Old-School Muffins (Chocolate Chip)

What happens when you only have a spare hour left and you need a baking fix?

Muffins! Yay!!

Like all muffins they taste the best fresh from the oven. Crispy golden brown tops with moist insides. Leave them inside a container for a day, they will taste like your grandma's old socks.

Old-School Muffins (adapted from Alton Brown's I'm Just Here for More Food)
(makes 12 standard muffins, 16 for me)

303g cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
a pinch salt
100g sugar
120ml vegetable oil
1 egg
1 egg yolk
240ml plain yogurt
1-2 cups ‘bits and pieces’ (nuts, berries, chocolate chips, or any combination thereof – but no more than 1 cup of chocolate chips) - I use 175g mini chocolate chips

Method:

1. Place an oven rack in position C and preheat oven to 190°C.
2. Prepare a muffin tin and set aside.
3. Sift together all your dry goods.
4. Combine all your liquid ingredients.
5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until just combined. Do not overmix.
6. Using the disher, drop the batter into the prepared tin. The cups should be full.
7. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until the muffin interior hits 100°C or a toothpick inserted into the bottom of a muffin comes out clean.
8. Remove from the oven and immediately turn the muffins on their sides so that steam can escape the pan. Skip this step and you'll have mushy bottoms, which is okay if you like that kind of thing.
9. Serve immediately or store in an airtight container for up to a week or until they taste gross, smell bad, or grow fur.

Durian Muffins

Hey all! Am back from my little getaway. Kinda sick from all that eating and shopping now hahah Back to work and school :(

Got this from a magazine Mama bought me last year during durian season when I randomly chirped that I want to bake durian goods. But it became just a read because I was too lazy to do anything.

So a year later, I dug it out from the book shelf and didn't regret making them. Honestly this is really good. Luxurious durian filling oozing out in the middle. What more can I say?

Durian Muffins (adapted from Oriental Cuisine Issue No. 95 August 2010)

Ingredients:
(A)
160g cake/plain flour, sifted
1 1/2 tsp baking powder, sifted
1/2 tsp salt
90g butter, cold
40g margarine, cold
100g caster sugar

(B)
1 egg, lightly beaten with a fork
50ml evaporated milk
50ml water
1 tsp vanilla essence

(C)
250g durian flesh mixed with 1/2 tbsp sugar

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line 12 paper cups on cupcake tray.
2. Combine (A) into an electric food processor & pulse until it forms bread crumbs
3. Pour in all ingredients of (A) into (B) and stir until just mixed. Do not worry if there are lumps as if beaten too much the muffin will become hard.
4. Spoon a tablespoon of the mixture into paper cups, top up with a teaspoon of durian meat and then top up with another tablespoon of batter. Remember to place the durian meat in the centre of the batter. Repeat till process finish.
5. Bake in pre-heated oven for 20 to 25 mins or until cooked tester inserted in the centre of the muffin comes out clean.

Blueberry Muffins II

Sigh. Apologies for the hiatus. I'm afraid this is going to be reoccurring though I hope not. Think it's going to get worse once my school starts next weekend.

Baking fix yeah, you just gotta squeeze time out for this hobby. The crumble topping makes the muffin look like it has a case of skin infection, but trust me, it's good. So crunchy! Provided extra crisp to the tender cake. But taste wise, I still prefer sweet cake-like Martha Stewart style.

Blueberry Muffins (adapted from Keiko Ishida's Okashi)

Ingredients:

Crumble Topping:
20g unsalted butter, softened
20g caster sugar
20g pastry flour, sifted
10g ground almonds

Muffins:
120g pastry flour
1 tsp baking powder
100g fresh blueberries
50g unsalted butter, softened
40g brown sugar
30g caster sugar
1 egg
60g cold fresh milk

Method:

