C is for Chocolate Raspberry Muffins

Muffins are a great lunchbox addition at any time of the year but as the weather starts to cool I like my muffins to do double duty.  A warm muffin with vanilla ice cream or custard makes the perfect dessert. And if, like me, you wrap the muffins in plastic wrap and store them in the freezer, its a quick and easy dessert too.

These Chocolate Raspberry Muffins taste a little like a cherry ripe chocolate bar but are a healthier option (depending on what you serve them with of course).

The original recipe is from the Australian Institute of Sports website.  To make life easier I have made a printable card for this recipe which you can download here.

Chocolate Raspberry Muffins

Recipe credit: Australian Insitute of Sport
Makes 12

Ingredients
2½ cups self-raising flour
¼ cup baking cocoa
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
¾ cup caster sugar
½ cup dark chocolate chips
1 tablespoon margarine, melted
1 cup skim milk
1 egg
300 g frozen raspberries

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
2. Line a 12-hole muffin pan with paper muffin cases. Putting the paper cases into the tray is a great step for even really young children to help with. We actually made some regular sized muffins and some mini muffins which are a great size for Bear and Bee's lunchboxes. 

3. Sift flour, cocoa and bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl. 
4. Stir in sugar and choc bits and make a well in the centre.

5. In a small bowl, use a fork to whisk together margarine, milk and egg, then add to flour mixture.
6. Stir gently until mixture is just combined (do not over-beat).

7. Gently fold raspberries through mixture. We actually crushed our raspberries up while frozen by placing them in a ziplock bag and gently hitting them with a rolling pin.  This gave us tasty little raspberry peices all through the muffin mix rather than lumps of whole raspberries.

8. Spoon mixture into cases.
9. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until muffins are well risen and spring back to the touch. Leave in pan for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

B is for Bunny Break Muffins

These Carrot and Banana Muffins are the perfect snack for your hungry bunnies.

Makes approx 12.  We made 9 regular sized muffins and 12 mini muffins.

Carrot and Banana Muffins
Download the recipe card here.

Ingredients
1 medium sized ripe banana, mashed
2 eggs
1/4 cup vegetable or light olive oil
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups self raising flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup finely grated carrot

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Line muffin pan with paper cases. This is a good step for all young children to help with.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the banana, eggs, oil, milk, sugar and vanilla.
4. Sift flour and cinnamon over the banana mixture.  Add carrot and gently mix together.  Be careful not to mix too much or the muffins will be tough.
5. Spoon the mixture evenly among the paper cases.
6. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until muffins spring back when lightly touched.
7. Cool on a wire rack.

Carrot and Banana Muffins

To make these muffins even more Easterish (I'm sure that's a word), we iced them with Cream Cheese Icing and used fruit stick lollies and mini marshallows to make carrot and flower decorations.

Bee decorating the muffins

Cream Cheese Icing
Beat 30 grams soft butter and 80 grams soft cream cheese in a small bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.  Gradually beat in 240g (1 1/2 cups) icing sugar.

S is for Savoury Muffins for The Kids Cook Monday

Mondays are busy days for us with Bear and Bee having music classes and dance classes on the same day.  Add to that trying to catch up with friends for a playdate (and some adult conversation) and cooking for my weekly The Kids Cook Monday post and I know I have to be super organised to get through the day.

For our playdate today we decided to meet at a local playground for lunch so I decided the girls and I would cook something to take to share for lunch rather than having Bear and Bee help me cook dinner tonight.  With Bear's love of muffins and Bee's interest in anything that remotely resembles bread we decided on this recipe for savoury muffins from over at Roar Sweetly's blog. I know we are on a bit of a bread theme at the moment but if the girls will eat it I'm sticking to it!

I decided to change the recipe slightly to suit our family's tastes.  Rather than 1 cup of cooked bacon (which would have been way too salty for Bee) I increased the vegies to 1 and 3/4 cups and used 1/4 cup of chopped ham.  Also the original recipe called for the muffins to be baked for 20 minutes however I found this wasn't long enough. 

Not only did these Savoury Muffins taste great for lunch, hubby and I enjoyed them for dinner as a side to our slow cooker Beef and bean stew. I love comfort food!

