Banana Muffins

Bananas rarely have time to get overripe in our house, but yesterday there on my table were two perfectly overripe bananas just begging to be made into warm moist banana bread.  I love the smell, the taste, the texture, the fact that I trick myself into believing it's healthy.

I have two little helpers in my house that love to cook. What a 'good mom' moment I was about to have.  I could almost hear the silly giggles as they patiently stir the batter and wait for my next instruction in my perfectly clean kitchen, a light dusting of flour cutely resting on their sweet noses.

Excited little man pushes the chair over in preparation.

It started with Ky helping with the dry ingredients.  I measure, hand him the scoop and ask him to dump it in.
"SURE Mama!" See?  my fantasies are coming true.  I turn around to grab the baking soda and Kyler has leaned across the counter to scoop more flour from the canister into the bowl.  I smile, we've only added the flour anyway, problem easily solved, I dump the flour back into the canister and we measure one more time.  I take the scoop and hand him a spoon to stir.  At which point he begins methodically flicking flour all over the kitchen.

Finally we have combined all the ingredients, though I'm not sure exactly how many spoonfuls of flour Kyler snuck into the batter when I wasn't looking.

Darby has now decided she's ready to help.  (Meaning she finally finished her lunch she refused to eat.)
By this time, I've realized that I don't actually have a loaf pan.  No problem.  Muffins it is.  I ask Darby to scoop the batter into the muffin tins...and bite my tongue as she spills batter everywhere.  In my rush and perfectionism, I ask her if I can help and do a couple.  I take the spoon and fill a couple cups which breaks her heart a little.  She's doing her best.  I hand her the spoon and let her finish

 

The muffins go in the oven and 15 minutes later the air is filled with the smell.....of burnt muffins.  The batter splattered across the muffin tin is burning. 

The muffins were a flop.  Almost too dry to eat from the sneaky flour elf's special recipe and my freshly cleaned kitchen was covered in flour and batter.  BUT still a fun afternoon with some proud mini chefs.