Honey & Walnut Muffins

Muffins, muffins and more muffins! I just need to finish up all the all-purpose flour and self raising flour still stacked in the cabinet. Exactly another week before the hassle of moving to the new place.

I just chanced upon a recipe that calls for exactly the ingredients that I would like to finish off. Walnuts, Honey, Flour - Honey & Walnut Muffins...Love the sound of it and decided to make this tonight.

Ingredients:

(Yields 4 big muffins)

Dry ingredients:

1 cup self-raising flour (sifted)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Wet ingredients:

1/3 cup honey

3/8 cup milk

1/4 cup light olive oil

1 egg (lightly beaten)

3/8 cup walnuts (chopped & bake for 5 minutes at 170 deg Celsius)

for dusting:icing sugar

Method:

1) Preheat the oven to 170 deg Celcius.

2) Place 4 muffin paper cups into the muffin pans.

3) Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. In another bowl, mix in the wet ingredients.

4) Stir in the walnuts into the wet ingredients.

5) Stir the wet mixtures into the dry mixtures gently using a wooden spoon. Do not overstir.

6) Spoon batter into muffin cups. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until toothpick goes into the centre of the muffin comes out clean.

7) Dust muffins with sifted icing sugar and serve warm.

Outcome:

Right after scooping the batter into the cups, I placed each muffin with one raw walnut as decoration. The aroma was very strong during baking. I am delighted that I took extra mile to bake the walnut before adding it into the wet ingredients. It added crunchiness to the muffins. However, it came out slightly rubbery for the textures eventhough I did a minimum stirring. It was a bit too oily too.

Raisin Oatmeal Muffins

I am baking again out of boredom. I have been avoiding packing the house's stuffs and know well that the clock is ticking and we will be moving house in less than 2 weeks! I am not sure where to start from and it seems there is nothing much to bring over to the new place so I am still relaxing.

On the other hand, I have to do as much baking as I can before I leave as there will not be much opportunity for me to do it when I am at the new place. I am going to miss this house :(

I decided to bake Raisin Oatmeal Muffins as I would like to finish off the leftover raisins from my previous bakes. This recipe is adapted from "Simply Daily Recipes" and I have modified it to my very own version.

Ingredients:

(yields 7-8 muffins)

Wet Ingredients:
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup oil
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

Dry Ingredients:

3/4 cup golden raisins

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup quick-cooking oats
5 tbsp brown sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 200 deg Celsius.

2) Lightly grease the muffin pans with oil.

3) Mix wet and dry ingredients in separate bowls.

4) Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir a few times for the batter to incorporate. Do not overstir. It is normal that the batter is lumpy.

5) Scoop into the muffin pan until 3/4 full of each cup if you do not like the dome effect.

6) Bake for 12-15 minutes or until toothpick poked into the centre of the muffin comes out clean.

7) Immediately remove from pan to cooling rack after baking.

Outcome:

I am not sure if it will turn out better when oil is substituted with butter. Somehow, I think the effect & taste will be better as I did not smell the strong aroma from these muffins while baking. May be next time I should try it out with butter. Furthermore, from the cracks on the muffins, i guess it is a bit dry on the top but the moisture still contains within the muffin. I am happy that the nutmeg and cinnamon made the muffins more flavourful. Overall, it is quite nice but there is still room for improvements for this recipe. :)

Pancakes

As I will be moving house soon, I am trying to use up all the ingredients in the kitchen so that I do not have to pack and bring them along to the new place. As such, the normally well stored cabinets with dry food for my weekend breakfast are mostly cleared. I am thinking of cooking something easy and basic for tomorrow's breakfast. Pancakes!

I have never attempted pancake before and I have a brand new packet of all-purpose flour sitting in the cabinet. This will be good opportunity for me to start using it.

Ingredients:
(yields 3 servings)

1 cup all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tbsp sugar

1/2 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1 1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp exra virgin olive oil
3 tbsp chocolate chips

Syrup for the toppings:
1/2 cup honey
3 tbsp butter (cubed)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Method:

1) Mix dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder & salt) in a bowl.

2) Mix wet ingredients (eggs, milk & oil) into dry ingredients and form the batter. Stir in the chocholate chips.

