citrus muffins

I never liked eating oranges when I was  a kid. Called me pampered, called me spoilt, but unless the oranges were without a doubt sweet as honey, I wouldn’t even look at them. 

I haven’t changed much. I still refuse to eat any fruit that is less then sweet, but the only difference now is that I found an orange that would never fail to be sweet. It’s a strain of navel oranges that we can find in my local grocery store, and while they do not come cheap (at RM1.90 per piece, my fruits are the most expensive part of my groceries really.), I still buy them to satisfy my more atas tastebuds.

We happened to have a little too much oranges one weekend though, and because I wanted to see how these would fare in baking, I ended up whipping up these decent looking, delicious tasting orange muffins.

I call them citrus muffins because you can really replace the orange with a lemon, and get a lemon muffin instead, whichever rocks your boat. I just liked the refreshing taste of orange in an otherwise fluffy, but normal tasting muffin. Because I had some extra kaya and chocolate chips, I stirred them in as well. Consider the muffins a base recipe, and you can add whatever you want in the batter.

The taste was refreshing, the texture pillowy, soft, just moist enough but not overly moist so as to make it dense. It’s not overtly sweet, and would taste great as something to snack on in the afternoon, maybe with some butter or jam if you like? The refreshing scent of oranges helps greatly too, and you’d be surprised at how light it tastes like.

Citrus Muffins

Adapted from Nigella Lawson’s Nigella Bites

Ingredients

• 75g unsalted butter, melted
• 250g self raising flour
• 25g ground almond
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 60g granulated sugar
• zest of 1 orange
• 100ml orange juice, fresh
• 100ml milk
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup jam (optional)
• 1/3 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven 200C, and line a 12-hole muffin pan with paper liners.
2. Melt butter in a skillet, and leave to cool.
3. In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, ground almonds, sugar and zest of the orange, and whisk together with a fork.
4. In a jar, combine orange juice, milk, 1 egg and whisk well. Add in cooled melted butter.
5. Slowly pour the butter mixture in to the flour mixture, mixing with a fork as you go along. It’s fine if the batter is slightly lumpy, overmixed batter does not result in fluffy muffins.
6. Once well incorporated, spoon batter in to prepared liners. If adding jam, add batter to 1/3 of the way, add in a dollop of jam and then fill the rest of the liner up to 2/3 of the way. If adding chocolate chips, stir chocolate chips in to batter just before filling the liners.
7. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Serve warm for optimum tastebud satisfaction.

apple frangipane tart

Part two of my ‘my house has too much almonds!’ series involves, surprise surprise, a tart. I always turn to making a tart when I feel like cooking and there’s nothing in particular I feel like making. I started off with tarts after all, and because of how I stopped making them at one point because the crust was so cumbersome to make, I now have a stock of pre-made crusts in my freezer.

I make them all in a huge batch when the inspiration strikes, so when I feel like cooking, all I have to do is take one out the night before and thaw them. So in essence, my tart making times these days are cut in half, as long as I premake these crusts when I have extra free time.

But back to the tart. I felt like cooking today, and dabbled with the idea of either making a white chocolate raspberry tart, or a chocolate ganache tart. But then I  thought of the excess amounts of almonds I still have stored in my pantry, and decided I really should use them up. Add that to the fact that my mother bought way too much apples over the weekend, and it seemed inevitable that I make an apple frangipane tart.

Now a frangipane tart is, in essence, an almond tart. But the way the ground almond’s grainy texture is complemented by the buttery tart case the frangipane is encrusted in… absolutely delicious. It may not be your usual melt-in-the-mouth tart, but this one lend’s a uniqueness of its own.

Paired with the golden apple slices on top, tartness and sweetnes complement each other like cheese and wine… or anything else you like to eat together. My apple slices came out looking a little… worst for wear, but the taste was amazing!

The ground almond may be a pain to make if you’re making them from scratch, but nothing beats its fragrance as the tart bakes. Best eaten warm from the oven!

Apple Frangipane Tart

Crust recipe from here. If frozen, take out to thaw the night before, and leave on counter 10 minutes before using.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 3 tbsps sugar
• 85g ground almond
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp melted butter
• 1 apple, for  garnishing. You can omit if you just want a plain frangipane tart.

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 190C. Roll out pastry dough and press in to greased tart cases.
2. Line the pastry with baking paper and baking weights (i use uncooked rice or beans, which works just as well), and bake for 15 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.
3. While crust is baking, prepare the frangipane. Cream together butter and sugar, and once well incorporated, mix in the ground almond.
4. Add in beaten eggs, one at a time, before adding in vanilla extract.
5. Once tart cases are done, take out and discard of the baking paper. Let cool for a minute or two, before filling the cases 3/4 of the way with the frangipane if you want to line with apple slices, or all the way if you want a plain frangipane.
6. Arrange apple slices on top of frangipane, and brush with melted butter.
7. Bake in oven at 190C for 30 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown. Remove and let cool before serving. 
   

brownie butter cake

Butter cakes, as I’ve mentioned before in a previous post, has always been my mother’s forte. She makes the best butter cakes, perfectly fragrant and fluffy, not too dry but not too moist either.

Brownie’s, have always been mine. One of the few recipe’s I can truly call my own, my salted chocolate fudge brownies have always been loved by my friends, and since the first time I made it, I’ve never had to deal with leftovers.

So what happens if you combine the two? Like a mash of mother and daughter, I was so surprised when found this recipe off Rasa Malaysia, amused at how it seems to be a combination of both my mother and I, our specialties and our favorites. Her’s, simple and classic, mine, sinful and chocolatey.

I added a few tweaks to the recipe, using my mom’s own secret formula for the butter cake, and drizzling salt all over the bottom layer of the brownie, and the result was spectacular. A delicious combination of classical and sinful, not too cloying and with beautiful colors, this cake is simple enough to make but delicious enough to bring to any potluck or eating party you have to amaze your friends.

Brownie Butter Cake

Adapted from Rasa Malaysia

Ingredients

Brownie

• 140g baking chocolate, broken
• 50g butter
• 30g brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 35g all purpose flour
• a pinch of Maldon sea salt

Butter Cake:

• 120g butter
• 70g sugar
• 2 eggs
• 120g all purpose flour
• 2g baking powder
• 15 ml milk
• 15 ml water
• 20 ml brandy/ vanilla essence

Instructions

1. Line and grease a 4×8 inch loaf pan with aluminium foil, and preheat oven to 180C
2. Melt chocolate and butter over low heat. Once completely melted, leave to cool slightly and stir in brown sugar.
3. Add in egg and mix well, fold in flour and combine.
4. Pour batter in to prepared pan and sprinkle the pinch of salt all over the top of the brownie batter. Bake in oven for 15 minutes.
5. While brownie is baking, beat butter and sugar until creamy, and add in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
6. Fold in sifted flour and baking powder. Alternately add in milk, brandy and water, mixing well to form batter.
7. Remove brownie once done, and spread butter cake batter over brownie.
8. Bake in oven at 160C for 25 – 30 minutes, or until cooked.
9. Leave to cool, and refrigerate for at least an hour for the brownie to set, and serve.

flourless lemond cake

With the Chinese New Year season, there also came a lot of visitations and reunions with old friends and long lost mates, as everyone returned home for reunions with their own family. For at least two weeks, I was more or less out of the house everyday, meeting up with friends who had migrated abroad and came home for the festivities, or family dinners with old family friends.

Along with the visits and reunions, also came a lot of food. Feasts and dinners were a norm already, but these returning family and friends also brought along food gifts for us. One which stood out in particular was a massive bag of almonds. I generally don’t mind nuts, and use them quite a bit in my baking. My favorite is cashews, but almonds… not so much.

I was quite delighted to see them though, since almonds are so easily used in baking. So right after the festivities had died down and we’ve cleared a huge backlog of food from my kitchen, I dusted my hands and made this flourless almond lemon cake… christened a Lemond Cake courtesy of my best friend, who decided to combine the words lemon and almond together.

Why flourless? Well, I’ve been wanting to try flourless recipe’s for awhile now, but because I’ve always been too lazy to buy a huge bag of nuts to ground up to flour, I’ve avoided them. That, and flourless chocolate cakes just don’t appeal to me as much. In my opinion, its just a fancy name for a fudge brownie.

But anyway, this cake ended up tasting delightful. Not too heavy, cloying or sinful, there’s no butter or oil used in here at all! The lift and deliciously crumbly texture comes from the egg whites beaten to soft peaks combined with the almond flour. The excessive amount of lemon zest used in here also gives it a deliciously uplifting, refreshing taste.

It goes perfect with coffee, or even a simple and light after-dinner dessert… or any time basically. Since when does dessert need a specific eating time?

Flourless Lemond Cake

Ingredients

• 4 eggs, separated
• zest of 2 lemons
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 60g sugar + 1 tbsp
• 170g finely ground almond flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp white vinegar
• pinch of salt
• powdered sugar for dusting

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 175C, and line and grease a 9-inch springform round pan.
2. Beat together egg yolk, lemon zest and 60g sugar till smoooth
3. Separately whisk together the almond flour, ground cinnamon and baking powder.
4. In a very clean bowl and whisk, beat the egg whites until bubbles form. Add in the pinch of salt and tsp of vinegar.
5. As peaks begin to form, add in the last tablespoon of sugar, and beat until soft peaks.
6. Fold the beaten egg whites in to the almond mixture with a wooden spatula, one scoopful at a time. The batter will gradually begin to lighten.
7. Scoop batter in to prepared pan and bake for 35 – 45 minutes.
8. Run a sharp knife around the edge of the cake, and let cool before moving cake on to a serving plate.

tropical pineapple muffin

Pineapple is a wonderful, tangy and acidic fruit. Not that I’ve always thought so. In fact, my love for pineapple only came recently. Before this, I’ve always been susceptible to a prickly or painful tongue whenever I eat it, but when I recently, tentatively began consuming it again, I realize that my tongue no longer pricks as before.

And when we happen to buy a particularly sweet pineapple… it tastes delightful.

Plus, the fruit can be used practically everywhere! From baking to stir frying to even fried rice, it imparts a beautiful taste in every dish it is included in.

One evening when I found myself in possession of a deliciously sweet pineapple, yet not wanting to consume it whole lest I revisit the painful tongue experience again, I decided to bake it in to muffin form. Now usually, when people wanted to bake, they would go for the usual tried and tested pineapple upside down cake, but I’ve just eaten one baked by a friend a couple of days ago, and wanted to try something new.

Unearthing my dessicated coconut flakes and my precious bottle of coconut oil, this tropical pineapple muffin soon emerged from my oven, its fragrance a delight to the senses and filling up my kitchen. The pineapple itself imparts not only its taste, but its juices also makes the muffin extra moist and delightful, a perfect balance of flavours and textures on the tongue.

It may look simple, but do you not know how looks could be deceiving?

Tropical Pineapple Muffin

• 120g coconut oil
• 135g granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 1 cup unsweetened dessicated coconut
• 175g all purpose flour
• 2.5 tsps baking powder
• 150g cubed fresh pineapples

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 190C, and line a muffin tin with 12 liners.
2. Cream sugar, butter and salt until well incorporated, and add in the eggs and coconut milk.
3. Mix well, before adding in 3/4 cup of the dessicated coconut.
4. Whisk in the flour and baking powder and mix well before incorporating the pineapple cubes.
5. Divide evenly between the previously lined muffin tins, and bake until golden, which is about 20 minutes for my oven. Let cool before serving (warm or with ice cream tastes delightful!).

chinese new year 2013 bakes #3: cornflake cookies

Cereal is an integral part of growing up… for most of us, right? Who hasn’t had cereal before anyway? That wonderful crunchy boxed breakfast that tastes delicious eaten with ice cold milk from the refrigerator. My favorite used to be Koko Krunch last time, the chocolate ones that leaves behind delicious last dredges of milk. But recently, I’ve switched to Cornflakes.

Many say its bland, but I find it delicious! Crunchy, with a mild taste and a gorgeous texture, tastes even better eaten with sliced bananas, a perfect breakfast when I need to be fast and have no time to make my PB&J sandwich.

But to make things better, cornflakes are also incredibly versatile. We used it to crust chicken, give volume to meatloaf, but my earliest memory of cornflakes would probably be using them to bake. Specifically, of my grandmother using them in one of the many variations of chinese new year cookies she bakes galore every year.

My grandmother is getting on in years though, and as such she hasn’t been making the yearly supply of chinese new year cookies anymore. We buy them more often then not, but I do miss spending time in the kitchen with my brother, sister in law and grandmother, churning out impossible amounts of cookies for distribution to our family.

So I’ve taken it upon myself to recreate most, if not all of the cookies I associate to my childhood memories of the days leading up to my favorite celebration of the year. Of course, I can’t make the vast amounts my grandmother does, but I can make a small batch, if only to show her that her recipe’s and traditions will not die out, that I will try and keep them alive.

These cookies are much like the butter cookies, and they are essentially more or less the same recipe, just with the addition of crushed cornflakes. In all honesty, you could probably replace them with any other cereal, but cornflakes has a neutral taste that does not distract one from the gorgeous buttery flakes of the cookie itself, while lending a delicious texture to an already perfect recipe.

Its golden hue goes great with the red covers of the containers so typical of chinese new year cookies, and the aroma while its baking is… heavenly.

Happy Lunar New Year everyone!

Cornflake Cookies

• 200g unsalted butter, softened
• 100g sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 300g all purpose flour
• 60g cornflakes, coarsely crushed
• 30g corn flour

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 190C.
2. Cream together butter and sugar until pale, and add in the vanilla extract
3. Lightly beat the eggs, and stir them in to the butter and sugar mixture.
4. Whisk together flour and corn flour, and use a wooden spatula to fold in the flour mixture until mixture does not stick to hands when touched.
5. Using a teaspoon, scoop out one teaspoon and roll in to the crushed cornflakes, before placing on lined baking sheet.
6. Bake cookies for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool well before serving, or store in an airtight container.

chinese new year bakes 2013 #2: pineapple tarts

The most classic of cookies to be served at any chinese new year celebration: pineapple tarts. I immediately associate them with the lunar new year, regardless of when I’m eating them. That’s largely because their the first and most prominent cookies I remember helping my grandmother make, back when I was a girl barely in her teens.

It was a job of epic proportions back then. My grandmother was the main cook/baker for 3 – 4 families, and every year we would make a good 8 – 10 of those tall, red covered tumblers to be distributed to all my uncles and aunts. And since I stayed with my grandmother along with my brother, the job fell to me, my brother and my sister-in-law to help. I remember spending laborious hours sitting in our back porch, either filling each tart case with the homemade pineapple filling, or carefully rolling out tiny strips of pastry to lattice the top.

The lattice was especially cumbersome, since we had to roll four fine strips of dough to place on top. I only made one or two lattice pieces, consider them a tribute to my grandmother’s old tarts. They are way too much work to do. When we used to do it, we usually ended up having pizza for dinner, since the whole process generally took the whole day. Sometimes even two days.

But while I complained back then, no whines could be heard from me as the first batch is brought out of the oven. Nothing can compare to the smell and taste of a freshly baked pineapple tart, warm and crumbly, melting on your tongue at first bite, tart and tangy, buttery and sweet.

Did I mention their my favourite CNY cookie?

Due to age and inability, my grandmother has since stopped making pineapple tarts, and snob that I am, none of the store bought ones could even come close to the ones in my memory. Or maybe its just because they were freshly baked. Either way, this year I caved and finally asked my grandmother for her recipe. Granted, I still bought the filling since I’m in no way emotionally ready to grate 5 pineapples and cook them for 3 hours, but store bought pineapple filling isn’t too bad actually.

While I’m not about to slave for 7 hours making 10 portions for 4 families, the portion I made was just right. And I was brought back to 6 years ago, when I sat for hours on end, just for that first piece of freshly baked pineapple tart from the oven. Heaven in my hands.

Pineapple Tarts

• 400g flour
• 50g corn flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 280g cold unsalted butter
• 3 egg yolks
• 3 tbsp cold water
• 3 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg yolk + 1 tbsp water for glaze

Instructions

1. Using a fork, mix the cold butter together with the flours, sugar and salt, until they resemble fine breadcrumbs. You could use your fingers too, but you risk melting the butter. The key to a delicious pastry is actually the unmelted butter, as it gives a delicious texture to it.
2. Beat together egg yolks, water and vanilla extract, and add in to the flour and butter mixture. Mix the dough until its just forming, and refrigerate for 10 minutes.
3. Roll the pineapple filling in to small balls, and prepare your working area with the mould cutter, flour and prelined baking trays.
4. Take the dough out by batches, and do not let it heat up too quickly as you work with it. This is a very oily dough, and as such you should take out only small batches to prevent the butter from melting.
5. Dusting the mould and your rolling pin, roll the dough out to about half an inch thick, and using the mould, cut out the tartlet cases.
6. Preheat the oven to 160C.
7. Place the pre-rolled balls of filling in the tart, and then using your fingers and a pinch of dough, roll out a small strip of dough and decorate as preferred. While the traditional lattice art is nice, it is way too cumbersome for a one man show like me, so I ended up making a weird squiggle (which now resembles the breast cancer ribbon, for some odd reason).
8. Glaze the whole tart with the egg wash, and bake for around 22 minutes, depending on your oven. Let cool before storing in air-tight containers, or serving.

chinese new year 2013 bakes #1: butter cookies

Cookies play a prominent role in our lunar new year, doesn’t it? It is to be expected though, since visiting families, friends and the like are all necessities of the celebration, and what else do you serve if not cookies and biscuits? Along with the large amount of drinks we keep on hand (no seriously, we keep a massive cooler filled with ice and canned/boxed drinks ready at all times, for any visitors coming our way. and the kids gets free access to it as well… let’s just say doctors earn quite a bit from us the week after the celebrations), cookies are kept in abundance as well.

We bake all sorts of cookies in abundance, for giving out to friends and family, and to serve visiting guests during this season.

We line our tables with these red covered containers, filled with every type of pastry and cookie imaginable, and the varieties keep changing and increasing with each year. One of the classic staples we find every year aside from the ever famous, ever delicious pineapple tarts though, are butter cookies.

Tastes amazing, yet deceivingly simple to make, they are amazingly indulgent when melting on your tongue, and flakes at the slightest bit of pressure from your fingers.

They’re horrifyingly addictive too, like the rest of the varieties of new year cookies we keep. It’s no wonder everyone’s waistline expands after the celebrations.

Butter Cookies

• 190g unsalted butter
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 70g icing sugar
• 1 egg white
• 250g plain flour

 

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180C, and line baking trays.
2. Cream together softened butter with sugar. Once incorporated, add in egg white and vanilla extract and mix well.
3. Sieve in salt and flour, until well mixed, and spoon in to piping bag with attached nozzle.
4. Pipe cookies in to whichever shape you want them, and bake in preheated oven for 10 – 12 minutes, or until the cookies are a golden brown color. Cool before storing in containers.

go-to banana sponge cake

Everyone has that one default recipe they’ve tried, which is so good and suits everyone’s likes that they just are unwilling to change it, right? Well, I have my go-to banana sponge cake recipe right here.

It’s simple, no frills. I was searching for a really easy and fuss-free banana cake one day, whilst figuring out how to construct my grandmother’s birthday cake for a celebration the next day. While I’m perfectly willing to make an elaborate, over the top cake for the woman whose first sparked my interest in cooking, she was the one who I was catering for. And my traditionalist of a grandmother dislikes anything overly laden with butter, hates eating cream, and generally is a minimalist.

