This is a “twofer” post–2 posts for the price of one. It is a post about the delights of baking with your children and it is a post about what to do when your cakes or muffins do not release (through no fault of your children, I might add)–resulting in 2 different desserts.
So first the actual baking… We chose these miniature gingerbread teacakes for the “formal” tea that my girls had. They were perfect except for the greasing issue–but more on that later. They have definite ginger bite and are very moist–important when discussing miniature treats. Since they are basically a quick bread they are a great recipe to do with your kids.
Yep she is stealing brown sugar.Now I am traditionally a control freak in the kitchen. I’d love to tell you that I let my kids help with every little thing, but the truth is I struggle just to let them do what they do. I do it because I know it is good for them, so even though I wince when they dump the flour “into” the bowl and half of it goes over the side onto the counter, I (try to anyway) bite my tongue. Sammy dumps dry ingredients–and the beauty of using a scale is that she can dump willy nilly into the bowl until we hit the right number. With Sammy if it is going into the main mixing bowl I usually do the scooping.
Alex helps with all of these duties as well, and sometimes with scooping, but recently Alex “graduated” to her 2 favorite tasks: turning the mixer on and off and scraping down the inside of the bowl. The first is more nerve wracking than it sounds, because it can be hard for little hands to turn the mixer onto a low speed, but if you turn it to a high speed right after adding dry ingredients you can expect a cloud in your face.
Now about the greasing. I made this recipe in 2 miniature silicone loaf pans, 1 nonstick miniature muffin pan, and one Nordic Ware teacake pan shaped like pumpkins and acorns. The original recipe, from Carole Bloom’s Bite-Size Desserts: Creating Mini Sweet Treats, from Cupcakes to Cobblers to Custards and Cookies
- 1¼ cups (5.5 oz) AP flour
- 1 t baking soda
- 1½ t ground ginger
- 1 t cinnamon
- ½ t ground cloves
- ⅛ t freshly ground nutmeg
- ¼ t salt
- ¼ cup (1.5 oz) finely chopped candied ginger
- 4 T (2 oz, ½ stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- ⅓ cup (2 oz) packed light brown sugar
- ½ cup unsulphered molasses ( I had to sub some dark corn syrup which was ok but all molasses would be better)
- 1 extra large egg, room temperature
- ½ cup boiling water
- Preheat over to 350 F. Thoroughly grease (or spray) 24 mini (2-inch diameter) muffin wells (I doubled the recipe which was why I had more than one pan).
- Whisk together the flour, baking soda, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and salt. Add the chopped candied ginger and toss to coat. Set aside.
- Beat the butter with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the brown sugar until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Lightly beat the molasses and egg together and then add to the butter. Mix together on a low medium speed--the mixture may look curdled but this is ok. Mix in the boiling water. On low speed, mix the flour in in 4 additions. Finish by hand with a spatula, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl as you mix. Divide between the muffin wells--they should be ¾-full. I keep extra mini loaf pans for extra batter in case my muffin pans are not identically sized. Bake for about 25 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean or with a few crumbs attached. Let the muffins cool in the pan for 3 minutes and then turn out onto a cooling rack. Garnish with whipped cream before serving.
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At least you were able to turn some into a second dessert! I've honestly never once greased silicone molds. I don't use them often though but still… I'm shocked they didn't pop out for you.
Thanks for this post! Those recipes looks so yummy!
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I imagine that I will probably go a bit crazy when my future kids want to help in the kitchen…because if I am anything, it is a control freak. But I think you've found the perfect tasks for the kids! These ginger teacakes sound delightful!
These sound great! Cooking w/kids when they are young leads to teenagers who can feed themselves 🙂
I love this post! It's so fun to cook with kids. We are organizing cooking sessions for our friends to encourage them to involve their children in the cooking process. And kids are so proud and happy with their creations :). Last time we prepared no-bake cheesecake, but your gingerbread teacakes are a very good idea.
Wow do I feel ya. I really do love having my daughter in the kitchen but sometimes I really have to bite my tongue. I know she will appreciate my patience though as she gets older and loves to cook:)(hopefully) Your teacakes look great and what a great way to recycle that first batch.
Oh my gosh, I am such a control freak in the kitchen 🙂 LOVE the idea of the trifle! Good use of a perfectly delicious, yet unfortunately-shaped baked good! The almond-date-lemon muffins I made recently also stuck to the pan– I know how it feels 🙂
Love how you controlled the chaos! It's brilliant and great way to show your kids how to be creative in the kitchen.
Good thinking! Love your post and bet the kids had an absolute ball!
Great thinking to make a trifle! Im glad you could still use the teacakes. 🙂 Its great to see your children helped you too.
The teacakes are adorable. 🙂 Trifles are an excellent way to recover from a pan incident…beautiful job.