6 apple and cinnamon desserts

01 of 6Sweets

Blueberry Almond Muffins

• 20 mintotal
• 7 gprotein
• 180kcal
• Beginnerlevel
• 14servings

Why it's here: The fastest one here. Makes 14 servings, so it covers several days.

9 ingredients · 6 steps

The quickest sweet on the page at 20 minutes, linked to the list by its cinnamon. Almond flour, Greek yogurt, eggs and honey make 14 gluten-free muffins, each with 180 kcal and 7 g of protein. That is a decent protein figure for a muffin, and it works as a snack as well as a dessert. The blueberries are folded in, with a few extra pressed on top before baking.

Use almond flour made from blanched almonds, not almond meal, and do not swap it for another flour, which changes the texture. Bake at 180 °C for 10 to 15 minutes until golden brown, and keep an eye on them since ovens vary. Let them cool before eating or they may fall apart. They keep 5 to 7 days in an airtight box in the fridge.

02 of 6Sweets

Banana Oat Cookies

• 25 mintotal
• 6 gprotein
• 230kcal
• Beginnerlevel
• 6servings

Why it's here: Makes 6 servings, so it covers several days.

8 ingredients · 6 steps

Mashed banana, egg, oats and honey, flavoured with cinnamon and chocolate chips, baked as 12 small cookies. Six servings means two each, at 230 kcal and 6 g of protein. There is no flour or butter anywhere in the ingredients, which keeps them on the lighter side of the sweets here. Chocolate chips are folded in at the end, and the oven time is about 15 minutes.

The riper the bananas, the sweeter and softer the cookies. Let the mixture sit a few minutes so the oats soak up some banana and hold together, then wet your hands or the spoon to scoop the sticky mounds. Bake at 175 °C for about 15 minutes, until golden at the edges. They stay soft, so a container in the fridge keeps them for up to 4 days.

03 of 6Sweets

Protein Brownies

• 30 mintotal
• 12 gprotein
• 110kcal
• Beginnerlevel
• 9servings

Why it's here: The most protein on this list. 11 g of protein for every 100 kcal, which is very lean.

11 ingredients · 5 steps

The most protein on the list: 12 g in a brownie of 110 kcal. Chocolate protein powder, cottage cheese, egg whites and applesauce make the batter, which is where the apple link comes from, and there is no butter in it. The batch cuts into nine large pieces after 30 minutes in total. Five egg whites and two whole eggs go in, along with 100 g of cottage cheese.

Blend the wet ingredients for only 10 seconds, then pour them slowly into the dry mix, whisking to a thick batter. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, nearer 12 if you want them fudgy. Cool them completely so they set before cutting into nine. Chocolate chips can be folded in if you like. A sensible snack for anyone counting protein.

04 of 6Sweets

Banana Bread Bars

• 35 mintotal
• 5 gprotein
• 100kcal
• Beginnerlevel
• 9servings

Why it's here: Makes 9 servings, so it covers several days.

10 ingredients · 6 steps

Banana, eggs, oat flour and a little vanilla protein powder, baked in a 20 cm pan and cut into nine bars. At 100 kcal and 5 g of protein each they are the lightest sweet on the page, with cinnamon tying them to the list. Chocolate chips make them feel like a treat. There is no added sugar in the ingredient list, only the banana and the chocolate chips.

Mash the banana well first, then mix in the eggs and vanilla before the dry ingredients go in. Stir the chocolate chips in last and keep a few for the top. Spread the batter in the lined square pan and bake at 175 °C for 18 to 20 minutes. Regular oats can replace the oat flour, and the protein powder is optional, so the bars are easy to make from what you have.

05 of 6Sweets

Buttery Apple Crumble

• 55 mintotal
• 4 gprotein
• 460kcal
• Beginnerlevel
• 6servings

Why it's here: Makes 6 servings, so it covers several days.

7 ingredients · 7 steps

The one real apple dish on the list: four apples, diced small, cooked with brown sugar and cinnamon under a buttery rubbed topping, served with custard. It comes to 460 kcal and 4 g of protein a serving, so this is a proper pudding for six rather than a snack. It takes 55 minutes in all. The topping is rubbed together by hand from cold butter, sugar and flour.

Cook the diced apples in a saucepan with 60 g of brown sugar and the cinnamon until they begin to soften. For the topping, rub the cold cubed butter, sugar, remaining brown sugar and flour together with your fingertips. It clumps like shortbread, so break the clumps apart. Cover the apples so none shows, bake 25 minutes, then cool for 10. Cold custard works better than hot.

06 of 6Sweets

Berry Crisp

• 1 htotal
• 5 gprotein
• 310kcal
• Beginnerlevel
• 8servings

Why it's here: Makes 8 servings, so it covers several days.

8 ingredients · 6 steps

A crisp of 840 g frozen mixed berries under a topping of oats, almond flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and butter. The cinnamon is a quarter teaspoon, but it counts. At 60 minutes it is the slowest sweet here, though most of that is oven time, and it serves eight at 310 kcal and 5 g of protein each. The berries go in frozen, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream finishes it.

There is no need to thaw the berries, because the cornstarch binds the juice. Only just melt the butter, since if it gets hot and runny the topping will not form chunks. Press the topping into pieces of different sizes, then bake on the lower rack for 50 to 60 minutes until bubbling and golden. The filling is a little tart, so add more brown sugar if you like it sweeter.