This is the latest result in my quest for a nutritious breakfast that is high in protein, fiber, and complex carbs, and low in sugar and fat. More importantly, it is also very tasty. Even though oat bran may not sound very tasty, these muffins are delicious with a moist crumb and they stay moist for several days. Each muffin contains 10 grams of protein, 11 grams of carbohydrates, 3 grams of fiber, 3 grams of sugar, 5 grams of fat, and 138 kCal. And they are gluten free. They are very simple to make and one or two suffice for a nice breakfast. It only takes a couple of minutes to whip up the batter and have them in the oven. I made them with blueberries, but you could also make them with apple and cinnamon, or another flavor. Here’s what I did…
Ingredients
For 6 muffins
100 grams (2/3 cup) oat bran
160 grams (2/3 cup) lean quark (cottage cheese)
2 eggs
50 grams (1/3 cup) blueberries (frozen is fine)
2 tsp liquid stevia extract or 2/3 cup stevia powder
1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
1 tsp baking powder
baking spray and flour for the muffin pan
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F (not fan forced). Beat 2 eggs.
Add 100 grams oat bran, 160 grams cottage cheese, 2 tsp stevia extract, and 1 tsp baking powder.
Stir until the batter is homogeneous.
Spray a muffin pan with baking spray and dust with flour.
Divide the batter.
Add the blueberries. (By adding them now instead of stirring them into the batter, you prevent the batter from turning completely purple.)
Push the blueberries into the batter.
Bake for 20 minutes at 180C/350F, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
Please note that the muffins won’t brown very much because there is no sugar in the batter.
Allow the muffins to cool upside down on a rack. Cooling them upside down helps to keep them moist.
When they have cooled off, take the muffins out of the pan. They should fall out easily if you tap on the pan. Store the muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 days or in the refrigerator for a week.
Flashback
Pea and lamb soup is a variation on classic Dutch erwtensoep, made with peas and pork.
Stefan's Gourmet Blog 
More and more I hear about baking with oats, so why not oat bran? Your cottage cheese doesn’t look like it has curds. Ours does, so maybe ours would need to be blended first to make it creamy. Was your stevia a pure stevia powder? I’ve gotten best results by adding stevia to the liquid component before the dry ingredients go in, even if it is in powder form. I’m giving these a try tomorrow – thanks!
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The stevia I used is liquid extract. It seems to work better in coffee than it does in these muffins, so I’ll look into trying stevia powder and adding it to the liquid component. Let me know how you like them!
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Non proprio tradizionali. Ameno per un’anziana italiana!
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Making these for the kids!
I remember that soup, too!
Your blog is so much fun. 🙂
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Thanks, Shanna. You may have to increase the stevia for the kids if they like it sweet.
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Stefan, we also buy local honey in bulk… Though the liquid might not work?
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Hi Shanna, I guess you could increase the oat bran a bit to compensate for the honey, but I’m not sure if that is really necessary.
Honey is delicious and a natural product, but it does contain lots of ‘fast’ sugars. I am trying to reduce my sugar intake, regardless of the source.
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So true regarding the glycemic index. And I see what you’re saying about the liquid factor in baking. I love to naturally sweeten with puréed dates, pure stevia is nice, but it can have an aftertaste if not used in conjunction with another sweetening agent. 🙂 Agave nectar and coconut sugar are popular here now, too.
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I can see you are trying to address my same plight: nutritious and protein packed breakfast (which, by the way, together with no more sugar, has really changed the way I feel). I like the idea of cottage cheese instead of sour cream. How are you finding baking with Stevia? I put it in my cottage but I haven’t used it in baking yet.
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The liquid highly concentrated Stevia extract I used (which until now I’ve only used to sweeten my ristretto — one or two drops suffice) is less sweet when used for baking than I had expected. I only used 1 tsp in my first trial batch and I liked the muffins much better when I doubled that. I have just acquired some powdered stevia, to see how that works. I expect some difference in ‘bulk’, as I will have to use 2/3 cup of the powdered stevia instead of 2 tsp of the liquid. The powdered stuff only contains 2% actual stevia according to the label.
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Interesting. Stevia is way sweeter than sugar because of the high concentrate and I use a quarter ts in my coffee instead of one teaspoon of sugar. I had considered buying the powder one for baking – although it’s sweeter than sugar the overall end result is a different kind of sweetness, less…sweet. I hope you will experiment and report back.
