Applesauce Muffins

Yesterday was my first attempt at cooking with Emma. I was a little wary of how it would go over; I had thought maybe she was too young to really be into it. I was totally wrong and we had a marvelous time! I would measure the dry ingredients out, hold them over the bowl, then hand them to her to dump in. Each time she would gleefully cry out, "We did it!" (She gets pronouns confused sometimes). She also was very proficient at putting the paper liners in the muffin tins. We only focused on the letter A when we added the applesauce, but the whole process of cooking provided opportunities for new vocabulary and a new kind of activity to do together.

This recipe comes from the Family Fun: Cooking with Kids cookbook.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking power
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups chunky applesauce
6 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions:
1. Heat the oven to 375. Grease (or line with paper bake cups) a 12-cup muffin pan.
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt into a large mixing bowl.
3. In another large bowl, beat together the eggs and brown sugar. Stir in the applesauce and melted butter until the mixture is smooth.
4. Pour the apple mixture over the flour mixture. Mix with a wooden spoon until combined (it's ready when you can't see any traces of flour).
5. Fill the backe cups about two-thirds full with batter (an ice-cream scoop works well for this task). Bake until light brown, about 20 minutes. Test for doneness by inserting a knife in the middle of one muffin. If it comes out clean, the muffins are done. Makes 12.

Dumping the dry ingredients together. (Ingore the post-nap messy hair. It's more important that we were doing an activity together than that we had perfect hair, right? :)

Putting the paper liners in the muffin tins.

The finished product.