November 25, 2015

Bacon, Cheese and Scallions Muffins

bacon cheese and scallions muffins

I’ve been baking alot of muffins lately. Maybe twice to thrice a week. I wake up in the morning, quickly put together the muffins, plop them into the oven and by the time I’m done with my shower, the muffins are also done. Piping hot breakfast for the family. The big plus? Muffins *usually* do not require the use of a mixer. I don’t even bother sifting the flour typically. Just throw all the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl and whisk them together for about 15 seconds. Done.

There a couple of sweet muffin recipes on this blog, but since my dear hubby expressed (a couple of months back) that he very much prefers savoury breakfasts, I’ve been attempting to increase the savoury quotient in our breakfasts. Cheese muffins are great. Add bacon and it’s a combination made in heaven. Scallions cut the edge off the saltiness of the cheese and the bacon. Perfect.

Bacon, Cheese and Scallions Muffins
 
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Serves: 12 muffins
Ingredients
  • 2 cups plain flour
  • 2½ tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ¼ tsp black pepper
  • 1 cup shredded cheese (I used cheddar)
  • ½ cup chopped scallions
  • 1 cup milk
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 4 slices back bacon, baked till crisp and cut into small squares
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 175°C or 160°C fan mode.
  2. Line a 12 hole muffin pan with liners.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and pepper.
  4. Add in scallions and cheese and mix to combine.
  5. Whisk together milk, eggs and olive oil in a separate bowl.
  6. Pour wet ingredients into the flour mixture and using a spatula, roughly combine the mixture.
  7. Fold in the bacon. Do not overmix!
  8. Divide among 12 muffin holes.
  9. Top with some more shredded cheese (optional)
  10. Bake on the centre rack for 20-25 minutes, or until tops are golden brown and a tester comes out clean.
Notes
Adapted from http://abeautifulbite.com/ham-scallion-and-cheddar-muffins/

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October 14, 2015

Salted egg custard buns (Liu Sha Bao)

liu sha bao

The person who created salted egg custard buns or Liu Sha Bao is a genius. Pure genius. Sweet yet savory fluid custard. Definitely one of my favourite dim sum items, and of those foods where I think that the calories are worth spending on. I had never quite thought of trying to make Liu Sha Bao at home as it did seem rather complicated. How does one wrap fluid custard in dough? Well, it so happened that I had a couple of extra salted eggs sitting around (extras from mooncake making) and so I decided to experiment. I read up a couple of recipes from books and the internet and settled on a combination of a few recipes plus some gut feel.

The best tip I found was from Bake for Happy Kids. She recommended keeping the custard filling in the fridge overnight (several hours will suffice actually) so that it hardens and that would make it easier to wrap it in dough. Why didn’t I think of that? For the dough, I used an oil based dough (read: no shortening). It’s a little more chewy than the shortening based dough, but it contrasts pretty well against the fluid custard. However, I realised that oil based dough doesn’t keep as well the next day – when the buns are reheated the next day, they become slightly tougher. If the buns are consumed the day they are made, I would recommend using the oil based dough. Otherwise, for a softer bun, you can use the dough in this recipe. It uses shortening, but I’ve just found out that Crisco shortening does not contain trans-fats! Now I can use shortening without guilt.

Ready to try your hand at making some LSB? Here’s the recipe!

Salted egg custard buns (Liu Sha Bao)
 
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Author:
Ingredients
Salted Egg Custard
  • 5 salted egg yolks, steamed
  • 60g unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 40g icing sugar
  • 30g custard powder
  • 45g milk powder
  • 5g corn flour
  • 30ml fresh milk
Dough
  • 300g hongkong flour
  • ½ tsp active yeast
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  • 20g sugar
  • 15ml vegetable oil
  • 140-150ml warm water
Instructions
Salted yolk custard filling
  1. Mash steamed salted yolks with a fork into fine bits.
  2. Using a wooden spoon, cream butter and icing sugar till light and creamy.
  3. Add in the rest of the ingredients, including the salted egg and mix till smooth.
  4. Cover with cling wrap and refrigerate till firm.
Dough
  1. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix all the dry ingredients together.
  2. Mix oil with water and with the mixer on at low, add in the water mixture in a slow stream.
  3. Knead for about 5 minutes, or until dough is smooth and elastic.
  4. Shape dough into a ball and place inside an oiled bowl. Cover with cling wrap and allow dough to rise for about an hour, or until double its original size.
  5. Remove dough from bowl and shape dough into a log. Divide into 12 equal pieces.
  6. Divide custard filling into 12 balls (I use a metal spoon for this).
  7. Flatten each piece of dough into a disc, place the filling inside and seal dough around the filling. Place bun, sealed side down, on a small piece of waxed baking paper. Alternatively, you can place the bun in small foil liners.
  8. Allow buns to rest for 15 minutes.
  9. Steam over medium heat for 8-10 minutes. Enjoy hot.
  10. If storing, cool them down to room temperature before storing them in the refrigerator. Re-steam before consuming.
Notes
Adapted from Bake for Happy Kids and Chef Chan Dim Sum book

