Banana Bread

Remember when I briefly mentioned about my obsession with Nigella Lawson and said that I would talk about it another time, well here goes.

I pretty much spent my primary school days relishing in  “Yan Can Cook” and those foodie shows that Channel 5 used to air. This was all before I was exposed to the wonders of Travel & Living and Food Network Asia etc. But anyway, I remember watching my first Nigella show i.e. Nigella Bites, and the way the description of her food rolled off her tongue so effortlessly, accompanied by that perpetual sizzling of butter and bacon in her frying pan… Heck yes, I thought to myself, “This woman means business”. That marked the start and no end to my Nigella obsession – following series after series, watching episodes repeatedly, furiously flipping through her cookbooks, aspiring to be a “Domestic Goddess”, and recently, following her on twitter (true blue stalker).

Hazelnut Macarons

How do I even begin to talk about this.

Macarons and I, well, let’s just say that we have an on-off relationship. Last July, on a trip to Paris, I got to taste the legendary Laduree and Pierre Herme macarons. Okay, I am not a diehard macaron fan. First of all, I hardly ever touch macarons in Singapore, save for that gorgeous earl grey piece from Antoinette. Secondly, I would rather choose a piece of cake over a macaron any day. I just don’t understand the whole deal behind those little morsels of sweetness. Though, I have to admit, those that you get in France are spectacular. In terms of taste and the variety of flavours… oh trust me, you will be spoilt for choice. 

Left side of the brain, “Fleur de sel is the way to go.”

Right side of the brain, “But I really want to try that exotic sounding Jardin flavour.”

Left side, “Okay… did I really just see a jasmine flavoured macaron that is sprinkled with gold dust.”

Right side, “Maybe I should just try everything.”

Somehow, I make my decisions, thanks to my mother who is definitely more decisive than I am. I still remember the feeling of biting into The Macaron – crisp exterior, with slightly chewy insides, adorned with the most beautiful gold glitter. Jasmine scented ganache with just a touch of floral, smooth and rich. Till date, it remains my favourite flavour.

Who doesn’t want a cookie, or cake, or just anything sweet.

I don’t know if I should say if this was expected or not, but getting into the routine of 6 consecutive hours of classes is really more trying than I thought it would be. Absolutely no idea what possessed me then to plan my timetable in such a way but what’s done is done. Hurrah, week 1 is over!

Anyway, I am really excited about my next entry because it was an exciting bake for me, but I’m waiting for pictures to be uploaded so in the mean time, these are the top 5 recipes that I am dying to try:

1) Banana Oat Bars (or flapjacks) from ovenhaven

Gonna whip up these crunchies tomorrow because overripe bananas are in sight once again. but aside from that, banana plus oats, need I say more. mmm…

2) Cinnamon buns from ovenhaven

NO YEAST CINNAMON BUNS. This is truly a must try. Yeast is my number 1 enemy, and with its unpredictability and volatility (worse than how fast a woman’s mood can change), my mind automatically goes into shutdown mode everytime I see the word yeast in an ingredients list. Super stoked for this one.

3) Brown Butter Lemon Bars from butterbaking

I’ve been dying to get my hands on the Tartine recipe book, and I’ve heard so many blogs rave about their food/recipes. On top of all that, my obsession with lemon just makes this a winner already. Would be perfect if I could get my hands on those beautiful and gloriously yellow Meyer lemons.

4) Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip and Sea Salt cookies from ambitiouskitchen

Trying to perform duties of a girlfriend by baking goodies that Aloysius would like to eat. His favourite ingredients would probably be peanut butter, dark chocolate and macadamias (and maybe protein powder *this is where I start to roll my eyes). Also, there’s this something about sea salt that gets my eyes sparkling and my toes tingling with excitement. Whoever said desserts only had to be sweet.

5) Japanese Hotcakes from Evan’s Kitchen Ramblings

I have this insane pancake craving that has yet to be satisfied. The thought of fluffy stacks of pancakes topped with a copious amount of sticky maple syrup drizzling down the sides, and a melting mess of butter. Do yourself a favour and click on the link, you’ll probably be running out to get pancakes tomorrow.

Will be back with my macaron adventure soon! Have a brilliant (long) weekend.

Blueberry and Lemon Muffins

It’s breakfast time once again!

I love breakfasts. Breakfast is possibly the only thing that can get me out of bed early in the morning. Well, now that brunch is the new “in” thing, it gives me a legitimate reason to stay in bed for a little longer and have breakfast food for lunch. Who doesn’t love a win-win situation.

