These family-friendly muffins are infinitely adaptable! Evoke all your senses and some favorite fall spices for a culinary exploration making magnificent muffins and confident chefs! You can even cook-a-long in a go-at-your-own-pace video with Chef Alicia, right here.
These scrumptious muffins are oh-so-fall.
I'm not one to dive headfirst into pumpkin-spiced everything, but I am a sucker for good pumpkin bread or muffin this time of year. There's just something so satisfying about being enveloped in all those warm spices while donning a cable-knit sweater.
These can be completely customized to be gluten, dairy, and nut-free, and can be spiced up (or down) how you like. In our kitchen, we try to use recipes with plenty of room for little imaginations to get creative. We provide some suggestions for those just getting started but absolutely encourage alternative ideas.
When we cook with all of our senses, we really begin to understand the nuances of our food. When we really connect with ingredients- know our spices by name, and begin to learn the ones that really make our personal palates sing- we are learning the foundations of good cooking. We begin to understand how to make (and eat) the food we love.
I like to give the littles lots of opportunities to customize their food, that's what being a creative chef is all about after all. Sometimes kids come up with the craziest combos- (cinnamon ceasar salad with strawberries comes to mind) but when they are cooking with mindfulness, they are paying attention to the flavors and smells, and tasting along the way. They are making food that makes them happy, and that they are happy to eat (or at least try, and reflect). Something magic happens- kids leave the kitchen feeling incredibly confident that they just made a recipe by themselves, they develop autonomy and courage. Help encourage healthy relationships with food by allowing kids to make some of their own decisions. Try this fun recipe to flex your kid's kitchen confidence- let them choose everything from the type of flour they use, to the ways to spice them up. Then add in fun mix-ins of their choice, like nuts, seeds, citrus zest, or chocolate. Kids are magicians in the kitchen. Allowing them to make some of their own choices when it comes to food gives them a good start to building a positive, healthy relationship with food.
Download the recipe to print-at-home here:
I've got all the ingredients! Take me to the cook-a-long video!
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