- I find they have fewer than 6 grams of protein per muffin, if you’re lucky. That is not a protein muffin to a poor protein-deprived vegetarian such as myself.
So, I embarked on a mission.
Here are the results of my mission, which lead me to proclaim: it was a success.
These win, because:
- they are moist and tasty
- you do not taste the protein powder or the stevia (but you are welcome to use a different sweetener if you prefer)
- there is just over 100 calories per muffin!
- they pack 8g of protein in per muffin (about 7.3g if you use Greek yogurt instead of cottage cheese)
- they pack only 10g of carbs per muffin
- they do not dry out or get rubbery
- they taste wonderfully lemony
- the coconut flour adds extra protein, a good dose of fibre, and a nice background flavour, but you can just replace it with regular flour if you don’t have it (the protein count will be slightly lower though)
So what are we waiting for? Here’s the answer to your mid-morning or late-night protein snack prayers (or whenever else you like to dose up on some protein!)
Copyright to The Guiltless Life
Alas, these are not vegan. I have yet to find a way to include this much protein per muffin without using Greek yogurt or cottage cheese. If you up the protein powder, they will be more rubbery. So, that’s the dilemma here – sorry vegans! If you have any luck tweaking this recipe without sacrificing those elements, let me know!
Lemon Poppyseed Protein Muffins (adapted from here)
INGREDIENTS (makes 8):
1/3 cup coconut flour (I use Bob’s Red Mill)
1/3 cup flour
1 scoop protein powder **NOTE:- I use a whey protein powder that provides about 24g protein per scoop
1 tbsp poppy seeds
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
4 packets stevia (I use NuNaturals) – or to taste (approx. 1-2 tsp)
Zest of one lemon
3/4 cup nonfat Greek yogurt or cottage cheese (lowfat) **NOTE:- cottage cheese will give a slightly higher protein count
***UPDATED TO ADD: I used 1/4 cup nonfat Greek yogurt and 1/2 cup lowfat cottage cheese on the batch pictured and those got the best reviews. If you’re using all cottage cheese, I would recommend blending it. I didn’t, and I liked the texture and taste just fine, but I got complaints from my tasters – so try blending!
6 tbsp unsweetened applesauce
1 1/2 tsp oil
3 tbsp lemon juice
1 egg
DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 325 F.
2. Combine dry ingredients in one bowl. Stir well.
3. In another bowl, mix wet ingredients together till well blended.
4. Add wet ingredients to try, mixing until JUST combined (overmixing will lead to tough muffins).
5. Bake 25 mins or until lightly golden and springy to the touch. You can double this recipe for jumbo size muffins.
6. Enjoy!
Copyright to The Guiltless Life
Nutritional information per muffin (if makes 8):
Nutritional information courtesy of caloriecount.about.com
Happy Friday!
These look so good and love that they are protein filled! I really do love coconut flour, I am low on it and need to buy more!
Hope you have a great weekend! ❤
Coconut flour is the shizzle! x
Mm these look so delicious! I do enjoy lemon poppy seed for a bread/muffin flavor so I know I would like these. Plus, the additional protein is great!
It’s a great whack of protein and you can make these as lemony as you like – just increase the zest/juice. I like them SUPER lemony!
Woooo can’t wait to try these!! 🙂
Thanks!
Your version looks fabulous! I’ll like to try it since it has the coconut flour…I need to get more adventurous with that. Question on the cottage cheese….did you blend it first?
For the muffins pictured I used 1/4 cup of Greek yogurt and 1/2 cup cottage cheese (simply because I ran out of Greek yogurt). I didn’t blend the cottage cheese, but you can’t see it probably because of the Greek yogurt. In my second batch, I used all cottage cheese and you can see the lumps but I like that texture, and it didn’t affect the taste or moisture level of the muffin at all. If you want to blend you can but you don’t need to. I love how the cottage cheese gives it almost a cheesecake-type flavour in the background.
Ok cool! Thanks!!!
Any time! I just emailed you too 😉
I’ve never seen anything like this before! They look delicious! And at only a hundred calories how could you go wrong! Thanks for the share 🙂
Thanks Stellina! I’m eating one of these babies right now as I write this…ooh so lemony, so good!
These looks delicious – wondering how they would taste with spelt or oat flour? Look so good!