1. To make crumble topping, combine ingredients in a bowl and mix with fingers until mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Chill in fridge until use.
2. Preheat oven to 180°C. Sift flour and baking powder twice. Set aside 18 blueberries.
3. Beat butter with an electric mixer until soft and fluffy. Add both sugars and beat until mixture is light and fluffy. Add egg and beat until well-combined.
4. Add 1/3 of flour mixture and fold in with spatula. Add 1/2 of milk and continue to fold batter gently. Add another 1/3 flour mixture and fold in, followed by the remaining milk. Add remaining flour mixture and fold through, but do not over-mix. Add remaining blueberries and fold in gently.
5. Line muffin tray with muffin paper cases. Spoon batter into cases until about 3/4 full. Divide the 18 blueberries among each muffin, then sprinkle crumble topping over. Bake for about 25-30 mins, or until muffins have a springy texture when pressed gently.
6. Leave muffins to cool on a wire rack. They are best served warm, and consumed the day they are baked or the day after. If not consuming immediately, store in airtight container and refrigerate for up to 4 days, freeze for up to 2 weeks.

Blueberry Muffins

Am going back to school this coming July! Will be juggling with work and part time studies, looks like I'll have even less time for baking than I already have currently. Promised myself to do a proper layered cake before my programme starts...I better!!

Had a tight week, didn't had time to whip up something extravagant, so just bought a box of blueberries randomly, hoping that I'll find something for my baking fix. This recipe is surprisingly rewarding. The ingredients list look humbly normal, no fanciful walnuts or streusel toppings but it tastes really good. The texture is cake-like tender despite being a muffin. The blueberries I bought were kinda sour but I'm cool about it, complements the sweet cake really well.

Blueberry Muffins (adapted from Martha Stewart's Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook)
(makes 12 standard size muffins)

Ingredients:
You will need:
113g unsalted butter, room temperature plus more for the pan
280g all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsps of baking powder
1/2 tsp of salt
2 cups of blueberries, fresh or thawed if frozen (270g for me)
200g sugar
2 eggs
2 tsps pure vanilla extract
120ml milk

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 190°C. Generously butter a standard 12-cup muffin pan and dust with flour, tapping out excess; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Working over the bowl, toss with blueberries in a fine sieve with about 1 1/2 tsps of the flour mixture to lightly coat; set aside the flour mixture and blueberries.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 mins. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until combined. Mix in the vanilla.
3. With the mixer on low speed, add the reserved flour mixture, beating until just combined. Add milk, beating until just combined; do not overmix. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the blueberries. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups.
4. Bake, rotating the pan halfway through, until the muffins are golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the center of one muffin comes out clean, about 30 mins. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool 10 mins. Turn the muffins on their sides in their cups, and let cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Banana and Cinnamon Muffins

Using a handheld mixer for muffins seem kinda unbelievable to me. & trust me, you shouldn't. The overmixing yield a rubbery texture, and tell me how do I not overmix when the electric hand mixer was roaring in circles whenever the switch is on. I'm not sure if 75g reduction of banana compromise the taste, but it wasn't really banana-ish. No stamp of approval for this recipe.

Friend says: george yeo asked for young people to write to him
Friend says: i did
Friend says: lol
Jean says: LOL
Jean says: what did u say
Friend says: i wrote like 1 page long
Friend says: I care more about formulating of national policies, for Singaporeans. And for the sake of a free future, the Opposition must win.
Friend says: thats how i ended it
Jean says: LOL
Jean says: ok good luck
Jean says: u will be fixed
Jean says: LOL
Friend says: =[
Jean says: ok kidding
Friend says: If i go missing
Friend says: let the people know
Jean says: LOL
Jean says: ok hero
Friend says: i send the letter to ur facebook
Jean says: -.-
Friend says: i let george yeo know u also read it before
Jean says: WTF
Friend says: okay u better tell someone to tell someone if you're gone missing
Jean says: ...

On a serious note, 7 May is approaching. Do give good thought about your votes, and which party aligns most with your values. Is getting a splash of new paint over your own walls more important or the nation wide issues as whole.

"The test of our progress as a nation is not whether we add more to those who already have much, but whether we provide enough to those who have less."

