Birthday Cake Muffins

 

Last month, I made these baked banana French toast sticks from Yummy Toddler Food. Honestly, they weren’t great, but as I was exploring the website a bit, I came across these birthday cake muffins that were really good! Well, the Little Prince and I liked them, but the Fox refused to taste them, even though he liked the sprinkles. 

To make these muffins, you will be better off using classic “jimmies”-style sprinkles rather than nonpareils, which bleed more. Be careful not to overmix once they are in the batter if you don’t want that to happen! Note that I sprinkled the top with extra jimmies to make the muffins prettier. 

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour (I used white whole wheat)

¼ cup sugar 

1 tsp. baking powder 

½ tsp. baking soda 

¼ tsp. salt 

1 cup unsweetened applesauce 

2 Tbsp. lactose-free butter (melted and slightly cooled) 

2 eggs 

½ cup lactose-free milk 

1 tsp. vanilla extract 

2-4 Tbsp. sprinkles (the classic kind, not nonpareil style; I used 3 Tbsp + more to top) 

Preheat the oven to 375 °F. Grease a 24-cup mini muffin pan with nonstick spray. (I got a total of 34 muffins, and I could easily see you getting 36, so you might have to bake them in two batches like I did.) 

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. 

In a large bowl, whisk together the applesauce, butter, eggs, milk, and vanilla extract. Add the dry ingredients and stir together until just combined. Gently (VERY gently) fold in sprinkles. Do not over-mix or they may start to bleed. 

Divide the batter among the prepared muffin pan, using about 1 to 1 ½ tablespoons batter in each cup. Top with additional sprinkles if desired. 

Bake for 12-14 minutes (15 minutes in my case, and my oven runes hot), or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out cleanly. Transfer to a wire rack, using a knife around the edges to loosen if needed, and let cool.