Muffins!

Today I asked the kids what they wanted to do. My eldest son can not cope with self regulating his computer time.. in fact it stops all his self regulation at all and he becomes a lethargic, emotionally volatile, incontinent mess. So, after having ruled out playing on the computer, A. decided he wanted to bake some muffins.

I love baking with my kids because it's such a rich experience. Not only does it make them aware of how their food is made and where it comes from, but there are a pile of skills, from measuring and estimating, right through to the theory of how foods work together. Today we had a couple of challenges; cooking food the whole family can eat means making wheat-free / dairy-free / egg-free, and the regular recipe we use contained bananas, which we didn't have.

A. demonstrates the viscosity of gelled chia.
"It was really jelly-like, and it was fun!"

One of the ingredients that works well for us (for gluten-free, egg-free baking,) as a solidifying agent, that helps keep the muffin mixture moist, while at the same time helping it bind together, is chia seeds. The cool thing about chia seeds is that they are "mucilaginous".. or gooey when they get wet. We did an experiment today where we put some chia seeds in some water and it only takes a minute or two for them to turn into a jelly that is so gooey that you can hold the container upside down. A. Thought this was hilarious, and let's face it, chia is pretty cool.

We had to figure out what to replace banana with and A. decided it had to be something wet, squishy and sweet so he picked kiwifruit. I knew that this is a lot more acidic than banana so I added a pinch of baking soda to the mixture to cut the acidity a bit. He cut them in half and I peeled them and we popped them all in the blender with some freshly ground chia. We wanted oats, but we needed them to be moist so we soaked them. A:"this smells just like porridge."

I told him the measurements for the dry ingredients which he measured in and mixed to get out all the lumps. He preheated the oven to 180°C before combining the wet and dry ingredients and spooning them out into muffin trays.  He decided we should add chocolate chips and had to taste test a few just in case ("chef's privilege!"). He decided it would be a good idea to save at least one for Daddy when they were cooked because Daddy was at work. After we had made them Daddy called from work and asked if he could have 3 so we put them aside so that they wouldn't be devoured by ravenous children (and Mummy).

These sorts of opportunities are fantastic for my eldest, when we can get one-on-one time. This can be problematic because I have two other children also in my care. Luckily, one is very young and so she sleeps a lot, and the other is very good at entertaining himself, but today I learned the hard way that giving the more self sufficient child his turn on the computer while we bake is not the best strategy for keeping the older one interested in the activity. If there is a computer on in the house he NEEDS to be involved, which doesn't encourage him to enjoy what he's doing, but rather to frame an otherwise fun activity (that he requested!) as a distraction from the flashy lights in the other room. Not something I hope to repeat.

I wish I could have a muffin now... but they're all gone.