- Chen Show Mao, Workers' Party

Banana and Cinnamon Muffins (adapted from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook)

Ingredients:
350g all purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon plus extra to sprinkle
160g caster sugar plus extra to sprinkle
375ml buttermilk
1 egg
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
70g unsalted butter, melted
400g mashed banana (325g for me, because I ran out of bananas)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C.
2. Put the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda & cinnamon into a large bowl and beat with a handheld electric whisk until combed.
3. Put the buttermilk, egg & vanilla extract in a bowl and mix to combine. Slowly pour into the flour mixture and beat on slow speed until all the ingredients are incorporated.
4. Pour in the melted butter and beat until incorporated. Stir in the bananas with a wooden spoon until evenly dispersed.
5. Spoon the mixture into the paper cases until two-thirds full and sprinkle a little extra sugar and cinnamon over the tops. Bake in the preheated oven for 20-30 mins, or until golden brown and the muffin bounces back when touched. A skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean. Leave the muffins to cool slightly in the pan before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Irish Soda Bread Muffins

First of all I will like to thank Lena for this award! Really an honor to receive this. It's my first award ever, and I want to thank my papa and my mama and my sista and my smelly puppy.

Here are the rules to abide in order to accept this award and they are:
1. Post linking back to the person that gave you the award
2. Share 7 random things about yourself
3. Award 15 recently discovered blogs
4. Drop them a note and tell them about it.

So here's the randomness:

1. I was an avid gamer. Used to be a hardcore raider in World of Warcraft. It was like my 2nd job. Practically eat and sleep in front of the computer. Then I decided that I needed a life after 2 years, and I tendered resignation to my Raid Leader.
2. Flew to US alone during Winter '08 to meet my American friends. Had the best vacation ever. Road trip to LA, Vegas, SF. While they're at work, I wander around the suburbans by myself, talk to strangers on the streets. That explains why I'm so into American TV and their food.
3. Wanderlust me! Thrilled by the idea of travelling, even to exotic places like India or Peru. Rather backpack by foot than go for packaged tours.
4. One of the proudest moments in my life was completing a full marathon.
5. My weight fluctuates like a woman's pms mood swing. Was at 63kg at my heaviest and 46kg at my lightest.
6. Am furthering my studies this July, because I want to put myself to challenge of time management. Considered doing it overseas but that will put a strain to the pockets, so nope.
7. I like dogs, cats...and virtually all kinds of animals. Feel a lot of sympathy for them. Maybe I'll do up a stray cat blog post soon when I have the time :D

Will like to forward the award to the below lovely bloggers! Sorry if some of you have already received this award before, that's just cos you're simply awesome.
1. Busygran from A Busy Gran's Kitchen
2. Cathy from Cathy's Joy
3. Edith from Precious Moments
4. Jasmine from The Sweetylicious
5. Jess from J3ss kitch3n
6. Jane from Passionate Abt Baking
7. Jo from Sugar & Everything Nice
8. Johnson from I'll Snap That
9. Joyce from Chunky Cooky
10. Nancy from Bake for a Queen
11. Vivienne from Green Cilantro
12. Wen from Wen's Delight
13. Wendy from Table for 2...or more
14. Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids
15. ZY from Baking Library

It's Irish soda bread muffins for St Patrick's Day! It's fun to have a reason to bake something festive for a holiday when it's almost non existent over here haha. The four-leave clover and lotsa lotsa green are considered the most symbolic of this festive holiday.

I was really intrigued by how the original soda bread works. It's a bread, but it does not require any yeast to work. It's made of the simplest ingredients with no add-ins...not even sugar! Probably because of how poor the people were back then, and sugar was a luxury. Now here's a little more fanciful version with butter, sugar and some raisins.

The quick bread portion is tender and isn't as sweet as our usual cake-like muffins. The natural sweetness of raisins makes up for the lack of flavor. Honestly I think they're not much different from normal muffins. Now I'm even more curious to try how the original Irish soda bread tastes like. But I do hope I get some of the said Irish luck eating these muffins!

