Pineapple coconut muffin

I always wanted to bake something with pineapples and coconut. And when I have balance canned pineapples after making pizza and coconut milk after baking pandan chiffon cake, it was a good time to clear the fridge too! It also had been a long time since I last baked muffins and this quick and easy recipe yields a very moist and coconut-y one!

 

Pineapple coconut muffins
(recipe from Serious Eats, with modifications. Makes 18 muffins)

113g (4 ounces) unsalted butter, soft
175g castor sugar (reduced, can increase to 200g if you want it sweet)
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup plain yogurt
100g desiccated coconut (to reduce to 75g), leave some to sprinkle on top of muffin
195g plain flour
2 1/2tsp baking powder
240g (1 cup) drained pineapple cubes/ slices, chopped

1. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners.
2. Beat butter with sugar and salt in a large bowl until creamy.
3. Whisk in eggs, one by one, until combined.
4. Add in coconut milk and desiccated coconut and whisk till combined.
5. Add in sifted flour and baking powder and whisk till combined.
6. Stir in chopped pineapples. Do not over-mix.
7. Scoop batter into muffin cup and sprinkle desiccated coconut on top.
8. Bake at pre-heated oven 180 deg C for 20 mins - 22 mins.
9. Cool on wire rack.

Blueberry muffins

This is an quick & easy blueberry muffins that I baked for my baby's 1st day of primary school. Packed with love *muack*

Ingredients:
120g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
60g sugar
60g oil
80g milk
1 egg, beaten
1/2 punnet fresh blueberries (lightly mashed) 

1. Sift the flour. Set aside.
2. Mix all wet ingredients using mixer.
3. Add all dry ingredients to (2), and mix well. Add in blueberries. (*Do not over-mix, should be done in less than 5 minutes.)
4. Scoup mixture into muffin cups, upto 2/3rd full.
5. Bake in pre-heated over at 170 deg C for 20 minutes, in lower rack.
6. Check doneness by inserting toothpick and it come out clean.
7. Remove from oven and cool.

The best blueberry muffins & pancake

During my 3-weeks getaway in States, other than making lao po bing, I also had my hand on the Best blueberry muffins and soft fluffy pancakes. My original plan was to bake-like-crazy when I'm holidaying at my sis' place, if we had only stayed at her place. But we decided to have a week stay at her house "doing nothing", and another 2 weeks on road trip from central States heading westward to San Francisco. For the last decade that my sis left S'pore for States, this is our first time visiting her together with my dad & Zakris; my gf E tagged along as well. My regret is that my mum didn't get the chance to see the well-being of my sis in a far-away land, and I do not want to have another regret that my dad didn't get to do it too! It was definitely a good trip but it won't be the last for sure! I'm already planning another trip in 2013, and to see my 1 year+ niece then!

When I saw the big array of baking tins, tools, ingredients, spices, pots & pans etc left me & my friend in awe! Even the sugar and salt are particular! The kitchen is so well-equipped that you can bake anything almost anytime. For someone who don't cook at all before she left S'pore, it's a pleasant surprise!

The blueberry muffin recipe is highly recommended by my sis, and with the lemon-sugar toppings, they are luxurious to the bits. The only problem I had was the measurement used - cups, half stick butter, etc.

Blueberry Muffins
(Recipe adapted from Hooney's The Best Blueberry Muffins)
Makes 12 muffins.

Ingredients/ Method:

Lemon-Sugar Topping
1/3 cup sugar (I used Turbinado Sugar)
1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated zest from 1 lemon

Muffins
2 cups fresh blueberries, picked over
1 1/8 cups sugar plus 1 teaspoon
2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon table salt
2 large eggs
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick or 56.5gm) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk (may substitute with 3/4 cup plain whole-milk or low-fat yogurt thinned with 1/4 cup milk)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

FOR THE TOPPING: Stir together sugar and lemon zest in small bowl until combined; set aside.

FOR THE MUFFINS:
1. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees F (or 218 deg C).
2. Spray standard muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.
3. Bring 1 cup blueberries and 1 teaspoon sugar to simmer in small saucepan over medium heat.
4. Cook, mashing berries with spoon several times and stirring frequently, until berries have broken down and mixture is thickened and reduced to ¼ cup, about 6 minutes. Transfer to small bowl and cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes.
5. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in large bowl.
6. Whisk remaining 11/8 cups sugar and eggs together in medium bowl until thick and homogeneous,about 45 seconds.
7. Slowly whisk in butter and oil until combined.
8. Whisk in buttermilk and vanilla until combined.
9. Using rubber spatula, fold egg mixture and remaining cup blueberries into flour mixture until just moistened. (Batter will be very lumpy with few spots of dry flour; do not overmix.)
10. Use ice cream scoop or large spoon to divide batter equally among prepared muffin cups (batter should completely fill cups and mound slightly).
11. Spoon teaspoon of cooked berry mixture into center of each mound of batter.
12. Using chopstick or skewer, gently swirl berry filling into batter using figure-eight motion.
13. Sprinkle lemon sugar evenly over muffins.
14. Bake until muffin tops are golden and just firm, 17 to 19 minutes, rotating muffin tin from front to back halfway through baking time.
15. Cool muffins in muffin tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and cool 5 minutes before serving.

