Wholesome Apple Muffins with Cottage Cheese (Excessive Protein!)

These wholesome apple muffins are the tall, domed, bakery-style muffins you’ve been picturing all fall — and the key that makes them more healthy is a scoop of blended cottage cheese folded proper into the batter, not a bland flourless swap. After greater than a decade of testing muffin recipes (and writing a number of cookbooks alongside the way in which), I’ve landed on a formulation that will get that huge bakery high with out sacrificing an oz of taste, and if cottage cheese muffins haven’t impressed you earlier than, I feel this recipe will change your thoughts. Warmly spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg and loaded with tart Granny Smith apple, these are the autumn breakfast (or snack) I make on repeat all season lengthy — with 7g of protein per muffin, they really maintain you full. They’re my newest addition to my healthy muffin recipes lineup, and I feel you’re going to like them.

❤️ Why You’ll Love These Wholesome Apple Muffins

• Actual protein, not a gimmick: Blended cottage cheese delivers 7g of protein per muffin with none bizarre texture or taste — a real improve from the common protein muffins that depend on protein powder for his or her increase, and an incredible addition to my high-protein breakfast recipes.
• You received’t style the cottage cheese: Mixing it utterly easy is the trick — it disappears into the batter, abandoning moisture and protein with zero curdy texture or tang.
• Bakery-style domed tops: Filling the liners all the way in which and baking solely 6 muffins at a time, spaced aside, offers you noticeably taller, extra domed tops than a regular batch of 12.
• Naturally sweetened, not overly candy: Simply ¼ cup of brown sugar sweetens the entire batch of 10 muffins, plus a light-weight cinnamon-sugar topping.
• Nice make-ahead breakfast: These muffins are freezer-friendly, so you’ll be able to bake a batch and have a grab-and-go breakfast prepared for busy fall mornings.

Ingredient Notes

• Granny Smith apples: Tart, agency apples like Granny Smith maintain their form at 425°F as a substitute of turning mushy the way in which softer varieties like Pink Scrumptious do. I cube sufficient for each the batter and the topping, so that you get seen flecks of apple blended all through and some items on high of each muffin.
• Cottage cheese (4%, blended): That is the star ingredient in these cottage cheese muffins, and mixing it till utterly easy in a meals processor or blender is what eliminates any curdy texture. I persist with 4% cottage cheese as a substitute of a low-fat model as a result of it offers the richest, moistest crumb, and in case your cottage cheese seems to be particularly liquid, I like to recommend straining it earlier than mixing so the batter doesn’t prove too moist — the identical trick I exploit in my different high-protein cottage cheese recipes. When you love baking with cottage cheese this fall, don’t miss my full roundup of fall recipes with cottage cheese.
• Avocado oil: Its impartial taste retains the crumb moist with out the heavier oil style that coconut oil or melted butter can go away behind, which is what most competitor recipes use as a substitute.
• Gentle brown sugar: A easy pantry swap that’s simpler to maintain available than the maple syrup most “wholesome” apple muffin recipes name for, whereas nonetheless utilizing notably much less sugar than a basic bakery muffin.
• Cinnamon + nutmeg: My go-to heat fall spice combo — cinnamon is the star, and a small pinch of nutmeg rounds it out as a supporting notice.
• Optionally available powdered sugar drizzle: Completely optionally available, however a fast drizzle over the cooled muffins offers them a bakery-shop end that’s excellent for a fall bake sale.

The Secret to Bakery-Model Muffin Tops

Getting an enormous, domed high on wholesome apple muffins comes down to 3 issues, and none of them are sophisticated.

• Fill the liners all the way in which to the highest: As an alternative of the standard two-thirds full, I fill every liner with 4-6 tablespoons of batter, proper to the highest of the liner. That further batter is what offers the muffin room to rise into an actual dome as a substitute of a flat high.
• Bake solely 6 wells at a time, spaced aside: Leaving an empty nicely between every stuffed one means each muffin has room to broaden outward and up and not using a neighbor crowding it, and the empty wells don’t pull warmth away from the stuffed ones the way in which a completely packed tin would. It’s a small change, but it surely makes a noticeable distinction in top.
• Begin sizzling, then scale back the warmth: Baking at 425°F for the primary 5 minutes offers the tops a fast raise (bakers name this “oven spring”) earlier than the crumb has an opportunity to set. Dropping the temperature to 350°F for the remainder of the bake finishes cooking the middle by gently, with out burning the highest.

Variations

• Swap the cottage cheese: Full-fat plain Greek yogurt works 1:1 instead of the cottage cheese if that’s what you’ve gotten available; the feel can be barely denser and the protein a contact decrease.
• Add crunch: Fold in ½ cup of chopped walnuts or pecans together with the apple for further crunch and texture.
• Skip the drizzle: These muffins are a lot candy with out the powdered sugar glaze, so be at liberty to skip it in case you’re chopping again on added sugar.
• Make them gluten-free: Swap in a 1:1 gluten-free all-purpose flour mix instead of the common flour; the feel can be barely denser however nonetheless scrumptious.

When you’re craving extra cozy apple recipes this fall, don’t miss my easy apple crisp.

Storage & Make-Forward

• Room temperature: Retailer these muffins in an hermetic container at room temperature for 1-2 days. As a result of there’s contemporary cottage cheese folded into the batter, I maintain this window shorter than a typical bakery muffin, which is often tremendous for 3-4 days.
• Fridge: Because of the dairy within the batter, these maintain nicely within the fridge for as much as 5 days in an hermetic container.
• Freezer: Cool the muffins utterly, then freeze them in a single layer earlier than transferring to a freezer bag for as much as 3 months. Reheat within the microwave or a 300°F oven for a couple of minutes.
• Make-ahead tip: I wish to bake the complete batch (each rounds of 6) the evening earlier than a busy morning, so breakfast is able to seize straight out of the fridge.

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