cheese bread attempt #1

One of my favourite things about heading back home to the Philippines is cheese bread. I swear, if I can live off one kind of bread for the rest of my like - it would be cheese bread. There's something so addictive about cheese encased in soft, sweet bread. I could never get anything thats even close here in Australia, so I figured that when I was bothered I would try and recreate it.

Piecing together an ingredients list and a method from various sources, including Philippine Bakels and City Girl Gone Country for the ever so confusing "no time dough" method stated in the method in Philippine Bakels, I came up with my own way of doing things. It's kinda messed up and odd.

INGREDIENTS.

makes about 8

• 1 3/4 cups of self-raising flour
• 1/4 a cup of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of dry yeast
• 1/2 a cup of water
• 1 egg
• 10 grams of vegetable shortening (I used melted butter instead)
• cheese cut into sticks for the filling (the cheese should be flavoursome and meltable)

PUTTING IT TOGETHER.

• Mix together the yeast, flour, sugar, water, egg and shortening.
• It might be super gluggy, so add flour and sugar until it forms a nice doughy consistency.
• Knead the crap out of it.
• Lightly oil up a microwavable bowl and toss the dough in, then flip it over so it's oil side up.
• Cover with a wet towel, and a dry one on top.
• Put it in the microwave it for 25 seconds.
• Let it rest for 5 minutes.
• Run it through the microwave again for another 25 seconds.
• Let it rest for 15 minutes.
• Roll the dough out and and separate it evenly.
• Encase the cheese in each portion of dough.
• Bake at 180 degrees for about 10 minutes.

THE VERDICT.

I don't think I'm a big fan of the no-time bread method. It doesn't seem to produce the right texture (mine turned out dense as opposed to light), and the cheese I used wasn't right, but it was what my father wanted, so I guess it was okay. It tasted okay though =D

But just a query - every time, I've baked bread from scratch, the crust and outside is always so hard/chewy. Is there any way to make it softer?

impromptu baking: choc-banana cake/slice

So earlier my cousin Leanne (author of Le's Little Kitchen) baked this awesome looking choc-banana slice/cake. I had the urge to bake today (again) so I figured I may as well try it out - using the still depleted stocks in the pantry (I have yet to compile a list of things I need, and go out and purchase the things).

So I tried Ate Le's Chocolate Banana Cake with use of what I had on hand. I pretty much followed her recipe, but instead of the butter I used 3/4 of a cup of vegetable oil, light brown sugar as opposed to something darker (thus resulting in a lighter colour), sliced chocolate squares instead of choc chips and I added a teaspoon of cocoa powder for added chocolate goodness.

Needless to say, her's looks better (it's darker) and probably tastes better as well - but who cares. I achieved my goal: to bake something tonight. And now I have breakfast/lunch for tomorrow. Hooray for boredom and procrastination!

impromptu baking: berry chocolate cake

Hey guys, it seems like its been forever since I've posted. Well, there's nothing really new to report on my side of the screen. Same old, same old - procrastination. Today, I had this urge to bake something however searching the pantry, I found that there was barely anything in suitable quantities. However there seemed to be a lot of chocolate and cocoa powder - so I figured something chocolate-y was called for. Using the cake recipe from The Family Circle's Crazy for Chocolate cookbook's "Moist Chocolate Jam Cake with Spotted Collar", and an improvised version of a simple chocolate icing found on COOKS.COM I created something which apparently tasted good according to my mother. As usual, this is posted here because I need a place to make my notes of the different things I bake or cook, and whatever amendments I made to the recipes.

INGREDIENTS.

makes a 23cm round cake

Cake:

• 125g butter
  
• 1/2 cup caster sugar of sugar (it was a mix of different kinds of sugar coz I only had about a 1/4 cup of caster sugar)
• 1 teaspoon tablespoon of vanilla essence (I read the recipe wrong XD)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup of strawberry jam cranberry, raspberry & strawberry jam
• 1/3 cup of self raising flour & 1 cup of plain flour 1 cup of self raising flour (I didn't read the size of the measuring cup properly, nor did I have any plain flour)
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 cup of baking cocoa
• 3/4 cup of buttermilk low fat vanilla yoghurt (I didn't have any buttermilk lying around the house)

Icing:

• 1/4 cup of cubed butter
  
• 1/4 cup of cocoa
• 1/4 cup of milk
• 1 teaspoon 1 tablespoon of vanilla essence (I read the measurement wrong XD)
• Squares of milk chocolate (to taste for extra chocolate-y-ness)
• Condensed milk (to taste)
  
  

PUTTING IT TOGETHER.

