I set out to turn my whole wheat high protein pancakes (https://sensoryandsensibility.net/2014/09/13/whole-wheat-high-protein-pancakes-for-picky-eaters/) into muffins, but really just succeeded in turning them into oven pancakes. It did solve that pesky problem of standing over the stove top babying them on low heat. These would be great to make on a weekend and freeze for quick week day morning breakfasts. I made them in mini muffin tins, which made them very kid friendly. Axes declared them super good, so I would call that a success. I thought they were slightly mushy in the center, so I may need to tweak the recipe. But here is the unedited version.

• 12 oz sweetened, flavored nonfat Greek yogurt (I used 6 oz strawberry, 6 oz blueberry)
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 teaspoon vital wheat gluten
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup hot water (next time I would probably go down to 1/2 cup)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten

I mixed the yogurt in with the dry ingredients and then added the water, mixing well with a whisk. The hot water will help hydrate the bran. Preheat oven to 325F. I let it sit for 15 minutes then added the eggs. I made these in a well oiled mini muffin tin and baked for 11-13 minutes. They were very resistant to overbaking, which again was much easier than standing at the stove making pancakes one by one. You could eat them plain, but they were better with syrup drizzled over.

Axes the kid and Axes the lizard (look closely) enjoying breakfast.

I’ve also included some fun activities that you can use with your kids to teach them about sensory science.

How would you describe the pancake muffins? Circle one

Super good                                            Super Bad

How would you describe the pancake muffins? Circle all that apply.

Dry

Mushy

Rough

Smooth

Vanilla

Strawberry

Blueberry

Sweet

Salty

Is there anything else you would like to say about these pancake muffins? Maybe draw a picture.

I’m breaking a sensory rule by having the kids evaluate synthetic (holistic) and analytic (descriptive) attributes at the same, but I recently saw a talk at the conference I just attended by the great rule breaking Dr. Jeannine Delwiche about when you can and cannot break the rules, and I would say this is an example of when you can. 🙂