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I have just made a batch with 2/3 cup of powdered stevia, and the result seemed very similar to the batch made with liquid extract. You are right that it tastes less sweet than sugar. The powdered stuff here supposedly should have the same sweetness as the same volume of sugar.
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I buy “pure” stevia powder, for which you need just the tiniest amounts. I found baking with stevia sugar not terribly successful, when stevia is sold in combination with other non calorie sugar compounds… Probably because I needed large amounts and it is expensive… also because I didn’t add it to the liquid ingredients. Stevia requires lots of experimentation!
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Here the stevia powder that is bulked up with maltrodextrin isn’t that expensive. It is not very sweet when used in baking, but sweet enough.
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This is so smart. Besides eggs and dairy, I find breakfast really challenging, nutrition-wise. Carb items tend to have no protein in them. Good job!
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Thanks, Mimi.
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Fantastic! And since you know I am not a baker: kudos to you!! Don’t mind oat bran at all and have used stevia [powder form] for about a decade . . . tho’ the amount of sugar per portion here is so small I would even use the raw form of the latter! Normally I am ‘into’ Scandinavian open sandwiches plus strong black coffee for breakfast but love a change, and commercial cereals are a ‘no-no’ for many reasons!!
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Raw sugar (or even fruit) has the same amount of “fast carbs” as regular sugar, and it is the fast carbs I’m trying to avoid.
This is something even a non-baker should be able to pull off 😉
Sandwiches are nice too, but I like my breakfast to be something I can eat while I am making Kees’ morning coffee.
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Would you use fromage frais? I have never baked with Stevia before.
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I am not familiar with fromage frais or fromage blanc, but from what I’ve gathered from Wikipedia I think that fromage blanc is closer to what I use.
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Thank you.
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Wow, what a great gluten-free power breakfast.
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OMG, sounds so delicious! I have to try this great recipe, Thanks for sharing.
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Reblogged this on Chef Ceaser.
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I like to try that. What´s stevia extract?
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Stevia is a herb/plant from which a natural sweetener can be extracted that is much sweeter than sugar without the calories. You can get it in powdered form or as pure extract.
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Thank’s for the answer!
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This would be a fine way to start the day, Stefan, especially if pressed for time. Great tip about the lack of sugar preventing their browning. I probably would have kept them in the oven and dried them up waiting for browning that never would come. 🙂
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That is exactly why I added that tip.
PS To make you feel better about your baking skills: I forgot to add the baking powder in my latest batch. They are still okay, but a bit dense…
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Thanks for tonight’s chuckle. 😀
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My breakfast fallback was your earlier banana oats cookies – but I decided to try this and have made 3 batches.
I did not read the detail as to the forms of extract in the commentary until after the first batch – using two teaspoons of the powder as sold at the supermarket.
The results are perfectly OK. OK as in one tells oneself one is eating something sans everything not good for you. With a good coffee they are bliss indeed.
The two of us ate the first batch at one tasting. One needed another one just to be sure! And so two more batches were required and it has been agreed that this will become an alternate to the cookies! (High praise indeed.)
Incidentally my neighbor has a stevia plant in a pot that she used to keep on her front terrace. (Hers is a federation house – door opens right to the street.) She laughs at the folk who come by and grab a leave and chew it – and then grimace at the bitter after taste.
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If the powder is bulked up like it is here, with only 2 teaspoons your first batch must have been lacking in sweetnesss. I’ve now made them with apple and cinnamon as well (replace blueberries and vanilla with 1 apple and 1 tsp cinnamon) and I like those a lot. The cookies are much more of a ‘treat’ rather than nutritious. But I am trying to cut back on sugar, so these muffins are great for that.
Funny story about the leaves. I don’t think people here would recognize a stevia plant. In good quality stevia extract most of the bitter aftertaste is not there.
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Thank you for the tip on doing them with apple and cinnamon. Will try this.
2 teaspoons of stevia powder work well for me – though I am not a fan of sweet food. Using 2/3 cup of powder gave a different texture and I did not find it to be more pleasant tasting – rather too sweet.
What seems to make the largest difference to the consistency of the mix (in this country) is whether quark or cottage cheese are used. Low fat cottage cheese here is a curd like mixture. Quark is uniformly creamy. (And very easy to make yourself.) The quark muffins are much superior – in both consistency – and in our opinion also taste.
One batch of quark makes enough for 3 recipe batches – and I find they freeze quite OK. A zap in the microwave and there is warm muffin for breakfast.
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I use quark, but have never made it myself. I’ll have to try that, thanks for the idea.
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