Baby Friendly Blueberry Muffins

I whipped up a batch of muffins yesterday while my little guy was napping and thought I’d share it here. I also thought I’ll tell you guys a little about our baby-led weaning journey.

If you follow me on Instagram, you must be knowing that I have been following Baby Led Weaning ever since I started solids for A (once he completed 6 months).

It means letting your child self-feed from the time you start solids by offering age appropriate finger foods. These need not be something you specifically make for them, rather these would be whatever you make for the rest of your family, presented to the new solid eater in the family in a way he/she can easily self-feed (with simple adjustments made to spice level, salt level, naturally sweetening things with fruits, etc.).  Which means you are not going to be feeding your baby purees but going to be offering them some real food so that they learn how to eat by themselves, explore different textures and varieties of foods and turn out to be less fussy about food in the longer run. However, please do remember than till the age of 1, food is only for the baby to get to know new textures and tastes and breastmilk or formula milk should still be the main source of nutrition and the consumption of that should not reduce because of consumption of solid food.

As messy as BLW is, I enjoy watching A’s reactions to new foods and seeing him enjoy stuff that he has developed a liking to (you will understand what I mean when you get to the end of the post). I do not use sugar or salt* to his food (unless it is something he has grabbed from our plates, the frequency of which has only been increasing and I am waiting for him to grow old enough to understand that this amma lady  doesn’t like sharing food. Because hey, who in the right mind would share the cheesiest slice of pizza?).

Anyway, I cannot stress on how much easier life is when we have a couple of homemade baby friendly snacks handy. I mean, I am certainly not going to pay 15 bucks for a packet (half filled with air) of baby-friendly apple crisps or so-called baby friendly biscuits laden with sugar. I pack a muffin or two or some crackers and a drink (smoothie or soup, usually) when we go out so that I have something to offer in case we end up going to some place with no good baby friendly food option.

So, here is a recipe for whole-wheat blueberry muffins that you can quickly whip up while the baby naps.

I tweaked a basic banana muffin recipe and made these. However these do not have bananas. I used date syrup to sweeten the muffins since I ran out of bananas and noticed it only after I got everything else ready. Mommy brain, sigh.

So, here’s what you’d need:

1. 2.5 cups whole wheat flour
2. 1 cup blueberries
3. 3 tbs flaxseed powder mixed with 7.5 tbs of water OR 3 eggs
4. 1/3 cup date syrup**
5. 1 tsp vinegar
6. 2 tbs oil/melted butter
7. 1-1.5 cups water (adjust to get muffin batter consistency. You may not require so much if you use eggs)
8. 3/4 tsp baking soda (optional)

And here is the method:

• Preheat oven – 180*
• Mix all dry ingredients together
• Mix the wet ingredients together (start with half a cup of water and add more to the batter as per requirement)
• Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well.
• Fold in the blueberries
• Pour into muffin tins, let it sit for 5-10 minutes. This waiting time is given since we are using whole wheat and giving them some sitting time before being baked ensures the muffins aren’t very dense.
• Bake at 180* for 12-15 minutes.

This makes about 10-12 muffins.

Easy, right? I offered A one as a snack when we were out yesterday and one for breakfast this morning. Going by how I haven’t found pieces under the table, inside his diaper or anywhere in the room, I am assuming he liked them.

I fancied up the adult version of the muffins by adding some cinnamon sugar on top before baking them. Mmhmm.
* To know more about why I do not add sugar or salt to this food, please check this article.

** Date syrup can be added after your baby is 8 months of age. If you are making this for a smaller baby, please sweeten the muffins with bananas and/or applesauce.

If such faces don’t melt your heart, I don’t know what will.