Saturday, October 7, 2017

Pumpkin Protein Muffins with Honey Goat Cheese Frosting

Fall is one of my favorite seasons but not because I am a pumpkin spice latte type. Crisp air, sweaters, football, stews & chili, and squash make me happy. My husband and I are eating healthier by trying not to skip breakfast. So I adapted some recipes to come up with these delicious and healthy pumpkin protein muffins with honey goat cheese frosting. Each muffin with frosting has roughly 12 grams of protein and only 169 calories.

Pumpkin Protein Muffins

Ingredients
1 large egg
1 large egg white
¼ cup pure pumpkin puree
1 large banana , cut into chunks
½ cup all-natural almond butter
¼ cup pure maple syrup
2 scoops favorite vanilla whey protein powder (mine is 27g of protein per scoop)
½ tsp . baking powder
½ tsp . ground cinnamon
¼ tsp . sea salt (or Himalayan salt)
1 dash ground nutmeg

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350° F.

Prepare twelve muffin cups by lining with muffin papers or coating with spray.

Place egg, egg white, pumpkin, banana, almond butter, and maple syrup in blender; cover. Blend for 30 seconds.

Add protein powder, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg; cover. Blend until smooth.
 
Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups.

Bake 16 to 18 minutes, or until golden brown and tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

Transfer muffins to rack to cool.

Honey Goat Cheese Frosting
For this goat cheese frosting, you can use Chèvre goat cheese or try full fat cream cheese or neaufchatel cheese. Whichever you use, make sure it is full fat and softened to room temperature.

Ingredients
8 oz goat cheese softened to room temperature 1/4 cup raw honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-2 teaspoons milk (coconut, nut, cow, or goat milk works great, soy milk hasn't worked for me though)

Instructions

Place the goat cheese, honey, and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl. You can use a hand or  stand mixer. Beat on medium speed.

Add milk one teaspoon at a time until the frosting reaches desired creaminess. 


Spread immediately on cooled muffins. The muffins and frosting hold up well in the refrigerator so you can choose to frost all at once or the morning of eating.