As we had to settle our own breakfast during the first week of our stay (both my sis & bro-in-law were out at work on some days), we created "chaos" in the kitchen. One of the brekky items I prepared is the soft & fluffy pancakes. I like how easy it was to prepare and the result is real good. This is a keeper!

Fluffy Pancakes
Recipe adapted from Wen's Delight)

Ingredients/ Method:
150g Self raising flour
50g Sugar
1/4 tsp salt
110ml Fresh milk
1 egg
1 tbsp Corn oil

1. Mix flour, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl.
2. Add in egg, milk and corn oil, use a hand whisk to stir well.
3. Spoon batter onto a non-stick pan (without oil) to pan fry until golden brown on both sides.
4. Serve hot with maple syrup/jam.

Banana Crumb Muffins

Although banana is not my favourite fruit on its own, i like to use them for baking. They are cheap but once you buy a bunch, you got to consume them within a few days, if not they will turn 'black' and too soft for consumption. In order to 'save' them, i will keep the bananas in the sub-zero and use them whenever there's time to bake something with it. Previously, i peeled the banana skin and kept it in the ice-box. This time round, after reading somewhere that it is easier and better to freeze the banana with the skin, i did it and had a difficult time to remove the skin.

With a quite a few bananas in the freezer, i want to experiment with different recipes so that i could get 'THE" best banana cake! I got this, this, this, and this; not forgetting i had did this and that before. My search for banana cake recipes show one thing in common: all of the bakers have tried more than one banana recipes! I finally decided to try out the Banana Crumb Muffins, which is "a basic banana muffin made extraordinary with a cinnamon-and-brown-sugar streusel topping".

I'm on my lucky streak during these 2 baking days, the muffins turn out soft, moist, fluffy, flavourful, etc.... all i could ask for a banana muffins! However, i know it may not strike a cord with those who doesn't like spices - cinnamon & nutmeg. Also, i'm not very sure whether i got the streusel topping right cos i didn't exactly get the coarse cornmeal texture, and i'm left with half the mixture after topping all the muffins. Anyway, it didn't really matter on this occasion.

Ingredients/ Method:
(modified)

A) Muffins
190g all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 bananas, mashed
50g brown sugar
100g fine sugar
2 eggs
75g canola oil
1/2 tsp nutmeg
3/4 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp vanilla extract

B) Toppings
15g butter
15g all-purpose flour
75g brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder

1) Preheat oven at 160 deg C.
2) Sift flour, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.

3) Beat the eggs until light yellow, add in oil, and slowly add in sugar till well mixed. Add in mashed banana.

4) Add in flour to the mixture till well combined, but do not overmix.
5) Spoon the mixture into muffin cups upto 2/3rd filled.
6) In a small bowl, mix Topping ingredients till it resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.
7) Bake in oven for 20 mins, or until skewer inserted comes out clean.

For the above, i used mini muffin cups and achieve about 30 little muffins.

Another keeper!

Again.... muffins & mini butter cake

I'm back to baking the 'same old stuff' - muffins and butter cake. The only difference is the little frosting that i did on both the muffins and mini butter cake to freshen up the look, and baking the butter cake in muffin cups. I suppose these changes qualify this post to be put up as i don't wish to appear repeating my post. But of course, with my limited baking experiences and skills, doing things different can be quite a challenging feat.

For these last couple of months, ever since i started this blog, i seem to be addicted to - either baking or blogging, or possibly both activities! Other than honing my baking skills, i'm brushing up my english and some story-telling ability at the same time...kekeke! To fast-forward another 10, 20 years, if i'm still posting on this blog, i will be able to publish a Biography, if not, at least this is still some-kind of MY 'valuable' legacy.

Back to baking, this batch of 'goodies' were done over the weekend, where T's company had the 7th month prayers and mini buffet. Another opportunity for me to satisfy my baking craving..... The muffin is using this recipe, and mini mixed citrus butter cake this.

The chocolate muffins were frosted with more chocolate ganache, and whipped cream which was some left-over that i kept in the freezer. There is no need to thaw, and it was almost ready to use right out of the freezer. The mini mixed citrus butter cake was frosted with Taste Goblet's miracle cream cheese frosting.

