Chocolate Muffin

This blog entry is specially dedicated to my recipe illiterate sister in singapore, joelyn, who attempts to impress her little princess (or husband?) by serving her some fresh from oven muffins for her tea time. I can't be more agree that homemake baking goodies do make people feel loved and warm.

After browsing through many muffin recipes, i decided she should try this recipe, a very easy recipe with some basic ingredients. The reliability of this recipe can also be assured as i make it a few times before and it is indeed my first muffin recipe too :)

Joelyn get confused with the basic ingredients and the steps of making a muffin, so here the photo plus some explaination.

Butter

Margarine, commonly used for spreading on bread can also be used but butter yield softer texture and superior in fragrance. In contrast, margarine yield a healthier cake as they contain less animal fat compare to butter.

Self raising flour It can be substituted by adding baking powder to all-purpose flour (the ratio is about 250mg all purpose flour to 1 tablespoon/15g baking powder ).

Cocoa powder

Fresh Milk
Any brand, be it the pasteurised type or UHT fresh milk (but not the formula milk of your little princess, haha). I usually use Dutch Lady Full Cream Fresh Milk.

Sugar
Usually fine sugar is used for baking purpose as it can dissolve and mix better with other ingredients.

Eggs
Usually grade A egg is used, but so far the size of egg do not appear a problem to me. But it need to be brought to room temperature before beating.

Recipe for Chocolate Muffin
Butter 50g
Sugar 40g
Self raising flour 60g
Cocoa powder 10g
Fresh Milk 25ml
Egg 1
Chocolate Rice (about 1 tablespoon, optional)
Chocolate Chips (Optional)

Preparation
Soften the butter in room temperature
Sieve together the self raising flour and cocoa powder. Set aside.
Pre-heat the oven at the baking temperature for 15mins before baking.

1. Beat butter and sugar, until the sugar dissolve and butter turn pale yellow (can be whisk with folk or chopstick)
2. Add half of the egg into butter mixture, beat and then add another half and beat again (with folk or chopstick).
3. Add half of the sifted flour into 2 and mix till well combine (with spatula)
4. Add in fresh milk then the remaining flour and mix till everything well incorporated (with spatula)
5. Add in chocolate rice and slighty mix (with spatula).
6. Pour the battle into paper cup to 80% full then top with some chocolate chips.
7. Bake at 150c for 20-25 minutes or until the skewer inserted into the centre of the muffin comes out clean (nothing stick to the skewer means the muffin are done, if don't have skewer u can use satay stick or tooth pick).

Mini French Cake (Oilless)

This cake is really an easy and quick to make cake, even the most daunting part - washing was made easy with this oilless recipe. Everything, include washing can be settled within 15minutes while you are pre-heating the oven. If you are as efficient as me, you may still have the time to sit back and relax before sending the batter into the oven :)

The beautiful part of the cake

• The ingredients in this cake are also so easily available (don't call your kitchen a kitchen if you can't find them in your kitchen).
• There are no chemicals (baking powder, baking soda, cream of tartar, vanilla essense etc)involved, so a healthy cake from a pharmacist perspective.
• This oilless formula can fit the bill of those with hypercholestrolemia (but not those with diabetes, haha).
• The batter was easy and quick to be prepared.
• Save money on dishwashing liquid (no dishwashing liquid is required, all you have to do is just rinse all the utensils as no oil is used).
• Everything was snapped up within matter of minutes, so you know how good it tastes :0)

Recipe for mini french cake

1. Sieve the mixture of 30g all purpose flour and 15g corn flour.
2. Whisk 2 egg yolks with 20g sugar until the sugar dissolved.
3. With electric mixer, whisk 2 egg whites with 20g of sugar until peak.
4. Fold in the egg white mixture to egg yolk mixture in 3 addition, mix well after each addition.
5. Add flour mixture into the batter and fold gently until well incorporated.
6. Pour in muffin cup, cover top with desiccated coconut (optional).
7. Bake at 180c for 20 minutes.

