Cinnamon Crumb Surprise for special favours
A few reasons motivated me to bake today. I promised muffins in
return for favours, Zorra's Apple Day food blog event, Muffin Monday (MM06) hosted by Pernille and of
course this great recipe I found in Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Bread Bible. This was
meant to be baked in a loaf but decided to make muffin versions.
This is not like any apple muffin I've had before. This is
wonderfully light and fine in texture. The slice of apple in the
center is a sweet surprise and the cinnamon crumble is a
winner!
I think what makes this more special and unlike any other cake or
muffin recipe I've come across is sour cream. I also used Top Flour
instead of All-purpose and this does give it a softer texture. It
is also important to have the oven hot enough to set the structure
quickly to support the crumb topping and prevent it from
sinking.
This is a great accompaniment with a lazy afternoon beverage.
Childhood Muffins
I got really excited when I first read about the theme for the
latest Muffin Monday (MM05) that Wonder Sophie
had planned. Childhood Muffins! It sounded really fun but at the
same time challenging because a lot of what I had during my
childhood is not quite the same now. But the first thought that
popped up in my mind where these wonderful bite-sized biscuits with
colourful piped dollops of icing sugar on top.
I honestly don't know if there is a formal name for these
confections. These are sold at your neighbourhood provision shops
by weight. I bought mine pre-packed for $1 for (150gm pack) - with
no formal label on the package, so it appears there still is no
formal name for these gems.
My contribution to MM05 are regular muffins filled with these bite-sized sugar surprises. I had placed a bite-sized biscuit on the top but the heat caramelised the colourful tops to something brown and not so pretty. The icing sugar made the insides of the muffin really colourful (and a bit strange), it was fun all the same to make them and everyone enjoyed it!
Read More...Wasabi Glazed Muffins
Care to wake up to Wasabi Glazed
Muffins? This will make your brain explode and your eyes pop! It's
actually not as weird as it sounds (you can stop making that
strange face now), the glaze is complimented with salty
seaweed-bonito-sesame seed flakes so it works quite well to balance
the shocking flavour of wasabi. And much of it depends on your
preference and tolerance to Wasabi - if you don't want to shock
your eyeballs out of their sockets you can of course opt of a
milder subtler taste.
Why Wasabi Glazed Muffins? Gourmet's is hosting Muffin Monday (MM03) and this time round, it's
all things SPICY SWEET SAVOURY! I'm just making the deadline (30
May) and when I saw the round-up (Lip smacking!) - I needed to come
up with a spicy muffin FAST! And to be honest, I'm not really big
on spicy food - save for a few wonderful exceptions. I think I
suffered from some sort of childhood trauma relating to chilies and
that memory has been blocked out. So I was only left with the very
few spicy options that were left open for me and hey! Wasabi!
This is very basically a generic Muffin (sweet) recipe with a
Wasabi glaze (spicy) and sprinkled with Nori Goma (Seaweed - Sesame
Seeds ) Seasoning Mix (savoury). The basic muffin recipe is adapted
from Peter Reinhart's Crust and Crumb: Master Formulas
for Serious Bread Bakers. This is the best basic muffin I've
had - very moist, spongy texture and nicely balanced
flavours!
Note : I would try the glaze on 1 muffin first, just to
see if you like it. If you don't at least you won't have to get rid
of otherwise perfectly yummy muffins!
Muffin Monday (MM02) Round Up!
First up, I want to send out huge huge
thanks to Food blog S'cool, Sticky Date,
Is My Blog
Burning and the Herald Tribune for
posting the Muffin Monday event on their site and to everyone who
participated!
A total of 28 different most unique and unusual muffins that make
us all go *Ooooh!* were submitted for the second Muffin Monday! I
was initially a little uncertain how this theme was going to be
received - it was more challenging than the previous one. But the
creativity and originality that was exuded from the participants
well exceeded expectations - I (and I'm sure many many other
readers) was really impressed by the amazing variety and the
enthusiasm the bakers presented. This most evidently proves to the
world that there are many many incredible and creative
muffin bakers out there!
As I had mentioned in my Muffin Monday (MM02) post, I will be
passing on the torch for the next host for Muffin Monday (MM03). I
am pleased to announce that Gourmet of Un tocco di zenzero will be hosting the Brand
New Muffin Monday! It's an Italian language blog but fret not all
English language readers/ bloggers, Gourmet has assured that the
event will be in English and it's going to be Spicy! Her post for
the next Muffin Monday is not yet on her blog as she is away for
the long May Day weekend but details should be posted in the next
week. So keep a look out for it!
It's been wonderful being your host for Muffin Monday! I'm most
grateful for all the wonderful encouragement and support everyone
has shown me!
So okay already! Let's Muffin Monday!!
Muffin Monday Publicity
When I checked my mail this morning,
the last thing I expected was a writer from the Herald Tribune newspaper from Sarasota, Florida
informing me that she's written an article about Muffin
Monday (MM02)! Laura J. Cullumbine (the writer) has also
contributed her very cool recipe of Root Beer Muffins to the
event.
I am completely honoured, totally trilled and it really made my
day! I don't think I've ever had an article written about what I've
done. It's usually part of a credit list at the end of a Film or TV
programme.
This is so going to boost my ambition for Muffin World
Domination!!
Bur Bur Cha Cha Muffins
I told myself I had to bake muffins today.
I had such a hard time thinking of what to bake for my entry for
Muffin Monday (MM02). Why did
I come up with this theme?! I kept coming up with ideas but they
were too usual and un-unique. I had an idea to
base it around breakfast, like pancake like muffins wrapped with
strips of bacon. But bacon's been done before - nothing unusual
about that. Then I saw this recipe from Donna Hay magazine for
apple bread pudding - it had thinly slices of apples holding the
bread pudding. I thought I'd make a variation of that. But I
couldn't think of anything that I could add in with apples that
hasn't already been done in a muffin.
This morning while walking to the neighbourhood coffee shop for
breakfast and I saw that the fruit seller was selling Japanese
Sweet Potatoes. They're pretty, purple and yummy. I thought Yam
Muffins. I know it's not original... but I knew I had something. I
looked around and see what I else I could use. From the corner of
my eye I saw coconut milk. Hmmm... The only combination comes to
mind was Bur Bur Cha Cha - a coconut milk based dessert that has
yams, sweet potatoes, pretty tapioca balls, red/ green beans, etc.
I'll make Bur Bur Cha Cha Muffins! I don't really know how... but
I'll figure it out. I was lucky that they were selling tapioca
balls too although the plain not colourful ones. That'll do. I
think Bur Bur Cha Cha is originally a Nonya dish and I never really
knew why it has such a fun and wonderful name - might have
something to do with a treasure trove of surprises hidden in
coconut milk that'll make you want to do the Cha Cha?
I had to make adjustments to the basic recipe because I was
including Coconut milk. It's half oil, very rich and creamy. The
result was sweet! The natural sweetness from the sweet potatoes
really came through nicely, the texture of the muffin was slightly
heavier than the usual and I was quite glad that it wasn't too
overpoweringly coconut-y. The balance was really nice. The Tapioca
balls were a nice touch as a surprise element - although I think if
I had colourful ones it might've been better.
Muffin Monday (MM02) Muffins that Make you go *Ooooh!*
Are
you ready for another round of Muffins galore?! I was so excited
with the previous round
and inspired
by all the wonderful ideas everyone had created for their muffins -
as I am sure many readers are! Again, huge huge thanks to
Food blog
S'cool,
Sticky
Date and
Is My Blog
Burning for posting
the Muffin Monday event on their site and to everyone who
participated and in making MM01 a great
success!
This time
round, you will have a month long to experiment and create your
muffins because the Deadline is only 27 April and Final Roundup 30
April. We'll talk about the details
later...
