We’ve basically been following the ideas behind baby-led weaning and I’m loving it! Getting Roman to sleep for every nap and every night is a total battle, so it’s nice to be able to sit back and let him take the lead with his meals.
The main idea with baby-led weaning is to give your baby a choice of healthy things to eat and let them pick them up, smoosh them around and eventually put them in their mouth and eat them. It skips the purees and spoon feeding and goes straight to finger foods. It’s great for their development, their appetite and their desire to do things for themselves and is said to produce children who will eat anything. Another benefit of baby-led weaning is that you don’t need to prepare or buy special baby foods, they can just eat a bit of what you’re having. While I mainly follow this, every now and then, I do like to make something up specially for Roman, such as these muffins. They are packed with good things for babies – veggies, cheese and healthy fats and are the perfect size for little hands. If you want to make these for grown ups, season to taste with some salt.
Mini Savoury Muffins
makes 24
2 cups plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 cup grated cheese
2 eggs (please make sure your baby is not allergic to eggs first)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup milk (cows milk/breastmilk/formula)
1 – 2 cups veggies*
*Use a mixture of whatever your baby likes, or is lurking in the fridge, such as chopped spinach, grated zucchini, grated carrot, chopped herbs, sundried tomatoes, diced mushrooms or diced capsicum. I know they’re not veggies, but you could also add ham, salami or tinned tuna to these if you want to add a bit of meat.
For these muffins, I used grated carrot and zucchini.
Preheat oven to 180°C. Lightly spray a 24 hole mini muffin pan with cooking spray.
Sift flour and baking powder together. Give it a quick stir to make sure the baking powder is evenly distributed. Stir through veggies and cheese.
Pour oil and milk into a jug then crack the eggs into the jug and whisk it all together. Make a well in the centre of the dry mix and pour in the liquid. Mix until just combined, giving you a thick batter.
Spoon batter into muffin tray and bake in the oven for 15 – 20 mins, until the muffins are nice and golden on top. Remove tray from oven, and cool muffins in tray for 5 mins, then turn out onto a rack to cool.
These can be served warm or cold and freeze really well. I just take a couple out of the freezer the night before I want them and put them into the fridge in a container ready for Roman’s lunch the next day.
Anonymous says
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thingsforboys says
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Zaynab Lansari says
Thank you for this recipe! It was really good. I’ve been looking for a good savoury muffin and I’ve found it. I made them today and everybody liked them 🙂
Whtiney says
Made these with rice flour instead, and my 8.5 month old is loving them!
Aebbe says
Trying these now they look and smell fab whilst cooking
My six month old is a real nut for bread so hiding veggies in something appeals to me 🙂
Thanks for the inspiration x
abby says
thanks for stopping by!
Neeta says
Hi there,
I’m making these now for my little bub who seems to have gone of food:( please could you tell me what tempreature to set the oven at? Many thanks X
abby says
Hi Neeta. Your oven should be on 180C/350F/Gas mark 4
Neeta says
Thank you! I’ve used sweet potato, carrot, spring onions and spinach – they’ve gone down a treat:)
Can’t wait to try other combinations and also play around with sweet and savoury.
Thanks again! X
abby says
that sounds like a delicious combination. Glad to hear they were a hit!
Lauren says
I just happened on your blog and read about the baby led weaning. I had no idea that was what I was doing with my little 8 month old but it’s been fantastic! My question is, I’ve been breaking everything up into pieces and putting it on her high chair to pick up and eat but I don’t know when I can safely give her something larger and trust she’ll bite off a manageable mouthful size…. How did you go about that.
Great blog by the way, I’m making your zucchini slice now as we speak!
Thanks.
abby says
Babies are pretty good at figuring out how to eat things, even when they don’t have any teeth. I would give her sticks of foods, like steamed carrots, roasted potato or sweet potato, cheese, avocado, even toast and just watch her and see how she goes. Nearly any food will be fine as long as it isn’t too hard (such as raw apple or carrot). A stick of the zucchini slice would work perfectly. You want the sticks about twice the length of her fist. That way she can grab it, but there’s still a good amount sticking out. This book (http://www.bookdepository.com/Baby-Led-Weaning-Gill-Rapley/9781615190218) and the cookbook by the same ladies is a really handy read.
Tanya says
Excellent and very simple recipe. My litle one only has one little tooth, but he can gum these easily. Looking forward to working of variations of this recipe, i.e., different cheese and veggie combinations. Thank you.
abby says
thanks for stopping by Tanya!
