Monday, March 23, 2009

Oreo Muffins

What's a better thing to do other than bake ♥ on a 13th Friday? The day went well I guess, other than gorging myself one too many of these at the end of the day because they were so good! Haha. I sound so BHB but then, I love this new recipe I dug out online because they have lighter taste and easier on the stomach, especially if you are like me who lovessss my oreos and cannot resist stopping at one. I am officially an oreo addict.



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Ingredients:
(makes 6 muffins)

2oz butter, soften @ room temperature
35g caster sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
105g plain flour (all purpose flour)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup fresh milk
1/2 cup oreo cookie chunks

Method:
  • Preheat oven to 190 degC.
  • With an electric mixer, cream butter until soft.
  • Add in sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
  • Add in the egg gradually. Beat well each time egg is added.
  • Sift flour and baking powder. Fold flour mixture into the butter mixture, alternating with the milk.
  • Fill each muffin cup/liner with batter till half full. Sprinkle several oreo cookie chunks on top, then cover with a spoonful of batter.
  • Bake for 25 mins, until lightly browned. Cool the muffins in the pan for 5 mins before transfering to a wire rack to cool.

I spent about half an hour beating the butter and sugar till soft and fluffy and my hands were jelly at the end. How relieved I am that I got a mixer now because it was so tough trying to make it soft beating the two by hand. It takes lots of time and patience. Instead of sprinkling several oreo cookie chunks in the cupcake as per instructions, I was lazy and just threw half a cookie inside and immediately regretted this dumb dumb decision when I cut the baked muffin into half. The small thin strip of the cookie could hardly be seen! Of course, the cookie and cream taste that I wanted was too light as well.


I still had lots of frosting left (that jar has great mileage by the way) so made use of it. I attempted to do the curly ala 'shit' effect with the frosting on the muffins but they collapsed and made quite a mess! Shucks. But still, I'm quite happy with the end result. Looking at the chocolatey muffins and the smell of the kitchen post baking makes me so happy and pleased. I had three decorated ones and since Ivan and CY came for mahjong that night, I decided to brave the criticisms and shared those. Yes yes, there is definitely still room for improvement. :)


Tomorrow sounds like a nice day to bake since it has been about a week since I touched the oven and mom thought I lost interest already. Time is not on my side though, I have the mixer and a new box of oreos ready but the memo is due on Tue so hopefully I can complete it fast and start making these to share again! Oh, and a second trip to Daiso after school was fruitful with very kawaii molds fit to withstand the high oven temperatures and also spotted a ramekin dish for my nuetella bread pudding project.


I have lots of stuff to update...

Blueberry Muffins

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15March09

How should I describe these? Hmm, they sound so boring but were more delish than the oreo ones because of the jam which were more flavorful and teased my taste buds more. Chocolate and 'heavy' stuff like cream and milk attract me more but sometimes I appreciate the lightness fruity flavors give. I have no idea what to doodle on top so just drew a large dot with the jam. Actually the reason why I ended up with these was because I happened to spot a jar of of blueberry jam in my fridge which has gone untouched by everyone in the family for months, and wanted to clear it. So, these few odd muffins were sort of an "accident" - totally unplanned. They proved how versatile the muffin recipe was though! I am definitely going to bake this again, for bright sunny mornings with a good book, and also to clear the jam...


Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Chocolate Chip Cookies



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These cookies were made when I was incredibly bored last Friday (the second 13th Friday this year BTW) plus thought of giving something handmade for the aunt who was celebrating her birthday the next day. The Daiso heart molds finally made an appearance! I am still looking for more cookie molds but have no idea where to get them, yet. The heart shapes did not come out perfect though... because after the cookies cooled, I had to actually "trim" them with a pair of scissors. Hehe.


After collecting some opinions from various friends, I realized that there is actually an equal mix of people who are in either "pro-chewy" or "pro-crunchy" cookies camps. Maybe except for bawan who cannot make up his mind and wants to be in both. Moi personally prefer the chewy cookies ala Subway's and Pepperridge. Chewy ones are just nicer to bite into to me and maybe they bite more like cakes. The crunchy ones reminds me of Famous Amos ones which were really so so wonderful I am having super cravings lately already. Since there are demand for both kinds, I made both! Somehow the crunchies made the kitchen smell better, you know... the buttery chocolatey goodnessy smell.


Anyway, I made these using the very trusty Betty Crocker's cookie mix. After using the Double Chocolate twice, I tried the Chocolate Chip mix this time and they turned out real well as expected. They promised 300 chips inside the pouch and well, I cannot vouch for that but I must say the chips were enough for me and tasted real nice. The freshly baked cookies disappeared real fast into my stomach cos I could not resist the hot, chewy cookies with the gooey chips once they come out of the oven! Cookies must be eaten hot and fresh so, I was literally eating them from the baking sheet and baking new ones at the same time. Of course, I ended up with a small batch. -_-


There was still quite some Betty Crocker's chocolate frosting left from my last baking attempt and why let it go to waste? I doodled on the hearts and drew alphabets of names of some close peeps on them, and then sprinkled on top with the rainbow dots. It was quite a chore, but I pretty like the results. Only that I did not give out the cookies to those peeps in the end though...