I bet it would be great! I would try and leave the coconut flour in there (unless you’re allergic or dislike it) as coconut flour provides so much protein and fibre! But you could easily replace the other flour with anything you like. They might be a bit crumbly if you use oat flour and coconut flour without adding any binding agent – so you might want to add in some cornstarch or arrowroot powder! Let me know how it works out!
omg, I want!! I wish I had some poppy seeds & coconut yogurt hanging about 😀 lemon poppy seed muffins & blueberry muffins are my two faves ❤
Thank you for the ‘veganizing’ ideas! Yes, absolutely use coconut yogurt – it will obviously cut the protein content a bit but you still get it from the coconut flour and protein powder – and it’s easy to use a flax egg or chia egg instead…chia egg would work really well with the poppy seed texture!
Those look great! I like that they’re high protein AND made with stevia. Although, I might switch out the poppy seeds for chia seeds! Still haven’t experimented with coconut flour but it’s on the grocery list now 🙂
Absolutely! I just love the taste and crunchy bite of poppyseeds but they do always end up in your teeth haha…so chia seeds would also be a much more sociable ingredient haha!
Lemon Poppyseed muffins are my favorite! I’ve made something very similar to these not too long ago!
Yay! Great minds, eh? I always have about three different lemon poppyseed recipes going around in my head at once. So delish!
I am so so excited to make these. Do you think playing with the flavor would affect them much? I was thinking about a raspberry-choc variation….
Ooh that sounds heavenly! Hmm…the trick there would be trying to ensure the mixture doesn’t get too wet from the raspberries. I assume if you use fresh or frozen ones like blueberries it could be a straight swap, but if you wanted to muddle them a bit into a puree it would affect the liquid/dry ratio so make sure you remove something from the liquid end. You could easily use raspberry puree instead of applesauce! And I would just sub out a couple of tbsp of flour for cocoa powder. Let me know how it goes! You’ve inspired me – I’m going to start playing around with new flavours but using the same protein base so there will be a whole host of protein muffin recipes to go around soon! xx
I love poppyseed muffins! Those look delish! Fruit and poppyseeds make the best combo, don’t they? I love all the protein in them. I’ve had similar situations where it comes out rubbery… so glad these worked for you! They look amazing.
Eugh can’t stand rubbery muffins! You will LOVE these – no rubber in sight! hehe
These look great! any ideas on substitutions for those who can’t tolerate dairy/soy? I love lemon flavoured snacks
Yes, Char in the comments above recommended coconut yogurt in place of the Greek yogurt or cottage cheese. Bear in mind this will cut down the protein count a bit. Let me know if it works!
Yum, they look great! I tried protein muffins before and got the same result as you the first time – rubbery. I should give these a go though!
Eugh I know these have never been rubbery I am so glad! I have definitely tried other varieties and recipes that have just disappointed me!
Oh yes! I’ve been looking forward to these!!! I can’t wait to try them out!
Thanks for sharing the recipe! I cannot believe how healthy they are!
Thanks Jentry, hope you enjoy!
Yes! I have been waiting for this! 🙂
I promised! 🙂
I feel like this is a hidden protein power muffins! Is it sad that I don’t even think I’ve ever had a lemon poppy seed muffin in my entire life? 😦
Absolutely – protein power max! No, it’s not sad – but you can change that now! 🙂
Lemon poppyseed are my all time favourite! I will definitely be bookmarking this recipe 🙂
Thanks Sarah! I hope you love them 🙂
what is a “scoop”? -referring to the protein powder. a tablespoon?
Hi Bri! My scoop is just over 29g – I measured it out in tbsp and it’s about 5 tbsp. This amount of my protein powder provides about 24g protein, so you can adjust the protein count according to what your protein powder offers!
Oh my! These look fantastic! Just emailed myself the post to try later!!
Aw thank you Stefanie! I have started making these double-sized (so a recipe makes 4) and having them with a cup of tea for my breakfast. A lighter breakfast now the weather is getting warmer, and a great hit of protein to start off my day! I hope you enjoy them :).
I just made these and love them! I used oranges instead of lemons, a combo of sucanat and stevia, all yogurt, and Sunwarrior protein. Even my picky 2-year-old is eating them and wanting more! Thank you! I will have to try the other flavors.