Kris says
Hi There… I don’t have a mini muffin tin (I’m guessing that’s what you used?). Have you tried this in a normal muffin tin and just not fill them up all the way? Just trying to figure out how long I would then bake it for 🙂
Thanks!
abby says
You could use a regular muffin tin for these. I’m guessing they would take about 25 mins to bake.
Kathryn Biggs says
Hi, I just tried making these, my very first time baking anything on my own! They were nice but a bit on the plain side. I think I didn’t put enough cheese or veges in, next time I’ll put more of these in to boost the flavours. My little man seemed to enjoy the wee bit I gave him though and that is all that really matters 🙂
abby says
They are a bit light in flavour since I was giving them to my baby. If adults or older kids are eating them then I would definitely add more cheese, extra veggies and possibly a little salt and pepper. Bacon or ham would add some extra tastiness too.
Cicilia Ng says
This recipe seems tasty and healthy. I never bake anything for my 10 month old, but surely i’ll try this one. Thank you for your blog. And Roman is a cutie 🙂
abby says
thanks for stopping by!
Sarah says
These look great, I plan to make them for my 8 month old girl. Perhaps a silly question but would the veggies be cooked first? Courgette, mushroom etc – and if so how? Fried in a little oil? Thanks
abby says
I didn’t cook the vegies first. More work! If you had leftover veggies you could add those. Mushrooms and courgette will both cook enough in the mix in the oven. Just grate the courgette and finely chop the mushrooms.
Mallika Bhatia says
They turned out amazing. My 13 month old loved them. Thanks for this recipe.
abby says
so pleased to hear! Thanks for letting me know.
Jen says
These turned out gummy for me. I don’t know what I did wrong.
abby says
Hmm, that’s unfortunate. Perhaps you overmixed the batter?
Lisa says
I used zucchini and carrot and I found these very bland. Maybe some green onion and garlic would have perked these up. My 17 month old won’t eat them.
abby says
Did you add the cheese? Green onions would be a tasty addition.
Charlotte says
I just made these for my 15 month old, no mini muffin tray so I made them as a batch of 12. Baked for 25 minutes, they could probably have done with a bit longer but as I’m going to freeze them I’ll give them 5 mins in the oven so hopefully that will finish them off.
I ‘tested’ one fresh out the oven with salted butter on and it was lovely (medium cheddar, one courgette and two carrots).
abby says
I hope your little one loves them! Baking them for 5 minutes from the freezer is a great idea.
Gillian says
My son is dairy free do you think they will work the same with dairy free substitute and minis the cheese?
X
abby says
yes, you could definitely substitute the milk and leave out the cheese.
Josie says
Made these during nap time this morning and my 1- year old gobbled 2 right away upon waking. He is on his third during lunch. I’m so glad I stumbled upon your recipe! Do you have any recommendations to make it have a cheesier flavor? I guess I used a mild cheese blend (Colby jack). Would you recommend a sharp cheddar?
abby says
Any cheese would work. If you want them cheesier, then yes, try a sharp cheddar and possibly also some parmesan. Parmesan sprinkled on the tops would be yum!
Dragana says
Cooking them right now hope they turn out 🙂 I had extra batter not sure why
Aimee says
These were great, especially warmed up with a little cream cheese. Anyone find a way to get them to hold together a little more? Apple sauce? I’m not a pro baker! 🙂
abby says
I’m not really sure, sorry. You could always give it a go and see how it turns out. My kids would eat them regardless.
Carmel says
This website is a life saver, my little girl (7 months) is SO much happier eating finger food than puree… thanks so much! Just made these muffins, they are in the oven as I type… really appreciate the effort you put into with sharing your recipe. .
abby says
thanks Carmel! Both my kids much preferred finger food over puree too. So much more fun I think! Happy cooking.
Caroline Sewell says
Hi Abby, I’ve been looking for a savoury snack recipe like this for my 10 month old baby boy and I’m so glad I found yours! I couldn’t wait for Alfie to try one of these mini muffins so I’ve just given him one which he’s demolished and so I think that means he enjoyed it!
Thank you for this recipe:-)
abby says
thanks Caroline. So glad your little one loves them!
julie says
Great recipe,the best savoury muffin I’ve made yet,and little girl loves them.
abby says
so happy to hear that Julie. Thanks!
julie says
My 16 month old loves these. So do I 😃
Leah says
Do you think puréed veggies would work? Trying to find a way to use up the purées I made 🙄
Abby Rudakov says
I don’t see why not. I would leave out the milk until you’ve mixed in the puree and then add a little milk if the mix is too stiff. I’d love to know how they go if you do give it a try.