Bite On It!

Life has definitely been very hectic the past few months and hence I did not get to do much experiments from any of the cookery or recipe books on my book shelf.

Since it is the Lunar New Year now and we will be going to KL tomorrow, I decided to bake some goodies to bring for some of the friends I will be meeting. Initially i have wanted to just use the regular recipes I have been using but after looking through one of the recipe books I thought I’ll try a new one.

Found this really nice and easy to do chocolate brownie cupcakes from the 500 Cupcakes & Muffins book by Fergal Connolly.

.

.

Ingredients
(makes 12 cupcakes)

• 125g Plain chocolate chips (I used cooking chocolate bar)
• 125g Unsalted butter (I used salted butter)
• 2 Eggs
• 300g Castor sugar (I used 200g only)
• 1tsp Vanilla essence
• 115g Plain flour

.

Methods

1. Melt chocolate and butter in a medium bowl over a pan of simmering water, stirring until melt. Set aside to cool.
2. In another medium bowl, beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla until pale and thick using a whisk.
3. Fold in the chocolate and the flour until well mixed. The batter should be gooey and sticky.
4. Spoon batter into cases and bake @ 160 degree Celsius for about 25 minutes.
5. Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes before removing from tray and cool on rack.

 .

You can make some cream topping if you want but it tastes good as it is! 

I have 2 over-ripe banana sitting on my table and I really wanted to use them to make banana cake but 2 is not enough for the recipe I have so what shall I do? Another was, I was lazy to bring out the mixer coz I already going to have some cupcake projects later in the week… excuses.. excuses…

Then I remember I came across a few sites about making steam cakes and I thought, why not? So I went to google about ‘Steamed Banana Cakes’ and first on the list was from Chow Times.

Was extremely happy that the ingredients called for the recipe are so easy! Save me lots of time and electricity too! And of course they are less oily (no butter) and not heaty at all! The only thing that needs to compromise is of course the texture and taste… got to eat them fresh!

I took the opportunity to try out my silicon cups… just to test them if they can take the heat… and yes they did! The cakes turn out to be quite springy… like sponge… hehheehe

.

.

Ingredients

• 2 ripe banana, mashed (if you have large banana, use one will do)
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon oil
• 2 teaspoons water
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 cup icing sugar (I used brown sugar)
• 100g (close to 1 cup) all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons of semi-sweet chocolate chips or raisins (optional)

.

.

Methods

1. Mashed the bananas and leave aside.
2. Mix the rest of the ingredients in another mixing bowl and it is well mixed add in the mashed banana.
3. Heat up the steamer and steam till all the banana cupcakes are cooked which is around 10-15 minutes.

In the last 3 days, I have been baking non stop! I started with a batch of these but they started to explode after 10 minutes in the oven! The entire batch was like a erupting volcanoes so I went for another batch. And guess what? Instead of another explosion, I have sinking cupcakes! Not sure what went wrong!!!!

So, in order not to get another heart attack and waste more ingredients, I dicided to give this a try which I got the recipe from here. As I don’t like having the raisins in the cupcakes, I omitted them from the recipe. Since I have 2 unsuccessful batches earlier, I halfed the recipe which turned out quite fine.

To top it off, I made the pepper mint frosting which really compliment the cuppies! It has a little salt content so it taste quite appetising too! It was meant for the earlier chocolate cupcakes and since they did not turned out, I tried it on the 3rd batch which was the Oreo Cupcakes. They were absolutely divine….

.

.

Ingredients

Make 12 Cupcakes

• 117 g Self-raising flour
• 50 g Oreo biscuits - chopped
• 115 g Butter (recommend to use unsalted but I used the salted one)
• 90 g Sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/8 tsp Salt

.
Methods

1. Beat butter, salt and sugar till slightly creamy with a mixer, add in eggs (one by one) then the flour and mix till combined.
2. Stir in the chopped oreo biscuits and spoon into paper cups.
3. Bake at 160-170C for 25 minutes (big cup) or until cooked.
4. Remove from oven and cool on cooling rack.

.
Frosting

Ingredients

• 120 g Butter
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 120 g Icing sugar
• 1 tsp Peppermint essence
• A drop of green colouring

*Some draggies for decorations

Methods

1. Cream butter, salt and sugar till smooth preferably with a mixer.
2. Add in colouring and mint essence and pipe onto cupcakes.
3. Decorate with some draggies or other preferred decoratives.

.

During my last trip to KL, my mom bought a packet of blueberries muffins premix from one of the local baking supplies shop. It tasted real good as it was not overly sweet and the texture was so cottony that it will make you keep biting.

I’ve tried looking for dried blueberries in the baking supplies shops but so far I’ve never seen any on sale before. Most of them do not carry this item. So the next best thing is the premix. It was not that expensive as it cost around RM5+ a packet and each packet can make around 12-14 muffins on a regular muffin pan.

To make it even more yummy, I added in some cream cheese cubes before I send them to bake. The cream cheese did not melt inside the batter but it is soft after it is baked.

.

.

Ingredients

• 1pkt Blueberries muffins mix
• 130g Butter/margerine
• 117ml Water
• 3 Eggs (medium size)
• 70g Cream Cheese (cut into rectangular cubes)

.
Methods

1. Add in water to the pre-mix, stir and mixed well. Add in the eggs one by one till all eggs are well mixed to create a smooth batter.
2. Scoop 1 spoonful of batter into regular muffin pan, stuff in the cream cheese cube before covering it with another spoonful of batter.
3. Bake at 175 degree Celcius for about 20-25 minutes.
4. Remove from oven and cool on rack.

.

Happy Lunar New Year!!!

My apologies for the long break as I seldom cook these passed weeks. What I have been busy about is not with my wok and pans but rather with my new toy, the oven. Those who has been visiting my other blog knows that I am into baking these days. Have been experimenting with a few recipes and thought I should share some of the successful ones with my dear readers here.

Got this recipe from one of the site (lost the link) and it was by Donna Hay. For those of you who loves chocolate, this is a must try recipe.

. 

.
Ingredients

• 125g Butter
• 3/4 cup Sugar
• 2 Eggs
• 1 1/4 cup Flour
• 1 tsp Baking powder
• 2 tbsp Cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup Milk
• 100g Dark chocolate

.
Methods

1. Mix butter and and sugar and beat until light and creamy (use a mixer)
2. Gradually add the eggs and mix well
3. Sift over the flour, baking powder and cocoa and beat until combined
4. Fold through the milk, stir in the dark chocolate and spoon the mixture into medium muffin pan.
5. Bake at 320F or 160C for 12-15 minutes.