Banana and Cinnamon Muffins

Using a handheld mixer for muffins seem kinda unbelievable to me. & trust me, you shouldn't. The overmixing yield a rubbery texture, and tell me how do I not overmix when the electric hand mixer was roaring in circles whenever the switch is on. I'm not sure if 75g reduction of banana compromise the taste, but it wasn't really banana-ish. No stamp of approval for this recipe.

Friend says: george yeo asked for young people to write to him
Friend says: i did
Friend says: lol
Jean says: LOL
Jean says: what did u say
Friend says: i wrote like 1 page long
Friend says: I care more about formulating of national policies, for Singaporeans. And for the sake of a free future, the Opposition must win.
Friend says: thats how i ended it
Jean says: LOL
Jean says: ok good luck
Jean says: u will be fixed
Jean says: LOL
Friend says: =[
Jean says: ok kidding
Friend says: If i go missing
Friend says: let the people know
Jean says: LOL
Jean says: ok hero
Friend says: i send the letter to ur facebook
Jean says: -.-
Friend says: i let george yeo know u also read it before
Jean says: WTF
Friend says: okay u better tell someone to tell someone if you're gone missing
Jean says: ...

On a serious note, 7 May is approaching. Do give good thought about your votes, and which party aligns most with your values. Is getting a splash of new paint over your own walls more important or the nation wide issues as whole.

"The test of our progress as a nation is not whether we add more to those who already have much, but whether we provide enough to those who have less."

- Chen Show Mao, Workers' Party

Banana and Cinnamon Muffins (adapted from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook)

Ingredients:
350g all purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon plus extra to sprinkle
160g caster sugar plus extra to sprinkle
375ml buttermilk
1 egg
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
70g unsalted butter, melted
400g mashed banana (325g for me, because I ran out of bananas)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C.
2. Put the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda & cinnamon into a large bowl and beat with a handheld electric whisk until combed.
3. Put the buttermilk, egg & vanilla extract in a bowl and mix to combine. Slowly pour into the flour mixture and beat on slow speed until all the ingredients are incorporated.
4. Pour in the melted butter and beat until incorporated. Stir in the bananas with a wooden spoon until evenly dispersed.
5. Spoon the mixture into the paper cases until two-thirds full and sprinkle a little extra sugar and cinnamon over the tops. Bake in the preheated oven for 20-30 mins, or until golden brown and the muffin bounces back when touched. A skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean. Leave the muffins to cool slightly in the pan before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Banana Studded Cake

When I first started baking, I casually mentioned that I couldn't attempt certain recipes because they call for a food processor and I don't have one at home to my boyfriend. And that silly boy went to purchase a hugeass food processor soon after. And because of my tight schedule and I very soon forgotten about where those food-processor-recipes I wanted to make went to, so the brand new machine was left at the corner of my table for the longest time. He nagged at reminded me on and off that I should start utilising the processor...and so I did!!...for his special day.

Happy Birthday to the world's greatest bf :)

/burp

The recipe is written as per Rose Levy Beranbaum's book, but I made the ganache the night before so that it has enough time to set for frosting consistency. It was still kind of thin for my liking, but nevertheless taste great, how can ganache go wrong anyway. I have quite a good amount of leftover ganache, so you might want to reduce the ganache recipe if you are only planning to smear a thin layer on the cake like mine.

Was kinda messy with the ganache and the studding. Hand picking the mini chocolate chips one by one and meticulously (well, not that much as you can see from the pictures) placing them on the frosted cake took me about half an hour or so. Think I ought to place strips of parchment paper underneath the cake the next time I do frosting as the dripping wet ganache makes my cake look like it's wearing an evening gown.

The cake tastes awesome. The fruity banana flavor really makes this cake special from the typical chocolate cake. I also like how the cake is so velvety and fine crumb-ed. Somehow, everything I've made from this book turns out amazing. And the chocolate chips on top provides an extra bite to the cake.

Chocolate Banana Studded Cake (adapted from Rose Levy Beranbaum's Rose's Heavenly Cakes)

Ingredients:

Batter:
42g unsweetened (alkalized) cocoa powder
88g boiling water
112g ripe banana, peeled and lightly mashed
90g sour cream
2 large eggs, room temperature
3/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
156g cake flour
200g superfine sugar
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
142g unsalted butter, room temperature

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 175°C. Prepare a 9" round cake pan, encircled with a cake strip, bottom coated with shortening, topped with a parchment round, then coated with baking spray with flour
2. In a medium bowl, whisk the cocoa and boiling water until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap to prevent evaporation and cool to room temperature, about 30 mins. To speed cooling, place it in a refrigerator. Bring it to room temperature before proceeding.
3. In a food processor, process the banana and sour cream until smooth. Pulse in the cocoa mixture, eggs, and vanilla and process briefly just to blend.
4. In a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the flat beater, mix the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt on low speed for 30 secs.
5. Add butter and half the banana-cocoa mixture. Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened. Raise the speed to medium and beat for 1 1/2 mins. Scrape down sides of the bowl.
6. Starting on medium low speed, add the remaining banana-cocoa mixture in 2 pats, beating on medium speed for 30 secs after each addition to incorporate the ingredients and strengthen the structure. The batter will be light but creamy.
7. Using a silicone spatula, scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface evenly with a small offset spatula.
8. Bake for 35 to 45 mins, or until a wire cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean and the cake springs back when pressed lightly in the centre. The cake should start to shrink from the sides of the pan only after removal from the oven.
9. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10mins. Run a small metal spatula between the sides of the pan and the cake, pressing firmly against the pan, and invert the cake onto a wire rack that has been coated lightly with a nonstick cooking spray. To prevent splitting, reinvert the cake so that the top side is up. Cool completely.

