The One Food My Sensory Family Can Never Be Without

I don’t like baking.

At all.

But, this one recipe has opened up so much possibility in my sensory son’s eating palette that I’ll gladly bake batch after batch to keep it around.

Over the years of sensory feeding struggles with my child, this recipe has been a staple. Sure, I have tweaked the ingredients and amounts here and there, but the foundation has been with us through every refused food.

It’s a food that allows me to “sneak” vitamins in. Vitamins he would otherwise NEVER get in his limited safe foods.

It’s a food that gives him over 18 grams of protein…more if I decide to put protein powder in.

It’s a food that provides some of the only fruits and vegetables he gets in a day.

And shockingly, it’s a food my sensory food aversion kiddo scarfs down willingly for breakfast, lunch, snacktime, dinner, and dessert.

This versatile, life-saving food is….MUFFINS!

Why muffins?

Muffins are so great for sensory kiddos that tolerate a soft bread texture.

Think about it: You can change out the flavors (chocolate, blueberry, banana, etc) based on what they will already eat (their safe foods) and/or, use them to introduce a new flavor in a subtle way.

We have tried all of those flavor varieties over the years, but the one favorite my family has landed on is the pumpkin chocolate chip version (see recipe below). It doesn’t even have to be Fall for the smell of these to bring everyone running to the kitchen saying “are you baking THOSE muffins?”

I always bake a double batch at least, and sometimes even a triple or quadruple batch. Seriously. They’re that important around here. The whole family loves these…needs these, not just our sensory kiddo. When they first come out of the oven, I lose 6-8 right off the top due to the “initial smell thieves”. After that, I try to freeze at least a dozen. They are perfect for those busy school mornings. These storage containers make it easy to keep some in the freezer, while the others are in the fridge available fresh. We can grab a couple, nuke them just enough to get warm, and viola….a quick-protein packed-yummy-no-fighting-about breakfast. I can also feel good as a momma about the other nutrients they have in them. I use applesauce (fruit!) and pumpkin (vegetable!) and I often sprinkle in a multi-green supplement powder (green phytonutrients!). Although it may not seem like a lot of “healthy” to most, for this sensory momma it's a HUGE win. I’m always looking for ANY WAY to get whatever extra nutrients in this child that I can.

And speaking of sensory food aversions, I would recommend picking the flavor (banana, blueberry, chocolate, plain) that is closest to your child’s current safe foods. If they’ve never tried/liked banana flavor before, that’s not the one to start with! That would set you both up for failure. I started with chocolate, well…cause, who doesn’t love chocolate?!?! Plus, chocolate was closest to a cupcake, which he had tried/liked at a birthday party before. Also, the dark color of chocolate lends itself to “hiding” that multigreen supplement powder I mentioned. Win-win!

Tips for this recipe:

The mix itself: I have tried several different brands before landing on this one (technically it’s a pancake mix, but has a muffin recipe as well). Not only does Kodiak Cakes offer several different base flavors, it is widely available in most markets, and it was the highest protein profile I found that still tasted like a normal muffin. I believe they also carry a gluten free version for my GF peeps! I go through so much that I buy mine in bulk from Costco (my local one only carries the buttermilk version). But you can get it at most local grocery stores, or if you’re all about having things delivered directly to your door, Amazon also carries them.

Ghee: The original recipe I based mine off of had coconut oil which I usually love, but my son detected the coconut flavor a mile away. I discovered ghee as a butter alternative. It’s not only lactose and casein free, but I liked the “softness” of it. Unlike butter that always needs to be softened to work with. Although ghee has a strong scent out of the container, my son didn’t notice it at all once cooked in the muffins. I have not tried butter, but I imagine you could substitute that for the ghee.

Muffin tins: I have always struggled with getting my muffins to come clean out of the paper wrappers. My kids would lose half their muffins to the darn paper. I also wanted to be more eco-friendly since we were going through these like water around here. For a long time, I used these silicone muffin cups. They were great as far as coming clean off the muffin. But washing them was a pain in the butt. We always had these piled in the sink to be washed by hand, which wasn’t fun. But now, my current love is these silicone muffin tins. The muffins come clean out, the trays are dishwasher safe (score), and how cute are they!?!? I will say, the individual wrappers might be better for little people (they’ll have something to hold onto), whereas my older kiddos do fine with the muffin being free of a holder.

If your sensory kiddo likes breads, try making a version of muffins that they might try. Then start brainstorming all the possibilities!

Here’s our sensory family's favorite muffin recipe:

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ingredients:

2 cups Kodiak Cakes Power Protein Flapjack and Waffle Mix, Buttermilk

1 15 oz can pumpkin

1 container unsweetened applesauce

1 egg

¼ cup ghee, melted

¼ cup honey

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

1 ¼ tsp pumpkin pie spice

2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips, divided

Instructions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients except for the chocolate chips. Be sure to let the melted ghee cool a bit before adding it so you don’t make “scrambled eggs”!

2. Add one cup of the chocolate chips and mix well. I use a whisk for this step, but only whisk until most lumps are out.

3. Spoon mixture into silicone muffin tins. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

4. Get ready to ward off muffin thieves as they come running!