Preparation:

• Preheat oven to 180C
  
• Line & grease cake tin

Cake:

• Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla essence using electric beaters until light and creamy
• Add the eggs gradually, beating the mixture well every time the eggs are added
• Put in the jam, and beat everything together until smooth
• Sift in flour and cocoa and fold it into the mixture
• Next fold in the yoghurt
• Stir until smooth
• Pour the mixture into the prepared tin
• Bake it for about 45 minutes, or until when a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean
• Allow the cake to cool as you prepare the icing

Icing:

• Melt the butter in a saucepan (medium heat)
• Pour in the milk, cocoa and sugar
• Boil for 1 minute
• Have a taste and if it's not to your liking, add condensed milk and chocolate until the flavour suits you and add the vanilla essence
• Stir the mixture until it reaches the desired, smooth consistency
• Allow the icing to cool
• Spread the icing onto a cooled cake
  
  

THE VERDICT.

For an impromptu baking session, the cake actually turned out alright. My mother snagged the first slice and said it was yum (I don't know if she was just lying to make me happy XD), but when I tried it, I found it wasn't too bad. Slightly dry due to the measurement mix up of the yoghurt, but fine all the same.

The jam leaves some seedy remnants in the finished product, which is odd if you're not expecting it, bur delicious all the same.

the quest for the perfect banana muffin: attempt #2, moist yoghurt & banana muffins

Original Recipe from LifeStyle Food Australia.
The recipe that follows comes from the original recipe with some amendments.

INGREDIENTS.

makes 12 regular sized muffins

• 2 very ripe bananas
  
• 1 cup of vanilla flavoured yoghurt (Still don't have any plain flavoured yoghurt)
  
• 1 beaten egg
  
• 1/2 a stick of butter, melted (I like butter much better than vegetable oil)
  
• 1 3/4 cups of self-raising flour
  
• 1/2 cup of caster sugar
  

PUTTING IT TOGETHER.

Preparation:

• Preheat oven to 180C
  
• Prepare muffin tin/s

Muffins:

• Mash up the bananas
  
• Add the yoghurt, egg & butter into the mashed bananas until nicely combined
  
• Sift flour and sugar into the mixture
  
• Gently fold the dry ingredients into the mix
  
• Divide the batter amongst the prepared muffin cups
  
• Chuck them in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until the tops spring back when you touch them

THE VERDICT.

Lovely, light, fluffy and moist. Better than the dense, breakfast muffin consistency of attempt #1 and I actually had most of the ingredients on hand. I have begun to notice a trend in everything I bake - the back, right hand areas of the oven seem to burn more quickly than any other place in the oven. I wonder why?

The banana flavour didn't come out so much, but it is probably due to the fact that the bananas used weren't that over-ripened. Or maybe it was the vanilla flavoured yoghurt? The quest will continue though. Maybe I will try the ones Kass baked a couple of days ago?

the quest for the perfect banana muffin: attempt #1, healthy banana muffins with passionfruit icing

incomplete post.

Surfing the net a couple of days ago, I stumbled upon a recipe for an alleged simple, moist and delicious banana muffin. Now, I don't like actual bananas, but bananas in food and drinks are great. And after Christmas, I was craving banana muffins/cupcakes more and more. Chel's cupcakes were a little sweet, but lovely and moist and yummy! I was already going out that day to fetch a few things, and so I decided to pick up a few things for the muffins as well. Now, me being me - I did not bookmark the page (or shut down my computer properly, thus not recording it in my browser history) so on my return, when I was itching to start baking, I could not find it!

Taking a quick look on the net, I found a replacement recipe and decided to try it. There was no harm in it after all. It had no butter or oil in the recipe, and had less sugar. So it was a "healthier" alternative to traditional banana muffins.

As I am Dyan, and Dyan doesn't really tend to follow instructions properly, I made adjustments to the recipe as I saw fit (and based on what ingredients I had on hand). You can find the original muffin recipe here at Group Recipes and the icing recipe originates from the Love Food recipe book series.

Just a few notes on how mine turned out, they were a little dense and dry - I will work on getting them lighter, with a touch more moisture next time around (maybe by adding a form of liquid other than eggs, or just adding another egg). The flavour of the bananas didn't come through too well as the only bananas I could find were the ones that were just ripe. Not a single ripened banana could be found in the fruit market when I went. And I do implore that you use a thick yoghurt, not a skimpy, thin fat free yoghurt for the icing.

Here's what the original recipe with my amendments.