Orange Chiffon Cake

I like orange and I like cake, but i don't fancy orange cake. However, i baked this for my mum as she always ask for orange chiffon cake.

The resulting cake was very satisfying, soft, moist and aromatic. It will be perfect if not for the identity crisis that it faces, haha. If I were to bake this again, I will add some orange cordial (sunquick) to enhance it's orange coloration and thus the appearance of this cake.

Orange chiffon for a friend

Orange chiffon cake recipe:

1. Grate 1 tsp of range rind and sqeeze 5 tbsp of orange juice to make up orange mixture.
2. Add 5 egg yolks, 150g self-raising floor, 75g sugar, 5 tbsp corn oil and orange mixture in a bowl. Whisk in one direction until smooth and well combined.
3. Whisk 5 egg whites and 1/2tsp cream of tartar until frothy, than add in 75g sugar in 2 batches and continue whisk until a peak.
4. Pour yolks mixture into egg whites mixture in 3 batches, after each addition, stir the mixture in one direction until well combined.
5. Pour in chiffon cake mold and bake at 150c for 35 minutes.
6. Remove from oven, invert and leave to cool completely before removing from cake tin.
   

Fasting Month - Ondeh Ondeh

I remember the first time i did this was in a Kemahiran Hidup class and I was only a form 2 student that time. As a little girl who seldom step into the kitchen (the only culinary skill i had was no other than cooking instant noodle), I was so impressed with this easy made yet wonderfully delicious kuih especially when the gula melaka ooze from the bite.

I always wanted to make the ondeh-ondeh again and today i want to put it into an action, for the first day of the fasting month, eventhough fasting month have nothing to do with me :)

I get the recipe from Terri as i am not gifted with super memory especially after so many years. However, the amount of gula melaka i put into each glutinous rice ball is too little to impress me again. However, the recipe have nothing wrong as I didn't measure the amount of gula melaka. I think i will going to make this again, especially with the leftover glutinous rice flour and gula melaka :)

Dinner again

Salted vegetable & taufu soupStir fried cauliflower with mixed vegetables

sweet and sour clams. Imagine two of us finish half a kilo of this high cholesterol species.

Chocolate Pancake

This is a new creation as i am running out of fresh milk. The same pancake recipe is being used but this time fresh milk is being substituted with chocolate milk and an additional 5g of chocolate powder is added into the batter.

H1N1

The goverment change their decision again (like they always do), now they said give Tamiflu to all risky group with H1N1 symptoms. All doctor can prescribe it, after consult with specialist. In clinic without specialist, the doctor claim they consult with specialist with phone call. No one knows if they really do so.

Is this a good way to control the pandemic? Should Malaysia take more drastic measures to contain the flu (like Mexico) or spend more and more money on giving treatment for all suspected case? What else can we do if the viruses gain resistance to Tamiflu (which suppose to be the last resort of H1n1)?

Sadly, there is one decision never been changed by the goverment -to have a big scale national day celebration end of this month.

Bread Roll

Always wake up early even on weekend, thanks to my imsonia :(
This is the breakfast on saturday morning. Bread roll with hotdog and egg.

coupled with a cup of chocolate milk. A healthy breadfast?

Recipe of bread roll

1. Fried hot dog, egg (or whatever u want such as ham, bacon. U can also stuff the bread with cheese but u don't need to fry it before hand :)
2. Prepare flour mixture: 1 tablespoon floor mix with 1/2 tablespoon water.
3. Prepare egg mixture: 1 egg mix with pinch of salt, pepper and dried parsley.
4. Press the bread with rolling pin.
5. Place the hotdog and egg on 1 end of the bread and roll it. Seal the end with flour mixture.
6. Dip the bread roll into egg mixture until well coated.
7. Fry until golden brown and serve.

