Well kids, I’m pleased to report that I’ve recently trumped my original “sweet seitan” recipe (or “pleather muffins” as dad calls ’em) and am happy to share the recipe with you fine folks today.

I’ll be honest, I’m not usually a gluten fan mostly because it kinda makes me feel like a bloated whale. So needless to say, when I’m training for a competition, my vegan bikini diet does NOT include vital wheat gluten or “wheat meat” as we veegs cleverly like to call it. 🙂

In the off-season, however, I do like to experiment with different vegan proteins and test out new vegan bodybuilding recipes. I also like to eat less soy because I eat an INSANE amount of it when I’m in prep mode. And although I am a huge advocate for soy, too much of anything is never good and it’s important to eat a varied diet especially for us competitors who eat the same foods for months on end.

Whether on or off-season, I do still try to keep my carb and fat intake low. I guess the meatless meathead inside of me just can’t get past the “protein good, carbs bad” mentality. And as we all know, I LOVE my sweet treats. So I was determined to come up with a new seitan recipe that was both sweet and flavourful– one that would make me FEEL like I was committing carbicide and eating dessert– yet was actually low-carb, low-fat and super high in muscle-building plant protein. 🙂

Well, I DID IT! And this time, they weren’t too chewy and didn’t look like “shit bricks” or “pleather muffins!” **Hashtag #SUCCESS** In fact, they turned out really soft and fluffy with a bread-like consistency and that home baked goods comforting taste.

As luck would have it, I even used my mom’s “Boiled Raisin Drop Cookie” recipe as the inspiration for these bad boys. And I gotta say, they are a new fave fo’ sho’.

Sweet Seitan Protein Bread for Vegan Bodybuilders and Low Carb Dieters

Dry Ingredients:

1 cup Jacked on the Beanstalk Vegan Protein Powder (vanilla)
1 cup chickpea flour
(you could substitute with coconut or whole wheat flour but I wanted the most high protein, low carb/fat option)
2 cups vital wheat gluten (seitan)
10 stevia packets (1g each)
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. allspice
1 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder

Wet Ingredients:

1 + 3/4 cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1 cup water
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Combine all dry ingredients in large bowl. Combine all wet ingredients in small bowl. Pour wet mixture into dry ingredients and stir until dough is formed.

Pull golf ball-sized pieces of dough and mold each into a small puck haha. How do you like these instructions? Let it be known I never said they LOOK good. 😉

Drop dough balls onto baking sheet. Bake for approximately 12 – 15 minutes until lightly browned.

Makes approximately 16 “cookies” or “bread lumps…” Hmmm maybe “scones” would be a more appealing-sounding term? Whatever you wanna call ’em, don’t judge a book by its cover! They’re super tasty and need I repeat once more: YOU CAN EAT THEM GUILT-FREE?!

I like dipping these “gluten pucks” into Walden Farms’ calorie-free marshmallow dip or treating them like an English muffin i.e. warm it up, cut in half and spread with Walden Farms’ calorie-free apple butter.

Hope you like ’em!

– Sam Shorkey, Jacked on the Beanstalk