Tuesday, April 26, 2011

5 Recipes to celebrate Easter

Happy (belated) Easter. I've been invited by Cheah of No-Frills Recipes to place a menu tagging game for the Easter party. Rule of the game is to suggest 5 to 10 recipes and upload the photos with their respective links. After that, I've to tag 10 bloggers to do the same.

Since Easter is already over, I will simply join in the fun and skip the tagging part. Welcome to my Easter dessert party. :)

Here's my Easter menu from my past recipes. Click on the titles to go to the recipes.









Lastly, I have something for everyone to bring back home. :)


Do you like what I have prepared for all of you? :)

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Earl Grey Tea Muffins

I have seen many interesting bakes using Earl Grey tea, which is one of my favourite tea. Hence during one of the grocery shopping months ago, I grabbed a box of Dilmah Earl Grey tea bags without hesitation. Yes, you hear me right, months ago. But as time goes by with the depleting teabags, I realise that I have not done a single Earl Grey bake at all! =.='''


At least once, I must use this box of Earl Grey tea for its original intended purpose. Muffins using my favourite traditional muffin method is the most obvious choice! Hehe... :)


I wonder did I overbake these Earl Grey Tea Muffins as the top of the muffins appear to be slightly hard and the inside though soft is kinda dry. If I remember correctly, Min of Min's Blog made a similar comment that her Earl Grey Tea Muffins are also slightly dry. Nonetheless, these muffins have a light tea fragrance, just the way I love my tea to be. :)


Thanks to Min's Blog for sharing the recipe. :)

Earl Grey Tea Muffins
Adapted from: Min's Blog and 孟老师的100道小蛋糕 by 孟兆庆

Ingredients (Makes 3)
2 satchels Earl Grey tea powder
30 g fresh milk
1 egg
40 g castor sugar
50 g vegetable oil
100 g cake flour
1 tsp baking powder

Method
1. Cut open the satchels and put the tea powder into the milk. Warm for a few minutes. Set aside to infuse for around 10 minutes.
2. Whisk the eggs and sugar together till pale and sugar is dissolved.
3. Add in vegetable oil and mix well.
4. Add in the milk tea and continue to mix well until thick.
5. Sift in cake flour and baking powder and fold gently with a spatula. Do not over-mix the batter. It is ok for the batter to have lumps.
6. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups till 80% full. Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for about 25 – 30 minutes or till golden brown.

Notes
- I replaced 50 g vegetable oil with 35 g melted butter and 15 g vegetable oil.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Red Bean Muffins

It has been quite a while since I bake any muffins using the creaming method. Most of the times, I opt for muffin recipes that are using the traditional muffin method, i.e. mixing the dry ingredients and wet ingredients together. The reason is simple: To save the trouble of taking out the electric mixer and less effort to wash up afterwards. Oops, did I just reveal my plain laziness? Haha... :P


You probably have heard this from me many times: I am always baking to clear the existing ingredient inventory. If not for the sweetened red beans that I desperately want to finish up, I will not discover the wonders of the creaming method of muffins. These muffins are closer to a cake texture and the crumbs are so light and fine! :)


Red Bean Muffins
Adapted from: 君之

Ingredients (Makes 5)
60 g unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
60 g castor sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
50 ml milk
15 ml lemon juice
100 g cake flour
1/8 tsp tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
60 g sweetened red beans

Method
1. Sift cake flour, baking powder and salt together. Set aside.
2. With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until the batter turns pale and increases in volume.
3. Add the beaten egg in 3 additions, beating well after each addition.
4. Add in milk, lemon juice and flour mixture and fold using a spatula till well-combined.
5. Fold in the red beans and mix well.
6. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups till ⅔ full and sprinkle some red beans on top.
7. Bake in a preheated oven at 185°C for around 30 minutes.

Notes
- I added lemon juice to the milk and set aside before use.
- I used 65 g sweetened red beans and mixed all the red beans into the batter. I did not sprinkle any red beans on top.

Monday, April 4, 2011

Awards (One Lovely Blog)

I would like to express my sincere thanks to Edith of pReCiouS MoMentS and Honey Boy of Cosy Bake for passing this award to me. :)

Update on 15 Apr 2011: I would also like to thanks Joelyn of 幸福の起点 and Angel of Cook.Bake.Love for passing me the award. :)


It is a lovely surprise and motivation to receive this award from these respectable ladies whose blogs are my daily sources of inspiration, even way before I started to have my little blogging space. Do find some time to hop by their lovely blogs and get inspired too!