Irish Soda Bread Muffins (adapted from Nick Malgieri's Modern Baker)
(makes 12 muffins)

Ingredients:
280g all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp caraway seeds, optional
113g unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg
300ml buttermilk
105g raisins tossed with 1 tbsp flour

Method:

1. Set a rack in the middle level of the oven and preheat to 180°C.
2. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and caraway seeds, if using, in a mixing bowl and stir well to combine.
3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the butter and sugar. Whisk in the egg and half the buttermilk. Use a large rubber spatula to gently stir half the flour mixture into the liquid. Stir in the remaining buttermilk.
4. Stir in the raisins followed by the remaining flour mixture.
5. Divide the batter equally among the cavities in the muffin pan. Bake the muffins until they are well risen and feel firm to the touch, abt 30 mins. Cool the muffins in the pan on a rack.

Coconut Vanilla Bean Muffins

Have had a hectic week. Been so long since I'm able to go home straight after work. Honestly I've been feeling kinda cranky lately. Kinda down and disappointed with the way certain things are turning out. Also feel bad that I was unable to attend some of the gatherings which my friends whom I've not seen for ages, had organised. Sheesh. Sometimes I really wonder if I'm trying to do much more than I can handle. Moreover I'm planning to further my studies this coming July which I was initially all enthusiastic about. Now I'm kinda worried if it means giving up some time on the activities I'm engaged in now.

But it's a challenge ain't it? Have to motivate myself more. Sigh. Maybe I'm experiencing some kind of crossroad-in-life crisis or something heh.

My previous posts were actually post dated bakes from a week or two back. Wanted to bake for 'real' but can't find the time to. What I mean by 'real' baking, is making whole cakes haha. Had to make do with quickie bakes like these. But engaging myself into baking relieves me of the frustration momentarily.

Was kinda anxious to see how the muffins turn out because the batter looks different from my usual lumpy muffin mix. It was gritty instead and relatively less wet. Was excited when vanilla fragrance filled the kitchen by the time they are due to be out from the oven. The muffins came out with little jagged golden brown crusted tops, totally rustic looking. The coconut milk gave it a different undernote from normal muffins. Makes it scoring a perfect ten on the aroma department. Though a little on the dry side, nothing like good ol' strawberry jam to moisten up the little fellow. For me, I like it warm with a spoonful of honey.

Coconut Vanilla Bean Muffins
(makes 12 muffins)

Ingredients:
210g plain flour
100g sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
75g unsalted butter, melted
50ml coconut milk
10ml milk
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla powder
Vanilla pod seeds, scraped from 1 pod
2 tbsp vanilla yogurt

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Line 15 medium sized muffin paper cups on the muffin tray.
2. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, combine butter, coconut milk, milk, egg, vanilla pod and yogurt.
4. Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture and fold in wet mixture into it. Stir until just combined. It's okay to have a few floury lumps here and there.
5. Bake for 14 mins and transfer to wire rack to cool

Crowning Glory Mini Madeleine Muffins

Chingay is finally over. Did you catch us on TV? Many of us had one second shot at fame on national television. hahahah!!

Was great victory for many of us and I hope you guys enjoyed the show as much as we do. The joy I got from going around making the audience smile and shriek is really undescribeable. I think all of us are still feeling the ecstasy from the performance and wished it didn't end so soon.

I also see the growth and change in my boyfriend. We didn't exactly celebrate Valentine's, but going through the training together these 3 months, and him attending the trainings despite his temperamental work schedule and finally reaching finishing line together was a lot more valuable than a day of celebration. I also saw how he changed from being skeptical of his giraffe (yup! he's a giraffe hahah!) stint, to doing his best to bring joy and smiles to everyone.

Go you go! :)

Behind the scenes

with the gorgeous ladies

adorable auntie who bought an ikea zebra hand puppet to engage the audience

bulky heavy giraffe props strapped to the participants

On the day before the actual performance, I googled for a last minute recipe to bake for my Flying Birds group - Yeah, we're called Flying Birds as we wave 4 to 7 meters long poles with bird-kites attached to them. Felt that I've procrastinated long enough to make something for them and it was already the final performance.

