Kid's Birthday Special Muffins and Cookies

The 28th of January is a special day as my baby turned 2. Like all mothers, I wanted to make this day special for her. She also seemed quite excited about the day and so it became even more important for me to plan it a special way. However, I did not want to hold any lavish parties or invite the adult guests for dinner/lunch as it would have nothing to do with her. So I decided to celebrate her birthday in her playgroup where she enjoys the most and has all her friends. I decided to make small goodie bags stuffed with mini muffins and cookies which would be easy for little babies to eat and enjoy. Some balloons and party caps completed the set up and my baby and her friends had a wonderful time playing together and singing birthday songs. Her teacher was kind enough to send me some pics of the event and I was satisfied seeing her happy face. Here's what I made for her friends.

Mini Choco Chip Muffins

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour

1 egg

1/2 cup mini choco chips (I added a little bit more for the kids)

2 tsp vanilla essence

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 1/4 cup milk

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Directions

Sift the flour, salt, and baking powder and keep aside. In a bowl, beat the butter and sugar together till smooth. Add the egg and beat further. Pour in the milk little at a time and mix well. Lastly, add the vanilla essence and give a mix. Now fold in the flour mixture and gently incorporate until the entire quantity is mixed without any lumps. Now add the choco chips and mix with a spatula until just incorporated. Do not over mix. 

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degree celcius and line a mini muffin tray with liners and pour the batter till 1/3 of the cup. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

                                         

Mini Dark Chocolate Muffins

Ingredients

1 cup all purpose flour

1 oz semi sweet dark baking chocolate, chopped

2 tbsp cocoa powder

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

50 gms butter

Direction

Sift the flour, salt, cocoa powder, and baking powder and keep aside. In a bowl, beat the butter and sugar till smooth. Add the egg and the milk and beat further. Now fold in the flour and mix till the batter is smooth. Lastly, fold in the chopped chocolate and stir just to incorporate. Do not over mix. 

Pour the batter into lined muffin trays up to 1/3 of the cup and bake in a pre-heated oven for 10-12 minutes at 180 degree Celsius. 

                                      

 P.S.: In the final stage, I added one M&M candy on top of each muffin, which did not turn out to be a good idea! :(

Chocolate Dipped Shortbread Ice Cream Cookies

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup butter

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup icing/confectioner's sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

6 oz semi sweet chocolate chopped

Directions

Beat the butter and sugar until smooth. Now, add the flour, salt, vanilla extract and knead a smooth dough. Flatten the dough into a disk shape and cover with a plastic wrap. Refrigerate for about an hour or until firm. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and cut out small ice cream shaped cookies with the help of a cookie cutter. You can use any other shape as you desire. Place the cookies on the tray and refrigerate again for 10-15 minutes while you pre-heat the oven at 175 degree celsius. Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes until slightly browned. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack. Meanwhile, on a double boiler melt the chopped chocolate until smooth and glazy. Now dip the cooled cookies into this chocolate syrup and refrigerate again for 10-15 minutes until the chocolate sets. Store in air-tight containers in the refrigerator and take out 10 minutes before serving.

                                     

And the final platter looked like this: