Bread Roll with Butter on the side

Strawberry Banana Muffins

There are cupcakes and there are muffins. They are totally different creatures. Not exchangeable or replaceable. But there have been a lot of cupcakes masquerading as muffins in bakeries and shops! You can tell the difference between them from the texture. Muffin is a type of quick bread, with a texture somewhat of a cross between a cake and bread. The way I would describe it would be light, fluffy, and full of flavour, and a wonderful aroma. A muffin would be suitable for a light breakfast or afternoon tea and accompanied by a pick-me-up skinny Flat White.

I was on a muffin making spree recently having picked up the correct technique of making muffins. (They are now light and fluffy, vs. heavy and dense…yay!). I made orange muffins, banana muffins, banana and strawberry muffins and banana and white chocolate chip muffins. Here is the recipe for the banana and strawberry muffin. I believe in the goodness of home-made foods and hope you enjoy the process of making it, and the result of your muffin. Take heart, even if it turns out dense at your first try, the taste of the muffin will still be delicious! Don’t give up; you can always drop me a note if you need help.

Strawberry Banana Muffin (Adapted from Joy of Baking)
Makes 12 regular muffins

Ingredients
113g unsalted butter, melted
160g light brown sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon (4 grams) pure vanilla extract
2 large ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 cup)
240 ml fresh or frozen strawberries (cut into small pieces)
315g plain flour
1.5tsp baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1tsp (4 grams) ground cinnamon powder
1/2 teaspoon (2.5 grams) salt

Method
Preheat oven to 175°C.
In a small saucepan melt the butter. Set aside to cool.
Whisk manually together the brown sugar, eggs, vanilla extract and mashed banana. Add the melted butter to the brown sugar mixture and stir to combine.
In another bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Gently fold in the chopped strawberries, making sure they are coated with flour. This helps to prevent the berries from sinking during baking. Do not over mix.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir only until the ingredients are just combined. Do not over mix the batter or tough muffins will result.
Fill each muffin cup about two thirds full of batter.
Bake at 175°C for 20 to 25 minutes.
Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Enjoy!

Sandwich Bread (Water Roux Method)

Statement: The smell of freshly baked bread is homely and utterly delicious. (True)

This thought was extrapolated when I was standing in a bakery and enjoying the different whiffs of various breads, both sweet and savoury. This led me down the slippery path of purchasing an additional kitchen appliance....a Bread Machine. I stress the word "additional" because I already have a lovely kitchenaid which comes with a dough hook, and can knead bread. But I reasoned to myself, on a day when I want to make both cake and bread, I don't have to overwork my lovely KitchenAid. In addition, the Bread Machine has another unique feature. I can program it using the overnight function and wake up to freshly made bread. Both scenarios never happened!!!
I never baked cakes nor made bread at the same time. And the bread recipes I use mostly require cream / milk and I cannot imagine them sitting though the night at room temperature.

Nevertheless, I have been good, and making good use of this new appliance. I have churned out some pretty decent loaves. Through trial and error, I've learnt that a bread machine, while able to bake bread, cannot come up with bread of the same quality as the ones which are baked in an oven. Now I use my bread machine for kneading and raising the dough but bake it later in my trusted oven.

Here is a successful bread recipe for Sandwich Bread, using the widely popular Water Roux method. Water Roux is made by using a proportion of 1:5, 1 part Bread Flour, and 5 parts water. Constantly stirred over a low flame till it reaches a paste like consistency. This method allows the bread flour to absorb more water, and when added to the recipe, produces a better hydrated loaf of bread. The temperature which the mixture reaches this paste-like texture is 65°C.

Recipe adapted from Florence's Blog.

Water Roux
Ingredients
50g Bread Flour
250g Water

Method
Mix the Bread Flour and Water together in a saucepan, and simmer over medium heat. Once it changes from a mixture to a paste-like texture, and streaks can be seem at the top. Remove from heat and cool.

Transfer into a bowl.
Place a piece of glad wrap touching the surface of the Water Roux so that a "skin" will not form.

Sandwich Loaf Recipe (Using a Bread Machine)
Ingredients
250g Bread Flour
1 Tbsp Milk Powder
80g Water Roux
105ml Warm Water
4g Salt
25g Sugar
5g Yeast
25g butter
1 Egg

Method
1. Place all ingredients (except Butter) into the bread machine and start the dough cycle. (Sequence should be wet ingredients, followed by dry, and topped off with Yeast. The yeast cannot be in direct contact with salt. If it does, it might kill the yeast.)
2. After 10-15mins, or when the ingredients have come together to form a ball, stop the dough cycle, add the butter and start the dough cycle again.
3. Once the dough cycle is completed which is 75 minutes, remove dough and press out the air from it. Rest the dough for 15 minutes.
4. Shape into a flat rectangular shape and roll it like a swiss-roll.
5. Place dough pieces into loaf pan / pullman tin and let it prove till about 90% full. Place in a enclosed space, i.e. a microwave oven which is not switched on, this is to prevent the bread from drying.
6. Cover the loaf pan with its lid and bake at 175°C for about 25 - 30 minutes. (Internal Temperature should be about 88-98°C.)

Enjoy the freshly baked home-made bread!

Devil's Food Cupcakes

I love chocolate! And I can't imagine anyone who doesn't. The aroma, the deep brown color, the lingering taste all adds up to a pretty pleasurable experience visually and on the palate.

There are so many different techniques in recipes to bring out the best chocolate flavor in a chocolate cake. This recipe uses a unique method adding hot water directly to the cocoa powder, and whisking it fast so that it develops into an aromatic chocolate flavored liquid. This technique releases all the chocolate flavors in the powder, and gives an full-bodied chocolate intensity in the cupcakes.

Its simple to make and very delicious. Not to sweet nor too bitter, adults and children will both like it!

Recipe adapted from Cindy Mushet's The Art and Science of Baking, Sur La Table

Makes 28 Cupcakes

70g Dutch-process cocoa powder
115g plus 230g Water
170g Unsalted butter, softened
200g Castor sugar
170g Light brown sugar
3 eggs (60g each, weighed with shells), room temperature
2 Tsp Vanilla extract
200g Cake flour, sifted
35g All-purpose flour
2 Tsp Baking powder
¼ Tsp Salt

Preheat the oven to 175°C.
Place the cocoa powder in a small bowl. Heat 115g of the water. Pour it over the cocoa powder and whisk until blended and smooth. Add the remaining 230g water and stir until the mixture is smooth. Mixture must be cool before adding to the cake mixture, as the heat will melt the butter and ruin the texture of the cake.
Cream the butter with the sugars: Beat on medium-high speed until very light in color, 4 to 5 minutes.
Scrape down the bowl with the spatula.
Add the eggs. (Beat the eggs and vanilla in the other small bowl to blend.) With the mixer on medium, add the eggs to the butter mixture about 1 tablespoon at a time, allowing each addition to completely blend in before adding the next. About halfway through, turn off the mixer and scrape down the bowl, then resume adding the eggs. Scrape down the bowl again.
Add the dry and wet ingredients alternately: With the fine-mesh strainer, sift the cake flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt into the medium bowl and blend with the cleaned whisk. With the mixer on the lowest speed, add the flour mixture and the cocoa water alternately, beginning with one-third of the flour mixture and half the cocoa water. Repeat, then finish with flour mixture. Scrape down the bowl and finish blending the batter by hand, if necessary.
Bake the cupcakes: Divide the batter evenly among 28 of the paper liners. Fill each liner 3/4 full with batter. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the tops are firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the centers comes out clean. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Verdict: This cake is moist, soft, extremely chocolately and yet amazing light on the palate. Its chocolatety and not too sweet. A keeper!

Tools: Whisk, Cupcake Liners, Muffin Tray, Stand Mixer, Silicon Spatula

Tips: Do not use waxed cupcake liners. The cake will shrink away from the casing, and look small and lonely.

Sugee Cookies

Chinese New Year was an extremely busy time for me, mostly with family events. I have to admit, I am not much of a CNY person. I much prefer Christmas. So it takes some effort to muster up the enthuaism for this festival. I baked two types of cookies, packed them into pretty glass bottles, ribboned them and gave them as gifts to family.

