Pumpkin Protein Muffins

 

Yes, I know it’s another pumpkin recipe.  However, when you open a can of pumpkin you don’t want it to go to waste so I have been trying to come up with ways of using the whole can, a little at a time, so I can enjoy different treats.  So pumpkin muffins were a must.  I know it isn’t officially fall yet but I love the taste of pumpkin and so I feel no shame in jumping on the pumpkin band wagon early.  Even Starbucks has decided to release their pumpkin spice latte earlier this year.  Seems everyone just gets in a tizzy thinking about the warm, frothy, pumpkin goodness.  If there was a Starbucks anywhere near me I would be joining in on the madness.  In fact the pumpkin spice latte is probably the only thing from Starbucks I would want, but that’s a story for a whole other day.

Yesterday on my ride home from work I decided to make a pit stop at the Dollar General that is pretty close to home.  I love Dollar General stores.  It seems they always have fun and unique things.  I spotted the Halloween section, which is one of my favorite holidays and I knew that there was going to be some money spent on Halloween decor.  I managed to make it out of the store with just these cute little Halloween cupcake liners.  I plotted and planned the rest of the way home on what I could make with the leftover pumpkin and use my new liners all at the same time.  My initial thought was cupcakes but I wanted to make something that I could take for breakfast and so muffins it was!

I know I said breakfast but after dinner I was too tempted by the smell and so I decided to try them out.  You know, just to make sure they were done and tasted ok “wink wink.”  I topped it with a little whipped cream to make it look festive and dug in.  I must say that I was quite impressed.  I made these a healthier version than most muffin recipes so I wasn’t sure how they would turn out.  Lucky for me, they tasted just as I had intended them too, like little, cakey pumpkin muffins.  If you never mentioned it to anyone, I don’t think they would guess these are a “healthified” muffin.  Plus I was astounded at how easy these are to make.  You literally put everything in a blender to mix it together and it’s done.  I decided to just make a half batch to see how they turned out and now I’m sad I only have six of these beauties instead of twelve.  However, my husband does not like anything pumpkin flavored and I knew I would be the only one eating these, which does not hurt my feelings in the slightest!  If you want to make a full pan of twelve just double the ingredients I’m about to list for you.

Ingredients

1/2 cup Rolled Oats

1/4 cup Coconut Flour

1/4 cup EAS Lean Protein Powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Baking Powder

1/4 tsp Cinnamon

1/4 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice

1/2 cup Pumpkin Puree

1/4 cup Plain Greek Yogurt

1/4 cup Unsweetened Applesauce

2-3 tbsp Liquid Egg Whites

Pinch of Salt

I know it looks like a long list but most of these things you probably already have on hand.  You can use any kind of protein powder that you like best, this just happens to be my favorite brand.  Once you get everything blended up really well in your blender, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  While the oven is preheating go ahead and prepare your muffin tin with liners and scoop the batter into each little cup.  You will bake these for about 20-25 minutes or until the tops are brown.  They may still feel a little squishy when you take them out but don’t worry, they will harden up some as they cool down.  Before I went to bed I just put them in a tupperware container and fell asleep with dreams of pumpkin muffins for breakfast.

Which is exactly what I did!  I put some Dannon light & fit caramel machhiato Greek yogurt in a bowl and topped it with one of the muffins and some Kashi Go Lean Crunch cereal.  This was honestly one of my favorite breakfasts of all time.  It tasted almost like a mocha/caramel/pumpkin parfait, it was perfect.