I got to try making cookies from scratch next time, plus make some nutty cookies... and white chips cookies!


Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Milo Choc Chip Muffins

It was 7 pm+, and I was experiencing the post-dinner boredom after my xxth round on Guess The Sketch on facebook. The sudden impulse to do some baking hit me so... I ran through my list of recipes and this one caught my attention. It seemed interesting and simple enough, and I ended my night with these.


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Milo Choc Chip Muffins

Ingredients(makes 9 big muffins)


270g self-rising flour
30g Milo
1 teaspoon baking powder
55g butter
80g sugar
150g milk or semisweet chocolate chips
2 eggs, lightly beaten
225ml milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 200 deg C. Grease a 12-cup muffin pan or line with paper muffin cups.
2. Mix the flour, Milo and baking powder in a large bowl.
3. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles bread crumbs.
4. Stir in sugar and chocolate chips.
5. In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk and vanilla extract. Pour the mixture all at once into the dry ingredients. Mix quickly until just blended. Do not over mix.
6. Spoon batter evenly into the prepared muffin pan and bake for 20mins or until golden brown, and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
7. Cool in the pan for 10mins then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Source


The muffins turned out to be the ugliest and non-appetizing because:

- I substituted all-purpose for self-raising flour, but did not add more baking powder which I should. The muffins did not huat as nicely as I expected in the end. >.< - I ran out of normal milo and had to use milo mocha, which I thought was better, but was not in the end. I am guessing the normal milo will release a stronger cocoa aroma. - I realized I did not have vanilla extract at the last minute and used vanillin powder instead. - Mom thought initial batter was too gooey and suggested adding more flour. Bad move. - I over-mixed as a result.


Still...
the chocolate chips were so good especially when they are melted and hot. Great supper with milk in the midnight!

他们很丑, 但是好吃!



Note to self: Sleep early!

Monday, March 2, 2009

Orange Muffins

Sunday mornings - perfect for brunches with the family, stocking up the groceries at the nearby supermarket without any regard for time, reading the sunday paper with a good cup of kopi.

Only that I missed the Sunday morning, again, with sleep, what else. Still, I had a nice Sunday with satisfying my hokkien mee craving at the mall. Is it just me or has the standard of the mee drop already? They do not fry it like how they used to, it simply lacks something, like a drug that makes me keep going till the last strand of noodle in the past.


Also, I had my grocery shopping since a long time with mom and took the opportunity to stock up on my baby carrots and baking supplies. Gosh, these little things really add up and it was quite bad of me to get so much at one go. Who knows flour, baking powder, cupcake decorations can cost so much. But at least, I did not procrastinate and ended up with these!


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Here is the exact recipe to share. I know many people are very free. Try and tell me whether it works for you and can share a cup or two with me hehe.

Orange Muffins
serves 18 small

* 1/2 cup butter, softened
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 egg
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon orange extract
* 2/3 cup fresh orange juice

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and line 18 muffin cups with paper liners.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Add egg, beat well, then add vanilla and mix.
4. In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt.
5. Mix orange extract with orange juice.
6. Add half the flour mixture to the butter mixture, mix well, then add half the juice mixture and mix; repeat.
7. Spoon batter into prepared cups, sprinkle with some sugar if you want crunchy muffin tops.
8. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown.

Notes:
> I have no idea what orange extract is and use orange flavoring instead. Instead of 0.5 tsp of extract, I substituted it with 1.5 tsp of flavoring. I have a feeling they are the same though.

> I used orange juice with pulp but I think a no-pulp consistency will improve the taste. Gah, I hate OJ sans the pulp.

> I had to leave the cups in the oven longer than a mere 30 min, or else they fail the toothpick test.

> Mom commented they were a little too sweet and I had to agree although my sweet tooth was on a high. Because of the extra flavoring I add, I should have drop in a little less sugar in the mix.

> Use smaller cups so that there are more to pass around!

> I did not get the nice smooth texture but an electronic hand whisk should get the task done.

> I used Betty Crocker Hershey's Rich & Creamy Chocolate Frosting. It was great, not too rich. I tested and almost whacked half a jar.

> I'm excited to start making plain muffins to doodle on top of them now!



Initially, I was hesitant to bake these in front of my mom because I was least confident that the muffins will turn up well since this is moi first attempt to use the oven for something other than mere cookies. I kept telling her that this batch will surely fail and that she better not get her hopes up too high. Of course, I am quite happy they turned out pretty OK and dad even take a bite although he absolutely abhors such sweet lil things. Keke.


Time to find/ dig/ steal my camera battery charger! >.<