Ganache Studded with Chocolate Chips:
227g dark chocolate, 60% to 62% cocoa, chopped (I use 55% Valrhona)
232g heavy cream
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 tbsp liqueur of your choice or extra cream (I use Baileys)
325g chocolate chips (I used only about 100g)

Method:

1. In a food processor, process the dark chocolate until very fine.
2. In a 2-cup or larger microwavable cup with a spout (or medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring often), scald the cream (heat it to the boiling point; small bubbles will form around the periphery).
3. With the motor of the food processor running, pour the cream through the feed tube in a steady stream. Process for a few seconds until smooth. Pulse in the vanilla and liqueur or cream, if using.
4. Scrape the ganache into a glass bowl and let it sit for 1h. Cover with plastic wrap and allow it to cool at room temperature for several hours, until the mixture reaches frosting consistency. The ganache keeps for 3 days at room temperature, for 3 weeks refrigerated, and 6 months frozen.
5. When the cake is completely cool, spread a little ganache onto the 9-inch cardboard round or serving plate and set it on top. If using the plate, slide a few wide strips of wax paper or parchment under the cake to keep the rim of the plate clean. Frost the top and sides of the cake with ganache.
6. Stud the cake all over with chocolate chips, pointed ends in. It will take about 45mins to place chips close together. Fewer chips more widely spaced also are very attractive. Or, if desired, form a design with a combination of dark and milk chocolate or peanut butter chips. If using the paper strips, slowly slide them out from under the cake before serving.

Cocoa Banana Muffins

Remember Project: Cookies? It's in operation! Colleagues came to my place and baked a few hundred cookies for my department's Xmas gift giving. Given the number of cookies baked, you can roughly estimate how big my department is ya.

Filled up jars of cookies...and that's not all of it

Some play after all the hard work

After today, don't think I'll be baking any cookies for a long while. The scent of cookie dough makes me sick :S

Was utterly down later in the day, felt like an useless douchebag. Decided to make myself useful by baking. The numerous beating and mixing in this recipe made me go, Really?? a couple of times when I was following through the steps. This is the first time I've beat and mixed so much for a muffin. The muffins turned out surprisingly soft and pudding-ish in texture. Bananas and chocolate go so brainlessly well together. It's really hard to screw up anything that blends the two flavors together. Compared to the recent banana and chocolate muffins I've baked recently, I think I like the previous one slightly better because they're more badass...or maybe 2 young lads are more attractive than one middle aged baker.

Cocoa Banana Muffins (adapted from Nick Malgieri's Modern Baker)
(makes 16 muffins)

Ingredients:
210g all purpose flour
46g alkalized(Dutch process) cocoa powder, sifted
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups bananas, peeled and mashed with a fork (use very ripe bananas)
120g sour cream
169g unsalted butter, softened
200g granulated sugar
109g light brown sugar
3 large eggs

Method:
1. Set a rack in the middle level of the oven and preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a mixing bowl and stir well to mix.
3. In a separate bowl, stir together the mashed bananas and sour cream; set aside.
4. Combine the butter, sugar and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until well mixed and a little lightened in color, abt 1 min.
5. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating smooth after each addition.
6. Decrease mixer speed to low and beat in 1/2 the flour mixture. Stop the mixer and use a large rubber spatula to scrape down the bowl and beater.
7. Beat in banana mixture. After batter has absorbed the banana mixture, beat in the remaining flour mixture. Stop and scrape down the bowl and beater again.
8. Remove the bowl from the mixer and use a large rubber spatula to give a final mixing to the batter.
9. Divide the batter equally among the cavities in the muffin pans. Bake the muffins until they are well risen and feel firm to the touch, about 30 mins (I took them out at 27mins). Because this is such a liquid batter, test a muffin with a toothpick or the point of a thin-bladed knife - it should emerge with just a few moist crumbs clinging to it.
8. Cool the muffins in the pan on a rack.

Banana Espresso Chocolate Chip Muffins

We had a gathering at my place and one of the guests brought a bunch of ripe bananas for potluck. So the bananas were not exactly that popular, so it was left almost intact by the time everyone left. Knowing my mom's kan chiong spider cum must-not-let-food-go-to-waste virtue, she's probably going to gobble up the whole bunch before everything turns black and she's going to have constipation heehee. To fulfill my role of being a filial daughter teeheehee, I used them instead hurhur. I just got this book as a birthday gift and had bookmarked quite a bit of recipes to try, so here we go!

