Kids in the Kitchen Monday--Applesauce Cupcakes!

O.K., so Monday brings us to another "Kids in the Kitchen" day. Only this week, I was so busy with other things that it didn't happen until Tuesday! Big brother Austin is at camp this week, and Alison was VERY quick to ask if she could take over his Monday lunch meal. She is anxious to do more and more in the kitchen. Note the hair decorations on our lovely kitchen assistant. When she came out of the bathroom this morning, my husband took one look at her and asked me "Are you going to take her out in PUBLIC like that???!!!" To which I replied, "Why not?" I mean, if ONE butterfly barrette is good, isn't NINE butterfly barrettes that much better?

Photos show our kitchen assistant mixing up her soon-to-be-famous Applesauce Cupcakes. Original recipe came from a kid's cookbook her great aunt gave her, but let's just say it was changed a bit in the process. Alison started out reading the recipe out loud to me. "Eggs. Well, we don't use eggs. So we will just leave them out!" To which I promptly told her that if we left them out, we needed to substitute something in their place. I know eggs have some very good nutrition in them, but unfortunately I can't eat them due to cholesterol, so I will replace them with 1 Tablespoon of corn starch plus 1/4 cup of water. So those were replaced. White flour was replaced with whole wheat flour. When reading the recipe which said "1 cup sugar" I remarked that one cup of sugar was a lot--so Alison said "let's just put in 1/2 cup!" I figured, why not? So the recipe substitutions went on. One half cup of butter was replaced with 1/4 cup olive oil. I have absolutely no idea what the REAL recipe would taste like, probably not really like our finished product, but I have to say we all thought the cupcakes Alison made today were SCRUMPTIOUS! Of course, I did catch her just in time to prevent her from putting in 1/2 cup of baking soda--recipe read 1/2 tsp., and Alison caught the 1/2 part and thought she had the right measurement. I don't think we would have been able to eat them if she had put 1/2 cup of soda in!!!!

We choose to make them in the mini-muffin sized tins. They just seem more fun that way. Besides, you can eat more!

Taste testing is always the best part! Well, if they taste GOOD it's the best part, anyway!

Alison rounded out her meal with corn on the cob which she enthusastically shucked herself, as well as some vegeterian baked beans. We also had some fresh peaches from Georgia and cool whip on top. Yum! Can't wait for tomorrow's leftovers!

Alison's Applesauce Cupcakes

Blend together:

1/4 c. olive oil

1/2 c. sugar

2 T. cornstarch

1/2 c. water

In separate bowl stir together:

1 1/4 c. whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. coriander

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Add dry ingredients to wet, along with 1 c. applesauce, mixing well.

Bake in preheated oven at 3:50

Mini muffin tins took 25 minutes--full size tins would take a bit longer.

Enjoy!