Blueberry muffin...

My sister bought a punnet of blueberries yesterday and she forgot to bring them home. So, I used them to make blueberry muffins this evening.

To be honest, this is the first time I am using fresh blueberries! The only other blueberry muffin was the Betty Crocker premix, which tasted really good, or so I thought.

While the little guys were in the oven, I went to iron a few clothing to wear to work this week. Then, "pop", the electricity supply went off. Something had tripped the power. In the darkness, I switched off the electrical appliances and then went to locate the MCB, and tried to turn it on again. After some time, I wondered why my muffins had not browned...

Finally took them out, it made me excited to see the blueberries had burst and stained the paper liners...but the top was a little hard, and the inside was dense. So disappointed. I think my oven is not right these days. It was the same with my banana muffins few days back. The muffins simply would not turn brown, although the top was already hard. I made the second tray, it turned out more pale than the first. Mum came back, and I told her I think the oven may be getting too cool for comfort. She said in mock anger "what! this fellow is so naughty, throwing tantrums huh?". Haha, I think to be fair, this fellow is about 7 years old now, though I keep feeling he's only 3. She tried a muffin from the second tray and it didn't get her thumbs up. :(

Well, I think, there could be these reasons for such unappetising muffins.

1) I overmixed them without knowing, so they were hard? (but I mixed till they were just combined..I couldn't have mixed any lesser or they would be "undermixed"..)

2) The oven is not hot enough

I think perhaps my oven is going through an anxiety phase. I will be moving to my new place in mid June, and he is to follow me. Perhaps he is having the jitters and afraid to go to an unfamiliar place....

Can anyone tell me whether it is time I ditch my oven? Is he getting too cool? Or does the problem lie with me?

Banana mania

I finally satisfied my craving for bananas today. I managed to get some ripe bananas and made muffins!

I had to wait rather long for them to bake in my little oven, but it was worth the wait. It was a pity I could not find any nuts. These muffins are not as brown as before, but I still find them yummy. The bananas were very sweet! And I like them only lightly mashed, so that I can taste small chunks of them in every bite.

I baked half of them in my non-stick tray and half of them with my Scanpan silicone tray. The previous attempts with my silicone tray weren't too good...they turned out cracked on top and not too cooked at the bottom. I was about to give up using silicone trays...

However, I lowered the temperature when using the silicone tray and kept a close watch on them. I'm glad they turn out not too bad. This is the first time I am making muffins without muffin liners! A simple twist and they are out!

the 'clothed' ones, in their checkered pajamas

the 'naked' ones...

with small chunks of bananas

I am now looking forward to having them for breakfast tomorrow. Meanwhile, I will have a nice sleep.

Cakes and cupcakes

The other day I was having a conversation with a friend who claims she likes eating cakes and would try out cakes from different shops even though there was no special occasion.

The conversation then came to cupcakes when I saw there were cupcakes on display in the cake shop. This is not common here, to see cupcakes in mainstream cake shops. There are shops which particularly sell cupcakes, which people usually order for special occasions like weddings, birthday etc, but not in the neighbourhood cake shops.

I commented on why the cupcakes were sold at a relatively lower priced than other shops. Although the design was simple and uncomplicated, they were still cheaper, considering the fact that their usual cakes were not really on cheaper-than-others side. I somehow concluded that they could be testing the market as a start, because they only sold a small quantity, and not many people know they sell cupcakes yet.

The friend gave me a thousand and 1 reasons why she thinks the cupcake was sold so cheap. But most importantly, she gave a lot of reasons too, on why she do not like cupcakes i.e. they do not look appealing, they do not taste nice, blah blah blah. i told her it was because she has not tasted enough cupcakes (although I think I haven't too), and also she that she does not know how much time and effort it goes into every cupcake. It is even more tedious than making a whole cake. To cut the story short, she still stood by her own belief that cakes are still better, cupcakes not not nice (in taste and looks) etc. It was making me almost wanting to start a quarrel, especially when these comments come out from the mouth of someone who doesn't bake, and doesn't know how to bake. I am no expert, but ever since I picked up baking, I think I appreciate baked stuff more than before. It was pointless to ruin a relationship over cupcakes, so I stopped and changed the topic. I just hope she could just type 'cupcakes' in Flickr, and see how they would change her mind, isn't it?

No bake-off :(

Saw some bananas 2 nights before and thought of the banana bread bake off. But....I am just too tired... On Mother's Day, a friend came to visit and then I showed her my new love nest...and by the time we chatted, it was almost evening. Furthermore, I had spent Saturday cleaning my new place and was dog tired.

I wonder if the banana and chocolate chip bread I baked before counts...I don't think so..that was last year!! Well, what a pity....the next time there is another bake-off, I'll try to make it!

Double chocolate chip cookies

I was wanting to buy bananas today to bake a banana bread for the banana bread bake off organised by Not Quite Nigella. Can you believe it, I cannot find any ripe bananas!! Have all the monkeys gotten them? Haha.

In the end, I decided to make something chocolatey. I seem to be in a chocolatey mood. I just bought a pack of M&M to snack on in the office today, and I am not usually a snack person, though chocolate is my weakness. I took out my Donna Hays recipe book and chose the double chocolate chip cookie.

It was really nice! Though I wish they were a bit more chewy than crispy. Instead of dark chocolate chunks, I added the remaining of my Hersheys chocolate chips into the final mixture. The kitchen was filled with the aroma of chocolate. The recipe says it makes 16 cookies. They must've been giantic ones, because I made more than 40 cookies, and they are already bigger than what I usually make.

I wish I am having these cookies with my husband, with a hot steaming cup of hot chocolate, while chatting into the night..

*pokes my dream bubbles* reality is....I have to go to bed now, and turn up for work tomorrow. But hey, tomorrow is Friday!! Yeah!

Maybe if I have the time over the weekend, I might still make it for the Bake Off!