There’s a very special ingredient that Chef keeps real close to his heart in all of his creations. No, it’s not MSG. Even better – it’s L-O-V-E.

Mostly by Fabian with a side of Lin | Reading time: 5 mins (in which you can enjoy 1 protein muffin, or 2) |Genre: Fun observations, not an actual recipe.

MAKING THE MUFFIN BATTER

What’s in our batter? Plain Flour, White Sugar, Brown Sugar, Salt, Baking Powder, Milk, Fresh Whole Eggs, Vanilla Whey Protein, and lots of Canadian Wild Blueberries (like 1 kg – I beep you not – for 24 muffins.)

Mix all of your DRY ingredients evenly in a mixing bowl – gently or not, you decide. It’s so satisfying to see them go from six different ingredients into one right? I know. Now set this aside.

Next, whisk all of your whole eggs together with milk until it becomes a glistening pale yellow mixture. Sure, you can see us do this on TikTok @NutrifyMeals too.

Once you’re done, add your eggs mixture into the dry mix and begin stirring away. This will work with a fork, whisk, or blender. We find manual whisks work the best, as you can whisk all your problems away at the same time – haha – because that’s what whisking is about, duh. It builds our arm muscles too.

This will take some time to do in order to achieve a smooth, luscious batter. Trust us, it’ll be worth it in the end.  Be sure to get rid of the lumps of dry mix and stir it in evenly with the batter.

When it is 90% mixed, pour in some strained blueberry juice that we mashed up earlier (Wait, when did we strain that juice?) into the batter to give it that nice purplish (erm, greyish-blue??) hue. This is what makes our blueberry muffins THE blueberry muffin. Don’t worry about the blueberries themselves, we’ll have use for them later.

MAKING THE BATTER BETTER 

After the macho act with the manual whisk, we use the big industrial electric blender to really fluff it up. The longer we blend it, the fluffier the muffins will get, but not that much lest we get tired. I mean, we’re talking about making almost 700 muffins here in huge 50-litre pots.

If you leave the batter to set overnight, muffin magic happens – the taste grows exponentially.

Now, pour your stunning batter into your muffin cups and fill them up to about 80% cup capacity. They are ready to turn delicious in a while. 

BAKING THE BATTER Round 1 +5½ min

Pre-heat your oven to a nice, toasty 195 degrees celsius. Slide your beautiful muffin cups into the oven. Bake them for 5 ½ minutes. Get front row seats in front of the oven and at around the 4-minute mark witness the first rising of the fruits of your labour.

Enjoy the sight of the growing bubbles at the sides of the muffins. This is how you know you are about to enjoy the fluffiest muffin in a long time. Remove the tray after the Round 1’s time is up. 

TOPPING UP THE BLUEBERRIES

How do you know they are blueberry muffins if we can’t see the blueberries? Take your excess blueberries from earlier, and sprinkle a few of them on your muffins. Be generous with those. Then it’s time for round 2 in the heat. Your muffins are still growing.

BAKING THE BATTER Round 2 +9 min or less

Let your works of art back into the oven for another extra 9 minutes. This is when more magic happens. Are you ready? Watch your muffins as they rise even more, with the heat caramelising the blueberries you just topped them off with. Something else rises too – oh, it’s your confidence.

How amazing do they look? Can you smell the fresh bake in the air? At this point, you should see the muffins forming a browned crust over their porous forms. This is how you know you’ll get a mildly crunchy exterior, with a fluffy soft interior. Those are the best kind of protein muffins.

We get it, some people don’t like their muffins to be too cake-like in texture. (But why tho?) Just kidding, we have a solution for you! For the second round of baking, after topping the blueberries onto your muffins, shorten the baking time to 8 minutes instead of 9. This gives you a denser and heavier muffin, more like a kueh now. If you prefer a fuller bite with a more moist texture, without too many crumbs, this version is for you!

Now stop daydreaming, it is time to take them out. Of course, if you’re smarter, like Chef Andrew, you’d have set an alarm to remind you. Don’t go anywhere yet. The best part is almost here.

THE FINAL TOUCH

The purplish interior of the protein muffin should be peeking out in the middle part with the sides being crispy and slightly browned. The muffin ought to have popped out of its cup and that’s how you know you have the right Nutrify-made blueberry protein muffin. Let these beauties rest a bit before you bite into them. Yums.

OTHER DELICIOUS SERVING SUGGESTIONS

Add Extra Toppings:

If you are reading this pseudo-recipe, chances are you like fresh fruits too or more berries. I like to top mine off with berry compote or fruit jams to give it that extra fruity goodness.

It is all up to your personal preferences. If you like heavier muffin macros, add dark chocolate shavings over fresh whipped cream to really take it up a notch.

Other alternatives (we love every single one) include peanut butter or any kind of nut butter, granola, ice cream, or yoghurt – like how Melissa does it!  Sky’s the limit, friends. #MuchoProteinMuffins