Sweet Potato Muffins with Coconut Crumble

20 04 2013

When I went to the markets this morning I bought the worlds biggest sweet potato, it weighed almost 2kg. Well I don’t know whether it is ACTUALLY the worlds biggest, I didn’t check the Guinness Book Of Records, but it probably is. Luckily I had The Fitographer with me to be my packhorse and carry the loads of food I kept purchasing. Marry a strong man ladies, that is my advice, they are very useful.

Inspired by the always talented and lovely Sarah from Ingredients of a Fit Chick, I used her sweet potato muffin recipe and added a few bits of my own. If you haven’t visited Sarah’s BLOG you really must, she loves coconut almost as much as I do so in my eyes that makes her an awesome chick. We’d probably be besties if we lived in the same country. She also has heaps of great recipes and does loads of cool things. You’ll like her.

Wet Stuff
1 cup sweet potato, steamed & puréed/mashed
2 tbs coconut oil/ghee, melted
3 eggs (use flax-eggs for vegan alternative)

Dry Stuff
2 1/2 scoops (90g) of whey protein powder (vanilla or flavorless) (use vegan protein if required)
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2-3/4 tsp stevia powder (depending on how sweet you like it or 1/2 cup honey/maple syrup)
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp ginger
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla powder (or 2 tsp vanilla extract)

Topping
1/2 cup shredded coconut
3/4 cup almond meal (or coconut flour if you want to keep this nut-free)
Dash stevia (or 2 tbs maple syrup/honey)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup egg whites

Preheat the oven to 160C. You will need 3 bowls. Mix all the dry ingredients well in one making sure you get rid of any lumps. Mix all the wet ingredients in another bowl until smooth. Mix all the topping ingredients together in a small bowl until well combined. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until completely combined, try not to overmix this. Spoon this mixture into muffin/cupcake containers so they are about 3/4 full. Spoon the topping onto the top of each muffin and press down gently. Bake for about 10-15mins. They will continue to set a bit as the cool. Don’t overcook them or they will taste like cardboard. Remove from oven & allow to cool slightly, I chucked a blob of ghee on mine while it was still warm. So delicious. Coconut butter or nut butter drizzle would be amaze too. This made 12 cupcake sized muffins. You can freeze these or store them in an airtight container in the fridge…. That’s if they last that long, they taste best fresh out of the oven.

20130420-194414.jpg





Hulk Muffins

6 11 2012

After making the most delicious Hulk Pancakes on the weekend, I wanted something similar I could have as a snack. A savoury muffin should do the trick. Low carb, high protein and loaded with the goodness that comes from all things green, these are exactly what I was looking for! They freeze well too, so make a big batch and pop them in some zip lock bags for later on! This made about 30 cupcake size muffins. Perfect post workout or for your morning munchies.

2 cups almond meal
3/4 cup flavorless protein powder
4 eggs
Few handfuls of baby spinach or kale
1 zucchini, roughly grated
1 cup chopped broccoli
2 cups milk of your choice (dairy, almond, coconut, oat)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tbs coconut oil
Big handful basil or parsley, finely chopped, optional

Preheat your oven to180C. In your food processor add broccoli & spinach and blitz. Add remaining ingredients and process until completely combined. Spoon into muffin or cupcake moulds and bake for about 25 mins. All done!

20121106-205527.jpg





Pumpkin Muffins

13 09 2012

Inspired by Mammoth Kitchens Cauliflower & Carrot Mud Muffins I thought I would attempt a recipe using said cauliflower. I know it may seem a little odd, those Mammoths are, but they do come through with the goods. If you have tried their Sour Cream & Chives Coconut Chips you will know what I mean….. Random but completely delicious. Just do it.

Cauliflower is from the same family as broccoli and cabbage, it contains many essential B-complex vitamins and loads of vitamin C. Cauliflower contains several anti cancer phyto-chemicals which have proven benefits against prostate, breast, cervical, colon, ovarian cancers. Let’s hear it for cauliflower! Pumpkin is a storehouse of many anti-oxidant vitamins such as vitamin-A, vitamin-C and vitamin-E. It is rich in B-complex group of vitamins like folates, niacin, vitamin B-6, thiamin and pantothenic acid. It is also deliciously sweet negating the need for excessive sweeteners in this recipe.

