Cheddar Cheese Chiffon Cupcakes

I am down with flu. But itchy hands just cannot seem to stop doing things. So in the end, I went ahead and baked some chiffon cupcakes for my children's breakfast and snack. The hubby took a couple to eat and proclaimed it the best cupcake ever! (*smile*)

Soft and fluffy cakes that is filled with the fragrance of the cheddar cheese and milk. Perfect marriage of the ingredients, I would say.

Sorry there isn't much pictures this round as I was quite sick. I am already quite surprised that I was able to finish baking the cupcakes without any mistakes, let alone take pictures. So limited pictures, do forgive me. I shall take more pictures the next round and post it up again.

Here's the recipe...

Cheddar Cheese Chiffon Cupcakes (Makes about 10 - 12 large cupcakes)

80g cake flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
75g full cream milk
2 egg yolks (from large egg)
25g castor sugar
50g cooking oil
2 slices cheddar cheese
1/8 tsp salt


3 egg whites (from large egg)
60g castor sugar


Directions

In a saucepan, heat the milk and cheddar cheese until the cheese melt. Do this with low heat and do not boil the mixture. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius.

In a large mixing bowl, hand whisk the egg yolks and 25g of castor sugar until it becomes pale yellow and thick.

Add in cooking oil and salt. Mix to incorporate.

Add in the cheese mixture and mix until combined.

Sift the baking powder and flour into the mixture and whisk until just combined. Set aside.

Using a electric whisk, whisk the egg whites until it turns foamy. Gradually add the sugar in in 3 batches while still whisking. Whisk until almost stiff peak form.

Add 1/3 of the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture and fold in until almost even. Do the same for the remaining egg white in 2 batches. Scrape down thoroughly and fold in until just combined. Do not over-fold. Bang bowl on the tabletop a couple of times to get rid of big bubbles in the mixture.

Fill the pre-lined bowls with the mixture until about 3/4 full. Bake the cakes for about 20 mins or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Transfer cakes to wire racks to cool.



Hope you will like this recipe!

Grape Chiffon Cupcakes

Haven't been baking much in my oven lately as I was so busy with the kids and tuition. But last night, I realised that I have plainly forgotten about my son's school snack (Bad mummy!), I decided to do up a chiffon cupcake. I have been wanting to try chiffon cupcakes for a very long time but keep putting it off.

Due to me doing this quite last-minute, I used the grape juice that was in my fridge.

End-results - the cupcakes have a slight grape fragrance and it is not overly sweet. It would be better if I can try to make the grape flavour stand out more. As I didn't whisk my egg white well enough, the cupcakes were a little denser than normal. Oh well, practice makes perfect I suppose!

Here's the recipe...

Grape Chiffon Cupcakes (Yields 6 large cupcakes)

3/4 cup cake flour
90g sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp kosher salt
2 egg yolks
2 egg whites
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
2 tbsp vegetable oil or melted butter
1/4 cup grape juice
1/2 tsp vanilla extract


Directions

Preheat oven to 160 degree Celcius. Line your ramekins with large paper cups.

In a large mixing bowl, sift the cake flour and baking powder and set aside.

Whisk the egg yolks with 1/3 of the sugar until it turns a pale yellow colour. Add the vegetable oil, vanilla extract until well combine.

Add 1/3 of the flour into the egg yolk mixture, followed by 1/2 of the grape juice. Mix until combine. Then add 1/3 of the flour, remaining grape juice and the remaining flour. Mix until the ingredients are incorporated. Do not over-mix.

In a large clean bowl, whisk the egg whites, salt and cream of tartar (must use clean whisk, it would be easier to use an electric whisk) until soft peak. Add the remaining sugar gradually and beat until stiff peak.

Fold in the egg white in 3 batches until just combine. Do not over-fold.

Pour the batter into the prepared ramekins. Bake for 30 mins at 160 degree Celcius or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Cool on wiring rack.


Enjoy!

Gula Melaka Huat Kueh (Prosperity Steamed Cake)

Recently, I discovered quite a number of people in Facebook are doing Huat Kueh. It makes me think of the time when I was young and my mum will buy the Huat Kueh whenever we pray to the gods. The Prosperity Steamed Cake or better known as Huat Kueh is commonly used for offerings during ceremonies and during Chinese New Year celebrations. The cakes are usually light or dark brown in colour. Leavening during the production process produces a "bloom" that symbolize prosperity.

