Showing posts with label bakes. Show all posts

8.4.15

Double Chocolate Muffins

In the mood for baking recently.
So I reorganised my baking cupboard and made an inventory of baking equipment, packaging, dry and wet ingredients.
Threw away tons of expired items as well.

Definitely feeling accomplished and the tidy cupboard is motivating me to bake more often.
Sorry in advance to everyone around me,
you might find yourself gaining some weight in time to come.
HAHAHA.

Sissy saw this recipe on FB and she forwarded it to me saying that the muffins looked good in the pictures.
Decided to give it a try over the weekends after tweaking the original recipe a little and I think my muffins turned out looking not too shabby in comparison.
:)

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Anyone else hates cleaning batter off the whisk attachment like me?
:(

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awesome recipe header


Ingredients

Makes 15 regular muffins

- 3 eggs
- 160g caster sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 250g heavy cream
- 35g unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 135g plain flour
- 130g chocolate buttons 56% cocoa

Method

1) Preheat the oven to 180 deg C and line the muffin tray with paper cups.

2) Chop the chocolate buttons into small chunks.

3) In a large bowl, mix the eggs, sugar, salt and vanilla extract using an electric mixer. Beat till mixture is thick, creamy and pale yellow in colour.

4) In a separate bowl, beat the heavy cream till stiff peaks form.

5) Add cocoa powder into the whipped heavy cream and mix well.

6) Add whipped heavy cream + cocoa powder mixture to the eggs mixture and mix well.

7) Add baking powder and flour and mix to combine.

8) Fold in chocolate chunks and keep aside some for topping.

9) Spoon the mixture into the paper cups till 2/3 full and scatter the remaining chocolate chunks on top.

10) Bake for about 25 minutes or so or until toothpick inserted into centre of muffin comes out clean. Allow to cool before serving or keeping them into boxes.

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This recipe is great for those who do not like their muffins too oily (because there is no butter used) or too sweet.

Relatively easy to make and pretty hard to go wrong in my opinion.
;)


10.2.14

Valentine's Day Recipe I

Hi!
I'm finally back from my break,
time to wipe the dust off my neglected blog!


Here's a short summary of what I did during my break:

- CNY visiting
- Play with my fur babies at home
- Sleep
- Rekindled my love for baking
- Watch at least 5 hours of HK drama every day
- Sleep more

Which explains why I did not update my blog.
Hahaha.
Now that I'm back, 
I thought I should share some of my bakes during my week long holiday!
Wanted to blog about my CNY this year but since Valentine's Day is just around the corner,
I thought these recipes (with step-by-step photos!) would come in handy for some of you.
;)


Something chocolate-y for today,
then strawberries for tomorrow!


recipes


How to Make :
Double Chocolate Butterscotch Cookies

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Cream butter and sugar using an electric mixer and beat till light and fluffy

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Add an egg into the mixture and beat till well incorporated.

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Time for some vanilla extract to enhance the flavour of the cookies!

P2067509 Weigh cocoa powder and flour according to recipe.

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Sift dry ingredients together.

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Mix big spoonfuls of sifted dry ingredients into the butter/egg/sugar mixture till it's well combined.

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Weigh the semi sweet chocolate chips and butterscotch chips!

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Mix the chips into the dough mixture and stir it till well combined!

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Scoop spoonfuls of dough onto baking tray.
You can press a few butterscotch chips on top of the dough if you want the chips to be more visible after baking.
*Be sure to leave sufficient space else your cookies will stick together as they expand quite a bit during baking.

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After 9-11 minutes of baking,
super chocolate-y and decadent cookies are yours for gobbling!
WHOOPEE!

If your special someone loves anything chocolate,
this is one recipe you need to make for him.


And finally,
here's the recipe with the exact ingredients and exact timings!


Ingredients

Makes 18-22 cookies

- 140g unsalted butter at room temperature
- 200g caster sugar
- 1 whole egg
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 125g all purpose plain flour
- 85g unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup butterscotch chips
(can replace with white chocolate chips)

Method

Preheat oven to 175 deg celsius.

Using an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy, scraping the sides of bowl when needed.

Add the egg and mix well.

