Irish Soda Bread Muffins

First of all I will like to thank Lena for this award! Really an honor to receive this. It's my first award ever, and I want to thank my papa and my mama and my sista and my smelly puppy.

Here are the rules to abide in order to accept this award and they are:
1. Post linking back to the person that gave you the award
2. Share 7 random things about yourself
3. Award 15 recently discovered blogs
4. Drop them a note and tell them about it.

So here's the randomness:

1. I was an avid gamer. Used to be a hardcore raider in World of Warcraft. It was like my 2nd job. Practically eat and sleep in front of the computer. Then I decided that I needed a life after 2 years, and I tendered resignation to my Raid Leader.
2. Flew to US alone during Winter '08 to meet my American friends. Had the best vacation ever. Road trip to LA, Vegas, SF. While they're at work, I wander around the suburbans by myself, talk to strangers on the streets. That explains why I'm so into American TV and their food.
3. Wanderlust me! Thrilled by the idea of travelling, even to exotic places like India or Peru. Rather backpack by foot than go for packaged tours.
4. One of the proudest moments in my life was completing a full marathon.
5. My weight fluctuates like a woman's pms mood swing. Was at 63kg at my heaviest and 46kg at my lightest.
6. Am furthering my studies this July, because I want to put myself to challenge of time management. Considered doing it overseas but that will put a strain to the pockets, so nope.
7. I like dogs, cats...and virtually all kinds of animals. Feel a lot of sympathy for them. Maybe I'll do up a stray cat blog post soon when I have the time :D

Will like to forward the award to the below lovely bloggers! Sorry if some of you have already received this award before, that's just cos you're simply awesome.
1. Busygran from A Busy Gran's Kitchen
2. Cathy from Cathy's Joy
3. Edith from Precious Moments
4. Jasmine from The Sweetylicious
5. Jess from J3ss kitch3n
6. Jane from Passionate Abt Baking
7. Jo from Sugar & Everything Nice
8. Johnson from I'll Snap That
9. Joyce from Chunky Cooky
10. Nancy from Bake for a Queen
11. Vivienne from Green Cilantro
12. Wen from Wen's Delight
13. Wendy from Table for 2...or more
14. Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids
15. ZY from Baking Library

It's Irish soda bread muffins for St Patrick's Day! It's fun to have a reason to bake something festive for a holiday when it's almost non existent over here haha. The four-leave clover and lotsa lotsa green are considered the most symbolic of this festive holiday.

I was really intrigued by how the original soda bread works. It's a bread, but it does not require any yeast to work. It's made of the simplest ingredients with no add-ins...not even sugar! Probably because of how poor the people were back then, and sugar was a luxury. Now here's a little more fanciful version with butter, sugar and some raisins.

The quick bread portion is tender and isn't as sweet as our usual cake-like muffins. The natural sweetness of raisins makes up for the lack of flavor. Honestly I think they're not much different from normal muffins. Now I'm even more curious to try how the original Irish soda bread tastes like. But I do hope I get some of the said Irish luck eating these muffins!

Irish Soda Bread Muffins (adapted from Nick Malgieri's Modern Baker)
(makes 12 muffins)

Ingredients:
280g all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp caraway seeds, optional
113g unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg
300ml buttermilk
105g raisins tossed with 1 tbsp flour

Method:

1. Set a rack in the middle level of the oven and preheat to 180°C.
2. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and caraway seeds, if using, in a mixing bowl and stir well to combine.
3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the butter and sugar. Whisk in the egg and half the buttermilk. Use a large rubber spatula to gently stir half the flour mixture into the liquid. Stir in the remaining buttermilk.
4. Stir in the raisins followed by the remaining flour mixture.
5. Divide the batter equally among the cavities in the muffin pan. Bake the muffins until they are well risen and feel firm to the touch, abt 30 mins. Cool the muffins in the pan on a rack.

Matcha Cupcakes

Friend wanted to get a DSLR, so we went to the IT Show during the weekend. It was a crowd pushing frenzy. There were a few moments where the crowd literally got stuck in the human traffic where we couldn't even move an inch for a good 10 seconds or so. Thankfully the Canon booth was situated outside the show itself.