 

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September 9, 2015

Mini Cheese Bread

Mini Cheese Bread

As a fussy mom who’s very particular about the food that my children eat, I prepare most of their breakfasts at home. It’s not often easy though, since my 4 year old and 1 year old have rather different tastes when it comes to food! Thankfully, they both enjoy this cheese bread, the older one especially. She recently succumbed to a nasty virus and had many days of high fever. This was one of her first requests, together with mushroom soup. She loves dipping the bread in mushroom soup. Kind of like soft croutons maybe?

I first saw this recipe online, and thereafter experimented with a few variations, including adding sour cream to the dough! This variation is what works best for me, taste and texture wise. Try it! I’m sure it would be a hit both with young and old!

Mini Cheese Bread
 
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Ingredients
  • 80 ml milk
  • 1 egg
  • 30g granulated sugar
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 200 g bread flour
  • 30g grated parmesan cheese
  • 30g unsalted butter, cut into cubes
  • ½ tsp instant yeast
Instructions
  1. Place the first six ingredients into your bread machine, according to your machine's instructions.
  2. Add the cold butter cubes at the side of the pan.
  3. Make a well at the top of the flour mixture and add the instant yeast. (Make sure the yeast does not touch the salt)
  4. Set the bread machine to the dough function.
  5. When the dough is ready, remove it from the pan, press it down slightly into a disc and allow it to rest on a clean surface for 5-10 minutes.
  6. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out into a square that's about 1 cm thick.
  7. Cut into cubes approximately 2cm by 2cm.
  8. Arrange the cubes on a baking tray lined with baking paper or a silicon mat and spray some water on top of the cubes.
  9. Cover loosely with cling wrap and allow it to rise till it doubles in size, about 30-45 minutes.
  10. minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 170°C and centre an oven rack.
  11. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown.
  12. Cool slightly on a cooling rack. Enjoy!
Notes
Recipe adapted from http://my123favourites.blogspot.sg/2013/10/mini-cheese-bread.html

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August 30, 2015

Quick and easy scones

Quick and easy scones

I woke up yesterday morning thinking about scones for breakfast. Earlier the previous day, I had bought a new bottle of chocolate rice crispies spread that I wanted to try and bread was just too… mainstream. Anyhow, decision for scones was made at 8am and piping hot scones were delivered to the table at 8.30am! These scones bake up tall and are so light and fluffy that you won’t be able to stop at one. I did try some with my new chocolate spread but quickly decided that jam and scones still taste the best. Alas, I did not have any clotted cream with me but butter and jam still tasted mighty good!

Are you craving for some scones too? These scones are sooo easy to whip up, especially because the recipe calls for ingredients that you probably already have at home. That’s right. No whipping cream required and no mixer needed too! Try the recipe and let me know how you like your scones.

Quick and Easy Scones
 
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Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Tall and fluffy scones that can be whipped up in a jiffy!
Serves: 8 large scones
Ingredients
  • 175ml milk
  • 2 tsp lemon juice
  • 335g plain flour
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 4½ tsp baking powder
  • 85g butter
  • 40g sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 beaten egg
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 220°C. Centre an oven rack and place a baking sheet on it.
  2. Warm milk by heating it in a microwave for 20 sec or by sitting it in a basin of warm water. Add in lemon juice and set aside.
  3. In a large bowl, sift together flour, salt and baking powder. Whisk to combine.
  4. Grate 85g of cold butter into the flour mixture. Toss to combine. (Alternatively, cut butter into cubes and rub it into the flour mixture.)
  5. Stir in sugar.
  6. Add vanilla extract to the curdled milk mixture. Stir to combine.
  7. Make a well in the flour mixture and add the milk in.
  8. Using a spatula, roughly combine the mixture before tipping it out on a working surface. (I use a silicon sheet so that it's less messy.)
  9. Scatter some flour on top of the dough. Using floured hands, fold the dough a couple of times so that it's slightly smooth. There will still be some lumps and it's ok. Do not over work the dough.
  10. Pat it roughly into a 3 cm thick disc - don't roll it out using a rolling pin.
  11. Use a 5cm round cutter to cut out the scones. Gather the remaining dough, pat it out again and cut out the remaining scones.
  12. Remove the hot baking sheet from the oven. Place a silicon baking mat on it (or baking paper if you like) and arrange the cut out scones on the mat. Glaze with beaten egg and return to the oven for 10 min.
  13. Remove the scones from the oven and allow them to cool slightly. Serve warm with butter and jam. Enjoy!
  14. Note: If freezing scones, allow scones to cool totally, place them on a tray/plate and freeze for a few hours before storing in a ziplock bag. When needed, defrost and reheat at 160°C for a few minutes.
Notes
Recipe adapted from http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4622/classic-scones-with-jam-and-clotted-cream