Add vanilla extract and mix well again.

Sift dry ingredients together, then add in batches to the mixing bowl.
Mix till just combined after each addition.

Gently add chocolate chips and butterscotch chips into the mixture.

Scoop the dough by spoon and drop onto baking sheet. Dot the top of each cookie with additional butterscotch chips if you want them to show up on the cookie after baking.

Bake for 9-11 minutes depending on your oven,
till cookies are barely done but soft and chewy.

Let cool on a wire rack.



And you're done!

A really simple and absolutely fool proof recipe if you're looking to bake something for this Valentine's Day!

Most of the ingredients can be easily found in any NTUC/Phoon Huat/baking supplies shop.
I bought the butterscotch chips from Cold Storage but they were quite costly.
Would definitely try this recipe out again in future,
but maybe with white chocolate chips instead!
:)

If you have any questions you can just leave a comment below and I'll be happy to help!

Sharing another recipe tomorrow so remember to come back!

2.9.13

Nutella Swirls

Thom's birthday fell on 30th August and I really wanted to make something entirely from scratch for him given that he isn't one who likes lavish gifts.
I decided on cupcakes in the end.

People who know me are always shocked/surprised to know that I can actually bake.
Hahaha.
Yes I can.

Before I started an online store,
I always thought that it might be nice to own a bakery someday in future.
But now,
I'll leave that as a daydream.
Hehe.

Baking for me now is more of a leisurely hobby (which I can't really afford thanks to my crazily busy schedule).
I love how the smell of freshly baked goodies waft out of the kitchen.
And it really is rewarding to see the different ingredients form into something yummy by the end of a couple of hours.

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Batter is ready for the oven!

The recipe is pretty simple to follow,
just do it step by step and you can hardly go wrong.

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**I got this recipe a few years ago from a random website.. Can't remember who and which website to credit. If you know, drop me a note and I'll be happy to do so!



Ingredients (Makes 12 regular cupcakes)

210g all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoon baking powder
(I used 1 teaspoon double acting baking powder, it should be the same!)

140g unsalted butter, room temperature

130g brown sugar
(you can use granulated white sugar too but it will be slightly sweeter)

3 eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract/essence

bottle of Nutella



Method

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees celsius.

2. Sift together dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder) in a bowl and put aside.

3. In a separate mixing bowl, cream butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer at high speed till light and fluffy.

4. Add eggs to the butter and sugar mixture, one at a time. Mix in with electric mixer.

5. Add vanilla extract.

6. Gradually fold dry ingredients into the butter, sugar and eggs mixture until well mixed.

7. Scoop the batter into cupcake moulds (lined with paper cups) and make sure it is not more than 3/4 filled.

8. Top one teaspoon of Nutella onto each cupcake mould and make swirls with a toothpick.

9. Put into oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until you insert a toothpick into the centre of a cupcake and it comes out clean.


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And there you go.
12 decadent cupcakes for Nutella lovers!

I have yet to hear of anyone who dislikes Nutella actually,
hahaha.

Go on,
give the recipe a try and let me know if you do!!
Please credit my blog url if you want to repost these photos anywhere as well.

Have the best week ahead and I'll be back with my OOTDs soon!

14.6.12

Graduation Trip to Japan (Day 6 and 7)

There's something I think I should clarify before I start this entry!
Mochi is a personal friend of my bestie and me...
Not through any agency or homestay website.
Cos I had some comments on the previous post asking about that!
:)

Anyway, after lunch at Chinatown on Day 6, we went to the Kanemori Red Brick Warehouse!
Which was also apparently within walking distance.
Hahah.


There was some eco festival going on which made the area was really crowded!
Like what I mentioned,
we're really lucky to have chanced upon so many festivals and special occasions during our stay in Japan.
:)


A pudgy looking sausage dog!
Japanese people seem to be fans of this breed..
7/10 dogs I spotted on the street are sausage dogs!
They're cute though they look kinda clumsy while walking because their tummies are so near to the ground.
Hahaha.






Rustic looking building.
Love the red bricks!
It's not an actual warehouse..
They actually have shops inside selling pretty interesting things!
So we spent a couple of hours exploring the inside.