Funny Dinner

It's indeed a weird dinner combinationsMixed fruit salad as appetizerMain course being pasta served with garlic bread and fun friesand also the funnist combination in 2009- chrysanthemum tea as dessert Weird but satisfying dinner

Dad's birthday cake

It is very much a not well planned cake. The result is not so satisfying. Spend a lot of time doin chocholate curls, chocolate cards but all didn't turn well. Haha, too pity my dad having such an ugly cake for his 65th birthday, but he still so happy to have the simple birthday celebration :)

Meiji Amino Collagen Powder

My skin texture are very bad all these while. Freckles, wrinkles and telengiectasia (enlargement of blood vessel on my face, or spider vein) which re-appear after 2 months of laser (I want my money back!!!) make me very unhappy :(

I decided to try something different. Heard of collagen and it's effectiveness from many friends, so i decided to give it a try.

After much comparisons, i finally bought this

The reasons I buy Meiji Amino Collagen Powder:

1. It have 5000mg of collagen which is our body everyday's need. As compare to Fancl Collagen, capsule form which contains 1500mg in it's daily dosing (6 capsules) and Kinohimitsu J'pan Beauty Drink 2500mg.

2. It is top seller for 3 consecutive years in Japan, as compare to Lotte Collagen, eventhough the later have same amount of active ingredient and is cheaper, but the reputation is not as good as Meiji.

3. The price of 1 month consumption is cheaper than CollagenMAX. CollagenMax is advertised to be taken once every 3 days, in which 1 bottle of it contain 9000mg. My quiry is whether the same amount of collagen will be absorbed everyday (3000mg/day)? Or 9000mg will be absorbed on the day of consumption and no more collagen in our body for the rest of 2 days? And not to mention the reputation and the experience in collagen making (CollagenMax is quite new if not mistaken).

4. Meiji is a very well known and established company with wide variety of products. It also have a share in pharmaceutical and healthcare market (it is a important point to a pharmacist like me,haha). It is now one of the largest producer of antibiotic in the world (see, i have professional knowledge ler). So, I have more confidence in terms of its quality and safety.

Mango Yoghurt Ice-cream

I really don't know how to take a nice ice-cream photo, in fact I never take good photo due to my poor photo taking technique and my lousy camera ;p

Without ice-cream scooper, my ice-ceam ball is not really a ball. I can't take my time as it get melt. No wonder professional photographer use potato to replace ice-cream when it come to photo taking. I guess i won't have better skill than professional photographer, so i gave up :p. I just use the highest speed to take the photo as well as putting the ice-cream in my mouth.

The ice-cream is so yummy and refreshing. It is wonderful to be taken at these hot days. I will say this is a wholesome ice-cream because it contains yoghurt (which is healthy), with a little bit of sugar (compare to the amount of sugar use in baking), and it use non-daily cream (non-daily cream is healthy right? At least it is healthier than daily cream), and forget about the egg yolks, haha.

Mango Yoghurt Ice-Cream Recipe (adapted from The Kitchen 70's)

Ingredients

A: 300g Mango Yoghurt, 3 egg yolks, 40g sugar

B: 200g non-daily cream

Method

1. Cook ingredients A over double boiler until thick, bring away from heat and leave to cool.

2. Whisk the cream to stiff. Add in mixture A.

3. Store the mixture in freezer and beat every hour for 5 to 6 times.

4. Freeze overnight before serve.

Chocolate Banana Muffin

I found a lot of new recipes recently. This is the first one i wanted to try because i am looking for temptation from the chocolate-banana combination.
I had to put on halt all the preparing work when i suddenly found something worth remembering. A twins egg, the first one in my baking journey, I nearly scream out of excitement ;p So, of course everything needed to be put aside for a photo session.

The muffin rise higher than expected eventhough the recipe do not call for baking powder. Chocolate Banana Muffin Recipe (adapted from 孟老师的100道小蛋糕)
Banana 70g，Sweetened condensed milk30g, butter 65g，Icing sugar50g，egg yolk 1, cake flour 90g，Chocolate powder 10g，Baking soda 1/8tsp，
1）Crush banana, add in condensed milk
2）Add icing sugar into soften butter and mix.
3）Fold the egg yolk into mixture 2 and mix well.
4）Add 1 into mixture and continue mix
5）Sieve all the powder and stir in the mixture
6）Pour the mixture into muffin cup up to 70% full.
7）180c bake for 25-30min

Sardin Puff on Freaky Friday..