1 Heaped cup raw Cauliflower
1 cup pumpkin purée
1/4 Cup Coconut Flour
1/4 cup plain protein powder (you can use an extra 1/4 cup coconut flour instead if you like)
1/4 Cup Maple Syrup/agave (or stevia to taste)
1/4 Cup Coconut Oil
½ cup walnuts (optional)
½ Cup Water
1 tbs apple cider vinegar
1 tbs Ground Ginger
1 tbs Ground Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Ground Nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsps. Baking Powder
Pinch Rock/ Sea Salt

Preheat oven to 170C. Prepare your cupcake or muffin tins. I use silicone ones, i love that things don’t stick to them. Steam the cauliflower until soft and add that, the coconut oil and all wet ingredients together in a food processor and blend until smooth (you could use a stick mixer if you wanted to). Add all remaining ingredients except walnuts to the wet mix and blend until all combined. Stir through the walnuts. Spoon into the muffin cases and bake for about 30mins or until you can insert a toothpick and it comes out clean. If you eat them while they are warm (I mean who doesn’t love a warm muffin!?) they may seem a little unset or underdone on the middle. Once they cool they will firm up and if you pop them into the fridge they get a really great fudgy texture. YUM!! Once they are cool you can ice them if you like (you are mental if you don’t like) with this delicious FROSTING.

20120912-155959.jpg





Chocolate Protein Muffins

6 08 2012

I know, it says zucchini is the 1st ingredient, and raw zucchini at that! No, it is not a typo, and no, you can’t taste it in the finished product. So why zucchini? Well, firstly because it is very good for you; Zucchini is low calorie and a great source of fibre. It is rich in vitamin A, flavonoid and poly-phenolic antioxidants such as carotenes, lutein and zeaxanthin. These compounds help scavenge harmful oxygen-derived free radicals and reactive oxygen species from the body that play a role in aging and various disease process. Secondly, protein powder in baking can make things dry and taste like cardboard, so rather than add too much more fat for moisture, I added zucchini. Pumpkin purée would do the trick to, or apple purée, probably even avocado….zucchini just worked for me and I haven’t tried it with the others so give it a whirl and let me know how you go.

400g zucchini, puréed raw
3/4 cup flavorless protein powder
1 cup flaxseed meal (you can use LSA or almond meal instead)
3 eggs
1 heaped tbsp nut butter
1 tbs cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup raw cacao
Stevia to taste or a few tbs honey or agave
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Pour into cupcake moulds and bake at 160C for 20-25 mins or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Don’t over cook these or they will be really dry! I eat mine as they are on the run or warmed up with a bit of Coconut Milk Yoghurt over the top!

The plain version

20120806-160105.jpg

Or warmed up with Coconut Milk Yoghurt.

20120806-160323.jpg





Sweet Protein Muffins

28 05 2012

Just like the Savoury Version , these are probably not something I’d serve to guests you are trying to impress with your gourmet prowess but in terms of ‘fuel’ for your day or a snack on the run, they hit the spot. You can do these in the oven (preheat to 160C) in muffin tins or I also chucked some mix into a ramekin and popped it in the microwave just to see how it would turn out. The microwave version was pretty good and FAST but if you have the time, the oven ones did taste a bit better and got the delicious crunchy “muffin-top” that I love about muffins! This only makes about 1/2 dozen.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup LSA- you can use flaxseed meal if you have it
1/2 cup protein powder- flavourless, no added sugar- I used a plain whey protein isolate
2 eggs
1 tbs Mixed Spice
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup goji berries
1/4 cup frozen raspberries
3 tbs milk- I used almond milk
If you want them sweet you can add a tbs of honey or some stevia to taste

Directions:

Place all ingredients except the goji and raspberries into a bowl and mix well. Once all combined add the berries. Spoon into cupcake moulds (if baking) or ramekins. I made this batch in the microwave in a ramekin. The microwave one was pretty good- cooked for about 1 minute on high, you might need an extra 30 seconds depending on your microwave. If using your oven, cook on about 160C for 20-25 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean. These can be a little dry if you overcook them because the protein powder sucks up a lot of the liquid.

20120528-134106.jpg

20120528-134113.jpg








Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 1,714 other followers

%d bloggers like this: