Whole wheat jam muffins, and Weston's first internship

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My 11-year-old son Weston is spending his spring break doing an internship.

Yes, he's young to be working. But he's a passionate budding entrepreneur and keenly interested in how businesses work.

So I hooked him up with my friend Blake, a serial entrepreneur who most recently founded eLocalRank, one of the top search engine optimization companies in Los Angeles. Blake offered to teach Weston the basics of keyword research and SEO campaign building. Weston jumped at the opportunity.

Blake put an extra desk in his office. So far he's had Weston build a list of 800 keywords for my business website and coached Weston through the process of writing the copy for his own website, which will go live later this week.

He also made Weston do jumping jacks and push-ups when his concentration lagged halfway through his first day. That's my kind of boss.

Weston is learning some very valuable lessons:

• Entrepreneurs work very, very hard. Sometimes they even sleep on the couch in their offices instead of going home.
• Even the most interesting jobs involve a certain amount of repetitive, boring work.
• People will pay you to do things they don't understand, can't do themselves, or don't want to do themselves.

So how does this relate to the muffins? I baked a dozen and took them to Blake's office on Weston's first day. A gesture of thanks from a mom who's grateful her son is getting a chance to feed his entrepreneurial spirit.

These muffins come together in less than five minutes. Mix them when you get up, put them in the oven, and go take a shower. By the time you're ready for work, they're ready to go to the office with you.

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Whole wheat jam muffins

by Erika Kerekes March-26-2013

These simple muffins work best with a loose jam or preserve that isn't too sweet.

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup white whole wheat flour (I prefer King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour)
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice
• 1/3 cup grapeseed or canola oil
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 cup your favorite jam or preserves, preferably not overly sweet (if jam is very sweet, cut sugar to 1/2 cup)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 12-cup muffin tin generously with nonstick cooking spray.In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and allspice.In a smaller bowl, whisk together the oil, egg, milk, and jam.Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and fold together gently with a spatula or large spoon just until the ingredients are combined.Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups and bake 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in the muffin tin 2 minutes, then take the muffins out and cool them the rest of the way on a rack. Note: If you're bringing the muffins to work, it's fine to wrap them in foil in a single layer while they're still warm and transport them that way.

Details

Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 30 mins Total time: 35 mins Yield: 12 muffins