Saturday, December 15, 2012

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffin

I always love to bake muffin as it is easy to bake, freeze well and taste good with my favourite cup of coffee. I normally bake a batch of muffin, eat some and store some in the freezer for the following week. For this week, I am baking the oatmeal chocolate chip muffin obtained from allrecipes.com. We really love the toppings – pecans and brown sugar! In the near future, I plan to do a hybrid of these toppings with our all time favourite Awesome Banana Muffin. Watch out for my next post Smile

Ingredients:DSCN7257

  • 1 1/4 cups quick cooking oats
  • 1 1/4 cups milk
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

  • 1 cup chopped pecans

  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

  • 4 teaspoons baking powder

  • 1 teaspoon salt

Steps:

  1. Combine oats and milk and allow to stand for 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). Grease each cup of one 12-cup muffin tin.
  2. Stir egg, oil, 1/2 cup of the brown sugar, chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of the pecans into the oat and milk mixture.
  3. Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add oat mixture to flour mixture, stirring until just moist. Fill each cup of one 12-cup muffin tin 2/3 full. Sprinkle tops with the remaining brown sugar and pecans.
  4. Bake at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 20 to 25 minutes.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Date-Banana-Walnut Muffin

This year Autumn has been the most beautiful Autumn that we have witnessed ever since being here in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The beauty of the foliage seems to have transformed the city that we live in into a Magical Land. Last month alone we have had 2 hiking trips just to take in the beauty of the Mother Nature –Cape Split and McNab Island. Having that said, I have lesser time to bake in the kitchen now. Probably will do more baking in the Winter time. This week I have tried a new muffin recipe using date. We bought a big bag of dates from Costco and since then, I am looking forward to using it in my baking. I have selected this healthy Fat Free Banana-Date-Walnut muffin recipe. However, I have made some modifications to the recipe as follows:

Ingredients:DSCN7151

  • 1 cup whole wheat flour 
  • 3/4 cup unbleached white flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup white/brown sugar
  • 3 very ripe bananas, mashed
  • 1/2 cup almond milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
  • 1/3 cup natural apple sauce
  • 1/2 cup chopped dates
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
  • Steps:

    1. Preheat the oven to 400 and spray a muffin pan with non-stick spray. Sift together the flours, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. In another bowl, mash the banana with the sugar, almond milk, vanilla essence and apple sauce.
    2. Pour the banana mixture into the flour mixture and stir just until combined. Add in the dates and walnuts, and pour into 12 muffin cups. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

    The muffin is nice to be served with some whipping peanut butter/butter. It is good for freezing as well.

    Thursday, October 4, 2012

    Peanut Butter Banana Muffin

    We have lots of ripen bananas and I was thinking of baking a different type of banana muffins instead of the standard Banana Walnut Muffin. Since hubby really loves peanut butter, I have decided to try the Peanut Butter Banana Muffins instead. The recipe is pretty simple.DSCN6961

    INGREDIENTS

    2 cups all-purpose flour
    1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar
    1 tablespoon baking powder
    1/4 teaspoon salt
    1/2 cup peanut butter
    2 tablespoons vegetable oil
    2 eggs
    3/4 cup milk
    2 ripe bananas, mashed

    STEPS

    1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
    2. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt.
    3. In a separate bowl, beat together the peanut butter, oil, eggs, milk and bananas.
    4. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients just until moistened.
    5. Spoon the batter into 12 well greased muffin cups. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of a muffin comes out clean.

    As compared to the banana walnut muffin, the taste of banana is more mild in this recipe. Overall, it turns out good and we love it. The above recipe yields about 13 muffins.

    Saturday, July 28, 2012

    Banana Walnut Muffin

    For this week tea-time snack, I have decided to bake banana walnut muffins since we got some good and cheap banana from Pete’s Frootique yesterday . This recipe is pretty simple and yield about 12 muffins. Sorry for not having any photos but you can view it from here. The only modification I made to the original recipe is to reduce the sugar by 1/4 cup as I figured out that banana is sweet in its own way. And this is absolutely true!

    INGREDIENTS

    • 3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed DSCN6701
    • 1/3 cup melted butter
    • 3/4 cup sugar
    • 1 egg, beaten
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla
    • 1 Tbsp espresso or strong coffee (optional)
    • 1 teaspoon baking soda
    • Pinch of salt
    • 1 1/2 cup of flour
    • 1 cup chopped walnuts (toasted or raw)
    STEPS:

    1 Preheat the oven to 350°F. With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl.

    2 Mix in the sugar, egg, espresso and vanilla.

    3 Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in.

    4 Add the flour, mix until it is just incorporated. Fold in the chopped walnuts.

    5 Pour mixture into a prepared muffin tin. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Check for doneness with a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin. If it comes out clean, it's done. Cool on a rack.

    Chinese Peanut Cookies (Hua Sheng Bing)

    DSCN6700

    This time round I am baking something that have been sitting on my to-do list for months (since CNY 2012). Due to some unforeseen circumstances, I wasn’t able to bake it for this year CNY despite I already have all the ingredients on hand.

    This Chinese peanut cookie is a staple for every Chinese New Year since I was a kid. I remember helping my mum to shape the cookies when I was young. Back then, we used lard instead of peanut oil. Of course, it is much tastier with lard but at the same, it is bad for health. Over the years, my mum has changed the recipe to use peanut oil instead.

    As I didn’t have the time to obtain the recipe from my mum, I have decided to try the recipe from Viet World Kitchen. Strange isn’t it!! It should have from a Malaysian/Singaporean website. Anyhow, what we can tell from here is that Chinese in South East Asia do have some food in common.

