Ginger Cupcakes with Jada

Rained all day so we made cupcakes, Jada's first batch! 

Her palette is a little more advanced than the average two year old's, so it was easy to opt for ginger. She loves it and we already had some in the house. 

The recipe is super simple and fast, kid friendly and delicious to boot. 

You will need: 

2 egg yolks 

.5 cup molasses 

.5 cup brown sugar 

.25 cup butter 

.5 cup yogurt 

1.5 cups unbleached flour 

1 tsp cinammon

2 tsp grated fresh ginger 

1.25 tsp baking soda 

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees as you prep your ingredients. 

2. Melt the butter and let it cool. 

3. You can grab a medium sized mixing bowl for this step, but I used the small pot that I melted the butter in: Make sure that the butter is completely cool, then mix in the egg yolks, molasses, sugar, yogurt and ginger. 

4. Let the wet mixture stand and find a large mixing bowl to mix your dry ingredients. Whisk all of the dry ingredients together. (This is Jada's favorite part.) 

5. Slowly introduce handfuls of the dry ingredients in to the wet ingredients, stirring slowly until the dry is fully incorporated in to the wet. This is your batter. The hard part is over. 

6. Pour your batter in to muffin cups. (We are renting a "furnished" apartment in Maui and are making the most of whatever we have here. I just bought some paper cupcake cups from the grocery store and stood them on a baking sheet.) 

7. About twenty minutes later, you should have perfectly baked cupcakes. (Stick a fork in one to make sure that they are done, as I did, if you want to be sure that they are ready.)

8. Eat. Your toddler will love you. 

On Making Ketchup for Kids

My nephew Ryan is a super finicky eater. So when I babysit him, I have to be very strategic about what I make for dinner. Anything too unfamiliar will be rejected outright, but I always try to push the envelope a little bit and nudge him gently past his comfort zone. 

On this particular night, I decided to make chicken cutlets, safe territory, but topped with arugula and cherry tomatoes. I laid out the groceries on the kitchen counter and told him what we were having for dinner. 

He pointed accusingly at the small carton of cherry tomatoes, "What's that?" 

"Tomatoes", I replied nonchalantly. 

He shook his head, "But I don't like tomatoes. I only like chicken, rice with ketchup, broccoli and pizza."

"Ok, but did you know that you can make ketchup in your mouth?"

"Huh?" I had his attention now. 

"Ketchup is made from tomatoes. If you chew tomatoes, you can make ketchup in your mouth! You wanna try?"

"I don't know...", he was skeptical. 

I popped a tomato in my mouth. Jada ate one too. "Mmmm! 'Matoe!", she said as she chewed and reached for another. 

Ryan reluctantly put one in his mouth and started to chew. 

"See?" I told him. "Ketchup, right?"

He still didn't look convinced. So I tried a new tactic. While he was still chewing, I sat him down at the little table that I had set up for he and Jada in the kitchen. "Here." I put a plate of tomatoes in front of him and handed him a butter knife. "You wanna help me cook?" 

"Yes!"

Ryan went to work cutting the tomatoes while I prepared the chicken cutlets. 

The cutlets didn't take long and when I put all of the ingredients together and gave him a plate of his own, he sat down with Jada and said proudly, "I made this!" and picked up his fork and proceeded to eat, uncohersed. 

   

"You like it, Ryan?" I smiled.

"I'm eating chicken with ketchup!", he replied with a full mouth, still defiant. 

"Ok. Good job!" 

He gave me a thumbs up and proceeded to clean the plate.