My nephew and niece loves eating Huat Kueh and often pester their mum to get them the kueh. So seeing all the posts online makes me start thinking that I should try to make some. I sourced through the web in search of a good recipe to follow but there were just too many different variations. In the end, I decided to ask my mother-in-law for her recipe. She provided me the recipe with all ingredients being estimated (common with the older folks) so based on that, I came up with this recipe and viola! Smiling Huat Kuehs that filled the room with the fragrant smell of gula melaka and pandan.

My niece and my hubby couldn't wait to taste the kuehs and they gave me the thumbs up after trying it. This is a big compliment from my niece as she can be very fussy about her food. I'm definitely going to use this recipe again!

Here's the recipe...

Gula Melaka Huat Kueh (Makes 5 muffin-sized kuehs)

200g self-raising flour
200ml coconut milk
140g Gula Melaka (palm sugar)
1/3 cup water (about 75ml)
1 tsp baking powder
4 - 5 pandan leaves, washed and bundled up.


Directions

Add the pandan leaves, coconut milk, water and gula melaka in a pan and cook with low heat until the gula melaka dissolved completely. Stir continuously during cooking to prevent the sugar from burning.

Prepare a steamer or large wok that can steam for about 25 mins (pre-heat plus actual steaming time) with sufficient water. Pre-heat the steamer.

In a large mixing bowl, sift the self-raising flour and baking powder. Add the gula melaka mixture and stir with a whisk until completely mixed.

Lined the muffin tray with liners and transfer the batter to the cups. You should fill the cups until almost to the brim.

Steam in the steamer using high heat for about 20 mins or until a skewer comes out clean. Off the heat and leave the kuehs in the steamer for another 1 min before removing it from the steamer.

The kuehs are best eaten hot. If you would like to store the kuehs for a couple of days, cling wrap it when cooled and refrigerate them. Steam it for a few mins and the kuehs will be nice and moist again!

Potato Oatmeal Tuna Balls

I think I mentioned this before, I LOVE looking at recipes. However, with so many recipes available, both online and in print, it's hard to try all due to my hectic schedule. So I prioritize which to try first. Most of the time the easier ones, with ingredients readily available.

Saw this recipe in a recipe book at Popular bookstore and immediately decided to try this dish because it is just so easy! I also have some oatmeal cereals at home and it's just the perfect dish to help use up the oatmeal.

Here's the recipe...

Potato Oatmeal Tuna Balls (Makes 20 balls)

300g potatoes
1/2 can tuna chunks (about 92g)
1/4 cup corn
1/2 small red onion, diced
1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 cup oatmeal
1 tbsp mayonnaise
salt and pepper to taste
Oatmeal (for coating)

For the dipping sauce (Mix well):

1/4 cup mayonnaise
1tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp honey
sugar and salt to taste


Directions

Boil potatoes in boiling water for 20 mins. Coarsely mash potatoes with a fork.

Pre-heat oven to 200 degree Celsius.

Mix remaining ingredients (except the oatmeal for coating) with the mashed potato and shape mixture into balls.

Coat the balls evenly with oatmeal.

Bake the potato balls for 15 mins or until golden brown.

Serve with dipping sauce.

Note: I did not credit the author of the recipe because I did not purchase the book but did the dish based on my memory of the recipe. I shall re-visit the bookshop soon and shall note down the author's name and book title for credits. Thanks!

Mango and Oreo Wafer Muffins

This lazy mummy pretty much depended on ready-mix to make muffins most of the time. But when I came across Kenneth Goh's (Guai Shu Shu) easy peasy basic muffins, I made it one of my to-do list. It just looked so simple!

This morning since I woke early, decided to make the muffins as I had promised a student to bake some as a reward for doing well in his test. My mum bought me some mangoes over the weekend and I had some oreo wafers that my neighbour gave my children so decided to add these into the muffins.

Turn out the muffins were terrific! Sweet, addictive and delicious! On top of it, it was really easy. No more ready-mix muffins from this mummy again!

