April 4, 2014

Breakfast series – Japanese Hot Cakes

japanese hot cakes

What’s the difference between japanese Hot Cakes and our usual pancakes? Well, japanese hot cakes are thicker and sweeter. They are very popular, and many use the Morinaga hot cake mix. Delicious though they are, they can be a little hard on the pocket, especially if you have many mouths to feed. Some time back, I came across a recipe on a japanese sweets website. As the instructions were all in japanese (and google translate was not very accurate), I had to fiddle around with it before getting it right. I also changed the ingredients slightly. The method for preparing the hot cakes is also slightly different from preparing pancakes. If you follow the instructions though, you should be able to get thick delicious hot cakes! It’s definitely cheaper than using the Morinaga hot cake mix too!

Breakfast series - Japanese Hot Cakes
 
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Ingredients
  • 1 egg
  • 40g caster sugar
  • A pinch of salt
  • 110g milk
  • 40g sour cream
  • 20g unsalted butter, softened
  • 140g cake flour, sifted
  • 1½ tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
  1. Whisk egg with sugar and salt till pale and thick.
  2. In a separate bowl or measuring jug, combine the milk, sour cream and butter.
  3. Add the milk mixture to the egg and sugar mixture and whisk to combine.
  4. Add the flour and baking powder to the wet ingredients in three parts. Fold in gently with the whisk. The mixture will be thick.
  5. Set mixture aside for about 10 minutes.
  6. Meanwhile, set aside a damp cloth and heat a griddle pan or cast iron pan over medium heat.
  7. Add a little oil (not too much) and spread evenly over the surface of the pan.
  8. Before cooking the hot cakes, place the pan on the damp cloth to cool the pan down slightly.
  9. Scoop ¼ cup of hot cake batter and pour it onto the pan from a height of about 25 cm.
  10. When bubbles form, flip the hot cake over and cover the pan for 1 - 2 minutes. Remove hot cake and repeat with the remaining batter.
  11. Serve hot, with butter and maple syrup.

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December 12, 2013

Really Good Banana Muffins

banana muffins

How many recipes does one need for banana muffins? Just one really. A really good one. I’ve tried more than a couple of banana muffin recipes in the past years and this banana muffin recipe is definitely a keeper. There are a few tricks for good banana muffins. Firstly, make sure you use over-ripe bananas. When you have a bunch of bananas that are over-ripe and you don’t feel like baking just yet, peel them and freeze them for use later. Don’t throw them away! Personally, I find that the local variety “red meat bananas” make the best banana muffins/cakes/breads. My grandma calls them “ang bah jio”. Second trick – do not over mash the bananas. This gives the muffins a better texture. Lastly, use brown sugar for a more fragrant muffin.

Really Good Banana Muffins
 
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Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 2 cups plain flour
  • ⅔ cup brown sugar
  • ½ cup toasted coarsely chopped walnuts
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 4 large ripe bananas
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 oz unsalted butter, melted
  • ¼ cup buttermilk
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Spray a 12 cup muffin tray with non-stick baking spray and centre an oven rack.
  2. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, walnuts, baking soda and salt.
  3. In a separate bowl, coarsely mash the bananas.
  4. Add beaten eggs, butter, buttermilk and vanilla and stir to combine.
  5. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and gently fold (I use a whisk) to combine.
  6. Fill each muffin cup till ¾ full.
  7. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until muffin tops are golden brown and a tester comes out clean.
  8. Cool to room temperature.

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November 2, 2013

Nutella Swirled ChocoNana Muffins

Nutella swirled choco nana muffins

I was mulling over what to bake for breakfast and asked my husband if he preferred oatmeal bread or honey wholewheat bread. “Chocolate Banana bread!” my little one chimes in. Chocolate banana bread? Now where did that come from! She has never tried chocolate banana cake, bread, muffin or anything of that combination. It did sound like a good idea though. After all, I really like chocolate mousse cake with banana slices.

So breakfast was decided. Chocolate banana bread. Only that a loaf of bread sounded a little boring. “How bout chocolate banana muffins instead?” I asked the little one. She nodded in agreement. I never thought that my 2.5 y.o will be deciding the breakfast menu at such a young age!

I set out to bake Chocolate Banana muffins. And then I had a brainwave. My husband loves nutella. How bout topping each muffin with just a little nutella? Brilliant isn’t it? I would think so because the muffins were so good. I love the texture, the flavour, the chunky banana and the bits of chocolate AND the nutella. You would love it too, if you try it!

