Mini Blueberry Yogurt Muffin

Last week, i bought a box of blueberries from Chile.
So that i can have a hearty granolar breakfast with the so-thought sourish berries.
Been missing the self picked blueberries that i had for breakfast
while i'm staying with Gerd at Sweden.
Those small yet power pack delicious sourish berries that
she handpicked them in the summer behind her house and freeze for use during winter.
She make swedish pancake for us during one dinner,
and we had handpicked blueberries, cloudberries, homemade rhubarb & lingon berry jam
to go with the pancakes!!! Absolutely D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S!!
To further side track, i love love love the pink homemade rhuberb lemonade!! ahhh...

Back to my own store bought blueberries.
The berries that i bought are called blueberries, no mistake.
But they so absolutely doesnt taste like what i had in Sweden.
Firstly, they're NOT sourish at all, not a tint at all!
They're big and plump, unlike the skinny wild blueberries.
Instead, i think i taste a hint of sweetness in it.
I dunno is its due to the different species,
what i bought was called 'Southern Sun' from Chile.
So, i don't really like it with my yogurt nor with my granolar...
So instead i made them into muffin for today's breakfast.

Didnt have enough berries to make a standard 12 muffin,
so i make them into mini muffin.
This time round, i didnt use the staple muffin recipe that i love from Nigella.
Instead i tried a new recipe from a book that my colleague got for my bday last yr!
It didnt turn out too bad.
The muffin is soft and fluffy with a sticky top developed overnight.
BUT, it turns out that the blueberries baked, is nothing short of nice.
Maybe its due to the sweetness of the berries.
You dun get the usual sourish taste from the fruit while eating the muffin.
Maybe this will be a good species for baking.
I still miss the smallish sour berries that i had for dinner
and a few days for breakfast, exactly a month back!


Mini Blueberry Yogurt Muffin

Ingredients
1. 180g Plain flour
2. 1tsp Baking powder
3. Pinch of salt
4. 125g Unsalted butter, soften
5. 100g sugar
6. 1 tsp lemon zest
7. 2 egg
8. 90g yogurt
9. 150g blueberries

Precedure
1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Conbine flour, baking powder & salt in a bowl, put aside.
3. Mix butter and sugar till pale & creamy on med-high setting.
4. Mix in the eggs, one at a time till just combined.
5. Mix in the dry ingredient on slow setting.
6. Add in the blueberries by hand.
7. Transfer to miffin pan line with linear, fille ach muffin holes to 3/4 full.
8. Bake for 20-25min, til golden brown and cooked through.

Chocolate Chips Cookie

Its been exactly 2 months since my last post.
Alot of happen & taken place during these 2 months.
I went on a mind-changing or better said, self-engaging trip to the far far North.

Trying hard to get back on track to my baking routine.
Life resume after all the hu ha of holidays & CNY doesnt it??
This is the 1st yr since my poly days that i have not baked
pineapple tarts & other goodies for my dear family.
I apologize for failing to keep this up this yr.
This is an exceptionally contridicting year for me.
Had wanted to make almond tuiles when i came back on the 3oJan,
but was seriously jet-lagged and simply not in the correct mind to bake.

These Chocolate Chip Cookies are bake specially for xmas last year.
I try to get back the 'original' taste of these cookies.
These are actually the first few items i bake when i started out baking in my sec sch days.
Bought back the same flour, which i'm not using right now, specially for this batch.
Used back the same brand of butter, the same brand of choco chips.
I gave most of them away, to people whom are special & dear to me.
My mum & james loved the macadamia cookies.
I still have hell lots of mac nuts, have to bake another batch to finish them up soon.

This is a very very simple recipe,
the basic of chocolate chip cookies.
Nothing special or unique used for these cookies.
Its the mind & heart of the baker that makes the real diffference,
not the recipe.
I always enjoy the crunchiness, the aroma, the bite
& probably the memories that these cookies had for me.
I hope everyone could enjoy the simple pleasure & happiness
that this simple recipe brings!


Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients
1. 500g Self-raising Flour
2. 320g Butter
4. 200g Sugar
5. 1/2 tsp Baking soda
6. Pinch of salt
7. 2 eggs

Procedure
1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Cream butter & sugar till creamy, add eggs & continue to mixed.
3. Combine with flour, salt & baking soda.
4. Bake the dough for 10mins depending on size.

*add in chocolate chips, nuts, cocao powder as required.

Know your apples

Stumble upon this, found it very interesting.
So here it is, toremind my self next time when i wanna bake with apples.

Bake a batch of cookies last sunday.
But didnt take any photo of it.
Its the 1st few recipe that me & Cat bake when we started out
baking in our sec school days.
Recipe is still as good, so is all the memories when baking them.
I even went out to get the flour i used last time,
which i don't use nowadays,
so that i can get the taste back.

http://www.foodsubs.com/Apples.html

Cheesy Bacon Biscuit

This is the first time i made savory biscuit.
When i came across this combination few weeks back.
It actually 'feels' weird to me.
Having cheese as part of the ingredient was still ok,
but we're talking about BACON!!!
Bacon in a biscuit.
How weird can that be?

After a few weeks,
i was revisting some of the blog i visir regularly,
when i see this recipe again.....
I look thru the ingredient list, try to imagine how it would come out.
It still bothers me that i'm making biscuit with cheese n bacon it in.
Not to say that the price for these 2 beloved commodities
are price highly here.
I went on to get the 2 main ingredient,
and head back home to try out the recipe.

I didnt follow the recipe to a T.
It called for good matured cheese.
I'm afraid that the cheesy-ness will overpower,
and my whole family will not eat it.
So i bought a mild chedder instead.
That, ends up to be a huge mistake.
Should have stick to a matured chedder.
Cos after cooking, the cheesy-ness was all gone...
All its left with, was a light tint of cheese,
a little saltiness from the bacon.
It was enough for me,
but apparently, my entire family thinks its too BLAND...
Yes, even my mum, who hates BACON.

Cheesy Bacon Biscuit

1. 150g bacon (try to use those with lesser fat)
2. 260g Plan Flour
3. 18g Baking Powder
4. 1/2 tsp Salt
5. 1/4 caynne pepper (i didnt have so substitute with crushed black pepper)
6. 75g unsalted butter (plus a pinch of salt)
7. 250g mild chedder (use a strong one for better taste)
8. 250ml milk

Procedure
1. Fry up the bacon on the pan till crisp,
using a knife, chop it into small bits (this is the difficult part, if u use streaky bacon with alot of fats like i did, u'll have a hard time trying to cut thru the fats)
2. Grate the cheese with a grater.
3. Using a pastry cutter, combine the flour, baking powder, salt & pepper till crumbly.
4. Stir in grated cheese & bacon.
5. Add the milk and combined to form dough.
6. Transfer to a floured surface, knead the dough 4times, DO NOT OVERKNEAD.
7. Roll out dough to 1cm thickness with a floured rolling pin.
8. Cut into shape with 2cm cutter or with knife into triangle (as i did here)
9. Bake in 200c preheated oven for 15min or till edges are golden brown.

Afternote:
The biscuit taste better straight out from oven, slightly crispy.
The next day, it have loses all its crispiness.
Si i smear some cream cheese on it to eat it with.
Due to the fact htat i use mild chedder, the cheese taste was very light.
Didnt think we enjoy savory biscuit very much,
so i still think bacon are better off with pasta, mushroom & pizza!!!

Herb Chicken w Sundried Tomatoes Wrap

Back in action after a good 10days short trip to Melbourne & surround.
Actually i was back on the 14th, night.
I took another week of rest, for my mind... haha..

It was a good trip.
Many first time was spend there.
The scenery AMAZING, sky so blue i didnt know it exist.....
Enjoyed the relaxed schedule that i had plan for me & darling.
We went mostly as per i have planned,
except that we miss out 1 attraction in Cape Otway.
Partly due to us, sleeping in late on our first sleep in the camper.
So much so for reminiscing....
I already am missing the pasta we had in mornington,
the cool breeze, the empty places that we get to have it for ourselves etc etc.....

Enough of lazing & holiday mood.
So i decided to tempt myself into my baking/cooking mood once more.
I went down to Tanglin Market Place.... hahaha
Where else to start me all over, other then a good fabulous market!

So i bought many stuff there, spend a good 1hr in the supermarket,
casually shopping around for the anything that jumps at me.
I bought plenty of cheese, sundried tomatoes, flour, granola etc......

So my first project was actually Cheesy Bacon Biscuit which i did on Tuesday.
But then didnt have 'inspiration' to take photo.
So i waited till today morning then take.
But, i was so excited bout my delicious wrap, i decided to blog bout that first..

Its a simple tortilla wrap,
with herb chicken i marinated the night before,
tuscan salad tossed with olive & lemon,
a rew leftover bacon from the biscuit,
and lastly, chun's new love, sun dried tomatoes.

I told him i had bought sundried before,
but then, he didnt like it.
Just cos he tried it in a nice pasta dish in mornington,
he suddenly thinks "sundried tomatoes very nice hor??"...
Isnt it amazing, how important the manner it is to introduce new food to ppl,
much less children.
That we have to inttroduce it in a manner that they like / favor.
This is something i ought to remember,
incase i wanna introduce more fruits/veg to my future children.

Anyway, so i make an effort to marinate the chicken fillet
the night before with some herbs, olive oil & a dash of soy sauce.
In the morning, i just toss the salad with the dressing,
warm up the tortilla, fry the bacon, assemble, top with up plenty of cheese & WALA~
Nice & filling breakkie!
I love making stuff for chun to eat,
seeing him enjoy the food i make, there's such great satisfaction.
I told him, my perfect life shall be like Bree's in Desperate Housewives.
Baking, cooking 3 meals a day, taking care of homey stuff, (minus the cleaning part) lol...

Herb Chicken with Sundried Tomatoes Wrap
(Makes 2)

Ingredients
1. 2 pieces chicken fillet
(marinated night before with mixed herbs, olive oil, soy sauce)
2. 2 pieces rasher bacon
3. Handfuls of Tuscan salad leaves
4. Few sundried tomatoes
5. Cheese for topping (i use mixture of red chedder & mozarella)

Procedure
1. Marinate the chicken fillet overnight for best result.
2. Fry the chicken fillet till cooked on med fire, approximately 10mins.
3. Meanwhile, warm up the tortilla in the oven as directed.
4. Toss the salads leaves with olive & lemon mixture (1part lemon to 3parts oil).
5. After the fillet is cooked, fry up the rasher bacon till crisp.
6. Arrange fillet, bacon, sundried tomatoes & cheese topping on tortilla on a baking tray.
(Dun put the salad in as i do, later the leaves will be cooked)
7. Baked the wrap on med hot, 180C oven for 4mins, til cheese is melted.
8. Before serving, top with salad leaves & fold the tortilla in.

Pandan Chiffon Cake 2

Tried another Pandan Chiffon Recipe on Wednesday & Thursday.
This time round, it's perfect!
The texture is perfect, the taste perfect,
even on the 2nd day, its still taste perfect!

The first i tried, i'm using recipe from here.
The chiffon then was slightly underbake, i think,
cos it had a denser bottom half and a airy light top half.
The recipe i tried this time, was from a recipe that
i bought titled "Chiffon Cake is Done" by Kevin Chai.
The entire book have nothing else but purely chiffon recipe.

Most of the recipe calls for equal number of egg yolk-white ratio,
which i like cos i dun have to waste any.
The ingredient called for are simple & always avail in my stockie.

This time, i didn use pandan essence.
Instead i use freshly blended pandan leaves for the smell & taste.
I use 1 screwpine leaf, washed, then put in blender with 2tbsp of water,
blend away like mad, till the mixture is fine enough.
Go through the liquid with a cloth sieve.
I also reduce the amount of sugar, cos mummy comment that its a tad sweet to her liking.
I adjusted the recipe to bake with my 16cm tube cake tin.
The petite size which gives me 6 generous slices is perfect for my family.
We could finish the cake in just one morning!

I did one trial cake on Wednesday night.
The cake was gobbled up by me, mum, chun & my maid 10min just out of oven.
Nothing was left, except the crumbs!! lol..
No picture was being taken, cos there's simply no time for it..
Out of oven, slice (even when its still hot), & EATEN...
everyone was particulary hungry, esp mum,
cos she hasn't had her dinner...
My maid still ask me "why never take photo ar?"
So i told her, "this one just try only"... hahaha..

The next day, after chun went out for his appointment.
I start to make another chiffon.
Its really easy to prepare the batter & bake all under an hour.
This is definately gng into my staple recipe corner.
Gng to bake one to bring to my grandma house this sunday!