The only grumble I have would be the mango taste is not quite as outstanding as I wanted. Oh well, practice makes perfect!

Thanks Kenneth Goh! Hope I did justice to your recipe! :)


Here's the recipe...

Mango and Oreo Wafer Muffins (Makes 9 - 10)
Basic muffin recipe from Guai Shu Shu

2 eggs
170g self-raising flour
100g cooking oil or melted butter
100g full-cream milk
80g raw sugar
100g mangoes, mashed
2 sticks oreo wafers, crushed
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp vanilla essence


Direction

Pre-heat oven to 175 degree Celcius.

In a big mixing bowl, combine eggs, oil, sugar and milk. Use a hand whisk and whisk until well combined.

Add vanilla essence and sift in flour and baking soda. Whisk until well combined.

Add in the mangoes and crushed oreo wafers. Mix well.

Put mixture into the muffin tray (lined with paper muffin cups) until 90% full and bake for about 20 mins or until inserted skewer comes out clean.

This is a very simple muffin recipe that will yield delicious muffins that children will simply adore! Hope you will enjoy this recipe as much as I did.

Dark Chocolate Cream Cheese Cupcakes

If you have seen my last post, I did a cake with cream cheese frosting for my little one's birthday. Followed the original recipe's measurements and came out with extra cream cheese frosting. So I was having a headache thinking of what I can do with the cream cheese frosting and I made some dark chocolate drink (bought from Value Shop) to help me think when an idea hit me - combine the dark chocolate mix and cream cheese frosting and make cupcakes!

Results - a yummy and rich cupcake that is not too sweet that is soft on the inside. (Pardon me on the ugly looking cupcakes though, did this in a rush before sending little one to school.)

Best thing, my leftover cream cheese frosting gets "recycled" and don't go to waste. :)

Here's the recipe...

Dark Chocolate and Cream Cheese Cupcakes (makes 6 cupcakes)

1/2 cup all-purpose flour (plain flour also ok)
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg
2 tbsp milk
1 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 packet of dark chocolate drink mix
1/2 cup cream cheese frosting


Directions

Pre-heat the oven to 180 Degree Celcius. Line a 6-pc muffin pan with papper muffin cups.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and dark chocolate mix together.

Make a well in the centre and add egg, oil and milk and mix until well incorporated.

Add in the cream cheese frosting and mix well.

Scoop the mixture into the muffin cups and bake for 15 mins or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

This is a very simple recipe and I hope you will enjoy it. I am contemplating to try this again using steam method, but that will be another post.

Happy baking!

40 mins Spicy Tuna Mayo Buns

It is a ritual for me to go onto Facebook everyday to browse through dishes done by others and salivate. It is to the point that the hub has begun asking "So what's new today?" or "What's the latest food craze" But the hub and the in-law has commented that I have started to experiment more on food recently (Which I think the hub is secretly happy cos I'm not doing net-shopping as often as before.)

So recently the craze was to do bread and in fact a 40-min bread. Unbelievable as it seems, I began seeing posts by posts of others trying out the recipe. Is it really workable? I ask myself. So I went out to buy the ingredients and started doing it one late night after the kids were asleep. Turn out, the bread were fantastically easy to make and soft even on the next day! The hub and the kids loved the bread and asked me to do more the next time.

That made my day.

To make this wonderful and easy bread, here's the recipe.

40 mins spicy tuna mayo buns (Makes 9 - 12 buns)
Recipe adapted from Domestic Goddess Wannabe

1 cup plus 2 tbsp (280ml) warm water or milk
1/3 cup (83 ml) oil
2 tbsp (16g) instant yeast or active dry yeast
1/4 cup (56.25g) sugar (I used raw granulated sugar)
1 1/2 tsp (9g) salt
1 egg
3 1/2 cup (476g) bread flour
1 can of spicy tuna mayo

Directions

Heat oven to 220 degree Celsius.

In your mixer bowl combine the water, oil, yeast and sugar and allow to rest for 15 mins. Using your dough hook, mix in the salt, egg and flour.

Knead with hook until all incorporated and dough is soft and smooth. This will take a few minutes. The dough will be sticky.

Oil your hands and transfer the dough to your oiled workstation and knead it one to two times and it will become easy to shape. If the dough is too wet, add a little flour and knead a few more times.