Inspired by
the amazing previous
round-up, the theme
for Muffin Monday (MM02) is
Muffins that Make you go *Ooooh!* Unusual and
Unique Muffins - using ingredients that you won't normally find in
a muffin that you could buy from a store. So that means no
regular
muffins, no
chocolate chip muffins, no banana muffins, etc. Think very healthy
and wholesome, think comfort and sweet, savory and surprising,
spicy and exotic, think junk food, think outside the box. The
wonderful thing about creating a muffin is it's versatility, you
can include almost anything in it! I know everyone is going to
create something totally fabulous, amazing and fun (and
yummy)!
Again, you
can Create-Your-Own-Muffin with the provided basic recipe or you
can use another recipe from a preferred source! It's completely
your choice.
Also the next
Muffin Monday (MM03) will be hosted by you! I'm passing on the
torch to someone who will give Muffin Monday a different twist. For
anyone who is interested, please indicate in your entry if you
would like to host the next Muffin Monday and your plan for the
next theme. I will be organizing a poll (just have to figure out
how to do that in my blog) and have readers vote for the next theme
and host for Muffin Monday (MM03) and this will be how the next and
next theme and host will be. Like Reality TV! To those considering
hosting the next Muffin Monday, please read these
this and
this!
Update
2 April 2007
Is holding a poll a bad or good idea? Because the last thing I want
is people to feel like they lost out on something. Please let me
know your thoughts.
Some tips to
keep in mind when baking muffins here and
here.
To
participate:
Create your muffins!
If
you are a blogger,
• Post a photograph and recipe by Friday, 27th April 2007 (please
be sure to include a link back to this post).
• Send an email to muffinmonday[at]sqpixels[dot]net, your name,
name of your blog, where you are from, name of recipe and a
permalink to your post.
REVISED
19 April 2007
Code for a small banner (200px x 75px):
<a
href="http://www.sqpixels.net/files/muffinmonday02.html"
><img src="http://www.sqpixels.net/files/mm02_sm.jpg"
width="200" height="75" alt="Muffin Monday" /></a>
If you're not
a blogger but would like to take part,
• Send an email to muffinmonday[at]sqpixels[dot]net with an
attachment of a photograph of your muffin, your recipe, your name,
where you are from and a few words of your creation by Friday, 27th
April 2007.
Deadline for this event is
Friday, 27th April 2007.
As I receive
entries I will be posting them up here.
Round up of
this event will be posted on Monday, 30th April
2007.
Happy
Baking!!
Basic Muffin Recipe here...
Round Up Muffins - Green Tea and Red Beans
What a week!
This week started with a job that will see me through to 3 weeks of
intensive late late nights - I just completed week 1 and have 2
more to go. Most of the entries for Muffin Monday flooded in at the
same time. I have a mail notifier that goes *Bing!*
whenever I get new mail so while I'm working, I'm also sometimes
hearing *Bing!
Bing!
Bing!*
in the background and it made me glad to know that I now have a
well balanced life and people want to take part in my event!
Woo!
Green Tea muffins has been sitting in my head for a long time now
and I've finally made it to commemorate the round up of a very
successful first Muffin Monday! Also I've been wondering what to
make for Zorra's St
Pat's Day: Green or Irish, and was
curious how green these muffins would turn out. They obviously
became a little brown...
Muffin Monday Round-Up!
Early round up! (Couldn't wait to blog about this!)
434538>/s> 40
The response of the first ever Muffin Monday was fabulous and I am
overwhelmed by everyone's enthusiastic participation. I was
initially uncertain if anyone would be interested and was really
hoping to have at least 5 people participating. It became really
exciting when more and more people filled in my inbox with their
great recipes.
How Muffin Monday came about and became a food blog event?
Muffin Monday was something I created at work some months
ago - every Monday I would bring in muffins I've baked to treat my
colleagues (who I've since spoiled). And quite honestly, I was
running out of ideas. At the same time I was having quite a lot of
fun participating in other food blog events that other food
bloggers have hosted. So I thought - why not make Muffin Monday a
food blog event and have other food bloggers make their colleagues
and friends very happy people on a Monday morning! Share the love!
And then I'll have so many recipes to choose from every week for
weeks to come!