Tried baking 發糕 too!
Will post my adventure with Mr Fatt later...

the top looks ugly cos i didnt use a sharp knife to seperate it!! I just shake it to release..
If u want a nice looking top, always seperate with a sharp knife in one smooth action, pressing firmly against the cake mould

Cottony soft texture of the Pandan Chiffon, even on the 2nd day

Homemade Yogurt

Initially thought this is a post which i'll never post.
Simply cos the recipe seems to have failed me miserably.
But..... But magic happens sometimes...
And from this experience, i can see that i'm really not a patient person. lol..

I made a batch of yogurt on last tuesday,
taste it on wednesday, & almost threw it away there & then!!
(I already threw away 2 cups of it!)
The yogurt have a very tart taste with an extreme sourish finish to it!
On Thursday, magic happens to the yogurt..
I think it have something to do with the good bacteria fermenting & sleeping....

I recall that the bacteria will be activated at the right temperature, 110F.
Any cooler, it'll be sleeping & not fermenting...
Any warmer, the bacteria will probably die off.
So the gist of making yogurt,
is just a good handy thermometer thats all.

I have do some online research bout the different method of home making yogurt.
I ty 2 differnt incubation method while fermenting the freshly made yogurt.
As of yesterday evening, the 2 sets of yogurt gives almost the same taste to me.
The only different is that one thicken more & the other is slightly more liquid.
I dunio know if its due to the container size that i use to contain the milk,
or its really the method that cause the different in thickness.
I have a feeling that its the container more then anything else.
As smaller container is better warmed throughout due to its small size.
Here's the method that i use, after reading a ton of other method.


Homemade Yogurt
(1 large bottle & 4 small bottles, pictured above)

Ingredient
1. 1.9Liter Whole Milk (cannot be skim / low fat milk)
2. 118ml Good Quality Plain Yogurt (Must have Live Cultures)

Procedure (A) (Small bottle, more firm yogurt)
1. Prepare the incubation for the yogurt.
a) I used my outdoor cooler, put a glass with warm water of 130F in the cooler & close the lid.
We wanna make the environment warm so that the culture can work the new milk.
2. Boil the glass jars that'll be used to ferment the yogurt in boiling water
to kill any bacteria for 10mins.
3. Bring the Milk to a 180F on med fire in a heavy bottom pot,
stirring occasionally to prevent milk from scorching at the bottom.
4. Turn off the heat once it reached 180F,
Allow it to cool to 110F, i put the pot in my sink filled with cold water.
Meanwhile, boil a pot of water & put aside for later use.
5. While cooling the milk, measure the starter yogurt & allow to cool slightly,
at the same time keep a close look of the cooling milk.
If the milk accidently cooled below 110F, heat up the milk slightly.
6. When the temperature is at 110F, scope some warm milk into the boil of starter yogurt,
mix till the starter yogurt is fully combined with the milk with no lumps.
7. Pour the starter yogurt mixture into the warm milk & mix thoroughly,
we wanna ensure that the starter is even spread throughout the mixture.
8. Pour the yogurt mixture into clean jars & closed them finger tips tight.
9. Place the jars into the incubators with glass of 130F warm water to maintain
the temperature inside the incubator.
10. When is the yogurt ready
Incubate the yogurt for 6-8hours, i check the water temperature,
and top up water to 130F after 4hrs as the water have cooled down slightly.
After 6-8hrs, check that the yogurt have thicken but still slightly liquid,
remove from incubator & rest in fridge for 24hrs.
11. After 24hrs, give the yogurt a good stir to stop the fermenting completely

2nd Incubation Method (Big Bottle, slightly more tart & more liquid)
1) I also try the water bath method.
Use a small cooler, line with 3 plastic bag, fill warm water of 130F in the plastic bag,
later, i'll sit my jar of yogurt inside the water bath, with the water level below my jar lids.
2)After the milk is heated up & cooled down,
fill jars with milk yogurt & check that the water temperature in the plastic bag is still 130F.
3) Incubate the yogurt for 4hrs & removed from water bath,
place in fridge & rest for 24hrs.
4) After 24hrs, taste & give the yogurt a good stir to completely stop the fermenting!
5) There'll be a layer of yellowish liquid on top of the ready yogurt,
this is perfectly alright, even commercial yogurt sometimes have that on top.
Can just stir in the yogurt & eat as normal or scope & remove.

Afternote
I got thicker yogurt using the first method,
i didnt know if its the size of the bottle or the method that i used.
The 1st method also produce yogurt less tart.