Form dough into 9 - 12 balls (Depending on how big a bun you want). Flatten each ball with a rolling pin and add 1 tbsp of spicy tuna mayo and seal the dough. Place the buns in a greased  9 x 13 pan and allow to rest for 10 mins.

Glaze with egg wash . Bake for 10 - 12 mins or until golden brown.

Cheesy Hotdog French Toast Roll

Recently I started having the habit of browsing through the web and YouTube to search for recipes and ideas. It has become sort of a routine everyday for me after I drop my younger son at school. It was at one of the websites that i saw another French Toast recipe that is in roll form! Didn't think of that before so when my elder son woke up feeling hungry, I decided to give it a try, again with the ingredients that I have at home! Something to note here, I did mine savoury as my son prefers it that way, you can change to make it a sweet snack.

Turned out perfect and topped with maple syrup, my son wolfed it down in mins! ;)

This is a keeper for me, easy and yummy!

Here's the recipe...

Cheesy Hotdog French Toast Roll - Serves 2 - 3

6 slices of bread (of your choice)
2 eggs
6 cheese hotdogs, pre-soak with hot water
2 tbsp. milk
Black ground pepper (to taste)
2 tsp. mirin (optional)
salt (to taste)
grated parmesan cheese
1/2 tbsp. butter

Directions

Pre-soak the hotdogs in hot water for approx. 5 mins so that it can be "cooked" as the cooking time for the French toast roll will be rather short so if you skip this procedure, your hotdog will still be cold.

Remove the crust of all the slices of bread and flatten them with a rolling pin. If you do not have a rolling pin, you can use a bottle. I used my thermal flask but do remember to wrap your bread with cling wrap to keep them clean before you start rolling.

Place a hotdog on each slice and sprinkle some grated parmesan cheese. Can use any other cheese that you have.

Roll it tightly and place aside. Do the same for the rest of the bread.

In a deep dish, whisk together the eggs, milk, mirin, salt and pepper.

Heat the frying pan and add the butter, making sure that the pan is evenly greased.

Coat the bread with the egg mixture evenly and let the excess drip off. Place in frying pan.

Cook each side approx. 3 - 5 mins, making sure it is golden brown before flipping.

The French toast roll with be golden brown on all sides.

Served hot with maple syrup.

  

Bon Appetit!

Ham & Cheese French Toast

Saw the post from 365 days of Baking & More for Banana Nutella Stuffed French Toast and was itching to try out the recipe. However, didn't managed to buy any banana so I improvised the recipe with a couple of my kid's favourite ingredients - Ham & Cheese!

You can do it for breakfast or simply just as a snack. Drizzle with maple syrup or honey, this dish is a winner anytime with both adults and children!

Here's the recipe...

Ham & Cheese French Toast - serves 2 - 3

2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Approx. 3 tbsp. buttermilk
2 tbsp. flour
6 slices bread (you can use any bread you want, I used white or wholemeal bread most of the time)
3 slices of cheddar cheese
3 slices of picnic ham (thickly sliced)
butter or margarine spread for the bread
1/2 tbsp. butter

Directions

In a dish (preferably deep one), whisk together the eggs and vanilla extract.

Add in the flour and buttermilk and mix well.

Heat a frying pan using small to medium heat. (In my case, I use the Happycall pan so very little butter is needed. Please adjust according to the pan you are using)

Prepare the bread by spreading some butter or margarine on all 6 slices of the bread.

Place the cheese and ham each on 3 of the slices of bread and cover with the other 3 slices to make a sandwich. Gently press together.

Add some butter to the frying pan and spread it so that the surface area is covered.

Take one sandwich and dip it in the egg batter to a count of three. Gently turn over and do the same on the other side of the sandwich. Allow excess to drip off and place on the preheated pan.

Cook for 3 - 5 mins on one side, making sure it is golden brown before carefully flipping. (please adjust cooking time according to pan using)

Cook on the other side for another 3 - 5 mins.

French toast will be golden brown on both side, with the cheddar cheese melting inside.

Verdict by my son : Super!

Will be making this again and again!

Meanwhile, will be going to try the Banana Nutella Stuffed French Toast from 365 Days of Baking and More very soon!