good morning muffins + happy birthday cupcakes

I've been wanting to make some baby-friendly muffins for a while, because I've been looking for new breakfast foods for my soon-to-be toddler. With the in-laws in town this week, I suddenly had some baking time -- and since they wanted to do a little pre-birthday celebrating, I multipurposed them into some healthy cupcakes, too.

Without the frosting, these can be vegan, depending on how you choose your muffin ingredients!

Good Morning Muffins - makes about 36 mini-muffins
(I made 24 mini muffins and five regular sized ones)

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
pinch of salt
3 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup sugar*
2 tablespoons neutral oil (butter, canola, Earth Balance spread, etc.)
2/3 cup baby food -- fruit flavor of choice (I used a spinach, mango, and pear mix that tastes sweet and gives a little leafy-green boost without making the muffins green too)
2/3 cup "milk" (breastmilk, formula, cow's milk, soy milk, etc.)*

Preheat oven to 400. Mix together the dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, baby food, and milk. Pour into the center of the dry ingredients and stir quickly just until all ingredients are blended -- don't overmix. If you're not using muffin cups, prepare your muffin tin with nonstick spray before filling each about 2/3rds full. Bake for 10-12 minutes, just until muffins are set and starting to turn golden and spring back when touched. Cool and serve.

To turn these into Happy Birthday Cupcakes, I mixed together a half cup of cream cheese with powdered sugar added by the tablespoon just until I had enough to turn it into frosting and to avoid making it overly sweet.

* NOTE: if you choose, you can leave out the sugar completely or use molasses, agave nectar, or other sweetener. If you use a liquid-based sweetener, you may need to adjust the amount of milk so the batter doesn't get too runny.