Flying Birds

Flying Birds with my muffins..and a NTUC plastic bag LOL

When freshly baked, these little madeleine muffins have a crispy crusty top with a surprise tang from the blueberry in the middle. You may wish to wait at least half a day before dunking them into your mouth as I find that it has an "eggy" taste which kinda vanish after a while. But either way they are cute little bite sized snack cakes good for serving your guests.

Happy Valentines Day everyone! :)

Crowning Glory Mini Madeleine Muffins (adapted from Passion for Eating)
makes 36 mini muffins

Ingredients:
169g unsalted butter, melted
200g sugar (preferably unrefined)
4 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla or cognac
1 lime's zest (I replace it with 1/2 tsp Grand Marnier)
210g flour (I use pastry flour)
Pinch of fine sea salt
1 blueberry or cherry per mini muffin

Method:
1. In the bowl of a mixer blend the sugar and eggs with a whisk until blended and fluffy. You can do this by hand but it will take a while to get it light and fluffy.
2. Mix in the vanilla and lime zest until completely combined.
3. Add the flour and salt by hand until no traces of it are left. Do not over mix but there should be little to no lumps.
4. Then pour in the slightly cooled melted butter and stir by hand until you have a nice thick batter.
5. Refrigerate for at least an hour but up to a day is fine.
6. Preheat the oven to 220°C and grease the mini muffin tins. Using two spoons scoop enough to fill the tin two thirds of the way full. A little more for the blueberry ones and a little less for the cherries if they are larger. Top each one with a piece of fruit and push it down in without completely submerging it.
7. Bake for 10-12 mins, until starting to get golden brown. Dump in a basket and enjoy with a cup of tea or coffee!

Chocolate-Chocolate Chunk Muffins

The week has been mad hectic. Been working till 9+pm this week, was seeing double by the time my day ends. Took a breather today by making some muffins. I noticed how I've been falling back on muffins for my baking fix as they are really simple to make.

These muffins served themselves as my sister and my breakfast this morning. Contrary to most sugary-filled chocolate bakes, these chocolatey muffins are only slightly sweet yet filled with rich chocolatey goodness. The buttermilk contributed to the muffins' moist and tender texture. If you can get away with calling chocolate as breakfast, then these muffins are for you!

Chocolate-Chocolate Chunk Muffins (adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours)
Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients:
84g unsalted butter
113g bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (I use half 70% dark chocolate and half 55% semisweet chocolate)
280g all-purpose flour
133g cup granulated sugar
30g cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
300ml buttermilk
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Method:
1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 190°C. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit with paper muffin cups. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.
2. Melt the butter and half the chopped chocolate together in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Remove from the heat.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
4. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk the buttermilk, egg and vanilla extract together until well combined.
5. Pour the liquid ingredients and the melted butter and chocolate over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Do not overmix the batter.
6. Stir in the remaining chopped chocolate. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.
7. Bake for about 20 mins, or until a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 mins before carefully removing each muffin from its mold.

Honey Corn Muffins

Other than work, this is what I've been busy with and will be occupied with it till mid Feb - Chingay! Practices are so frequent that I no longer have time to run and bake as much as I wil like to. But nevertheless, I thought this show creates a lot of value for the public, and also for my personal growth.

Was encouraged greatly by many participants, they shared with me the their struggles and how they overcome it. You hear stories on how people's parents are battling cancer yet they show up for the practices. One of the admin uncles was admitted into ICU, fell into coma after getting knocked down by a bus during the course of our training. When he finally woke up from the coma, he showed us the "V" victory sign while on hospital bed, captured on video to encourage all of us Soka Chingay participates. Deeply touched and I'm even more determined to do my human revolution.

Am in an item showcased by Singapore Soka Association supported by the Singapore Zoological Gardens and its 'animalistic' counterparts. That explains the Tarzan-and-Jane costumes we were in. Honestly I think we look more like mutated Tinkerbells than Janes.
As promised, a little Chingay preview.

Our float! *proud*

The finale - lanterns lighting up by the Flyer

these little girls are so cute!!

