Mommy-Free Magic Muffins

Every Friday, a group of friends and I rotate "Mommy-Free Time."  This is the best SAHM invention I've ever heard of, closely followed by our babysitting co-op where we swap babysitting.  Every Friday morning, we rotate whose home we drop the kids off at, and rotate care-taking responsibilities.  It sort of just happened that the mom's started frequently making the same mini-muffins every Friday morning.  The kids just gobble these up!  It's funny, even the ones with the most separation anxiety cling to mommy's leg when the enter the door, but literally look around and tearfully request, "Muffins?"  Seriously, they are such a tradition now that when a friend hosted a Easter Egg party, she stuffed the plastic eggs with what else? These muffins!  (Again, most of our kids haven't met Jelly Beans yet, so they were satisfied ;)

 I look forward to this time so much every week.  I plan extravagant outings... like getting the oil changed!  Okay, that doesn't sound so exciting, but the experience of AVOIDING being at the auto shop for an hour with a restless toddler is sublime.

So this today was my turn to host, and as Chris was working extra crazy overtime, I had to step in for our Head Chef and bake them myself.  Here's a shot of them and the recipe in case you want to try the Mommy-Free Magic Muffins for yourself.

Mini Sweet Potato Muffins Recipe (Makes 30 Mini Muffins)
1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 Cup Old Fashioned Oats
1/3 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Baking Soda
1/2 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Cinnamon
2 Large Eggs, whisked
1 Cup Sweet Potato Puree, cooked*
1/2 Cup Milk
1/4 Cup Canola or Vegetable Oil
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Place the first 7 ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine.
3. In a separate bowl whisk the remaining ingredients.
4. Slowly combine the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients just until they are combined (be careful not to over mix the batter).
5. Place 1 tbsp of batter in each cup of greased mini muffin tins and bake for 15 minutes.
6. Serve.
* To make sweet potato puree, bake sweet potatoes (or yams) in a 400 degree oven for one hour, allow to cool, slice in half lengthwise and mash flesh with a fork until smooth.
** You can place muffins in labeled freezer bags and freeze for up to 3 months.