Do you know the muffin Mama?

Nothing like a warm homemade muffin for breakfast

I've lamented before about how difficult it is for any of us to have a proper breakfast on weekdays (well, except for Sophie, who gets a nice breakfast at daycare every morning...)- cold cereal, toast, or some fruit is about as substantial as it gets for us on most days. On the weekends though, I try to do something special and today, it was vegan banana chocolate chip muffin. After baking Sophie her moist chocolate vegan birthday cake and sampling the various vegan baked goods we occasionally treat Sophie with (zucchini bread, chocolate chip cookie, etc), I'm now totally sold on how good they can taste when done right. And all the vegan recipes I've encountered so far have been so unfussy, easily put together with things we already have in our pantry, and with none of that sometimes anxiety-inducing creaming, folding, and beating that come with conventional baking recipes.

And so Friday night, armed with this well-reviewed recipe, I mixed up the batter for the muffins-- which literally took me 10 minutes (including mashing the bananas)-- and threw the muffins in the oven for 30 minutes. By 11.00pm, the whole house smelled like it was 7.00 in the morning at a bed & breakfast- warm, comforting, all banana-y and chocolatey, thanks to the delicious "I-swear-you-can't-tell-it's-vegan" dairy- and nut-free chocolate chips we got from Plum Market :) I let the dozen muffins cool overnight and it was just the most perfect thing for breakfast this morning (after lightly warming it up in the oven again).

And how much did Sophie enjoy the little surprise for breakfast? This much...

Muffin glee!

Oh, and after the one she had for breakfast, she clamored for another when she woke up from her nap for afternoon snack too :) "Chocolate cheeeeeeeeeeep!"