Me: *waving over zealously to everyone on the streets*

Boyfriend: You're suitable to be in a circus.
Me: Try doing this when you are not covered in face paint and wearing crazy costumes like these.
Boyfriend: *grins*

Woke up in the morning, still feeling the ecstasy from last night's rehearsal. Gotta reunite with my oven for a bit, it must have felt lonely for the past week. Baked some corn muffins for breakfast. Tender crumbed corn muffins with a crusty top, buddying up with the floral goodness of sweet honey, they taste really good served warm!

Honey Corn Muffins (adapted from Matt Lewis & Renato Poliafito's Baked Explorations)
Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients:
2 large eggs
240ml buttermilk
60ml honey
113g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
163g yellow cornmeal
105g all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
55g light brown sugar
2 tbsp sugar (I use 4 tbsp)
1 tsp kosher salt (I use table salt)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Lightly butter or spray each cup of a standard 12 cup muffin pan – and wipe out any excess with a paper towel. You can also line with paper.
2. In a medium bowl, lightly whisk the eggs, add the buttermilk, honey and butter, and whisk again. Set aside.
3. In a larger bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, brown sugar, sugar and salt.
4. Make a little well in the dry ingredients and then pour the wet into the well, and fold together until just combined. Try not to over-mix.
5. Fill each muffin about 3/4’s full. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick comes out just clean.
6. Place on a rack and let cool for 10 minutes. Then pop muffins out while still warm and serve with butter (and honey or fruit).

Enjoy-

Oh, if they sit for days (they shouldn’t!) – just toast and spread a little butter or jam on – honey or just plain. Toasting will refresh the flavor.

Chocolate Spice Muffins

Took leave a day before Christmas Eve to whip up a mass muffins baking for my colleagues. Made a variety of muffins from my past tested and trial-ed recipes. Settled on a few including this one. Chocolate spice muffins! To warm everyone up a little, in the heart at least. Crusty muffin top accompanied by spicy cocoa flavors and dried mixed fruits. The recipe is a holiday season keeper.

Little xmas tags I've made. Ripped the angry muffin picture off google.

Muffins galore~

It was fun baking loads during this holiday season. Kinda disappointed that I didn't have the time to practice for a log cake this year, but I'll do that in the coming year.

Chocolate Spice Cranberry Muffins
(makes 12 muffins)

Ingredients:
1 egg
70ml vegetable oil
240ml milk
200g sugar
140g all purpose flour
135g whole wheat flour
20g cocoa powder
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
70g dried mixed fruits

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line 12 muffin paper cups on the muffin tray.
2. Whisk together egg, oil, milk and sugar
3. In a separate bowl, whisk flours, cocoa powder and baking powder, salt and stir in egg mixture
4. Fold in mixed fruits and scoop batter into muffin
5. Bake for 30mins and transfer to wire rack to cool

Cocoa Banana Muffins

Remember Project: Cookies? It's in operation! Colleagues came to my place and baked a few hundred cookies for my department's Xmas gift giving. Given the number of cookies baked, you can roughly estimate how big my department is ya.

Filled up jars of cookies...and that's not all of it

Some play after all the hard work

After today, don't think I'll be baking any cookies for a long while. The scent of cookie dough makes me sick :S

Was utterly down later in the day, felt like an useless douchebag. Decided to make myself useful by baking. The numerous beating and mixing in this recipe made me go, Really?? a couple of times when I was following through the steps. This is the first time I've beat and mixed so much for a muffin. The muffins turned out surprisingly soft and pudding-ish in texture. Bananas and chocolate go so brainlessly well together. It's really hard to screw up anything that blends the two flavors together. Compared to the recent banana and chocolate muffins I've baked recently, I think I like the previous one slightly better because they're more badass...or maybe 2 young lads are more attractive than one middle aged baker.

