Summary
When my son was diagnosed with autism in 2018 I had no idea the hurdle that his food aversions would be. I have since made it my mission to find healthier alternatives to his favorite safe foods which is what catapulted my passion into baking with sourdough and cooking our meals from scratch. Processed and full of sugar, he would eat a pack of little bite muffins every morning for breakfast, so this recipe has been a labor of love and a necessary switch to make sure that we’re starting our day off on a better foot. These muffins have to look, feel, taste and smell like the real thing for my son to ever even consider them, and I think I got pretty darn close.
❤️ Why You’ll Love Sourdough Discard Little Bites
These little bites are special to me for good reason, but you’ll love this recipe because it makes 48 muffins. In a regular box of little bites you’ll get 25 mini muffins, so these are not only more affordable, but you can also be sure to start your day off on the right foot with these instead. These contain less than half of the ingredients, and half of the sugar. Plus, it uses sourdough discard which means there is no waste.
🍲 Ingredients
Sourdough Discard – This is just inactive sourdough starter that hasn’t been fed. It is equal parts flour and water that has already risen and fallen and now can be added to a multitude of recipes.
Flour – All-purpose flour, which I have learned is not only a kitchen staple, but a kitchen necessity.
👩🍳 How to Make Sourdough Little Bites
Getting the texture just right on these muffins was really important because if it wasn’t spot on, then my son would not eat them. So I took a modified pancake recipe, and turned it into a mini muffin. Just mix all of your ingredients together, let the batter rest, pour the batter into the mini muffin pan spaces and bake at 350 degrees for 13 minutes.
🪄 Tips and Tricks
- Let your batter rest for 15 minutes. Once the sourdough discard and baking soda has a chance to relax a little bit the texture of the muffin is much better.
- Do not mix in your toppings, they will fall straight to the bottom. Instead, just sprinkle them on top and as the muffins bake and rise the toppings will sink a bit but end up much better.
- These muffins rise quite a bit so do not overfill your mini muffin pan or you’ll end up with saucer on top.
🗒 Substitutions
You can add whatever toppings you like instead of, or in addition to chocolate chip muffins. We’ve used frozen wild blueberries, sprinkles, or left them plain. You can also substitute the granulated sugar with honey or maple syrup.
- different toppings
- honey
🗒 Best Served As
- Breakfast with side of fruit and applesauce
- An after school snack with a cheese stick
- A simple and easy dessert
👝 How to Store Leftovers
These make a lot of mini muffins, you can certainly freeze half by placing them into flat rows in a Ziplock bag in the freezer, or keep them on the counter in a Ziplock bag for 3-5 days.
Sourdough Discard Little Bites
Equipment
- 1 Silicone mini muffin pan
Ingredients
- 1 cup whole milk
- ½ cup sourdough discard
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 TBS melted butter
- 2 TBS melted coconut oil
- ½ tsp vanilla
Instructions
- Melt butter and coconut oil together and let cool.
- Whisk milk, sourdough discard, eggs, butter, oil, sugar, and vanilla together in a large mixing bowl until fully combined. Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix together until the batter is smooth.
- Cover and let the batter rest for 10 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a silicone mini muffin pan (this recipe makes 48 little bites) and spoon in batter.
- Do not overfill each space. Top with chocolate chips or frozen blueberries. I chopped my chocolate chips even smaller to more resemble little bites, and used frozen wild blueberries. I also find it’s better to sprinkle the chocolate chips on top rather than mix it into the batter because the chips will sink to the bottom.
- Bake for 13-15 minutes.
- Store them in the counter in an airtight container for 3-4 days.
These are seriously so good and beyond easy to make. My son loved them as do I. I added a touch more sugar since I was out of vanilla extract and I’ll probably just do that moving forward. Can’t wait to make them again with different fillings!
These are amazing! Approved by both of my picky toddlers
I’d love to try these using coconut milk and swapping the butter for more coconut oil, have you tried making the non-dairy?
No, I haven’t tried non dairy. If you make it non dairy let us know how it is.
I make them with almond milk and they’re delicious! I do still use butter so it’s not 100% dairy free.
My kids loved these! It was also fun letting my 4 year old help with the toppings. These will go great in her lunch box for preschool and for a quick snack.
My crew loved these! Thanks so much for sharing. It will definitely be a repeat on our house. 🥰
My 10 year old approved!! He took a baggie of them to school for breakfast and snack. We made funfetti style and mini chocolate chip. Can’t wait to try wild blueberries.
* I didn’t have whole milk or coconut oil on hand so I used 2% and I used avocado oil in place if coconut oil. Not sure how taste compares with original ingredients but was very yummy!
Hello! Has anyone done these with banana? My son loooves the banana little bites, curious if all other ingredient ratios stay the same if I added a mashed banana or two?
Hi! I have a banana oat version of these if you want to try. It’s on my website under discard 🙂
We love these! Thank you for sharing! We have done confetti and mini chocolate chips. Have you ever tried to do a chocolate brownie version? My son LOVES the brownie ones in the store. I’m curious to experiment and try to find a brownie version!
Currently making them right now! How long could I freeze them?
I would think 2 months. I never freeze them. My family eats them all right away.
Could these be used in larger muffins? My husband eats like a kid and loves the packaged muffins for a quick snack but I’m trying to replace some of the packaged foods since we are discussing trying for a child. If I can have recipes down before then it will be nice. Thanks
Yes! I would bake them at 375 for 15-18 minutes
I make these weekly for my kiddos! They love them! 🙂
Shocked at how easy and deliciously perfect these were! My 5&3 year old helped make them and loved sharing them with friends. So happy to have found these!
That makes me so happy! Thank you for sharing this good news <3
Have you ever made these without eggs? I’m thinking of substituting with a flax “egg” or yogurt
A lot of people ask but I haven’t tried it without eggs. I think yogurt sounds like a good substitute. Let us know how it goes. 🙂
How many mini muffins does this recipe make? 24 or 48?
48! The mini muffin pan has 24 mini muffin wells, and the recipe makes two rounds of 24.
Thanks! Picking up a set of pans now
Got the pans and made half party cake (butter/almond/van extracts and sprinkles) half chocolate chips 48 muffins gone in one day, and now they want blueberry so I’m back again for the recipe.
Love these ❤️
My husband and nephew love them! That’s a lie. Everyone loved them. Thankful for this recipe.
LOL! I’m so glad 🙂