I’ve been experimenting with different flavors for the high protein, high fiber, low sugar, and low fat muffins I’m baking for breakfast. My favorite so far is almond poppy seed. This flavor seems to work particularly well with the quark, oat bran, and stevia base. And so I am sharing it with you below. Poppy seeds, known as maanzaad (moon seed) in the Netherlands, are not known around here for their use in sweet pastries, but they are wonderful and work so well with almonds. These muffins are very easy to make and have a nice moist crumb. And of course they are still gluten-free.
In the previous post I referred to cottage cheese rather than quark, but based on the comments I now understand that those are two different things (in the Netherlands, we only have quark and we are usually told that it is called cottage cheese in English). If you can’t find quark you can still use cottage cheese instead, but from the comments I gather you should whisk or blend it first to get it smooth.
Ingredients
For 6 muffins
50 grams (1/3 cup) oat bran
50 grams (1/2 cup) almond meal
160 grams (2/3 cup) lean quark (or lean cottage cheese)
2/3 cup (160 ml) stevia powder, or 2 tsp liquid stevia extract
2 eggs
2 Tbsp poppy seed
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp almond extract
slivered almonds, as needed
butter and flour for the muffin pan
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F (not fan forced).
Whisk 2 eggs with 2/3 cup stevia powder or 2 tsp stevia extract.
Add 160 grams quark, 50 grams almond meal, 50 grams oat bran, 1 tsp almond extract, 1 tsp baking powder, and 2 Tbsp poppy seed.
Stir until homogeneous.
Grease a muffin pan well and sprinkle it with flour. Tilt the pan and move it in a circular motion until it is evenly coated with flour.
Fill the muffin pan with the batter, and top with slivered almonds.
Bake for 20 minutes at 180C/350F (not fan forced), or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
Allow the muffins to cool off before taking them out of the pan. You may have to loosen them with a knife to get them out.
Store the muffins in an airtight container. They keep for about 3 days at room temperature, or a week in the refrigerator. They also freeze well.
Flashback
Banana eclairs are a wonderful sweet pastry and, unlike the muffins above, full of sugar. That doesn’t mean they aren’t delicious!
Stefan's Gourmet Blog 
Belli e originali!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Why gluten free? Just for fun?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Because I wanted to use oat bran, which happens to be gluten free. The flavor, texture and nutritious qualities are better than wheat bran.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well – look at you Mr. Healthy Baking Guy – these look wonderful !!
LikeLiked by 1 person
If you used 2/3 cup of stevia powder, it must have been what we call “stevia sugar.” Stevia sugar is a combination of pure stevia with a sugar derivative that is not metabolized (therefore no calories). Sounds like these were sweet enough without tasting bitter?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, the stevia is ‘bulked up’ with maltodextrin. This doesn’t only bulk it up, but also masks the bitter aftertaste. The liquid stevia extract does not have a bitter aftertaste at all.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love oat ran but it is not easy to find here.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Poppyseed is delicious in muffins, especially with citrus! I love pure stevia but avoid any blend with additives. Flax, almond, coconut, quinoa and chia meals or flours are fun to play around with. 🙂 You can make them at home, too. Looks yummy, Stefan.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve not tried lemon poppyseed muffins yet, so I guess I should 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I appreciate the irony of getting through this low-fat, low-sugar muffin recipe, only to find myself staring down a gorgeous banana eclair! Nonetheless, I do love poppyseeds. Eastern Europeans (which is where my culinary background comes from) use them in pastries quite a bit – especially at Christmas. We make a kind of paste from them and use it to fill pastries. In the US, you see lemon-poppyseed muffins all the time, but they never have as many poppyseeds as you’ve used – kudos to you! The muffins look delicious. (But so does the eclair.)
LikeLiked by 1 person
I do love any kind of poppyseed muffins, but especially the lemon. These look quite tasty!
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’ll make a ‘baker’ of sorts out of this gal yet if you publish interesting goodies such as this 🙂 ! Love all the ingredients!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Che buoni! Non sapevo che i semi di papavero si sposassero bene con le mandorle! Anche molto originali.
LikeLiked by 1 person