Baked is a bakery in New York, famous for its fudgy brownies. I once saw their salted caramel brownie on Food Network Channel, damn I wish I was in USA right now! And...well you know baking young men are pretty hot you know! *coughMattLewiscough* I must say these guys at Baked love salt too. I think it's a guys thing to like savory foods. The recipe calls for slightly more salt than other muffin recipes do, so you can taste a slight note of salt here and there. But salt in dessert is in 'fashion' now, think salted caramel, sea salt in ice cream, and sprinkling fleur de sel over cupcakes. Can't wait to try out more interesting recipes from this book.

I'm absolutely thrilled when I pulled the muffins out from the oven. Heavenly banana chocolatey aroma filled the kitchen. Even my dog came to take a whiff of it. Flavorful moist (extremely!) banana muffins with gooey melted chocolate chips, good for sweet treats breakfast or afternoon tea break. The espresso added a pleasant touch of coffee which separates itself from other flat-note muffins. Unlike the usual muffins which taste best upon cooling from the oven, these actually become even more flavorful the next day, so you can prepare them in advance.
Banana Espresso Chocolate Chip Muffins (adapted from Matt Lewis & Renato Poliafito's Baked: New Frontiers in Baking)

Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups mashed, very ripe bananas (about 4) (I mashed them just before I'm abt to use them because bananas brown quickly)
100g sugar
54g light brown sugar
113g unsalted butter, melted
60ml whole milk
1 large egg
210g all-purpose flour
1 tsp instant espresso powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 tsp salt
170g semisweet chocolate chips

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 175°C
2. Spray a 12-cup muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray
3. In a medium bowl, stir together the bananas, sugars, butter, milk, and egg
4. In another medium bowl, whisk together the flour, instant espresso powder, baking soda and salt
5. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients
6. Pour the wet ingredients into the well and stir just until combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.
7. Fill each cup about 3/4 full. Bake in the center of the oven for 20-25 mins, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffin comes out clean (Mine took 27mins)
8. Move the muffin pan to a cooling rack, and let cool for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, remove the muffins from the pan and let them finish cooling on the cooling rack. Muffins can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

Peanut Butter Banana Muffins

These muffins aren't exactly the best tasting in the world. Kinda lacking in the peanut butter flavor. Would also like it tad sweeter. Peanut butter and banana is an interesting combination though as it smells really lovely when I made the batter. More importantly, the texture is somewhat like chinese steamcakes. Dense and not fluffy. Why?!! Because.............uhh...yea, it's explained below.

So I put the muffins into the oven for baking and turned my back, spotted a lonely egg sitting on top of the kitchen counter. OMGFFFFFFUUUU!!! Realised that I've forgotten to beat in the egg. -_-"

So there we go, an accidental eggless muffin**

Accidental Eggless Peanut Butter Banana Muffins
(makes 6 muffins)

Ingredients:
120g all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
30g salted butter (you can use unsalted butter and add a pinch of salt)
30g peanut butter
60g white granulated sugar (add more for sweetness)
225g bananas, mashed (extra for garnishing)

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180°C
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl
3. Cream butter and sugar with a hand mixer, until pale yellow and creamy
4. Add in peanut butter and blend well
5. Add in flour mixture and mix until just combined
6. Spoon muffin batter into muffin cups
7. Slice extra bananas and place on top of batter
10. Bake for 20-25 mins and transfer to wire rack to cool

** The muffins vanished when I woke up the next morning. Mom took them to her workplace and told me the recipe is a keeper. She thinks it tastes great - moist and refreshing. She said the commercially prepared ones reek of artificial vanilla and she loves how natural this one tastes. Uhh, guess our tastebuds are different.

Banana Walnut Cake

Gonna make lotsa noms for my sister's zadankais in the weekend. First up is banana cake! Tried one of David Lebovitz's recipe from my newly bought cookbook, Ready for Dessert. Original recipe is here. I lowered the fat and sugar content as there will be old folks at the zadankai. Last thing I want is one of them to get a heart attack after eating my cake =S

Cake is moist and soft. I guess it must be the magic of sour cream. Cinnamon and banana go really well together as well. The kitchen smelt lovely with the blend of banana and cinnamon while the cake was baking. Had trouble chasing my dog away as she smelt it from the bedroom and think it's her food. I skipped the coffee powder simply because I don't have coffee powder at home hahahahh!! But I think it'll taste great if you followed the recipe to add a tablespoon of it.

Banana Walnut Cake (modified from David Lebovitz's Banana Cake with Mocha Frosting and Candied Peanuts)

Ingredients:

350 g all purpose flour

1.5 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

200g unsalted butter

200g sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

6 tbsp lite sour cream

450g bananas, mashed

120g walnuts, coarsely chopped & toasted

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 175°C & prepare a 9"x9" square baking tin
2. Combine flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda & salt in a bowl
3. Cream butter & sugar in a separate bowl with a mixer on medium speed until light & fluffy
4. Add in vanilla, then eggs one at a time into butter & sugar mixture
5. Stir in half of flour mixture into creamed mixture
6. Add in bananas and sour cream and stir
7. Pour in the remaining flour mixture and mix till just combined
8. Bake for 50mins or until the centre is set