Easy things to do with the kids – Baking Muffins!

It was an informal play date and while the boys were always happy enough to play with the toys together. We thought that baking something will be a good add on to the activities, since the boys had been asking us to bake with them forever. Having heard of the many benefits* of baking with kids, and since it will also give us something to feed the boys, we decide to give it a shot.

Easy Muffins with a toaster oven.

Having zero experience with baking, and non of the gadgets we have seen in baking sites, we decided to take the easy way out. We got ourselves a box of muffin mix from the grocery store, cake cups for the muffin from SKP**. Since our toaster oven do not come with temperature settings and just a timer, we skip the first step about pre-heating the oven as well.

Our muffin mix.

So we just got a container, a spoon, pour in the 3/4 cup of water and 1/4 cup of vegetable oil , 2 eggs and start stirring. We did not have a standard cup for measurement but 1 cup = 8 fl oz = 240 ml. (Opportunity to tell the kids stuff about measurement, metrics and math. ) It is surprisingly easy to mix and the kids took turns stirring with the mummys stepping in for the final check that the mixture is smooth and oven ready.

The instructions at the back of the box.

Next step is filling the cups 3/4 full to allow space for the muffin to expand. The task is fulfilled by our dedicated helpers once we showed them what to do.

Out little helpers busy filling up the cups.

The cups were now ready to go into the oven.

Before.

We filled a little too much batter into some of the cups and got some spill over, but it’s pretty satisfying for us and the kids to watch the batter raised and become muffins.

After.

We had to change the position of the cups a couple of times to ensure they a bake relatively evenly but the deed is done in 20 minutes as we use the tooth pick trick to test it the cake is done.( poke it into the muffin and if it comes out smoothly with out any crumbs or wet cake batter , it’s ready to eat)

The final product. Our box of muffin mix got us about 20 cups.

Notes:
* Benefits of baking: Baking is fun, give kids the chance to practice their motor skills, learn about measurement and science. For what baking have to do with science, check out Bill Nye’s Vivian Cup Cake videos

** SKP is a packaging store found all over Singapore. They have a variety cupcake liners/cups like the ones we used.