It was fantastic to see how everyone got creative in the kitchen,
transforming a simple basic recipe into something scrumptious and
delightful! Bananas, coconut, chocolate and pineapple were the more
popular ingredients used (you really can't go wrong with them).
While there are some a little more adventurous bakers who went with
more unusual ingredients like sun-dried tomatoes, mars bars and
zucchini.
I've had a blast hosting this event, it brought me to wonderful
food blogs I've never known and it was fun reading everyone's
entries - also it was great knowing people had fun baking their
muffins! I'm so glad how well it all turned out because I now have
so many more food blogging friends from around the world!
So what's next?! When is MM02 going to happen? Who wants to host
the next Muffin Monday MM02? How does this work? I don't know!
Leave your comments and I guess we'll find out!
Ginger & Honey with Mascarpone Muffins
It's my turn!
I was planning to bake these on Sunday but I couldn't wait to try
out my new toy! I bought a "Heavy Duty" Kitchen Aid yesterday, it
was on sale so it was my chance! So happy so happy I can finally
try out the more challenging bread recipes that require lots of
kneading and successful windowpaning.
Anyway, MUFFINS! The past 2 weeks I've been tossing around in my
head what I should make for Muffin
Monday. I've had a
few ideas - Kaya (Coconut Jam) or Green Tea with Red Beans... then
for some reason I wanted to try Mascarpone cheese (might be from
watching Top
Chef). So I
thought I would use that as my fat content. Then what? What else do
I put in it?! Then 2 days later I thought Gingerbread! Not bad
idea... but I didn't think Molasses might go with Mascarpone so
well, so I used honey instead. But I needed something else, like
some kind of chopped nut. A few days later, Pistachios came to me.
So the recipe has been floating around my head about a week until
today when I actually made it.
The final product was aromatic, moist, spicy and kindda' exotic. I
will be experimenting with Mascarpone more in muffins and try to
bring the flavour out more next time - perhaps with some fresh
berries or something.
Introducing Muffin Monday (MM01)
Introducing a brand new food event -
Muffin Monday!
Muffins make the best breakfast and if you're like me -
so important to
start the week right with a good cup of coffee and a yummy muffin.
The variety of flavours are endless and amazing - sweet ones,
savoury ones, sweet and savoury ones, healthy ones, clever and
interesting ones and bizarre ones.
Baking muffins are the easiest baking item to make and the fastest.
With a basic muffin recipe you can add any ingredient you like. Mix
dry ingredients in a bowl, mix wet ingredients in another bowl. Mix
wet and dry ingredients together until combined, don't stir
too
much, divide
batter up into muffin tray and bake! Easy
peasy! You can't
go too wrong when baking muffins.
It only gets a little more complicated when you start baking
english muffins - which in my opinion fall into the category of
bread - simply because yeast is used and it requires proofing
time.
So here's the fun part!
Create-Your-Own-Muffin with (or
without - it's completely up to you) the basic muffin recipe here,
or from any other preferred source! Eat it all by yourself or share
it with your friends!
Some tips to keep in mind when baking muffins here and
here.
To participate:
Create your muffins!
If
you are a blogger,
• Post a photograph and recipe by Friday, 2nd March 2007 (please be
sure to include a link back to this
post).
• Send an email to muffinmonday@sqpixels.net your name,
where you are from, name of recipe and a permalink to your
post.
Code for a small banner (200px x 75px):
<a
href="http://www.sqpixels.net/files/muffinmonday01.html"
><img src=http://www.sqpixels.net/files/mm_small.jpg"
width="200" height="75" alt="Muffin Monday" /></a>
If
you're not a blogger but would like to take part,
• Send an email to muffinmonday@sqpixels.net with an attachment of
a photograph of your muffin, your recipe, your name, where you are
from and a few words of your creation by Friday, 2nd March
2007.
• Post it on your photo sharing site such as Flickr
by Friday,
2nd March 2007 (please be sure to include a link back to this
post). Send an email to muffinmonday@sqpixels.net
your name,
where you are from, name of recipe and a permalink to your
post.