Nutella Swirled ChocoNana Muffins
 
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Serves: 8
Ingredients
  • 2 cups plain flour
  • ½ cup sugar
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 3 ripe bananas, mashed coarsely
  • 2 large eggs, beaten
  • 3 ounces unsalted butter, melted and cooled
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ¼ cup buttermilk
  • ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • nutella
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven 175ºC.
  2. Place 8 large standing muffin liners on a baking tray. (You can use a muffin tray as well.)
  3. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.
  4. In a smaller mixing bowl, add eggs, melted butter, vanilla extract and buttermilk to the mashed bananas. Stir to combine.
  5. Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold gently.
  6. Stir in the chocolate chips.
  7. Fill each muffin cup to ¾ full.
  8. Top with ½ tsp of nutella. Swirl with a toothpick or a small spatula.
  9. Bake for 20 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.

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Filed Under: Baking and Cooking, Breads, Muffins and Scones, Breakfast, Vegetables and Fruit Tagged With: , , , 4 Comments
October 28, 2013

Old Fashioned Cheese Bread and my Bread-making Journey

Old Fashioned Cheese Bread

I received a photo, followed by a voice message while at work today. The voice message was my daughter asking me to make her the bread in the photo – some raisin roll. A second message soon followed with “instructions” from her on how I should make the bread. “Mama, you need to put some flour, then put some blueberries, then put some oil and more flour. Then I can eat it for breakfast.” I think she thought the raisins in the bread were blueberries. Her bread won’t rise for sure – no yeast. 🙂

My bread-making journey has many twists and turns. If you were to ask me to bake bread two years ago, I probably would have cringed. Now, it’s something I do every other day. It wasn’t always easy. The first time I tried to make bread, I used a wooden spoon. I may have overmixed/undermixed or punched the dough too hard because the bread turned out rock hard. And I had aching arms.

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September 26, 2013

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Honey Muffins

chocolate chip zucchini muffins

I recently discovered that zucchini can be used in sweet baked goods.  Even though many have been doing that for ages, I never knew that zucchini could be used in breads, muffins, cakes or cookies! When I saw a couple of blog posts on such recipes, I did a little research and found that zucchini, when used in sweet baked goods, increases the moistness of the product while its taste remains pretty concealed. Sounds great isn’t it?

So I bought a couple of zucchini and decided to try baking something. My husband was less than thrilled at the thought of a zucchini muffin. “Zucchini muffin?! That’s so weird!!” was his reaction. Maybe yours too…. but hang on there. He changed his mind after tasting the muffin and I believe you would too.

chocolate chip zucchini muffins

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Filed Under: Breads, Muffins and Scones, Breakfast, Desserts and Sweet Bakes, Food for Tots, Vegetables and Fruit Tagged With: , , , 2 Comments
September 9, 2013

Healthy Whole Wheat Honey Berry Muffins

whole wheat honey berry muffins | Delicacious

I opened one of my kitchen cabinets about a week ago and found a hidden stash of honey tucked away in a corner. I didn’t even remember that I had put honey there! Or maybe someone rearranged the things inside the cabinet and… oh well, have you ever found things in the kitchen that you never knew were there? Finding honey was a good problem though. It meant that I could add honey instead of sugar to some of my baked goods, starting from these muffins.

These are healthy muffins, make no mistake about it. They are made with 100% whole wheat flour and contain no sugar and butter. They are wholesome and full of fruity goodness. Perfect for breakfast, and perhaps, an afternoon snack. Who says whole wheat baked stuff can’t taste delicious? I made these with a mix of blueberries and strawberries, and I really liked the result. They taste more complex and flavourful compared to my usual blueberry muffins; the strawberries add texture and moistness to the muffins. If you don’t like/have strawberries, you can replace the strawberries with more blueberries.Continue Reading

Filed Under: Breads, Muffins and Scones, Breakfast, Desserts and Sweet Bakes, Food for Tots, Vegetables and Fruit Tagged With: , , , , , , 6 Comments
July 14, 2013

Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins

Wholewheat blueberry muffins

I have not been blogging very judiciously since starting a new job and my toddler starting a new school. The poor girl has been sick for more than a week and now my poor husband has gotten the flu bug too. Oh flu bug shoo! Don’t you hate it when the flu bug passes from one family member to another? Time to dose up on Vitamin C.Continue Reading

Filed Under: Breads, Muffins and Scones, Breakfast, Desserts and Sweet Bakes, Food for Tots, Vegetables and Fruit Tagged With: , , , 8 Comments
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