Toddler Muffins

This is a muffin recipe I've been making for awhile now - I think the first time I made it was when Lindsey was about 11 months old. That time I made it in the mini muffin tins and they were perfect little bite sized treats! This time I used some silicone baking cup molds I was sent to test out and they came out just the perfect size for a toddler breakfast, or a hungry teen boy (or mama) snack!

My very favorite thing about this recipe is the versatility. You can change up the baby food puree to just about any flavor of fruit, squash, sweet potato, carrot, etc. - anything that will blend well with the other ingredients (this particular batch I made got a jar of mixed yogurt and aronia berry)! Then for the grated carrot, change it up with grated apple, sweet potato, zucchini, etc. - again anything that will blend with your ingredients and that you know works well in baked goods. The mix and match options are endless.

The overwhelming flavor, to me, each time is the banana - so if your baby / toddler / child / picky teenager likes bananas you will probably have a winner on your hands in your family too! My second favorite thing about this recipe is that these do freeze very well, and come in super handy for cranky teething baby. When I made the mini muffins, I would pull one straight from the freezer, dice it into about 4 - 6 chunks, and Lindsey would gnaw on them, suck on them - the cold felt good on her gums and the muffin would thaw while she chewed on it so there was never a choking issue.

If you haven't tried silicone baking cups yet - I have to give them a huge thumbs up. I love that they are reuseable, the colors are adorable, they make great "toys" for busy toddlers, good snack cups for treats like goldfish, animal crackers, etc., they're great tools to teach colors, and stacking (Lindsey's favorite thing to do with them is stack them inside each other), and they are also really good muffin cups! :) I sprayed mine with baking spray to be on the safe side, and had zero issues with sticking, and clean up was very easy.

Toddler Muffins from Lori on AllRecipes

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar, or to taste
2 large bananas, mashed
1 (4.5 ounce) jar baby food squash (or almost any baby food fruit - apple, pear, apricot, plum -, pumpkin puree, carrot puree, sweet potato puree, etc.)
2 carrots, grated (or 1 small apple, grated)
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup oat bran (or wheat bran)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (or cinnamon)
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease 24 mini muffin cups or 12 standard muffin cups.
2. In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar until smooth. Mix in the mashed bananas, squash, carrots, and eggs. Stir in the flour, oat bran, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt until just combined. Spoon the batter equally into the prepared muffin cups.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack. Store at room temperature for up to two days, or freeze.

*Full Disclosure: I received complimentary product from Home-Complete for the purpose of review. I received no compensation for this post. All comments are 100% accurate and 100% my own.