In fact, up till a couple of years ago, I wasn’t even sure if she liked cake. Granted, it’s still not one of her favourite foods, but I couldn’t fathom celebrating her birthday without a cake. Banana cakes are something she will willingly eat, and not get extorted in to trying a minuscule bite, so its quite expected for me to whip up a banana cake recipe.

We would be celebrating after a heavy Thai dinner, so I also wanted something light, not too cloying, but heavily scented with banana. Throwing ideas left right centre, I eventually came up with this banana sponge cake recipe that ended up to be a hit.

Plus point: it’s easy to make too, with minimal clean up! I just dump the sugar, eggs and sliced bananas in to the mixing bowl and let it mix while i measure out the flour, stir the flour in and put the whole mixing bowl on my electronic scale, pour in the coconut oil, and I only have to wash two bowls, the whisks and a spatula.

The baking pan is lined, so its just a rinse!

My aunt and uncle had two slices each, and the only two pieces left over from the square cake I baked was taken home by my younger cousin, so she could have it for breakfast the next day.

I topped her cake with caramelized bananas, and dusted it with cocoa powder and dessicated coconut to make it look more festive.

The second time round I baked this though, I left it as it is, and it still tasted divine. It may look plain and not even golden, but don’t let its plain Jane looks deceive you. One bite would be enough to tell you that its fragrant, and its texture fluffy and delightful.

Banana Sponge Cake

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 100gm sugar
• 200g peeled, very ripe banana
• 150g self raising flour
• 100g coconut oil

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 160C, and grease your baking pan.
2. Slice banana in to small pieces, and whisk the sliced bananas with the eggs at high speed.
3. Add in sugar and whisk till ribbon stage, and looks fluffy, doubling in size.
4. Fold in flour with a spatula and mix well.
5. Add in oil and stir/mix till batter is shiny.
6. Bake for 35 minutes.
7. Increase the heat to 180C and continue baking for another 5 minutes. Let cool before slicing and serving.

christmas bakes 2013 #3: fruit cake

Fruit cake… again, I’m amazed at how my mother can has such drastically different taste buds from me. I love fruit cakes, the moist cakey texture, tinged with the tang of the various preserved fruits studded like diamonds, the occasional pecans and the amazing texture of everything together. Fruit cakes are amazing, and I have no self control when presented with one.

My mom hates fruit cakes.

I don’t know her rhyme, logic nor reason for it, but because of that, fruit cake isn’t something I bake very often. In fact, I don’t think I’ll make it more then once a year, but for Christmas, I simply couldn’t resist. What else says Christmas more then the red and green, Christmas-y colours studded in the fruit cake?

Granted, most… okay, all of the cake went in to the stomachs of my fellow dance mates, with probably only one or two devoured by my step-dad. My mom had zero slices, but whose counting? The only thing that matters is that this cake, spiced up and delicious, is worth every step taken to make it.

Fruit Cake

Adapted from here

Ingredients

• 140g softened butter
• 3 eggs
• 250g self raising flour
• 60ml orange juice (or milk if you prefer)
• 100g caster sugar
• 150g mixed fruit and nuts (raisins, mixed fruit, bananas, pecans, walnuts etc.)
• 1/2 tsp mixed cinnamon + nutmeg
• 1 tbsp golden syrup
• 1 tbsp honey

Instructions

1. Preheat oven 150C, and line a loaf tin with baking paper
2. Cream butter and sugar together until soft, and and gradually add in eggs a little at a time until well mixed.
3. Put mixed fruit in to bowl and add 2 tbsp flour, toss together so fruit is coated with flour to prevent the fruit from sinking
4. Sieve remainder of flour and the mixed spice in to the cake mixture and mix.
5. Gently fold the flour coated fruit in to cake batter.
6. Add in juice (or milk, if you prefer), and spoon in to pre-lined tin before smoothing the top.
7. Sprinkle any reserved sugar to give it a crunchy top, and bake for 1 hour and 45 minutes, or 2 hours if it is still wet at that mark.
8. Cake is done when the skewer comes out clean. Cool on wire tray before serving.