Deadline for this event is
Friday, 2nd March 2007.
Update!
(14 February
2007):
As I receive entries I will be posting them up here.
Round up of this event will be posted on Monday, 5th
March 2007.
Happy Baking!!
P/S:
This is my first time hosting a food blogging event so please be
patient with me if I fumble about a bit!
Basic Muffin Recipe here...
Milo Muffins
Once when I was maybe 4, I went on a covert mission that lead me to
crawl onto the kitchen counter top so I could procure the monster
tin an of Milo in the overhead cabinet. After securing the highly
valued object, I rewarded myself by grabbing a big spoon and
proceeded to fill my mouth with abundance of Milo. Amidst of the
pleasure and excitement of it all, I failed to anticipate the
possibility to choke on enormous amounts of powdered Milo. I
started to choke on it, dropped a wonderfully BIG can of Milo onto
the floor - which broke my heart as I saw in slow motion the
dramatic spill of precious particles of Milo powder fall across the
kitchen floor.
I was caught, scolded and I cried. Not because I was scolded but
because I lost my big can of Milo.
Another decadent recipe I used to make for myself as a child was
Milo bread. I would spread a layer of condensed milk onto white
bread and very
generously
sprinkle Milo powder over it. I think that was probably my first
personal creation of food - I thought about it all by myself and
made it. I was quite impressed with my invention - soon I learnt it
has been done by others. I was disappointed that what I thought was
a genius original idea wasn't so original after all, but still I
was proud of my ability and I think it sparked the beginning of
food creation that was to follow years later.
So this is my ode to my first ever recipe, Milo Muffins with white
and semi sweet chocolate chips!!
Long weekend with endless baking!
150 Muffins (Allspice Applesauce & Blueberry, Cranberry and Walnut, Milo and Banana Bran)
50 Mini Bāos (Red Bean Paste & Green Tea Lotus Seed Paste)
3 Pizzas (Made my own dough from scratch!)
1 Plum Pie
Berry Nutty Muffins
It was to the
dismay of many when I walked through the entrance of my office
muffin-less this morning.
"Whacha'
bake?" "Where are my muffins?" "What happened?" "Is it all
gone?"
What have I done? I've spoilt them all!! I of course had to remedy
the drama and had to think up some recipe for belated muffin
monday. Was at the supermarket and decided on blueberries when I
found Dried Roselles.....
mmmmmm!! So Berry Nutty muffins it is to the rescue...
Gula Melaka Muffins
I was trying to think what kind of muffins I should make this week.
I wanted to do something asian - without being it too complicated.
And I've also always loved the taste of Gula Melaka, especially
in Onde
Onde and
Chendol. And since I
like using brown sugars in my muffins I thouhgt it might be sweet
idea to use Gula Melaka instead. Gula
Melaka or Coconut
sugar originally from Malacca is one of the most wonderful
ingredients in my book. It has a wonderful aroma and a sweetness
that is slightly savoury and subtler than the cane sugars. The
texture of the sugar is highly dense and slightly tricky to handle,
it's abit like corn flour mixed with water. It's best to melt it
down first or dissolve it with any other liquid substance rather
than using it as a dry ingredient.
Tips on Baking Muffins
Applesauce Allspice Muffins
It's Desmond's Birthday! One of the very loyal and supportive
tummies I feed every Monday with my weekend baking experiments. So
especially just for
him (and the
benefit of many others) I rushed home to make Applesauce Allspice
Muffins for his very special day. This recipe is an adaptation from
the one from Epicurious.com. The
Applesauce I used is from the Applesauce I made last week - so if
you are using this recipe with the Applesauce I would suggest you
half the sugar. Otherwise if you are using canned Applesauce keep
the the sugar indicated. I've lowered the fat and sugar portions,
and added raisins for texture. The lovely crunchy tops are a
delight when you take the first bite into it - then comes the moist
and spicy flavors that come after... *slurp!*
Honey Glazed Banana Bran Muffins
Bran Muffins.....
I was worried that they would taste like cardboard shreds. But they
turned out quite tasty and moist!