PUMPKIN PROTEIN MUFFINS
These pumpkin protein muffins are the perfect seasonal treat for your post-run recovery! They’re easy to make and provide some much-needed protein and carbohydrates, which boosts recovery and replenishes the body’s energy stores. My kind of pumpkin treat!
This recipe is featured on runningonbreakfast.com and was developed in partnership with Maddie Alm, the owner of sports nutrition consulting business Fueling Forward. Maddie is a Registered Dietitian and has a Master’s of Nutritional Sciences from San Diego State University. Prior to becoming a RD, Maddie attended University of Colorado Boulder where she was an All-American runner! When she’s not helping clients step up their nutrition game, Maddie is training as a professional runner with Team Boss in Boulder, Colorado. For more nutritional recommendations and awesome running content, be sure to check out her blog and her instagram!
Wet Ingredients
- 2 large eggs, room temperature (or vegan alternative)
- 1 stick of unsalted butter, melted (or vegan alternative)
- 1 cup of canned pumpkin puree
- ⅓ cup of almond milk
- 1 tsp of vanilla extract (if not using flavored protein powder)
Dry Ingredients
- 1 cup of white whole wheat flour
- ½ cup of all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup of Smooth Vanilla Clean Lean Protein
- ½ cup of brown sugar
- 1½ tsp of baking powder
- 1 tsp of ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp of ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp of ground cloves
- ¼ tsp of ground allspice
- ¼ tsp of ground ginger
- ½ tsp of salt
- ½ cup of roughly chopped pecans or walnuts, plus more for topping
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and line a muffin tray with 12 cupcake liners.
- In a medium-sized bowl, add the dry ingredients (whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, protein powder, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, ginger, and salt) and whisk to combine. Don’t add the nuts or chocolate chips yet!
- Whisk together the wet ingredients in a separate small bowl.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and gently fold them together a couple of times. After a few folds, add the chopped nuts to the batter and fold a 2-4 more times. Make sure not to overwork the batter – the dough should be lumpy and barely combined!
- Let the muffin batter sit for 10 minutes.
- After the batter has rested, use a ¼ measuring cup to scoop the batter into the cupcake liners. Each cupcake liner should be approximately 2/3 full.
- Top the muffins with any remaining chopped nuts.
- Bake the muffins for approximately 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Transfer the muffins from the muffin tray to a cooling rack.
- Notes
- To bring eggs to room temperature, place the eggs in a bowl of warm water and let them sit for approximately 10 minutes.
- To measure flour properly, make sure to spoon it into your measuring cup. Use a knife or other straight edged utensil to level the flour across the measuring cup.
- If you have pumpkin pie spice, replace the cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, and ginger with approximately 2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice.