Photoshoot-loving friends were psycho-ing me to get a better camera too but I chickened out in the end haha. Think I'll pass for the time being. I don't even know how to fully maximise the capabilities of my current point-and-shoot camera, needless to handle a professional camera. Clicking a DSLR in auto mode is such a shame, and that's what's gonna happen if I own one.

So we went to the Barrage and the photographers played with their cameras.

Light painting!

Cool. I feel like a super hero now.

Made matcha cupcakes the next morning. I thought the green looks pretty mutant-ish as I didn't use the best quality matcha powder. But ahh well. Love the earthy green tea fragrance emitting from these little cakes. If you're a fan of green tea, you'll love these little bite sized darlings.

Matcha Cupcakes (modified from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook)
(makes 12 cupcakes)

Ingredients:

Matcha Cream Cheese Frosting:
300g icing sugar (Used 115g)
50g unsalted butter, room temperature (Used 40g)
1 1/2 tsp matcha powder
125g cream cheese, cold

Method:

1. Beat the icing sugar, butter and matcha powder in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) and beat on medium-slow speed until the mixture comes together and is well mixed.
2. Add the cream cheese in one go and beat until it is completely incorporated. Turn the mixer up to medium-high speed. Beat until the frosting is light and fluffy, at least 5 mins. Do not overbeat, as it can quickly become runny.

Cupcakes:
110g all purpose flour
120g caster sugar
10g matcha powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
40g unsalted butter, room temperature
120ml whole milk
1 egg

Method:

1. Line a 12-tin cupcake tray with paper cases. Preheat the oven to 170°C.
2. Put the flour, sugar, matcha powder, baking powder, salt and butter in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) and beat on slow speed until you get a sandy consistency and everything is combined.
3. Pour in the milk and beat on medium speed until all the ingredients are well mixed (scrape any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula).
4. Add the egg and beat well for a few mins.
5. Spoon the cupcake mixture on top until 2/3 full and bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 mins, or until light golden and the cake come out clean. Leave the cupcakes to cool slightly in the pan before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
6. When the cupcakes are cold, pipe the matcha cream cheese frosting on top and decorate as desired.

Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes

I'm kind of puzzled as to why this book got negative ratings on Amazon.com. Yes, the frostings are crazily sweet, but don't most American cupcake books have insanely sweet frostings? Other than that, the ideas and mixing method is innovative and totally unique. I was thrilled to dig my fork into the cupcakes when I finished decorating them and was swooning away when I had a bite.

I think to truly enjoy this book is to follow the steps with a bit of your instinct and discretion on the description on how the batter/cupcakes should turn out to be. The ingredients proportion may not be entirely accurate, but it's a refreshing change from the usual high-flour-ratio/lots-of-butter cupcake recipes. Highly recommend this book to all you baking book librarians out there.

The cupcakes are awesome! The cake is moist and tender. A little on the sweet side, but not that I'm complaining. The digestive biscuit crumbs add a crunch to the soft cake. Rich tangy cream cheese frosting adds a fuller body to the whole taste experience. Lastly, a little strawberry surprise awaits you when your fork hits the bottom of the cupcake. My favorite cupcake so far.

Am submitting this entry to Aspiring Bakers #5: Fruity March (March 2011).

Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes (adapted from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook)
(makes 12 cupcakes)

Ingredients:

Cream Cheese Frosting:
300g icing sugar (Used 115g)
50g unsalted butter, room temperature
125g cream cheese, cold

Method:

1. Beat the icing sugar and butter in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) and beat on medium-slow speed until the mixture comes together and is well mixed.
2. Add the cream cheese in one go and beat until it is completely incorporated. Turn the mixer up to medium-high speed. Beat until the frosting is light and fluffy, at least 5 mins. Do not overbeat, as it can quickly become runny.

Cupcakes:
120g all purpose flour
140g caster sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
40g unsalted butter, room temperature
120ml whole milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
12 large strawberries, chopped (165g for me)
200g digestive biscuits (25g for me. 200g is way off)

Method:

1. Line a 12-tin cupcake tray with paper cases. Preheat the oven to 170°C.
2. Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) and beat on slow speed until you get a sandy consistency and everything is combined.
3. Pour in the milk and vanilla extract and beat on medium speed until all the ingredients are well mixed (scrape any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula).
4. Add the egg and beat well for a few mins.
5. Divide the chopped strawberries between the paper cases. Spoon the cupcake mixture on top until 2/3 full and bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 mins, or until light golden and the cake come out clean. Leave the cupcakes to cool slightly in the pan before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
6. Roughly break the digestive biscuits and put them in a food processor. Process until finely ground. When the cupcakes are cold, spoon the cream cheese frosting on top and finish with a sprinkling of finely ground biscuits.