Cocoa Banana Muffins (adapted from Nick Malgieri's Modern Baker)
(makes 16 muffins)

Ingredients:
210g all purpose flour
46g alkalized(Dutch process) cocoa powder, sifted
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups bananas, peeled and mashed with a fork (use very ripe bananas)
120g sour cream
169g unsalted butter, softened
200g granulated sugar
109g light brown sugar
3 large eggs

Method:
1. Set a rack in the middle level of the oven and preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a mixing bowl and stir well to mix.
3. In a separate bowl, stir together the mashed bananas and sour cream; set aside.
4. Combine the butter, sugar and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until well mixed and a little lightened in color, abt 1 min.
5. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating smooth after each addition.
6. Decrease mixer speed to low and beat in 1/2 the flour mixture. Stop the mixer and use a large rubber spatula to scrape down the bowl and beater.
7. Beat in banana mixture. After batter has absorbed the banana mixture, beat in the remaining flour mixture. Stop and scrape down the bowl and beater again.
8. Remove the bowl from the mixer and use a large rubber spatula to give a final mixing to the batter.
9. Divide the batter equally among the cavities in the muffin pans. Bake the muffins until they are well risen and feel firm to the touch, about 30 mins (I took them out at 27mins). Because this is such a liquid batter, test a muffin with a toothpick or the point of a thin-bladed knife - it should emerge with just a few moist crumbs clinging to it.
8. Cool the muffins in the pan on a rack.

Christmas Muffins - Cranberries & Orange

If I were to design a muffin called Christmas, this will be it...because Cranberries = Christmas! Am submitting this entry to Aspiring Bakers #2: Christmas! (Dec 2010).

This muffin recipe is really easy, made in the festive spirit of healthy living. When I attended the cooking demo by Chef Anna Olson and she said you can basically substitute up to half of flour of whatever recipes we have with whole wheat flour without drastically affecting the texture and taste of the baked goods. That explains why we often see 1 cup flour : 1 cup whole wheat flour in supposedly health conscious recipes.

Muffins are great! In the spirit of being health conscious (since this is a whole wheat muffin), I use low fat milk instead of full cream. Despite that, the muffin remains moist and tender. The orange gives the muffin a refreshing zesty twist accompanied by tarty cranberries' tanginess, it's like eating Marks and Spencer's Cranberry Orange cookie but in a muffin form. This is a fairy tale of tart meeting sweetness, with a satisfying burping happily ever after.

Cranberry Orange Muffins

(makes 12 muffins)

Ingredients:
1 egg
70ml vegetable oil
240ml milk
200g sugar
1 orange's zest
1 tsp of Grand Marnier
140g all purpose flour
150g whole wheat flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
70g dried cranberries (I used 35g, that's all that I'm left with :P)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line 12 muffin paper cups on the muffin tray.
2. Whisk together egg, oil, milk, sugar and orange zest
3. In a separate bowl, sift flours, baking powder, salt and stir in egg mixture
4. Fold in cranberries and scoop batter into muffin
5. Bake for 30mins and transfer to wire rack to cool

Banana Espresso Chocolate Chip Muffins

We had a gathering at my place and one of the guests brought a bunch of ripe bananas for potluck. So the bananas were not exactly that popular, so it was left almost intact by the time everyone left. Knowing my mom's kan chiong spider cum must-not-let-food-go-to-waste virtue, she's probably going to gobble up the whole bunch before everything turns black and she's going to have constipation heehee. To fulfill my role of being a filial daughter teeheehee, I used them instead hurhur. I just got this book as a birthday gift and had bookmarked quite a bit of recipes to try, so here we go!

Baked is a bakery in New York, famous for its fudgy brownies. I once saw their salted caramel brownie on Food Network Channel, damn I wish I was in USA right now! And...well you know baking young men are pretty hot you know! *coughMattLewiscough* I must say these guys at Baked love salt too. I think it's a guys thing to like savory foods. The recipe calls for slightly more salt than other muffin recipes do, so you can taste a slight note of salt here and there. But salt in dessert is in 'fashion' now, think salted caramel, sea salt in ice cream, and sprinkling fleur de sel over cupcakes. Can't wait to try out more interesting recipes from this book.

