Sunday, May 1, 2011

MAYday MAYday... A muffin story

Once upon a time, in the land of Bacon.

"What's for breakfast Mom?" the kids questioned.

"Cereal again". the mom said.

The Bacon kids groaned "not again... We want something different".

Panic struck Ma Bacon's face. What can I make the kids that is different, that they will all like she wondered. She was about to call mayday for the reinforcements to come in, well just one really. But Mr. Bacon was still fast in his slumber (I can't blame him, he worked all night long). And then an idea grew in her head. "Let's make muffins" she exclaimed.

"I want chocolate." cried little miss Bacon.

"I want banana!" yelled little boy Bacon.

"No, apple for me." Bacon jr said.

And yet another dilemma arose.

How with the story end you ask? Is the suspense killing you yet?! I won't keep you waiting any longer. I will say I managed to please all 3 of the kids without needing to call mayday, on May day for that matter! I've had this recipe for a while now and decided this would be a perfect way to start our morning.

Mystery Muffins

1/4 cup sugar
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
4 Tbsp oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups flour
Mix in's

Preheat oven to 350*. In mixing bowl add sugar, milk, eggs, vanilla and oil. Mix well. Add in salt, baking soda, baking powder and flour. Mix well. I have to say if you are looking for a good muffin base, this one is perfect! Pour into well greased muffin tins. We used mini muffins and it made 3 dozen, I'm guessing you'd get 12 good sized regular muffins if you went with the bigger muffin tins.

If you looked at the picture of my ingredients, you notice I have no oil. I decided to substitute some pear sauce for the oil. For one Bacon bit isn't eating it, and two, I figured with all the chocolate I knew was going into these muffins, I needed to do something to make it a bit more healthy!

Next its time for the fun. Your mix in's. today we went with chocolate chips, diced apples with cinnamon sugar on them, chopped bananas, dried cranberries, raisins, chopped pecans, vanilla chips and triple berry jam. Oh and lets not forget some M&M's that somehow slipped into a few of these muffins! Better the kids get their sugar high in the mornings right?


Other ideas you can use are:
strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries
Peanut butter
any dried fruit
nuts
granola
cereal

Go search your cupboards, I'm sure you'll find lots of other inspiration to mix in these fun muffins.


The next part is what the kids were waiting for. Making their own creations! Little miss bacon was up first and happily added chocolate chips and M&M's to her muffins.



Little boy Bacon created his next. Not too shocked on all the chocolate that went into his, but he did try his taste buds on a few other things like the bananas he said he wanted and cranberries.



Finally Bacon Jr tried out his culinary skills by getting quite creative. Wanting to try a bit of everything he made apple pecan, cranberry M&M, banana raisin, apple vanilla chip, triple berry jam & pecan, and apple chocolate chip!



I created the rest of them. Here they are all ready for the oven.



I baked these in the oven for 14 minutes. For large muffins you'll want to bake them for 20 minutes.



Let them cool on the pan for a minute or two and then cool completely on a wire rack. I have to say I thought the toppings would sink in a bit more than they did. I think next time we make these I'll take a tooth pick and push them down inside a bit. I have to say, it was a fun time. I loved watching how creative the kids were making them. And how they critiqued their own work while eating them. They are already talking about what they want to mix in their own muffins next time we make them! As for me, I enjoyed mine with one of these! Hope you have a great May 1st!




No comments:

Post a Comment