Happy Winter Solstice

Early morning felt very cold under the ceiling fan. Looked outside, the sky was still dark and could feel the fresh air. Oh no, the sky was still crying. No wonder I felt lazy to work.

After I sent my daughter to the day center, I started preparing glutinous rice balls soup for sister who would be coming to my house for the celebration. I was trying to make the soup as same as mother's one. However, the taste was still not the same.

The funnies part was we celebrated Winter Solstice at a western restaurant by having lamb chops set lunch.  :D

Happy Winter Solstice to everyone!

Banana Muffins

My kitchen has some ripe bananas and now they become main actors to my muffins. I followed the recipe from Allrecipes. Again, I cut the sugar from the original recipe. However, my muffins are still not really taste good. Maybe I put too much baking soda into it. Next time I should reduce baking soda to 1/2 tsp.

Oven Temperature: 180C
Baking Time: 15 - 20 minutes
Yields: 13 muffins (38 x 33 mm)


Ingredients:

(A)  200g    Superfine Flour
      1tsp     Baking Powder
      1tsp     Baking Soda (should be reduced to 1/2 tsp)
      1/2tsp  Salt

(B)  6         Small Bananas, mashed
      80g      Castor Sugar
      1         Egg, lightly beaten
      50g      Vegetable oil

(C)  30g     Brown Sugar
      15g     Superfine Flour
      1/8tsp  Ground Cinnamon
       1tbsp  butter


Methods:

(1) Preheat oven to 180C.
(2) In a large bowl, mix together ingredients (A).
(3) In another bowl, mix together ingredients (B).
(4) Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
(5) In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, flour and ground cinnamon. Cut in 1 tbsp butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.
(6) Bake in preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes.

Cotton Cheese Cake

I baked cotton cheese cake on last Thurday and had been busy with my work till forgotten to update my blog. I love to eat this cheesecake as it melts so gently inside my mouth and makes me wanted to have a second piece of it. Some of my friends said it is too "cheesy". It's true that I put more cream cheese than the original recipe as I like to eat cheese. You may follow the original recipe that I post over here.

Oven Temperature: 150C
Baking Time:  70 minutes
Mould Size: 9 inch

Ingredients:

(A)  60ml  Fresh Milk
      160g   Cream Cheese (* I put 200g Cream Cheese)
      30g     Butter

(B)  4        Egg yolks
      10ml   Lemon juice

(C)  30g   Superfine flour
      30g    Corn flour

(D)  4       Egg whites
      90g    Sugar
      1tsp   Salt


Methods: 

(1) Double boil ingredients (A). Whisk till it is smooth and set it aside. 
(2) Add in ingredients (B).  Stir well, then fold in ingredients (C) and mix till evenly blended.
(3) Use medium speed to beat ingredients (D) till soft peaks are formed. Fold lightly into (2) batter.
(4) Preheat the oven to 150C. Steam bake for 60-70 minutes.
(5) When cake is done, invert it for 5 minutes before unmoulding the cake.

Chocolate Muffins

I just upgraded my oven from 18L to 42L. Now, I have difficulty to handle this new oven. She is totally different from my previous oven. All the timing and temperature are not the same. I baked the first cake by using this new oven, and it is only cooked after 2 hours. :`|

I was trying to bake some nice muffins for tomorrow's charity sales but ended up all burnt. First all 20s were totally not edible and thrown into dustbin.

For the second attempt, luckily I managed to get 20 edible and cooked chocolate muffins.

Oven Temperature:  180C
Baking Time: 35 minutes
Yield: 20 muffin cups (38x30mm)


Ingredients:
(A) 100g   Butter

(B) 80g       Castor Sugar
      1/2 tsp  salt

(C) 120g     Superfine Flour
       1 tsp    Baking Powder
       1/2 tsp Baking Soda
       60g      Ground Almonds

(D) 80ml     Fresh Milk
      20g      Cocoa Powder
      100g    Chocolate Chips
      1 tsp    Vanilla Essence

(E) 2  Eggs (lightly beaten by folk)


Methods:
(1) Beat butter for about 30 seconds, and then add in ingredients (B) and beat for 3 minutes on high speed until it becomes light and fluffy.
(2) Add eggs one at a time. Beat well after each addition.
(3) Fold ingredients (C) and stir well. Add ingredients (D) and mix till well combined.
(4) Pour batter into paper cups and bake at 180C for 15-20 minutes.