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September 26, 2014

Salted Caramel Pecan Sticky Buns

salted caramel pecan sticky buns

In my humble opinion, salted caramel is one of the baking world’s best discovery. I cannot remember when I first tasted it but it was definitely love at first taste. The best part is that it can be used in sooo many desserts! I made a batch of salted caramel using the recipe from Brown Eye Baker and used a portion of it to make salted caramel buttercream to frost some cupcakes. The cupcakes were for my baby’s first month celebrations. Those were delicious and I would love to blog about them except that I gave them all away without taking a picture. Silly me. So now I would need to find another excuse to bake up another batch of salted caramel cupcakes so that I can eat blog about them.Continue Reading

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May 26, 2014

Breakfast Series – Easy Honey Whole Wheat Rolls

Easy Honey Whole Wheat Rolls

The last post was supposed to be the last of the breakfast series posts, but I decided that I had one last favourite to share. These lovely honey whole wheat rolls. I love them because they are healthy, fluffy and simply delicious. My little one loves them! I’ve made them plain, and have also successfully incorporated raisins and chocolate chips in the dough to make raisin rolls and chocolate chip rolls. The best part? These rolls freeze very well. I freeze the extras and pop them into the toaster oven on busy days to get fresh hot rolls.

Do you want to find out how to make these breakfast rolls? I’ve shared the recipe at The Best Blog Recipes so hop on over now!

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May 20, 2014

Breakfast series – Red Bean Anpan Buns

Red Bean Anpan Bun

In what may be the last of the breakfast series posts (for now), I’m happy to introduce you to my latest favourite bake – Red Bean Anpan Buns. I’ve made these in pretty flower shapes, and also as plain round buns. Either way, they are delicious and the smell of freshly baked anpan buns wafting from the oven will definitely make you want to eat these up, almost straight out of the oven. I had to practice self-control and reserve them for breakfast the next day! The bread dough can be prepared using a breadmaker with a dough setting function (the easier way) or using a standing mixer with a dough hook.

The buns will taste best with homemade anko (sweet red bean paste made with azuki red beans). If you don’t have the time to make your own, you can replace with store bought red bean paste. For a simple method on preparing the red bean paste, please refer to my post here.

Red Bean Anpan Bun

Breakfast series - Red Bean Anpan Buns
 
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Serves: 9
Ingredients
Dough
  • ½ cup + 1 tbsp milk
  • 1 egg
  • 2⅓ cup bread flour
  • 2 tbsp caster sugar
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 0.5 oz butter, softened
  • 1 tsp active dry yeast
Filling and topping
  • 9 oz of red bean paste, divided into 9 balls
  • 1 tbsp melted butter/vegetable oil
  • black sesame seeds
Instructions
Using a breadmaker
  1. Add ingredients into the breadmaker pan following instructions on your breadmaker for dough setting.
  2. When dough is ready, remove dough from pan and divide it into 9 equal sized balls.
  3. Allow the dough balls to rest covered for 15 minutes.
  4. Gently flatten dough balls and place the red bean filling in the centre. Carefully fold dough over to enclose the red bean paste. Shape into a ball and lightly flatten it. Using your finger, make a slight indentation in the centre of each flattened ball.
  5. Use a pair of kitchen scissors to cut 5 deep cuts around the flattened ball to make a floral shape (optional).
  6. Preheat oven to 190°C.
  7. Set aside on a non-stick baking sheet, covered, for about 15 minutes.
  8. When the buns have almost doubled in size, bake them in the centre rack of the preheated oven for 15 minutes.
  9. Once buns are golden brown, remove them from the oven and brush them with melted butter. This gives the buns a nice shiny golden colour. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top.
  10. Cool buns on a wire rack.
Using a standing mixer with dough hook
  1. Mix milk, egg, flour, salt and sugar together in the bowl of a standing mixer.
  2. Add the soften butter and knead for 8 - 10 minutes using a dough hook. The dough is ready when it is smooth and elastic.
  3. Transfer dough to a clean bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm place till it doubles in size.
  4. Divide dough into 9 pieces.
  5. Follow the rest of the instructions from the breadmaker portion on shaping the dough.

 

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