Here's the recipe that I used for the Sugee Cookies:

Sugee Cookie
(Adapted from Aunty Yochana)

Ingredients:

150g Clarified Butter (also known as Ghee. I used the QBB brand)
90g Icing sugar
1 Egg yolk
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Vanilla essence
200 g Plain flour
40 g Ground almond Meal
1 tsp Baking Powder

1 egg yolk for Glazing

Method:

(1) Use a stand mixer. Cream ghee and icing sugar till creamy. Add in egg yok, vanilla, salt and mix thoroughly.
(2) Add in sifted plain flour, baking powder and ground almonds. Mix till a dough is formed.
(3) Roll into small round balls for about 5-6g each. and arrange on baking tray.
(4) Use a chopstick to dip into egg yolk and then press it on top of each roll ball.
(5) Bake at 165C for about 15 - 20 mins or till cooked.
(6) Cool on wire rack before storing in cookie containers.

Verdict: Texture is melt in your mouth and extremely fragrant.

You need: Cake Mixer, Seive, Baking tray, Parchment Paper, Chopsick, Cookie Shovel, Cooling Rack

Sugee Cake

Sugee cake is a very rich, buttery, almondy cake with a grainy texture. Its sort of a traditional Eurasian celebration cake, and often makes its appearance at events such as weddings and christmas. Semolina, which is granulated wheat flour is the special ingredient in the cake is what makes the cake texture so special.

I made this cake using my husband's family sugee cake recipe. When the cake was baking, the aroma of the cake filled my kitchen and diffused into my hall and I couldn't wait for it to be ready. After it was done, the cake was warm and tasted slightly dry, however, after sitting for a day to let the flavors blend and merge, the cake was perfect!

Pasta with Braised Duck Sauce

I have seen this recipe on Chubby Hubby's blog and have been wanting to try it. I'm very selective of the type of meats that I eat, and I'm not a fan of duck, having tried versions which were for very "ducky" for the lack of a better word. But I read positive reviews of this from reputable blogs, and I could picture in my mind, how the flavours of the celery, onions, carrots and tender duck meat would blend together. I decided that this one will make it to my "Recipes to try list". I hunted for duck legs, and found them at the frozen food section in Carrefour at Suntec city. Bought a 1 kg bag and scaled down the recipe by a third for dinner for two.



Verdict: The duck was extremely tender and flavourful after being stewed for two hours. The tangy tomato taste was subtle and well balanced with the basey duck meat. The sauce rested on a bed of spinach fettucine, cooked till al dente of course. This would be a dish I would serve up if I entertain, as it taste great and looks very presentable. Finish up the meal with a nice chilled sparkling Muscato. La Dolce Vita!

Recipe adapted from Chubby Hubby's Blog

BRASATO D`ANATRA
Chef Roberto Galetti’s Braised Duck Sauce

180 gr celery, julienne
180gr carrots, julienne
180 gr onion, julienne
1 kg duck legs
400 g of stewed whole tomatoes (SW brand, I used the whole can)
250g red wine
500 ml chicken stock
2 bay leaves
Pinch of Salt
4 Dashes of Black Pepper
Salted lurpak butter
Parmesan Cheese
Italian Parsley

In a big pot, sauté the vegetables with olive oil.
Meanwhile flour (with corn starch) the duck legs and then pan-fry them until golden. (The excess corn flour also helps to thicken the sauce later)
Put the duck legs into the pot together with the vegetables.
Then add the wine, the bay leaves, and the tomato. Crush the tomatoes into the pot with your hands. Pour in the vegetable stock and bring everything to a boil. As soon as it boils, lower the heat, cover and simmer for 2 hours.

After 2 hours, separate the meat from the sauce. Remove excess fat and skin. Then debone the duck legs, mixing the meat back into the vegetables and sauce. Leave some meat in chunks. Leave to rest.

Cook the pasta till al dente. Then reheat a portion of the sauce in a pan with butter, black pepper, and salt. Add some of the boiled/cooked noodles and toss. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese and Italian Parsley over the pasta and serve immediately.