I'm absolutely thrilled when I pulled the muffins out from the oven. Heavenly banana chocolatey aroma filled the kitchen. Even my dog came to take a whiff of it. Flavorful moist (extremely!) banana muffins with gooey melted chocolate chips, good for sweet treats breakfast or afternoon tea break. The espresso added a pleasant touch of coffee which separates itself from other flat-note muffins. Unlike the usual muffins which taste best upon cooling from the oven, these actually become even more flavorful the next day, so you can prepare them in advance.
Banana Espresso Chocolate Chip Muffins (adapted from Matt Lewis & Renato Poliafito's Baked: New Frontiers in Baking)

Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups mashed, very ripe bananas (about 4) (I mashed them just before I'm abt to use them because bananas brown quickly)
100g sugar
54g light brown sugar
113g unsalted butter, melted
60ml whole milk
1 large egg
210g all-purpose flour
1 tsp instant espresso powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 tsp salt
170g semisweet chocolate chips

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 175°C
2. Spray a 12-cup muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray
3. In a medium bowl, stir together the bananas, sugars, butter, milk, and egg
4. In another medium bowl, whisk together the flour, instant espresso powder, baking soda and salt
5. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients
6. Pour the wet ingredients into the well and stir just until combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.
7. Fill each cup about 3/4 full. Bake in the center of the oven for 20-25 mins, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffin comes out clean (Mine took 27mins)
8. Move the muffin pan to a cooling rack, and let cool for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, remove the muffins from the pan and let them finish cooling on the cooling rack. Muffins can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

Campton Place Muffins (Granny Smith Version)

Hey folks! Am probably somewhere in the middle of Malaysia now. Am going there for a short holiday over the long weekend. Going to Malacca, have not been there since my secondary school field trip which...honestly, I can't really remember what went on at the trip other than a bus of rowdy hyperactive teenagers who probably are better off at a bbq than visiting Cheng Ho temples. Have to satisfy my baking urges before leaving.

Kinda late for the apple theme since it's like what, almost end of fall. Better late than never though. Went to the supermarket and bought an apple of each kind available - Red Delicious, Gala, Granny Smith, Fuji, didn't get this breed type called Jazz what's that?. Did some apple research - funny thing how Google gave me Steve-Jobs-Apple when I typed in "Apples" as my keyword - found out that Jazz is a new variety of apples from NZ. Cool.

So I literally lay out my apples on my table like an art exhibition LOL. Finally picked Granny Smith for this one as I don't trust my speed in preparing the ingredients before the apples start to brown hehe. Whenever I bake with fruits, I'll have an uninvited guest sitting beside me in the kitchen watching me prepare the ingredients. The last time I made something with bananas, she was there too. This time, she pays her visit as well.

hello little fellow

all smiles upon seeing her apple scraps

her patience paid off

These muffins are dense and moist with a crunchy brown dome top. The tarty apples provide extra crisp while chewing on the muffin. The occasional acidity the fruit blends well with the sweet muffins. The batter turns out to be pretty thick, -I think it's written in such a way to carry the weight of cut fruits without letting them sink to the bottom - so you can afford to cut chunkier bits of apples than mine if you like that extra crunch.

Campton Place Muffins (adapted from Sherry Yard's Desserts by the Yard)
(makes 12 muffins)

Ingredients:
130g cake flour
140g all purpose flour
150g granulated sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs, room temperature
242g sour cream (I use lite sour cream, though I'm not supposed to! :P)
60ml milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
85g unsalted butter, melted and still warm
1 1/2 cup fruits, such as blueberries, chopped apples, or chopped figs) (I use 1 Granny Smith apple)

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 190°C. Spray a muffin tin with pan spray or line with paper liners
2. Sift together cake flour, plain flour, sugar, baking powder and salt
3. In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, sour cream, milk, vanilla and melted butter
4. Whisk in flour mixture and fold in the fruit
5. Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling cups 3/4 full
6. Bake for 15mins. Rotate the tin from front to back, and bake for another 10 to 15mins, until muffins are lightly browned, firm to touch and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean
7. Remove from oven and allow to cool in tin on a rack for 15mins, then remove muffins from tin and allow to cool complete on the rack