    Anyhow, the outcome is good and hubby loves it much. Never did I know that peanut cookie is one of his favourite cookies.  This recipe is definitely a keep and I shall bake it for the next CNY! Perhaps, I shall try mum’s secret recipe next time round.

    Ingredients:

    2 cups plus 2 tablespoons unsalted, roasted peanuts
    1 1/4 cups confectioner’s sugar
    10 3/4 ounces (2 cups plus 2 tablespoons) all-purpose flour, bleached or unbleached
    1 teaspoon salt
    3/4 teaspoon baking powder
    3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
    2/3 cup fragrant peanut or canola oil
    1 egg, beaten 

    Steps:

    1. Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325F degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment.

    2. Put the peanuts in a food processor and grind into the texture of coarse crumbs. Add the powdered sugar and process until there is a mixture of fine crumbs and powder, stopping to scrape the bottom of the bowl if needed. Do not over process or you'll end up with peanut butter.

    3. In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, and baking powder. Dump the peanut mixture into bowl and stir until well combined.

    4. Drizzle melted butter and the oil into the bowl. Use your hands to mix and knead the ingredients to form soft dough. It will soften as you knead it. The dough texture feel a bit like coarse play dough. If the dough becomes too soft to handle and feels oily, refrigerate the dough for 15 minutes to firm up. If the dough feels dry, add oil by the tablespoon.


    5. Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and put them on the baking sheets, spaced 1 1/2 inches apart. If you like, put a little decorative stamp on top. I used the top of a clean and dry Sharpie pen cap!

    6. Brush the tops with lightly with beaten egg, then bake for 20-22 minutes until light golden in color. Transfer to racks and let cool completely before eating or storing in an airtight container. These cookies are very delicate and can smudge easily. Be gentle with them.

    Sunday, February 26, 2012

    Chewy Granola Bars

     

    Granola bars have been our favourite snack as it is so handy to bring around. We have been buying granola bars on a regular basis especially the “Sweet and Salty” chewy types as we don’t really like the crunchy type. Having watched some cooking programs which include granola bars making, it seems fairly easy after all to make your own granola bars. I have decided to try the recipe provided by Eggs on Sunday blog. The good thing about making your own granola bars is that you are in control of what go into the granola bars!DSCN4824

    Ingredients:

    1 2/3 cups quick rolled oats
    1/3 cup granulated sugar
    1/3 cup oat flour
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
    2 to 3 cups dried fruits and nuts
    1/3 cup peanut butter or another nut butter
    1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    6 tablespoons melted butter
    1/4 cup honey/maple syrup
    2 tablespoons neutral oil, such as canola
    1 tablespoon water

    Steps:

    Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line an 8″x8″ pan with parchment paper and set aside.

    Stir together all dry ingredients (oats through fruit & nuts). Separately, in a microwave-safe bowl, combine the melted butter, honey or maple syrup, oil and water. Add the nut butter if using, and microwave for about 1 minute at 30% power to soften (this makes it easier to mix into the liquid ingredients.) Whisk together to combine, then stir in the vanilla.

    Pour liquid mixture over dry ingredients and stir to thoroughly combine. Transfer the mixture to the baking pan, using the back of a spoon (or your hands) to firmly press the mixture into the pan.

    Bake for 30-40 minutes, until the top is golden brown. Let cool completely in the pan.

    Use the parchment paper as handles to lift the baked mixture out of the pan, then slice into bars with a sharp knife.  (If the mixture seems to crumbly, try chilling in the fridge for 20 minutes or so.)

    For the dried fruits and nuts, I used a mixture of raisins, mini chocolate chips, walnut, flaxseed and sunflower seeds. Overall, it tastes good but just a bit crumbly. I kept some in the fridge and some in the freezer. Probably I would try using different mixture of dried fruits and nuts in the future. I would say omit the raisins and chocolate chips if it is for adult consumption. 

    Wednesday, February 22, 2012

    The Ultimate Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

     

    It has been a while since I last bake any new cookies. Being more adventurous and heath conscious nowadays, I prefer to bake healthier goodies. This time round, I am looking for recipe that calls for chocolate chips as I have some sitting on the shelf for a while. As hubby and I were shopping for grocery at the Atlantic Superstore, I came across the Robin Hood Large Flake Oats (100% whole grain). Hubby and I have been going on “oat” craze lately and we have been taking stainless steel cut oats for our weekday breakfast. I will post the recipe for that the next time.

    Today, I am baking the Ultimate Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies based on the recipe provided at the back of the Robin Hood Large Flake Oats packaging. The cookies turn out to be very delicious. I brought some of the cookies to a friend’s house and everyone seems to be loving it.

    Ingredients:DSCN4812

    ¾ cup (175 mL) butter, softened
    ¾ cup (175 mL) brown sugar, packed
    ½ cup (125 mL) granulated sugar
    1 egg
    2 tbsp (30 mL) water
    2 tsp (10 mL) vanilla extract
    ¾ cup (175 mL) Robin Hood® All Purpose Flour
    1 tsp (4 mL) cinnamon

    ¾ tsp (3 mL) baking soda
    3 cups (750 mL) Robin Hood® or Old Mill® Oats
    1 ½ cups (375 mL) semi-sweet chocolate chips

    Steps:

    1. Cream first 6 ingredients together on medium speed of electric mixer until light and creamy. Combine flour,cinnamon and baking soda. Add to creamed mixture, beating on low speed until blended. Stir in oats and chocolate chips. Drop dough by heaping spoonfuls onto greased or parchment paper lined baking sheets.
    2. Bake at 350ºF (180ºC) for 12-15 minutes, or until light golden. Don't overbake.

    You may choose to replace chips with raisins or other nuts. For those who prefers chewy type of cookies, you may shorten the baking time while for those who prefers crispy ones, do bake longer. Enjoy!