3) Pour the batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto a lightly greased hot non-sticked pan.

4) Turn when bubbles form on top & cook until second side is golden brown.

5) For the syrup, microwave, uncovered, on high until butter is melted and syrup is hot, stirring occasionally.

6) Serve with pancakes.

Outcome:

It is a little bit too rubbery for the texture. I had 2 pieces and had to stop eating it as they are not like those pancakes that I had before. I think it will be a long time before I start making pancakes again.

Plain Sweet Buns

Plain sweet buns have always been one of my favourites. In the past, I would prefer buns with fillings, the more the merrier. Nowadays, I find fillings too sweet for my liking and start liking simple and less heavy tasted stuffs.

I have always made sweet buns referencing to Happy Home Baking website. Normally it yielded me soft buns but somehow I was still not satisfied with the outcome for the texture as it staled the very next day.

Today, for a change, I am going to modify the recipe and see how it is going to turn out. Besides, I want to be more creative to come out with my own signature sweet buns. Again, I am going to depend on my bread maker to knead the dough. Hopefully I will not be disappointed with the results.

Ingredients:

(yields six buns)

1/2 cup water

1/2 egg (lightly beaten, leave the other half for egg wash)

25g unsalted butter

2 1/2 cup bread flour (sifted))

3/4 tsp instant yeast

4 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1-2 tbsp whipping cream (optional)

Method:

The method was adapted from my Assorted Sweet Buns recipe without the filling step.

Note: I baked for around 20 minutes. Towards the end of the last 5 minutes, I lower down the temperature to 180 deg Celsius.

Outcome:

I prefer this recipe over my "Assorted Sweet Buns". However, it is a little bit too sweet for my taste. The texture is soft enough to last it until the 2nd day. However, it is not airy or light enough...Will try again and reupdate this post once I am satisfied with the outcome.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

It has been quite a while since my last post. I was travelling for the past 2 weeks in China due to business trip. I missed my kitchen and blog so much. It was devastating enough travelling alone to complete the missions almost impossible but it was more depressing when I knew that I had to stop blogging about my adventures on baking, cooking and photography for these 2 weeks!

Here I am, after 2 full days of resting from the trip, I could not wait to start my hands again on baking. Today, I am going to bake Banana Choc Chip Muffins as I saw one very ripe banana hanging in my kitchen. I knew that if I did not do something about it, the banana will rot and end up in the waste bin.
Muffins are always the easiest to make and the best of all, it is fast. I reduced the ingredients as there was only one banana for the muffins. I used whipping cream as I had one box opened and I do not want to open a new box of milk just for 2-3 tablespoon as required by the recipe.

Ingredients:

(yields 2 muffins)

1 Cup cake flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/3 tsp baking soda

1/6 tsp salt

2 1/2 tbsp brown sugar

1 large banana

1/2 medium sized egg (lightly beaten)

3 tbsp cold whipping cream

25 g unsalted butter (melted and cooled)

chocolate chips (as desired)

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 180 deg. Celsius.

2) Sieve flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into mixing bowl. Add in the chocolate chips.

3) Mash banana in another bowl and add in brown sugar, egg, whipping cream and butter. Mix well.

4) Stir in the wet mixture into the dry mixture with plastic/ wooden spatula. Stir a few times to incorporate the mixtures. DO NOT over stir as this will result in rubbery muffin texture.

5) Spoon batter into muffin paper cups and bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the muffin comes out clean . I filled the cups until 85% full as I love the dome effect.

6) Let cool on the wire rack when done.

Outcome:

My intention was to make more than 2 muffins but the batter was only enough for 2. The batter was a bit less watery compared to all the previous muffins I have made before. It might be because I have substituted the milk with whipping cream. It did smell fantastic at the end of 10 minutes of the baking and it did look nice when it came out from the oven. I do hope that my curiosity of changing some of the ingredients will not spoil the muffins.

As it is already quite late in the night and I do not wish to eat it and later on blaming myself for gaining weight, I have to wait until tomorrow morning to taste them and further comment how it taste.

I tried the muffin this morning. It is delicious, with the right texture and taste, not too sweet and definitely will be one of my favourite choice of muffins! Yummy!