'Toddler' Mini Muffins

I thought I would share a recipe today. At first my plan was to wait until Monday and use it as a Pinspiration post, since the recipe (surprise!) comes from Pinterest, but I decided to just go with it.

Let me start by saying that Levi is not a fan of vegetables. I have no clue why, but since he switched from baby food to finger foods last year, he won't touch them. He ate his baby food good, so I'm wondering if it's a texture thing. There have been a few instances where he'll try something, but usually he won't even look at anything green, orange or any other bright color unless it is fruit. He LOVES his fruit, so that is a plus at least. And he does eat well for the most part.

So in other words, I need to get better at 'hiding' them in his meals. I've put chopped/grated carrots and broccoli (and other miscellaneous veggies) into things like meatloaf and bbq's, which he will usually eat, but then I get the complaining from the other end... Yep. This tastes different...What did you put in this?...yada yada yada. (I am talking about Paul if you didn't figure that out. :) But a lot of the time I just don't think of it, and keep hoping one day he'll just decide he likes carrots or broccoli or anything veggie, really.

Which leads me to this recipe. I saw it on Pinterest and thought I would give it a try. There isn't a lot of sugar, and it has lots of good-for-you things in it. After I made the muffins and let them cool, I gave one to Levi, not sure what to expect. Sure enough, he loved them. So much that he had like five of them. And he had a few for breakfast this morning too. So I guess they are a success! And the fact that he is getting some vitamins and minerals from the carrots, squash and bananas that are hidden in them is a bonus! These might be something that I keep in the freezer for a quick snack or breakfast.

Toddler Muffins

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar, or to taste
2 large bananas, mashed
1 (4.5 oz) jar baby food squash
2 carrots, grated
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup oat bran
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. 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 batter into the prepared muffin cups.

3. Bake in preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 15-20 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.

Notes:
- I got 24 mini muffins, plus 7 regular size muffins.
- I set the timer for 15 minutes with the mini muffins and that was about right. The regular size muffins needed a few more minutes.  
- The bottoms of my muffins did get a little dark, but I think that was mainly because I have a dark nonstick muffin pan.

Original recipe from Allrecipes HERE 
Original pin is HERE  

Hope you enjoy! And just because, here is a pic of Levi having one yesterday. He was ignoring my camera as you can see..