Savoury Muffins
Original recipe from Roar Sweetly

Makes 12

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups self raising flour
2 cups grated cheese
1/4 cup finely chopped ham
1 3/4 cups of vegetables (We used peeled and grated zucchini, grated carrot and a small tin of corn kernels)
1 egg
3/4 cup milk

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
2. Grease a 12 hole regular muffin tray.  I used a cooking spray to make the job easier. It's best not to line the tray with paper cases as they tend to stick to savoury muffins.

Measuring in the flour

Adding the cheese

In goes the ham

Plus the vegies

3. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, cheese, ham and vegetables.

Cracking eggs is something I get Bee and Bear to practise as much as possible

Combining the milk and egg

4. In a measuring jug or small bowl, mix together the milk and egg.

5. Add the milk mix to the flour mixture and gently combine.  Try not to over mix the muffin batter or the muffins will turn out tough and chewy.

6. Spoon the mixture evenly into each hole of the muffin tray.

7. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown and the muffins spring back when pressed lightly in the centre.

Z is for Zucchini and Chocolate

Zucchinis are in oversupply in our region at the moment which means I have been getting lots of free ones through my dad.  While we are using them up in bolognaise sauce and rissoles I thought I would try something different and use them in a cake recipe.  I have read a lot of recipes for chocolate and zucchini cakes and while I don't completely agree with hiding vegetables just to get kids to eat them there is something to be said for combining them with a food the kids love.  In Bear and Bee's case that would be cupcakes and muffins.  And since Bee helped make these muffins she knows the zucchini is in there.

I chose this recipe after some research.  Many of the chocolate zucchini cupcake recipes I found also had high levels of sugar and fat.  I don't really see the point of adding veggies to something that is unhealthy in other ways.

So I was very happy when I found this recipe for Low Fat Chocolate Zucchini Muffins on SparkRecipes.  I essentially followed the original recipe.  Even though the measurements are American I used my Australian measuring cups and spoons and found the end result batter to be really good.  It was actually more like a cupcake batter so if you like your muffins to be more dense add more flour.  And since I don't like doing more steps than necessary I used self raising flour in place of the flour and baking soda.  I also left out the salt as we try to keep our salt intake as low as possible.  I think next time we will try these with applesauce in place of the oil, as suggested in the ratings to low the fat content even more.

After a few necessary and very satisfactory taste tests, this batch was off to playgroup with us. 

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
Makes 18
Download a free recipe card for this recipe here.

Ingredients

1/3 cup boiling water 

2 cups grated zucchini

1 1/2 cups self raising flour
1/2 cup cocoa 

3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon 

1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs, lightly beaten 

1 teaspoon vanilla

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and line muffins trays with paper cases (you will need 18 lined muffin holes).

2. In large bowl, pour boiling water over the zucchini.

 

3. Add in the dry ingredients and mix well.

4. Mix together the oil, eggs and vanilla and add to the zucchini mix.

5. Stir just until just combined. Don't over mix or your muffins will be tough.

6. Divide the muffin batter evenly among the paper cases.

7. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until muffins spring back when lightly touched in the centre.

M is for Muffins

Muffins are a great recipe for children to help you with or even, if they are old enough, to complete on their own – at least up to the stage where they need to go in the oven.

If you start with a basic muffin recipe like this one from the Stay at home mum website you can make them any flavour you and your child likes. And if you omit the sugar you can make savoury ones too.

Our current favourites in the three foot cooks household are Raspberry and white chocolate and Banana.  There are a lot of flavour combinations that can be used with this basic recipe.  I have listed some at the end of this post but feel free to experiment and find one that works for your little cook.   

So today I thought we would try something different – for our family anyway. 

Apple, Banana  and Cinnamon Muffins

Basic Muffin Recipe

    2 cups Self Raising Flour

    1/2 cup sugar
    1 egg, beaten

    1/4 cup vegetable oil

    1 cup milk

To make apple, banana and cinnamon muffins, add 1 ripe banana, mashed, ½ cup apple, grated or pureed and ½ tsp cinnamon.

Here’s how we made them:

Preheat the oven to 175^oC. Prepare a 12 hole muffin tray by greasing tray or lining with paper cases.

Mix the flour and sugar together in a large bowl.

Bee measuring the flour into the bowl.

