Basic Mini Muffins - with chocolate frosting and sprinkles

There was a food fest week held in our little man's preschool, couple of years back. Basically it was to showcase the different kinds of food eaten in different regions, particularly in India. Since this was happening during the snack time, main focus was to provide small snack items for the kids. So there were North Indian snacks on one day....then South Indian, East Indian and West Indian. The fifth day was Fun Food Fest.  Since the moms volunteered to pitch in for each day....I chose the fun food day. And decided to give mini muffins with chocolate frosting and sprinkles. You can imagine the sparkle in every kids' eyes when they saw these little goodies. 

The name “muffin” either comes from the German word “muffe” or from the French word “moufflet”, meaning soft bread. A muffin is an individual-sized, baked product. It can refer to two distinct items, a part-raised flatbread and a cupcake-like quickbread. The flatbread is of British or European derivation, and dates from at least the early 18th century, while the quickbread originated in North America during the 19th century. Both are common worldwide today. Muffins are called quick breads because they contain no yeast, and therefore, they don’t require all of the time spent on kneading, rising and resting.

It's a simple recipe and can be ready to eat real quick. The recipe in here is good for 12 regular size muffins or 25-26 mini muffins.....depending on the cup size you use. 

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients
2 cups Flour 
½ cup granulated sugar

1 Tbsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 cup whole milk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 large egg
4 Tbsp butter

Method
Preheat your oven to 180°C. 

Thoroughly grease and flour a 12-cup muffin pan or use paper muffin liners.

I used silicone moulds with the paper liners.
Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.
Heat the butter in the microwave, in a microwave-safe bowl, for about a minute, until it's thoroughly melted. Set it aside at room temperature to cool, but don't let it solidify again.
Beat the eggs in a separate bowl and then add the sugar, milk and vanilla.
Mix in the melted butter.
Fold in the flour mixture.
Then spoon into the muffin cups and bake until puffed and a toothpick inserted in centre comes clean; this should take about 18 to 20 minutes. 

Invert and cool completely. 

Now comes the fun part.....time to get all chocolaty. For this I roughly chopped some dark chocolate and placed in a glass bowl. Then I microwaved it on high for 30 - 40 seconds....stirring in between, till it was smooth and glossy. After that, I dipped the muffins.....just the top part and placed it on the tray and immediately sprinkled the colourful little sprinkles on top of the chocolate. This way it gets stuck well....while it dries. Our little man...enjoyed helping out at the sprinkles part. 

Once the chocolate dried and the sprinkles were set....'twas ready to be packed and taken to school. And obviously....a couple of them were gobbled down by Mr. Peter, Miss J and our little guy. It tasted yummy too. 

The next day was the D-day....the Fun Food Fest... and our little guy was so excited to share all these goodies with his friends. And each time he pointed at those muffins with all excitement and said "My mumma made those".....I felt really good. And the best part was that all the kids enjoyed the muffins. 

So next time, if your having a party or a picnic...do try these muffins...they are easy to make and an instant hit amongst kids.