Chocolate Chip Muffins

I had originally wanted to make some fondant-like muffins, but didn't know how they would taste after a few hours because I wanted to bring them over for dinner with family. So...chocolate chip muffins it is! This is one of the recipes from my new baking recipe book and was super simple to make. I didn't realize how much chocolate chips it required until I actually got about measuring them, then I was like...whoa...for 12 muffins? Super a lot. Apt name indeed.

So the joke behind these muffins are that I brought them over for dinner on Saturday evening. My brother and his daughters had come from Singapore for the weekend for Cheng Beng, so my sister had cooked up a feast. She had also made her own batch of 'muffins', ie. steamed 'fatt koh', except hers are green with added pandan. The thing with my sister is that she goes into her cooking seasons. One season it's all pumpkin cake. Another season it's all butter cake. The previous season was all bread (until she had to retire her bread-maker because it was racking up the electricity bill :P) Anyway, the current season is all about 'fatt koh' or 'huat kueh' as Hokkiens call it. The Gardener made the mistake of accepting an entire muffin in one of her first few attempts and it didn't go down very well. Literally.

So I brought this batch of muffins over, and they had a choice for breakfast the next morning aka today, and none of the kids wanted any of hers. Kesian lar, I know. But I think it's time for her to move on to something else...

Anyway, on to the pictures!

Here they are rising prettily in the oven.

The finished product, with some icing sugar sprinkled on top. 

More...more sugar! Hmm...maybe next time I can sprinkle some sugar on top of the muffins before baking for that sweet crispy topping...yums!

My niece said the chocolate chips melt in the mouth :D You gotta try some to know...

Hummingbird cakes

So here are the hummingbirds I promise to make last weekend but didn't because a lot of events cropped up and I didn't have much time to indulge in baking. Sneaked some time in last night though ;) The cake itself was relatively easy to make because it used oil instead of butter, so no mixer needed. The recipe called for a boatload of flour though, which perplexed me, because I ended up with batter for more than 12 muffins, and the cakes turned out GINORMOUS!

But I need to digress. Because the first time I heard about this cake was again at Whisk@ESG with my Austrahleean friend, and it turns out to be a banana and pineapple cake. So now I'm like, "I need a pretty name for my banana muffins", and she asks, "What did you have in mind?" So one of the names I came up with was 'peacock' because it's such a grand bird but she said, "I'm not going to eat a cake called Peacock." Fine lor...

How's 'Canary' then? :D

So back to my hummingbirds. They were this big...

As usual, I'd reduced the sugar and increased the fruits. Er...maybe less pineapples next time. They might look round and puffy and all...

but I needed to turn them over onto their (supposedly) flat tops. Since mine was round and puffy and all, I got this instead...

Admittedly very funny looking, but I don't think was intended to be that way. The picture in the book definitely did not look that way. They looked...tall and thin. Crap, I have short and pudgy muffins. I have baby chicks instead of elegant hummingbirds. 

But then they didn't look so bad after the icing and sprinkling of pecan nuts. So final output?

Cute, right...So cute, in fact, that I forgot to take a photo of what it looks like inside because I've given them all away =P 

Banana with White Chocolate Muffins

My bake this time is slightly less sinful than usual. Bananas! Which give you energy and keep you and your tummy happy and healthy =) Then let's just not harp on the fact that it has added white chocolate chunks in it, because I did cut back on the white sugar since I thought the bananas were sweet enough. Recipe from JoyofBaking.com, a site which I find to be superb. I would sing about it if I could, but er...I won't. So let's get on with the pictures...

So I wanted to show you how much I enjoy mashing bananas. Because you know, if you're feeling annoyed about something in particular, then man, this is the way to vent all that frustration. "I'll smush you, and smush you, and smush you somemore!!!" or "Take that!", mash, "Hah, you think you're so firm? Take somemore of that!" mash harder. 

But then, because I'm not the photographer, and the photographer wanted to take some artsy-fartsy motion shot, this is another picture of me mashing the bananas. Notice the fork which is now a blur - hence, the art 

>.<" 

And this is the first time I'm using these muffin cups. Which cost slightly more than the usual floppy ones, but these are actually great because they hold their shape very well, so you don't even need muffin pans. Ooh...which reminds me about some silicone baking ware I saw the other day and have to blog about soon. P/S: reminder to self. 

Them banana muffins baking in the oven. Took a while to rise and got me a bit worried. Got me to do my usual pacing. But then...

Ah...so plump in their cups now. Also, if you've never smelt freshly baked muffins before, you need to get over to my house. Really. Or the nearest bakery. If they'll let you into their kitchen.

These came out with a crisp crust but was super moist inside! Yes, that's a chunk of white chocolate peeking out the top of the muffin. 

 

Now excuse me while I enjoy them...because they're best eaten on the same day!