Bear Traps and Noah’s Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Celebrating Mom
Lisa Grentz, MS, RDN, CD/LDN, FAND
As our month-long celebration of mom continues, three more members of our GIE team share memorable mom stories and recipes. We hope you enjoy the heartwarming account of how Kaytie’s daughter is overcoming mealtime struggles with more visually appealing foods, while Amanda and Aubrey share stories that highlight the bond between mother and child when baking warm, delicious comfort foods that forever remind us of home.
Kaytie Wilson, Operations Manager
Kaytie writes:
My oldest, Ellie, is autistic and has had her struggles with mealtime. Over the course of her attending feeding therapy, we've discovered she is a very "visual" eater and quickly judges things based on appearance. One thing that has helped is getting her involved in making her own meals and making it fun. When we can, a popular favorite snack at our house is Teddy Bear Toast. We use peanut butter or even Nutella, whatever fruit we have on hand, and either toasted bread or a rice cake. We've used string cheese, pepperoni sticks, or cucumber spears for the body. She gets to assemble it herself (with help from mom) and it's like art you can eat!
Amanda Kyle, Feeding Therapist
Amanda writes:
Since I was little, my mom and I would often bake together. Sometimes this was from scratch and sometimes we got the pre-made dough and baked that way, as well. To this day, we still send recipe ideas back and forth, and her Christmas cookie plates are becoming legendary. For this recipe we took an idea and continued changing it until it was just right. We call them “Bear Traps” because the dumpling press reminds me of a bear trap. These can also be cut out with a glass or a biscuit cutter and sealed by pressing the edges with a fork.
Bear Traps
Makes 12-24 (depending on the cutter size)
Dough
1 cup (2 sticks) of butter, room temperature
8-ounces (1 block) cream cheese, room temperature
¼ cup of sugar
2 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
Filling
Any jam, Nutella, or nut butter (I like to use pastry filling, like is used for donuts)
To Make
Cream the butter, cream cheese, and sugar in a stand mixer until fluffy. Add flour and salt and mix on low until fully incorporated. Scrape dough from mixing bowl and place on a large piece of plastic wrap and wrap, gently pressing into a thick circle. Chill dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough thinly (about 1/8 in thickness). Cut rounds out.
Fill each circle of dough with a small spoonful of your filling. Wet the edge of the circle, fold in half, and seal. Place on a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake until golden, about 15 minutes.
Aubrey Phelps, Registered Dietitian and Certified Lactation Counselor
Aubrey writes:
When we brought our second baby home, a 4-pound teeny, tiny thing born 10 weeks premature, our oldest was just 19 months old. He didn't understand what was happening, why I'd been gone every day for hours for the last 7 weeks visiting his sister in the NICU. He didn't understand why my day now revolved around trying to feed her and pumping. His world was rocked, and he went from having mom all to himself to barely having me at all.
The baby napped for only about 30 minutes in the mornings, not enough time to do much, but it became my son and my's daily ritual to bake muffins together during that morning nap. We'd pick a recipe before she went down, and then we'd get to baking, with the muffin timer dinging literally seconds before the first wails of the baby waking from her nap. It was a different recipe every day, but Lemon Poppy Seed was a consistent favorite.
To this day, he's my biggest kitchen helper, but now all 4 like to clamor around and help when I bake, muffins still being a nice go-to for a little baking fun without a huge time commitment.
Noah's Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Makes 6 muffins
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and cooled
¾ cup plain whole milk yogurt
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
Zest of one lemon
1 large egg
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1-2 Tbsp. poppy seeds
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease 6 muffin cups or line with liner. Set aside.
Melt butter in a cup in the microwave and then let cool while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
Whisk together the yogurt, lemon juice, lemon zest, and egg in medium bowl until smooth. Sprinkle flour, sugar, poppy seeds, baking powder, baking soda, and salt over top of the wet mixture and gently fold in with a spatula until just combined. Finally, fold in the melted butter (don't overmix!).
Divide batter evenly into the prepared muffin cups and bake until golden brown on the edges and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. This should take about 20-25 minutes. Remove and let cool, then enjoy!
*Note: this recipe can easily be doubled!