So it was raining and damp and grey out today, which meant that the kids and I were housebound. Normally, that’s not such a bad thing, but every now and again, cabin fever turns into cabin mania. I could no longer handle the shrieks and screams and the “That’s mine!” and “She’s opening her mouth at me!” (errrr….what?) for any longer. We had to take on a project, or perish in a heap of tears and tangled My Little Pony manes.

I have often used this recipe, Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins, when I want to make a muffin in a hurry. It is simple and easy, but because it has the right ingredients, it is fabulous.

I will quickly write out the recipe here, but feel free to slip over to Allrecipes.com if you’d like to see it for yourself.

Banana Chocolate Chip Mini-Muffins

The Dry:

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sale

The Wet:

1 egg
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup yogurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup mashed bananas (I used three medium sized bananas)

3/4 cup chocolate chips (optional)

The Directions:
Preheat oven to 350, grease two mini muffin tins (total 24 muffins).
Mix dry together in one bowl; mix wet together in another bowl.

That’s okay, baking doesn’t really have to be precise, does it?

This is a 1 1/2 inch scoop (typically known for ice cream purposes). It is, in a word: awesome. My mother-in-law gave it to me two Christmases ago, and it is one of the most-used gadgets in our kitchen. It is the perfect size for scooping out cookie and mini-muffin batter. What’s even better is that it delivers the product without having to use a spoon or a spatula, or even more FoodSafe: a grimy toddler finger.

Here is a pan of mini-muffins that I scooped out in under a minute. See how every one is uniform? Super cool and mess-free.

But here is why I love the scoop so much: a four year old “scooping” the batter all by herself.

And then a two year old, also “scooping solo”.

Here is the girls’ handiwork. I swear upon my KitchenAid that I didn’t touch the pan at all. I might have wanted to step in and say, “Okay, okay… my OCD says I need to take over now”, but I didn’t need to. They did it all by themselves.

The girls ended up with one little runty muffin, but we still love him.

Muffins, fresh out of the oven. The recipe linked above is for full-sized muffins. These mini-muffins take about 17-18 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

And finally, success! A little snack on a rainy day for me and my mini-Chefs.

Baking (or cooking) with the kids isn’t always smooth – well, it’s more like riding a trotting camel- but it’s worth it when you see the pride they have in doing something all by themselves.

If anyone has any other ideas for fostering independence in not-so-very-independent little ones, please share! I’d love to hear them!

Print out this recipe for safekeeping! Click here to download the free printable!