Friday 25 March 2011

Blueberry Muffin

Muffins!! So simple, so good! I've been wanting to bake them for the whole week, but I have postponed it due to a Biology test. Now that it's over, I finally have time to bake :)


And one more thing - Happy Birthday Priscilla!!


Blueberry muffin


Ingredients:
2 cup flour + 1/8 cup
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup blueberries
5 tbsp sugar


In the oven


1. Preheat oven to 205C
2. Combine 2 cups of flour, baking powder, salt and sugar into a large bowl. Combine them and make a well in the centre
3. Coat blueberries with remaining flour, mix into dry ingredients
4. In a separate bowl, beat eggs, oil and milk together. Pour the liquid into the dry ingredients all at once
5. Mix quickly and lightly with a large spoon, batter will be lumpy
6. Pour batter into small muffin cases, mine made around 20
7. Sprinkle extra sugar on top to create a crunchy topping
8. Bake at 205C for 12 minutes


The muffins were light, fluffy, cupcake sized and very quick to put together. The sugar topping gives a nice crunch to the otherwise soft texture. 


Blueberry muffins

Friday 18 March 2011

Blondies

I first came across blondies when I was reading a recipe book. The name sounded odd (and slightly racist) to me. However, the description of the dessert brought me to my senses and I realised how the name 'brownies' may be a little offensive too.


Blondies
Nonetheless, they sound very appealing. I love brownies. They are the simpliest, easiest, fastest desserts to learn how to bake, yet they are the most indulging desserts ever. Brownies are always the first thing I would buy in bake sales. I particularly love brownies with a soft crust on top as they bring more texture and flavour to the brownie. 


Well, according to the recipe book and reviews I read online, blondies are just like brownies -without the chocolate -this intrigues me. How can a brownie be a brownie without chocolate? Thus I tried this 'Blonde Brownies I' recipe by Sue Bush on Allrecipes (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Blonde-Brownies-I/Detail.aspx). According to the responses, the recipe is soo goood and it does not need to be modified; I trusted them -except I omitted the walnuts, mixed brown with white sugar and added M&Ms on top. 


Ingredients:
1 cup sifted flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla essence
2/3 cup chocolate chips

1/4 cup M&Ms


1. Preheat oven to 180C
2. Melt the butter and mix with the sugar
3. Lightly beat on egg, mix it with vanilla essense and beat into the sugar
4. Mix sifted flour with salt, baking powder and baking soda
5. Slowly sift the dry ingredients into the sugar and egg, mix well after each addition
6. Fold in the chocolate chips
7. Spread into a 9x9 inch baking tray. Arrange M&Ms on top and bake for 20 to 25 minutes


Pre-baked (excuse the messy kitchen)


A really thick batter was formed (just like in brownies). I baked mine in a heart shaped silicon mould and I took it out after 20 minutes. I tried spreading it on a 9x9 tray but it made the blondie really thin, and I like thick slices of brownies, so I decided not to use the square tray. I used half white sugar and half brown sugar because I wanted to blondie to look white, however, it still ended up dark in colour :( 


Just out of the oven


I love how a crust formed on top of the blondies after it was baked. As I said before -I love brownies with a crust on them! It adds a nice crunch to them. 


I lined orange and red M&Ms onto my blondie to create a heart shape for a decorative effect. I love using M&Ms to decorate my food because I love their attractive colour. However, as I baked, the M&Ms started to melt and sink a little -are there any ways to prevent M&Ms from melting whilst baking? 


Blondies

Sunday 13 March 2011

Chocolate Pie


-First post!!-
It’s my friend, Queenie’s birthday tomorrow and she has this thing for pi. Not the food pie, but the 3.14 ∏ pi. Oh yeah, her birthday’s on pi too, 14th March… 3.14? lol. Did I meantion that she’s really smart as well? Big surprise!! Maybe this is destiny?
Anyways, I decided to make her a Chocolate Pie for her birthday. I found the recipe when I was looking through YouTube. The video was made by the One Pot Chef, his channel is called the ‘OnePotChefShow’ and here’s the link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUy5UHUTDD8. I was really excited when I found this because the steps were so simple yet it looked so good!

However, I changed mine a little. I live in Hong Kong so it’s almost impossible to buy frozen pie crust here so I used a graham crust instead although I’m sure the pastry one will give a better texture. For the chocolate flakes, I just got a bar of chocolate and peeled it using a fruit peeler -sounds odd, I know... you're meant to use a grater but I don't have a good one. Also, I whipped some cream up and covered the top of the pie. 
'Peeled' chocolate

Here’s what I did:
Ingredients:
1 Graham pie crust
2/3 cup Whipping cream
300g Milk Chocolate, chopped (the eating type)
-Garnish-
Whipped cream (sweetened)
1 bar eating chocolate, grated
Heat the whipping cream on top of a stove until it is boiling. Take it off the heat and add the chopped chocolate. Stir until the chocolate and cream are combined. Pour the chocolate cream into the pie crust. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
In the meantime, use a peeler to ‘peel’ the chocolate bar into flakes. Set a side.
Once the pie has been chilled and the filling has hardened. Spread whipped cream on top of the filling and sprinkle the chocolate flakes over. 


Un-garnished pie

This pie was so surprisingly easy to make -it took me no more than 10 minutes to get it done and into the fridge. I whipped the cream by hand. Usually I’d do it using an electric whisk but I wanted it to be a little more special.


Finished chocolate pie

I can only comment on the ease of the procedure and the appearance right now since I haven’t tasted it yet. It looks so smooth  yet firm. It’does not look like a mousse at all (at least it doesn’t look moussy), which was really reassuring. I don’t like mousses, I prefer firmer desserts. 


I tasted the chocolate filling whilst I was washing the bowls and it tasted really decadent. Hoping it'll turn out good.
Happy birthday Queenie!