Yahoo.. after a tiring, mind-testing, super extra exhausting week...I finally manage to survive till today..Friday night. Fuuh...I came back straight from work ...dozed for few hours. Before I realised it, the ntv7 newscaster finished her last sentences, to give way to another boring and idiotic "celebrity karaoke". Yap was sitting beside me, looking extremely in starvation. Haha. Who on earth will cook on Friday nite? (besides those mothers out there, i salute u)

Yap suggest an extrordinary idea...simple, 'good looking', fast and furious meal that can be prepared even quicker than the time I used to finish off this paragraph. A special edition of unhealthy ah-fa dinner
The ingredients?Open your fridge and get whatever leftovers that can be found. But the most important is puff pastry. Stuff it with sardin,(or tuna, or sambal ikan bilis or whatever leftover...) fold it into half, press the side with folk then baked at 190c for 15 minutes.
Eventhough looked small but the portion are indeed really filling de neh. A satisfied dinner again :p. (Do note that the eggs are the leftover after the yolk was used to make brownies yesterday, and the cucumber + lettuces were bought 2 weeks ago)

The hotdogs are optional. Just in case...there are big eater in your house..(like I do)
Sometimes life should have a little bit different ...With a little bit of this... a little bit of that..you can create your own fast food....(and you pay Rm 12++ for this set in any given western restaurant)

Happy Mother's Day

A cake for mum- wish u a happy mother's day

I feel very bad when i unmould the sponge cake, the height of cake is out of my expectation (it is as short as me). While I was very sad looking at my bake, I burned the almond flakes (as dark as charcoal). The mother's day cake turned out to be very colorful (as like it is for small kids) because the colored chocolate rice is the only thing i could use to substitute the charcoal.Yap gave the idea to use orange, papaya and banana in decorating the cake. I laugh out on his stupid suggestion. I don't think I can get a presentable cake with these fruits. However, I decided at the last minute to use the orange because I ran out of idea (don't want to open a can of peach fruit just for 3 slices), and I think it works well isn't it? I have to admit creativity always start from a stupid idea :p

I use separate egg method for this sponge cake. The original recipe call for 3 eggs but i increased it to 4. The resulting cake was still too short for a 8 inch pan, so i think next time i'll use 6 eggs.

Sponge Cake Recipe (adapted from韋太烹饪教室)

Ingredients

4 eggs, sugar, 80g, flour 80g, corn oil 40g

Methods

1. Whisk egg whites till fluffy, add sugar in 2 batches and continue to whisk until stiff.

2. Add in egg yolks into egg whites mixture, mix with spatula.

3. Sift in flour and mix with spatula until even.

3. Add in corn oil and gently fold in gently until well blended.

4. 180c bake for 25 minutes.

Meal in Boxes

Today Yap work night shift and I work half day. With less than an hour and all my heart, i prepared this dinner for him. White rice with fried egg, sambal prawn and cabbage with chinese sausage. A dinner meal set would not be complete without a drink. The limited resources figure my way out to made the honey lime juice as the drink of the day.

I think next time I should buy a proper lunch box to give my food a better presentation. But i doubt if there is any lunch box that can fit the amount of food that Yap consume in a meal, haha.

Sausage Bun

Today is Pahang's public holiday but i still have to wake up early to run the Methadone Clinic. Luckily it's only open for a few hours. I was so hungry while serving the drug addicts and couldn't pay full attention. The first thing while i reach home was rush into my kitchen to prepare this simple but satisfying breakfast. Hmm.. yummy yummy...

At first i wanted to prepare 3 buns, one for me and 2 for Yap, but he said he wanted 3 buns. Haha, don't be surprise, he is really a big eater.