German Bread Roll

I told ya you'll be seeing more bread bakes from me. Kneading this bread really manhandled my hand mixer, the latter was roaring hot air from the motor and the dough hooker was so warm that it sort of heated up the dough as well.

But before that, let me share with you my first paintball experience hehe.

I think we look like terrorists -_-

Visited Johor Bahru with my friends the past weekend for paintball, and of course for food and shopping. The girls were freaking out when we hear the impactful popping from the air gun and contemplated opting out. Been scared by multiple dimension-ed bruises we see on our friends' Facebook photos as well. Turns out that the pellets don't hurt as much, that means the bruises look much more painful than it really seems. It's not really that painful...more of like a mosquito bite. So do try it if you have the chance to. It's an experience! Pain is temporary, Glory is forever. HAHAHHAHA

Battle scar

Happy bellies...burp!

Back to the bread which almost killed my hand mixer. There's nothing German-ish looking about it. In fact my boyfriend thinks it looks more like a pineapple bun. Honestly I don't know what this bread is, until I made it. It has a hard crust and soft chewy insides, reminds me of the warm bread I'll eat with butter in fine dining restaurants. And from the looks of it, looks like I need to practise more on rolling my bread dough.

German Bread Roll (adapted from孟老师的 100道面包)

Ingredients:
250g bread flour
1 tsp caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3g instant dry yeast
150g water
10g unsalted butter, room temperature

750g water
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp Parmesan cheese powder for sprinkling

Method:
1. Combine flours, sugar, salt, yeast and water and beat at low speed with a dough hooker mixer, then turn to medium and knead until you have a smooth dough

2. Add butter and knead with low speed until well combined, then increase to medium speed and knead till dough is smooth and elastic.
3. Cover dough with shrink wrap and let it proof for 80mins.
4. Divide proof-ed dough into 5 portions and roll them into balls. Place each ball on top of a square of parchment paper. Let them rest for 20mins.
5. Boil 750g water with salt and baking soda.
6. Add the dough balls along with its attached parchment paper into the boiling water. Ensure that the water level covers the entire ball and let each ball boil for 5 secs before placing it on a baking tray.
7. Sprinkle cheese powder over each ball. Bake bread in a 180°C preheated oven for 18mins.

Coconut Vanilla Bean Muffins

Have had a hectic week. Been so long since I'm able to go home straight after work. Honestly I've been feeling kinda cranky lately. Kinda down and disappointed with the way certain things are turning out. Also feel bad that I was unable to attend some of the gatherings which my friends whom I've not seen for ages, had organised. Sheesh. Sometimes I really wonder if I'm trying to do much more than I can handle. Moreover I'm planning to further my studies this coming July which I was initially all enthusiastic about. Now I'm kinda worried if it means giving up some time on the activities I'm engaged in now.

But it's a challenge ain't it? Have to motivate myself more. Sigh. Maybe I'm experiencing some kind of crossroad-in-life crisis or something heh.

My previous posts were actually post dated bakes from a week or two back. Wanted to bake for 'real' but can't find the time to. What I mean by 'real' baking, is making whole cakes haha. Had to make do with quickie bakes like these. But engaging myself into baking relieves me of the frustration momentarily.

Was kinda anxious to see how the muffins turn out because the batter looks different from my usual lumpy muffin mix. It was gritty instead and relatively less wet. Was excited when vanilla fragrance filled the kitchen by the time they are due to be out from the oven. The muffins came out with little jagged golden brown crusted tops, totally rustic looking. The coconut milk gave it a different undernote from normal muffins. Makes it scoring a perfect ten on the aroma department. Though a little on the dry side, nothing like good ol' strawberry jam to moisten up the little fellow. For me, I like it warm with a spoonful of honey.

