In a world where new health foods are popping up left, right and centre, it can sometimes be difficult to find not only food that works for you, but that actually tastes good. I mean, c’mon, how many times have you decided to try some new-fangled health supplement or buy into a food fad that turned out to be absolutely disgusting? *Cough cough, more times than I can count…* That being said, after much trial and error, I did find one thing that I felt I could actually stand using. Whey protein. In this series, I will be exploring different recipes that incorporate whey protein. I can’t guarantee that they’ll be any good… this is just a log of my experiences. If I like the recipes, I’ll be sure to say so. Throughout the course of my adventures, I’ll be using unflavoured, unsweetened whey protein powder. This way, I can make pretty much anything and not have to worry about having some weird taste make its way into my food. Armed with the Internet, an iPhone camera and a spatula, let’s go!
Week 1: Blueberry muffins, I guess?
I know, this is off to a weird start already. I found this recipe on livestrong.com (let’s not get into the Lance Armstrong controversy, just focus on the recipe) and I decided that it looked interesting. The first thing that I noticed is that they don’t contain ANY flour. How can you have a muffin without using flour? The whey protein replaces the flour, which is unconventional, to say the least.
The Baking Process
The first step is to combine cream cheese with cinnamon. Simple. Then, all of the other ingredients except the blueberries are combines into a separate bowl. First of all, it smelled disgusting. I was gagging pretty much the whole time I was mixing it. The one good thing is that you can’t overmix it. Whey does not contain gluten, which is what causes coning and tunnelling in overmixed muffins. When I combined the two mixtures, it did not go well. I couldn’t get rid of the clumps of cream cheese and make the batter smooth. As it turned out, that was fine, but it was definitely a concern of mine. When I finally mixed in the blueberries, the batter went purple because I used frozen blueberries and the colour leached into it. I managed to get a dozen muffins out of it, which for the amount of ingredients used was pretty good. Lastly, I just had to put them into the oven like all other baked goods. Things got weird when they came out of the oven…
What the muffins?
When my muffins came out of the oven, not only had only risen minimally, but they had also split down the middle and were all grown to one side. Not only that, but they were smooth and shiny on top, as if I had glazed them, but they were dry; they weren’t even slightly greasy. It was at that point that I got a bit apprehensive. These are muffins, you say? They certainly don’t look like it. But they smell good now, so I must have done something right. Despite my confusion, I decided that they were worth attempting to eat.
The taste test
The most surprising part of these muffins was that they didn’t even taste like muffins. To my surprise, they tasted more like mini cheesecakes. When I tried to get one out of the muffin liner, most of it stuck inside, so I had to eat it right out of the paper, looking like a fool. As truly bizarre as my whole experience was, it all turned out better than expected. I probably wouldn’t make these again, but they were ok. Meh.
Conclusions
For my first whey protein baking experience, it could have been worse. I would have liked if my muffins had looked or at least tasted like muffins, but it was a good experience nonetheless. I wouldn’t exactly recommend this recipe, but it you’re adventurous, they’re worth a shot. They may have tasted different had I used a flavoured protein powder, but I doubt that it would have made a huge difference. Overall, this was worth my time and I’m excited to do it again next week!