HAHAHAHAHA.
We made them do this.


We were supposed to head to the Sky Garden Plaza after the warehouse...

But we got distracted by something on the way!


An amusement park!!!!
Hahahaha and then we spontaneously got our "tour guides" to bring us there.


Someone's scared of heights.
Hahahah.















You'll never in a million years guess what the guys brought us to do next...
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

We went to take neoprints.
LOL.




Super cool to do this with them because for once,
we didn't need to guess what the Japanese wordings mean!
Hahaha.

The guys turned out weird in the neoprints though..
The machine has this ability to magnify the eyes and urm perform whitening effects.
So they turned out looking girly.




And then...
Haunted house which I wasn't too fond of.
Hahahaha.


So...
We finally reached the Landmark Tower Sky Garden!
:)








We took the world's 2nd fastest elevator to the 69th storey!
And it only took 40 seconds!

There's a 360 deg observation deck which is the highest in the whole of Japan.






We ended our day trip around evening time and headed back to Zushi!
Mochi's dad drove us all out to a neighbouring city, Yokosuka for conveyor belt sushi.








It was pretty crowded so we had to wait for around 30 minutes...
But good food's always worth the wait!




Mochi's dad, Kotaro, and Mochi's mum!










This is....
Raw horse meat.



Which I didn't eat of course.


The yummiest BBQ unagi sushi!!!!!!




And the yummiest chawanmushi ever!


Crab miso soup which was heavenly too!


And gulps...
Baby sardines sushi which I didn't really fancy.

But it was quite a fun experience, eating sushi with Mochi's family!
They would urge us to try the more 'exotic' sashimi and laugh if we crinkle our faces up after tasting.
HAHA.








Back at Mochi's house,
where we had these pretty cakes for dessert!


And here Mochi's jovial grandparents make an appearance on my blog!
They're so adorable!



Everyone choosing their cakes.
And they let us choose first because we're the guests!
:)

And because it was our last night staying with them,
we gave thanks to each of the family members and thanked them for having us!
They were really gracious hosts and I hope that they'll come to Singapore one day so that we can return the kindness.

Also, if you ever get a chance to do homestay with a Japanese family,
bring some gifts from your country for them!
I didn't know of this culture so I didn't prepare anything,
lucky my bestie did!
I think we'll be sending a box of food and other gifts over to them soon to make up for it.


We woke up really early in the morning to pack our luggages because we had to leave with Mochi who had internship!
And it was a good thing because we caught the solar eclipse!

It was said to be the first solar eclipse in Japan ever since 1839 so everyone was really hyped up about it.
Me and bestie caught sight of it as well because Mochi's house had solar sunglasses!
It's actually not visible to the naked eye,
no wonder all the electronic shops were selling the solar sunglasses when we were roaming around in Tokyo for our first few days.




Check out our bloated faces in the morning!

It was pretty sad having to say our goodbyes...
Kotaro and grandparents were waving goodbye to us until the car went out of sight.
I really hope to see them soon again!


My first Japanese friend and the host who took extremely good care of us!
He also insisted on helping us with our luggages and took the train with us to our station despite having to rush to work.
Thank you Mochi!
:)


And then me and bestie went back to Harajuku because we didn't manage a trip to Meiji-shrine previously...












Small wooden plates which you can write your wishes/prayers on,
and they'll come true!
:)


Some interesting ones I found!










And then...
It was back to consumerism!
SHOP. SHOP. SHOP.
AND MORE SHOPPING!




Caught a beautiful sunset at Harajuku!
:)

I'll finish up my Japan trip in my next travelogue post...
But then I'm kinda reluctant to wrap things up because blogging about it meant reliving the memories in Japan for me.

OHHHHH AND RANDOM THING!
Me and Sissy attempted to make macarons today and it was a semi success!
Hehehe.

Here's a picture of it!
Obviously it does not look as good in real life,
Instagram makes everything look good!


Pretty pink macarons!
Rose flavoured shells with rose flavoured buttercream filling!
Not perfect yet,
so allow me to get more attempts at it before I share the recipe and tips!
:)

So excited for the weekend!
Bye for now!
Will blog again soon!