Home Alone

This is a long weekend and I choose to be home alone. I wake up very late, having all sorts of unhealthy food (maggi, Mc Donald drive-thru) to fill the stomach. My daily activities include reading newspaper, surfing net, watching tv. When i tired, I take a nap (it is actually not a nap but a daytime sleep due to the long duration, haha), wherever i want because the whole house is mine now, wahahaha.

Quite a long time i didn't have the moment like this, shut my mouth for the whole day (except answer to call) without having to worry if i offend anyone, do all sorts of activities without having to use my brain, eat whatever i like without having to consider other's preferance, mess up the house and clean it only if i have the mood to do so, lie on the sofa and pose any 'unelegant' posture without having anyone to eye on me... and i find out, sometimes it is really quite enjoying to be alone :)

終 於

終 於 可 以 松 一 口 氣 。 勞 動 節 萬 歲 。

嚇 了 一 跳

拿了 老 哥 的 驗 血 報 告 ﹐ 還 真 的 是 嚇 了 一 跳 ﹐ 這 麼 年 輕 的 一 個 人 ﹐ 尿 酸 和 膽 固 醇 指 數 怎 麼 會 那 麼 高。叫 大 姐 轉 告 哥 一 些 應 注 意 的 事 項 ﹐ 哥竟 說 這 些 事 辦 齊 了 他 也 不 用 活 了 。 哥 啊 哥 ﹐ 是 時 候 要 好 好 照 顧 自 己 了﹐ 不 然 真 的 病 倒 了 可 憐 的 還 是 你 自 己 。

Cheese Sticks

I made these cheese sticks few weeks ago to finish the cheese left in the fridge. Some said a baking good is the reflection of the amount of love used by the baker during the baking process, I believe this is very true, my product turn ugly and the taste also not so nice because i am not in the full mood of baking.

無 奈

有 些 事 情 不 是 任 何 人 的 錯 ﹐ 一 直 在 擔 心 它 會 發 生 ﹐ 卻 做 不 了 什 麼 ﹐因 為 它 始 終 還 是 會 發 生 。

A simple breakfast at beach

Bread stuffed with seafood mayo, tomato and cucumber slices, enveloped with fried egg. Some are stuffed with banana slices, haha, incredible idea.

Honey Cake

This honey cake is long time in my to-do list, but i always found other more exciting baking than this honey cake when i am looking to bake something. This time actually i am planning for a pandan chiffon cake but found out i had only 4 eggs left (the recipe ask for 5 eggs). I flipped through my recipe book and decided to give this honey cake a try.
The making of honey cake is quite same with chiffon cake. The resulting cake was very nice and soft. Luckily i don't miss this recipe :)

The cake was decorated using the new toy i bought from singapore

Coffee Swirl Man Tau

Many friends know that I am not a coffee drinker but I think they wouldn't believe I fall into a sleepless night with just a pinch of coffee powder (in making this man tau). Think next time i really have to think twice before I do anything related to coffee :(

Teriyaki Chicken

Happy birthday to me

Eventhough everyone laughed at me when i said i wana bake a cake for my own birthday, i still insist to do it myself as I really couldn't wait for other special occasion to make a cake with cream. Thinking of having a easy cake as my 'virgin cake', I made a black forest cake.

A simple chocolate sponge cake

Get things ready like a professional - revolving cake stand and spatula (such a cute cake stand right?)

The final product. As expected, the cake was not so good looking. The most daunting part must be the shaping of the cake with whipping cream. The piping of decorative swirls was also not easy and i ended up getting ugly and unevenly spaced swirls on the cake. Equally exhausting was the shaving of the chocolate to get beautiful chocolate curls which supposed to be the main decorating ingredient in a black forest cake. I tried so hard and finally i gave up. I could't find any reason but blame the old and blunt vegetable peeler.

Yap said the outer presentation of the cake is better than those sell in Indian bakery shop. Indian? Why? Isn't it ironic?

Kiwi Yoghurt Muffin