Pear muffins mayhem: easy fun baking for little hands

When you have a house full of runny noses, nasty coughs, clingy kids, a sunny day and a pantry that needs to be replenished with safe snacks.....what do you do?

This was our exact situation earlier this week so what better idea than baking together outside in the sun!
activity to entertain the munchkins. CHECK :)
a dose of sunshine and fresh air. CHECK  :)
Yummy snacks to eat. CHECK :)
Opportunity for learning. CHECK :)
Quite a mess. Oh well :P

I set up a table  with mixing bowel, 2 spoons and measured out the quantities of ingredients in separate little plastic bowels so the kids could get stuck in and mix it all up.

The beauty about muffin's is all the ingredients all get chucked in together in the bowel-there is not real beat this, then put this in, add half, mix again.
No complications, just chuck it in and mix.
                                                                 The other good thing about muffins is you don't have to mix them to a perfect paste, mixing the ingredients a little roughly and not too much mostly results in better lighter muffins. Too much mixing will end up creating a more dense result.

Here is the result of my munchkins sunshine activity....yummy!

Pear Muffin's

Low chemical. Free of egg, nut, dairy, gluten and soy
(simply pick the ingredients options that suit your family)

1 1/2 cup self raising flour or gluten free self raising flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg lightly beaten (equivalent amount of egg replacement)
2/3 cup of milk, soy milk or pear syrup
1/4 cup of canola oil
1/2 cup of canned or fresh pear, diced

• Sift flour into a bowel and add remaining ingredients, stirring till mixed.
• lightly grease a 12-cup muffin pan with nuttlex or canola oil and use a spoon to three-quarter-fill cups.
• Bake at 180 degrees for 15-20 min (we used a mini muffin pan and reduced cooking time)

Variations:

• Apple muffin's: add 1 chopped Golden Delicious apple (salicylates) and 1 tbsp extra sugar
• Veggie muffin's: use 1/2 tsp salt instead of the sugar and add finely diced such as chokos, brussels sprouts, potato and green beans as another good way of getting vegetables into children.
• High fibre: add 1/4 cup rice bran, increase milk to 1 cup.

Happy baking!!!! enjoy