There is a muffin trend going on in my house right now. Under most circumstances, I would applaud this, especially when the result is an awesome banana bread recipe (via Simply Recipes) tweaked into muffin-form with a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup stuffed inside. But when the trend involves a stubborn toddler who wants to make them by himself, my type-A personality starts to twitch in protest. Baking with toddlers from start to finish is not always as cute as food bloggers make it out to be. We shoot the cute stuff, all the other stuff . . . well, any neighbor walking by the the other side of my open kitchen window will attest to the truthfulness of the ugliness.

Buuuuut, in my defense, have you ever been caught in a toddler conversation rippled with, “Don’t help, Mommy. I. Do. It!

Here’s a little more on this latest round of Baking with Toddlers.

Me: “Okay, Connor, you did great. All done now”.

The toddler: “I are not done. I do it. I do it moooore.”

Me: “No. Not more, Connor, or else the muffins will be tough like Play-doh.”

Somewhere between a few more exchanges and me trying to extract the wooden spoon from his grip, the bowl did a perfect slow-motion dive: all over the floor . . . and all over the puppy who likes to hover when I’m in the kitchen.

Ughhhhhh! Actually, I probably muttered something a little more “peppered”. Okay, I 100% did.

Like any toddler, he tried to pick up the batter and put it back into the bowl, only to discover muffin batter is: (1) not solid mass like a Lightening McQueen Car and (2) . . . “Stickyyyy! Clean my hands. Sticky Mommy!”

Between the dog trying to lick herself clean of muffin batter (and me shouting “No, Piper!” because I certainly did not need to add diarrhea to the mix) and Connor screaming and crying, I scooped them both up and into the bath they went—together.

A few hours later: crisis resolved, twitching abated, out came these deliciously moist and tender muffins with a little surprise inside (for an even bigger treat, top the muffins with some cream cheese frosting and a drizzle of honey).

Reese's Stuffed Banana Bread Muffins

Yield: 12 muffins

Ingredients

2 to 3 very ripe bananas, peeled
1/3 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

**Optional adaptation:

1 cup of finely chopped chocolate, semi-sweet or dark (I used 60% cacao)
Frosting
12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
Pinch fine salt
1 tablepoon vanilla
2 cups confectioner's sugar
1-2 tablespoon of heavy cream, as needed to loosen frosting to preferred consistency
1/4 cup honey
3 tablespoons finely grated chocolate

Instructions

Since I did not alter the original banana bread recipe, hit the jump here for the method portion of the recipe: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/banana_bread/

To make this recipe as seen here with the added twist of (1) making the recipe as muffins instead of a loaf (2) Reese's Peanut butter Cup stuffing and (2) frosting:

If using the option of adding chocolate to the batter fold it in as the last step of the recipe method portion.

Heat oven 350 degrees F. Line muffin pan with liners. Fold in 1 cup of finely chopped chocolate. Fill each well 1/3 of the way up and place a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup in the center. Top with more batter until well is 2/3 full. Bake for about 20 minutes, or a tester inserted into the center comes out clean of wet batter. Remove from oven and transfer to wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

To make frosting: Add the cream cheese and butter to a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium low until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the salt and vanilla and beat until incorporated, about 1 minute. Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly add the confectioner's sugar. Beat until fully incorporated. If frosting is too stiff for preferred consistency, add heavy cream 1 tablespoons at a time and beat until fully incorporated before adding the next. Top muffins with frosting, honey and grated chocolate.