But, at the same time, I like finding activities for my kids to do. And my kids LOVE to bake treats. They love making them. They love eating them. They love wrapping their tiny pudgy fingers around wooden spoons and plastic cups and doing all the scooping and the pouring and the sprinkling. It\u2019s, like, a whole thing.<\/span><\/p>\n And since I\u2019m a sucker for happy, occupied children, often times you\u2019ll find me in my kitchen scrambling for last minute ingredients that I didn\u2019t plan for while simultaneously pinning a random recipe two seconds before I follow it (kinda) and Googling \u201cwhat can you substitute eggs with?!\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n That pretty much sums up the other day when we planned to make blueberry muffins. That is, until I realized we didn\u2019t have any muffin mix. Oh, and I\u2019m also allergic to gluten. And apparently really love making things complicated. BUT we did have gluten-free pancake mix. With Funfetti! And what small child (or any reasonable adult, for that matter) wouldn\u2019t love to make some awesome rainbow\/unicorn\/fairy muffins? The kids were stoked.<\/span><\/p>\n But \u2026.. How do you turn pancake mix into muffin mix? Well, like anything good in this world, there\u2019s a Pinterest hack for that. Whipping out my phone with kids begging to see vidoes of themselves in the background, first I found this recipe from Family Fresh Meals [<\/span>https:\/\/www.familyfreshmeals.com\/2014\/06\/easy-baked-pancake-muffins.html#_a5y_p=3502654<\/span><\/a>] for \u201cEasy Baked Pancake Muffins.\u201d I was absolutely kicking myself for not having an amazing assortment of silicone cupcake liners in all these bright and fun colors. Like, how perfect is this picture [https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/pin\/186547609541846497\/]<\/a>? I die. Alas, I just had plain \u2018ol white paper liners. The struggle is real, people! <\/span><\/p>\n I went on to the next pin. <\/span><\/p>\n And that\u2019s when I found Smashed Peas & Carrots’<\/a>\u00a0recipe for \u201cPancake Mix Muffins\u201d [<\/span>http:\/\/smashedpeasandcarrots.com\/pancake-mix-muffins-recipe-egg-free-can-be-dairy-and-gluten-free\/<\/span><\/a>] that were also gluten free and egg free. It\u2019s important to find a gluten-free specific recipe, as I\u2019ve come to find out on more than one (unfortunate) occasion, because the various wheat substitutes don\u2019t cook the same way, or for the same length of time, as their deliciously gluten-y counterparts. So we followed Smashed Peas & Carrots\u2019 recipe and gathered all the ingredients. Then I added a unicorn to the picture just to be trendy. Cute, right?<\/span><\/p>\n Prep time: 5 mins \/\/ Cook time: 14 mins<\/span><\/p>\n Serves: 12 muffins<\/span><\/p>\n Ingredients<\/strong><\/p>\n 2\u00bd cups pancake mix<\/span><\/p>\n \u00bd cup granulated sugar (or evaporated cane juice)<\/span><\/p>\n 1\u00bd cups milk (almond, soy, or coconut works well too!)<\/span><\/p>\n \u00bc cup butter, melted<\/span><\/p>\n May add mix-ins such as: \u00bd cup fresh blueberries, \u00bc cup mini chocolate chips (we like Enjoy Life brand), or top with cinnamon sugar before baking!<\/span><\/p>\n Instructions<\/strong><\/p>\n Place all ingredients together in a medium-sized bowl and mix until well incorporated but do not over mix.<\/span><\/p>\n Add in mix-ins of your choice and fold into the batter.<\/span><\/p>\n Fill greased muffin cups \u2154 full.<\/span><\/p>\n Bake at 400 degrees F for 14-16 minutes.<\/span><\/p>\n Let cool and enjoy!<\/span><\/p>\n Makes 36 mini muffins or 12 large muffins<\/span><\/p>\n So we did all that stuff, mostly. Except I didn\u2019t have any fun mix-ins, because, you know, it\u2019s me. And since my kids are tiny humans with less than perfect measuring skills, they didn\u2019t quite \u201c<\/span>fill the greased muffin cups \u2154 full.\u201d They filled them like this:<\/span><\/p>\n But while my 20 month old was busy with his dutiful scooping, he totally had what I affectionately refer to as \u201cBaby Think Face,\u201d which is when the kids are concentrating on a task so hard, it chubs out their baby cheeks and I SWOON AT THE SIGHT. Makes all this baking fuss super #worthit.<\/span><\/p>\n Oh, and I should also add that one really awesome thing we DO have going for us on the baking front is that my husband made those awesome learning towers you build from pieces of wood attached to an Ikea stool. So our kids look SUPER CUTE at the counter, being all tall enough to reach stuff. <\/span><\/p>\n If you\u2019re intrested, we straight-up copied these plans for the towers: [<\/span>http:\/\/www.mintinthemiddle.com\/2012\/11\/lucy-recommends-learning-tower.html<\/span><\/a>] from Mint In The Middle. Except I didn\u2019t have time to paint ours all cute. Because kids. <\/span><\/p>\n Anyway, the muffins. They turned out pretty funny: <\/span><\/p>\n So then I scooped a second pan with my masterful adulting skills and they turned out fairly normal:<\/span><\/p>\n The kids gobbled up both types of muffins all the same. And really liked them! And that made me happy. Until I surveyed the true extent of the kitchen duty damage: piles and piles of wet paper towels, soggy with batter slopped on top of aaaaall the kitchen utensils. <\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/saynplaycolumbus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Rainbow-Pancake-Muffins-mixing-together-e1505069829585.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nPancake Mix Muffins \/<\/strong>from Smashed Peas & Carrots\\<\/h2>\n
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