Coconut Vanilla Bean Muffins
(makes 12 muffins)

Ingredients:
210g plain flour
100g sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
75g unsalted butter, melted
50ml coconut milk
10ml milk
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla powder
Vanilla pod seeds, scraped from 1 pod
2 tbsp vanilla yogurt

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Line 15 medium sized muffin paper cups on the muffin tray.
2. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, combine butter, coconut milk, milk, egg, vanilla pod and yogurt.
4. Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture and fold in wet mixture into it. Stir until just combined. It's okay to have a few floury lumps here and there.
5. Bake for 14 mins and transfer to wire rack to cool

Parsley Milk Bread

Got addicted to this bread baking business. Kinda excited to home-bake what I usually buy from the local bakery. Baking bread is not hard, but it is very time consuming waiting for the bread to proof.

It was fun letting people guess what the green bits on the bread are. Seaweed was a popular guess, but nope, it's parsley! Bread was light and fluffy, but I would think my previous bread was softer for some unknown reason, maybe it's my kneading time? The parsley filling was really tasty - smooth fragrant sweet butter backed with a hint of saltiness. I had some leftover parsley butter which I used them to make scrambled eggs and it tastes really delicious!

Parsley Milk Bread (adapted from 孟老师的 100 道面包)

Ingredients:

Bread:
150g bread flour
50g low protein flour (I use top flour)
15g caster sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2g instant dry yeast
130g milk
15g unsalted butter, room temperature

Parsley filling:
30 unsalted butter, room temperature
10g sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp milk
1 tsp dried parsley

Beaten egg for egg wash

Method:

1. Combine flours, sugar, salt, yeast, and milk at low speed with a dough hooker mixer, then turn to medium and knead until you have a smooth dough
2. Add butter and knead with low speed until well combined, then increase to medium speed and knead till dough is smooth and elastic.
3. Cover dough with shrink wrap and let it proof for 80mins.
4. Divide proof-ed dough into 6 portions then roll them into balls. Cover with shrink wrap and let them rest for 10mins.
5. Shape into 15cm oval shaped dough and place them on the baking tray. Cover baking tray and let them proof for another 30mins.
6. For parsley filling, combine butter, sugar, salt and milk and beat until smooth, then add in dried parsley and stir till well combined.
7. Cut a slit in the middle of the dough, then let it proof for the last 10mins.
8. Brush dough with egg wash and pipe the prepared parsley filling into the slits on the bread.
9. Bake bread in a 175°C preheated oven for 18mins.

Crispy Sugar Topped Buns

This is my very first time baking bread and it is a success! Hooray! Bought a pack of bread flour last year when it was on sale, thinking I'll have good use for it some day. And the day never really quite came until I did a stock check to find that the flour will be expiring in a few months to come.

Found this really good book where the author is highly raved by many bloggers. My only qualm is the book is in Mandarin, so I have to guess what some of the words mean. It can be pretty frightening for a baker to translate the name of an ingredient wrongly too. So much for being a Chinese. Even the name of the bread is loosely translated by me, but never mind you get the idea. Am going to translate the recipe into English, apologies if the directions sound weird.

The bread is soft and fluffy on the inside and crispy on the outside with the sugar coated top. The texture dampened down the next morning but it taste as good as freshly baked once you warm it up.

Crispy Sugar Topped Buns (adapted from孟老师的 100道面包)

Ingredients:

Bread:
200g bread flour
20g low protein flour (I use top flour)
30g caster sugar
1/4 tsp salt
3g instant dry yeast
5g cheese powder
15g egg
120g water
20g unsalted butter, room temperature

Sugar Topping Paste:
40g unsalted butter, room temperature
25g sugar
20g low protein flour (I use top flour)

Beaten egg for egg wash

Method:

1. Combine flours, sugar, salt, yeast, cheese powder, egg and water and beat at low speed with a dough hooker mixer, then turn to medium and knead until you have a smooth dough
2. Add butter and knead with low speed until well combined, then increase to medium speed and knead till dough is smooth and elastic.
3. Cover dough with shrink wrap and let it proof for 60mins.
4. Divide proof-ed dough into 8 portions then roll them into balls. Cover with shrink wrap and let them rest for 10mins.
5. Shape into 15cm oval shaped dough and place them on the baking tray. Cover baking tray with shrink wrap, let them proof for another 30mins.
6. For sugar topping paste, combine butter and sugar and beat until fluffy. Add in flour and stir until you get a paste consistency.

7. Brush egg wash over the bread dough and pipe the sugar topping paste over them.

8. Bake bread in a 175°C preheated oven for 18mins.