Double Chocolate Chips Muffins

Ingredients/ Method:

150g plain flour

30g cocoa powder

1.5tsp baking powder

3/4tsp baking soda

75g sugar

1.5 eggs

90g olive oil

135g milk

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1. Mix the dry ingredients in a mixing bow, and set aside.

2. Add egg, oil and milk into the bowl, mix till just combine. Add chocolate chips.

3. Spoon into muffin cups 2/3 full and bake in preheated 170 deg C for 20 mins or till skewer comes out clean.

4. Remove from oven and leave to cool.

Miracle Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients/ Method:

1/2 cup cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/2tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup mascarpone

1 cup icing sugar, sifted

1. Cream butter and cream cheese until smooth.

2. Add vanilla and cream.

3. Add in mascarpone cheese straight from the fridge and beat gently until thick, about 10-15 sec.
4. Gradually stir in the icing sugar and beat on low speed to combine for about 30 sec. (Do not overbeat.)

5. Frost immediately or store in fridge.

I love the muffins and cakes with the frosting; like all men and women, it's the clothes that maketh them; or they maketh the clothes?!

Cheese and Chocolate Chips Muffin

Hehehe.... just last week I told myself I'm not going to bake muffins until I've tried other recipes, but I still can't resist the temptation to bake something simple and nice. And also because we only had a meal throughout the day, I was feeling quite hungry whilst lazing in the bed with little zak, and I also wanted to "make up" for the previous lousy muffins I made.



I always like the type of cheese which you can find in those round pancakes sold at Mr. Bean. So when I was at AMKHub doing my groceries, I asked the aunty at Mr. Bean outlet which type of cheese they use, and she is so obliging to tell me and even show me the packaging. Immediately, I bought 1 pack of the cheese intended for my next muffins bake.




Following the same recipe from pax-recipe, I just replaced the mixed fruits to chocolate chips and cheese. Here's the recipe for easy reference.

Ingredients:
120g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
60g sugar
60g oil
80g milk
1 egg, beaten
1/4cup chocolate chips (original recipe uses 1/2 cup) or cheese cubes (quantity is up to individual)

1. Sift the flour. Set aside.
2. Mix all wet ingredients using mixer.
3. Add all dry ingredients to (2), and mix well. Add in chocolate chips or cheese cubes. (*Do not over-mix, should be done in less than 5 minutes.)
4. Scoup mixture into muffin cups, upto 2/3rd full.
5. Bake in pre-heated over at 170 deg C for 20 minutes, in lower rack.
6. Check doneness by inserting toothpick and it come out clean.
7. Remove from oven and cool.

I've made 2 portions of muffins yesterday, and had a few left for this morning breakfast. They are still soft and moist. Lovely!

The Four Heavenly Kings

Like what other food bloggers say, baking is addictive and therapeutic, and what's more with an easy and trusted recipe which I've adopted from pax-recipe for all my muffins bake. Did the usual cranberry, blueberry, raisin muffins, plus chocolate chips which I just bought from Phoon Huat today, a total of Four flavours. It was a coincidence that one of the dishes we had for dinner tonite was "The Four Heavenly Kings" - which is actually brinjal, lady-finger, long bean and "smelly" pea (not too sure what's the name of this pea) stir-fried in sambal chilli - all my favourite!

Actually there are many more receipes which I wanted to try out, so I think this will be the last(?) muffins I'm baking, until I tried out other interesting recipes. Let's see how long I can refrain myself .....

Muffins Craze

This post suppposed to go out last Sunday, but somehow the laptop decided to blackout before i save the contents, so it's 1 week late....

Did 3 variations of muffins last Sunday - mixed cranberries & blueberries (preserved), fresh blueberries from cold storage, and oreo. In fact, I just baked muffins with cinnamon apple a few days before this.... am i going into a muffin craze??

Galore of my muffins trio

My earlier bake on cinnamon apple muffins - still fresh in

the oven!

In fact, there are many more flavours of muffins I wanted to make, but as I always bake late in the nite, I don't have the time to do too many.

This batch of muffins has got the 'thumbs-up' from T, but my aunty S felt that the oreo muffins is dry and lack of flavour. I'll do a better oreo muffin the next time ;-)

Closer look of my muffins trio!

Blueberry, Cranberry & Raisins Muffins

I bought a packet of mixed blueberry & cranberry, and had some leftover raisins in the fridge. Tried to bake some muffins based on recipe found on the internet, and contemplating between 2 recipes - 1 which only have milk as liquid, and other requires oil and milk. Chose the 'healthier' version, but the result was quite unsatisfactory. The muffins came out dry and flavourless, even my little son happily passed back to me the entire muffin when I ask him to share with me.

So I decided to try the other recipe. Luckily, the muffins turn out moist and soft, and with lots of berries and raisins, this is really great for little kids, and good enough for me to bring to the office as breakfast!

Gonna try out other 'concortions' of fruits and nuts the next time!