Recipe: Blueberry Banana Cardamom Protein Muffins

For the past couple of months, I've been trying to follow an Ayurvedic lifestyle, which means eating seasonally and focusing on foods that are best aligned your dosha. As a vata dosha, who is cold-natured with dry skin, I'm supposed to avoid cold foods like smoothies. But I love smoothies!! So I can't give them up, but I can make a compromise and opt to only have them during pitta season (late spring, summer) when it's warm outside. Sadly, pitta season has come to an end in Memphis, Tennessee, and we're solidly in vata season (fall). And that means smoothie season is over for me as well. 

But I still need a good way to get my Complement Protein in after my workouts! So throughout fall and winter, I'll be experimenting with baked protein goodies. I'm a Complement ambassador, so I'm all about promoting this awesome super-clean vegan protein powder from the folks at No Meat Athlete. It's made with almond, chia, pumpkin, watermelon seed, and yellow pea protein, and it's free of sweeteners, fillers, gluten, or heavy metals (yes, there ARE heavy metals in most vegan protein powders! But not this one!).

This morning, I whipped up some Blueberry Banana Cardamom Protein Muffins, and I wanted to share the recipe. These whole wheat muffins are oil-free and sweetened only with maple syrup and mashed banana. They're light and fluffy and don't taste at all like protein powder (that's thanks to Complement, which has a totally neutral flavor). 

Each muffin contains one tablespoon of Complement. Since it takes three tablespoons to equal a full serving, three of these muffins equal the protein in one of my daily protein smoothies. Not a bad trade-off — 3 muffins to replace one smoothie! Here's the recipe!

Blueberry Banana Cardamom Protein Muffins

Yields 12 muffins

2 bananas, mashed

1/4 cup maple syrup

3/4 cup plant milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

3/4 cup Complement Protein

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. ground cardamom

1/8 tsp. salt

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and line a muffin tin with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, stir together the mashed banana, maple syrup, plant milk, and vanilla extract until well-combined.

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, protein powder, baking powder, baking soda, cardamom, and salt until well-combined. Mix in the wet ingredients and stir until you've got a uniform batter. Fold in the blueberries.

Scoop into paper liners and bake for 18-20 minutes. Insert a toothpick into the muffins and check to see if it comes out clean to ensure the muffins are cooked through.

If you're interested in trying Complement, please use my link (and I'll make a few bucks for the referral). But just so ya know, Complement Protein is on back order until November due to a worldwide watermelon shortage. If you do go ahead and place an order though, use the code MOREMELONS at checkout to save 10%!