Wonderfully Martha's (Marble Buttermilk Pound Cake)

Having recently (and finally) acquired Martha Stewart's The Baking Handbook, I wasted no time in putting it to good use.

By default, I had actually used a recipe from this book before but that was when I loaned it from another blogger's website. This cake looked so wonderful in the book, simplicity at its best.


I daresay mine was not too bad compared to the original either. The only problem I had was that there were bits where it was slightly underbaked, probably due to my oven's (unreliable) temperature. Anyone knows where I can get a good oven thermometer? About time I get one and lay my suspicions to rest.

Speaking of her chocolate chip cookies (as mentioned above), another variation that I have tried is to turn them into Mocha Chocolate Chip Cookies. Just add strong coffee powder to the mix and lessen the vanilla. In addition, I froze the dough by rolling them into a log with cling wrap and keeping them in a cylinder tube. When you want to bake them, just slice and bake. The ones below were baked for a friend. I tried one piece and it tasted yummy with the addition of coffee powder although it was more crispy than chewy this time (probably because I baked them longer this time). I hope my friend thought so too.

Martha's Chewy Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Another recipe to try for the undisputed most popular cookie among the young ones in my family - the Chocolate Chip Cookie. I was taken by the rave review that I read here that I thought that I must simply try out this recipe, and so I did.


Recipe from Martha Stewart. Click the link above if you want the recipe.

These cookies turned out chewy and soft with a slight crispy edge. Although the kids polished them off at no time, they commented the cookies were a little too soft. Almost cake like. Then again, my cookies were considered "underbake" according to the recipe. It is impossible to bake them for 18 minutes in my oven even at reduced temperature without burning them. I have learned this too many times.

Anyhow, soft or not, they are still pretty darn good. Well, anything that has chocolate in it has got to be good, right?

For another favourite chocolate chip cookie recipe of mine, click here.

3 of My Best! (Flourless Peanut Butter, Choc Chunk Cookies & Donna Hay's Cupcakes)

Recently discovered 2 really good cookie recipes. In fact, these recipes are 2 of the best batches of cookies I have baked so far.

Top of the list is the Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookies. Recipe is from Baking Sheet (see side bar for link to this blog). No flour was used here, this is a ‘pure-bred’ Peanut Butter cookie (hehe) . The cookie was simply held together by the egg(s) used. Crumbly but yet, melts in your mouth.


Next, we have the Chewy Chocolate Chunk cookies (FAVOURITE RECIPE) made famous by ‘the baker’. This is easily my favourite chocolate chip/chunk cookie recipe. Those who were lucky enough to taste them (namely my nephews and niece, Amos the eldest in particular) exclaimed,
“These cookies are even better than Famous Amos!”
I preened with pride….. ;-p


Not forgetting this cupcake recipe by Donna Hay. It has somewhat relegated to a ‘cult’ status among food bloggers. After baking this for the first time previously, I could see what the hype was all about. Here, I baked the original version – Peanut Butter Self-frosting Cupcakes. (FAVOURITE RECIPE)

French Toasts & Cupcakes

Woke up to a lazy Saturday morning. Been out late the night before and had a killer "Espresso Kahlua" cocktail. Usually, consuming caffeine late at night have no effect on me but I will usually be wide awake pretty early the next morning.
Which was why I woke up at 7am (can't sleep no more despite the fact that I don't have to work today) and decided to make breakfast for the family.

Classic Cinnamon French Toasts served with sprinkles of sugar - yum!

After breakfast, I had some time to kill before going to my usual Saturday gym class. Inspired by recent cupcakes-baking frenzy that I have seen on some of my favourite blogs, I decided to try a cupcake recipe that I have been wanting to try for quite some time. This recipe is said to be from Magnolia, the famous NY bakery most known for its cupcakes. People are known to queue for it the same way how we would queue for say, our favourite rojak sold from a van. Was it any good? Judging on how the kids savoured them, I have to say they must be pretty good! I did get more than a few licks of the buttercream frosting when I was preparing them and I have to say they are pretty addictive! But stay away if you can't tolerate sweetness though.

"Magnolia's Cupcakes with Creamy & Addictive Frosting"

The next day, I was left with some un-used buttercream so I made another batch of cup-cakes. This time I made them in mini sizes and used Nigella Lawson's fairy cakes recipe. Very easy and very nice!

Mini orange cupcakes frosted with strawberry-flavoured buttercream.
Recipe for 9 or 10 mini muffins (based on recipe by Nigella Lawson)
Ingredient:
60g soft unsalted butter
60g sugar
1 egg
60g self-raising flour
1/4t orange oil
1-2T milk
Sift flour in a bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients except the milk. Mix with mixer until smooth. Drizzle in milk a little-by-little until batter is of pouring consistency. Pour into lined muffin tins till about 80% full. Bake in pre-heated oven (175c) for 10 mins or until top is golden brown and skewer comes out clean when tested on cakes. Cool completely on rack and frost.

Black Gold (Hershey's Best Brownies)

Discovered black gold today! In the form of a brownie. Mmmm...., this brownie is really as good as raved about by many. Simple to make too. As good as it is, it's even better when slathered with a layer of rich chocolate sauce (I made mine using Varlhona chocolate). Simply divine!
Don't hesitate, go make this brownie. It's worth every cal! (hehe...)
Recipe found here.

Better Late Than Never (Cookies & Muffin)

Well, I may have missed out some of the latest food blogging events such as "Hay Hay It's Donna Day" and the 2005 SHF/IMBB Cookie Swap but like they say, "better late than never..."
I think I must have been star-struck by the numerous utterly-delicious entries for both these events, to the point that I felt like I must give them a try too.
Ok, enough mumblings. Here are my "delayed" efforts:

Peanut Butter & Chocolate Self-Frosting Muffin
(based on recipe by Donna Hay; see link above for details and recipe)

After reading so many raves, I have to see what the hype was all about. And I am glad that I did. These are so good, although I only got a quarter bite out of one muffin. Then again, this emphasizes how good the muffins were All gone before I can have another bite! *grin*
I have no doubt that Nutella would be absolutely fantastic with these muffins but all I had was a jar of PB & Chocolate jam. But no regrets in using this though. I think I must have been overly generous with the PB for the entire top was almost covered by the jam (maybe I should have folded more of the muffin dough over the topping). When baked, it formed a crusty and sweet top (that is somewhat similar to those infamous "Rotiboy" buns, but only crustier) .


The 2005 SHF/IMBB Cookie Swap reminded me that I have to start my Christmas cookies-baking soon. From the round-up of this event, there are tons of cookies recipe made available. Really useful for anyone looking for new recipes to try this Christmas.

For starters, I tried 2 recipes. One was Honey Ginger Snaps based on the recipe from Esurientes, and the other is Custard Crunch Cookies from Gina of Kitchen Capers.

Honey Ginger Snaps
For the former, mine was a far cry from the original. I expected them to be crispy but they had a chewy center. Could be due to under-baking since I have a phobia of over-baking cookies in my notorious oven (see previous posts if you wonder why). But I still think they are good! The sweetness of honey is nicely balanced with a slight tinge of peppery ginger. Would make this again, and this time will make them thinner so that they are crispier.


Custard Crunch Cookies
For the latter, no fats are listed in the recipe. These cookies came out being quite hard-to-crunch but somehow, I got addicted to them. They could be a taxing on the jaw but I kind of enjoyed the crunchy effect. And the taste was very nice as well. Next, I would have to learn how to lessen the "hard crunch" effect.