Measuring dry ingredients is a good skill for children to practise

 Lightly beat the egg and then add to flour mix along with oil and milk.

Bee mixing in the egg, oil and milk

 Gently mix in your chosen flavourings - in our case the pureed apple, mashed banana and cinnamon.

 Spoon the mix into the muffin tray.  As you can see from the photos we experimented with a spoon and a 1/4 cup measure for filling the tray with mix.  Even though the 1/4 cup measure was messy it got the job done quickly.  The spoon takes longer and needs to be refilled a lot more often.

Trying out the spoon to fill the muffin tray

The 1/4 cup measure is messy but quicker

The number of muffins this makes will depend on what flavourings and how much of them you add.  This variation made 14 standard size muffins.  Plain vanilla mix will make 12 muffins.

Apple, banana and cinnamon muffins

 

Bee loved these muffins so much that she had 2 for dessert. They are also delicious served warm with vanilla ice cream and maple syrup.

Flavour ideas:

Blueberry – add ½ cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Choc Chip – add ½ cup milk or dark chocolate chips

Chocolate – ¼ cup cocoa, mix into the flour before adding

Vanilla – 1tsp vanilla extract

Jam filled – 1tsp vanilla extract added to basic mix, fill muffin cases, add 1 tsp strawberry jam and push down slightly into mix with end of spoon

Muesli – 2 tbs honey and 1 cup toasted muesli (you may need to add a little extra milk or orange juice so the mix is not too dry)

Pizza – ham, grated cheese and chopped pineapple

Tomato and corn – 1 cup frozen corn kernels, ½ cup tomato salsa, 1/3 cup grated cheese

Pumpkin – Leave out the milk and add 300g pumpkin, cooked, mashed and cooled, 1 cup grated cheese

What is your child’s favourite afternoon snack?

S is for Strawberry Muffins

After visiting the Strawberry Fair recently, we had lots of fresh strawberries to snack on.  Once a few days had passed however they were beginning to be a little past their prime so I decided to make some Strawberry Muffins with Bear and Bee.  We usually stick to our standard playlist of muffins flavours (choc chip and banana) so this was new territory.

At the fair we were given a ‘Cooking with Strawberries’ leaflet. I adapted the recipe from that leaflet for our muffins.  It is a great recipe for cooking with children.  Apart from putting the muffins in the oven and taking them out, your child can help with all the steps.  Placing the paper cases in the muffin tray (a good opportunity to practice counting), chopping the strawberries, mixing the ingredients, spooning the muffin mix into the cases and sprinkling on the topping are all steps that your child can help with or do with your supervision.

This is what we did:

Ingredients

½ cup milk

¼ cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs

2 cups self-raising flour (you could use 2 cups all-purpose flour and 2 teaspoons of baking powder)

1 cup of chopped strawberries

1 cup raw sugar

1 cup rolled oats

½ cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons butter, melted

Method

Preheat the oven to 200^oC.

Line a 12 hole muffin tray with paper cases.  

Oh no! Too many paper cases.

  Combine the milk, oil and eggs in a large bowl.   

Bee carefully adding the oil.

 Stir in the flour, strawberries and raw sugar.   

Bee has started practicing her measuring skills with the flour.

Bee mixing in the chopped strawberries

 

Mix until just combined.  It is important not to overmix muffins as they become tough.  Don’t worry if the mix is a little lumpy.  It will work out in the end.

In a small bowl mix together the oats, brown sugar and melted butter to make a topping for the muffins.  Try to stop your child eating all the topping before it goes onto the muffins!

Bear came back to help make the topping.

But its really good mum! Eating the oaty topping for the muffins

Spoon the muffin mix evenly into the muffin tray and sprinkle on the oats topping.  Remind your child again that the topping is for the muffins not solely for them to eat.  (In all fairness it does taste really good so I can’t blame them.)

Spooning on what is left of the topping.

Bake the muffins for 15-20 minutes.  Muffins are cooked when they spring back after being lightly touched in the centre.  Cool on a wire rack and enjoy.

Bee and Bear enjoying their strawberry muffins

This is a great recipe for kids. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did.  We will definitely be making these a few more times before strawberry season is over.  I might even have to freeze some strawberries so we can make them later in the year too.

 

Delicious!!

 What is your favourite strawberry recipe to cook with your child?