INGREDIENTS

makes 18 muffins 10 jumbo muffins

Muffins:

• 2 3 beaten eggs
• 3 4 very ripe mashed bananas
• 2 cups plain flour self-raising flour (my mother doesn't accurately label containers, so I was unsure about what kind of flour I had on hand, although I was assuming it was plain flour)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda (there was also no baking soda in the house, so I thought they'd turn out mega flat)
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt

Icing:

• 1 2 passionfriuts worth of pulp
• ? cups icing sugar
• ? cups plain yoghurt vanilla flavoured, 98% fat free yoghurt

PUTTING IT TOGETHER

Preparation:

• Preheat oven to 175C
• Prepare muffin tin/s

Muffins:

• Mash up the bananas
• Add the eggs and mix until combined
• Mix all the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl
• Stir the banana mixture in with the dry ingredients
• Divide the batter amongst your prepared muffin cups (remember, muffins rise a lot so don't fill up each muffin cup completely 3/4 should be fine. unless you're fairly sure that it won't rise due to a lack of self-raising flour or baking soda)
• Chuck them in the oven for about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick poked in the centre of a muffin comes out clean

a very sgp christmas

Just a few close friends from high school - more like sisters really - and a lot of good food. There's nothing more that I'd really need to have a great time. It takes me back to those carefree lunchtimes back at school where we just ate, talked, tried to finish the homework due next period and simply enjoyed each other's company. We were all unique, with our own interests and goals - but those differences were the things that brought us together and kept us together this year when we all went our separate ways to gain the skills, knowledge and experience we needed to do whatever it was that we had our minds set on. And although our busy schedules only allowed us to meet rarely, its nice to know that when we are together, it feels just like it did back then.

This post by the way will showcase some of the first publicly shared photos taken by Felix, my Samsung WB500, all resized of course.

So, the Christmas party was held at Chel's house, most likely because she did most of the work and its the easiest for everyone to get to. I was told the night before to come early and help her set up - and to prepare the salsa for the nachoes. So, at about 0900hrs on the 22nd of December, I showed up on her doorstep bearing salsa ingredients, a two-tier cake stand and two bottles of wine. Believe me, it was a little difficult to get it all there via public transport, but I managed =]

She gave me the rundown of the menu, and my mouth was already watering in anticipation of lunch. We prepared the table for all the food that was to come and got to work on the chicken and salsa while snacking on the chocolate covered cherries. And I set up the cake stand - it was hard work trying to put the cherries, strawberries and cupcakes on the stand and not in my mouth. Kass then showed up at about 1000hrs bearing the cake, and we both made suggestions regarding the chicken: "dude, put butter on it", "no dude, more" - all the while Chel was saying that she'd blame us if it turned out bad. Good thing it didn't, eh Chel?

In time, the others began arriving with their contributions: El and her potato salad, Jackie and the Caesar salad with homemade croûtons, Mariel and her pretty chocolate cupcakes. All who were left were Zari and Megz, bearing wine and buffalo wings. Lunch was set to be served at 1130, but of course that wasn't going to happen. You see, we have running history of never going anywhere on time. This was never pinned on just the one person, for we have all been guilty of being late. However, being late when the others are seated infront of food which smells delicious was not the best thing to do. It was almost torture to sit there and not consume anything but the appetizers while we waited - after all, it was the polite thing to do, to wait for the rest of the guests.

Mariel's very prettily iced chocolate cupcakes

THE MENU.

Appetizers

Sausage Rolls

Meat Pies

M&M's

Starburst Snakepit Snakes

Starburst Gummi Fruits

Starburst Party Mix

Nachos

Mains

Buttered & Herbed Roast Chicken served on top of Roast Potatoes

Home-made Garlic Bread

Lasagna

Caesar Salad

Potato Salad

Buffalo Wings

Dessert

Chocolate Cupcakes with Icing

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries & Cherries

Banana Cupcakes with Passionfruit Icing

Golden White Chocolate Mudcake

After lunch, we sat around the television like one big happy family. I think a lunchtime special of Beyonce's music videos was on and we sat around, still nibbling on bits and pieces. After a good dose of Beyonce and her body, feelings of regret at how much we ate settled in, which was only quenched by even more food. Which was then followed by 17 Again and Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince, again accompanied by some slightly healthier snacks such as cherries (covered in chocolate) - and took what seemed like a million photos.

We left that night, completely stuffed, but still wanting more. As was said multiple times throughout the day when we went for seconds although complaining we were full, or when we did things completely stupid or pointless like try to recreate Beyonce and Shakira's dance moves: "this is why we don't have many friends" - because we act like total idiots and love food a bit too much.

Dedicated to SGP, to another year of laughs, tears & good times