So since the last post about my crazy morning rush battle – includes showering, getting dressed, changing outfits maybe thrice, skincare, packing the last minute essentials e.g. water bottle – nothing much has changed about it. More so now that school has just started, I sometimes lack time to spread peanut butter on my toast. I’ve even gone to the extent of preparing my bread the night before just so that I can literally grab the bag and run out of the house, just to save me those few minutes.

Even with school, I still try to squeeze in quick bakes and muffins are the best choice. What’s better is that they solve my “I-really-want-to-have-breakfast-but-I-am-already-running-late” issues. Bake them the night before, and then pack them in individual zip locks to prepare for the next morning. Quick and easy and very, very tasty. Ok, I’m sure this isn’t a huge plus point, but the sugar in those little bites of heaven give you that extra sugar rush that will keep you alive for the rest of the day (especially on Mondays when we often fight losing wars against the Monday Blues).

And of course, how could I forget to mention that this recipe is by the legendary Pierre Herme. God of all macarons and french pastries… I was like a fan girl just by standing in front of his store in Paris, hoping that the legend himself would appear in front of me and offer to teach me the art of macarons. Who am I kidding, he probably doesn’t even make the macarons himself, and my dreamy illusion of him as this tall, blue-eyed French wonder was completely shattered when I flipped open a cookbook and saw a pudgy, less-than-attractive man. Oh well, as long as his pastries taste good, nothing else really matters.

Recipe: Makes 12 muffins
Adapted from whatsonmyplate

130 gr caster sugar
Zest of a lemon
A pinch of salt
300 gr of plain flour
10 gr baking powder
100 gr egg (about 2 small eggs)
185 gr sour cream
125 gr melted butter (GO WITH THE BUTTER, do not be tempted to use vegetable oil)
120 gr blueberries

Optional: The crumble
50 gr cold butter
50 gr sugar
50 gr ground almonds
50 gr flour

• Preheat oven to 350F/175 degrees Celsius.
• For the muffin batter, mix together the dry ingredients and in a separate bowl mix together the wet ingredients.
• Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and be careful not to overmix.
• Mix half of the blueberries into the batter reserving the other half for the tops.
• Fill muffins cups with batter, top with remaining blueberries and sprinkle with crumble. Bake approximately 35 minutes or until done. (I think 28 minutes would be best, to prevent a dry muffin)

Note: If making the crumble, combine all ingredients in a bowl until you get a coarse texture. Sprinkle over before baking.

I must confess, the muffins turned out slightly stodgy this time round, probably because I was over zealous in mixing. They had a nice crusty top though and needless to say, the lemon complemented the blueberries beautifully. Huge mistake in substituting oil for butter,and I knew my attempts at being healthy did not pay off when there was a lack of that rich buttery aroma that should have gotten its due respect. But now I know, butter is everything. Hopefully they turn out better when I give them a second shot!

Victoria Sponge Cake

You know how with all things go, they get named after famous people, become classics and remain legends forever. How amazing, to have a dish named after you, and to have everyone know you by that dish. There’s the Elvis sandwich which is basically a grilled peanut butter, banana and bacon sandwich, said to be the favourite of the King himself. Caesar salad which was always believed to have been named after the Roman ruler, but is actually just created by this ordinary dude from Mexico. and then there’s the Giuliana Salad at Giuliana & Bill’s restaurant but I am honestly just kidding about this one (after effects of being glued to E! Entertainment).

Dark Chocolate and Banana Loaf

I am extremely indecisive. By using the word extremely, I really mean intensely, excessively and ridiculously indecisive. I take at least 15 minutes before I order my food, very often being caught in the state of switching back and forth between two options, or more. I think I spend most of my time deliberating between choices, even with bubble tea, I take a good 5 minutes to decide what topping I should have for the day. I know, it sounds crazily absurd.

Same goes for baking. I can almost never decide what to bake because there are just too many recipes I want to try my hands on. But as indecisive as I may be, there are a few definite pairings I go to when I want a marriage of flavours because they are just ~perfect together~:

Lemon and poppyseed
Earl grey and lavender
Chocolate and mint/orange/fleur de sel/any kind of berries/peanut butter/cream cheese
Coffee and walnut
Strawberries and cream

Roasted Vegetables Couscous

After my previous (minor) success of whipping up pasta from scratch, I boldly agreed to preparing a roast dinner. I’ve had countless home cooked roasts before, such as lemon & thyme roast chicken with potatoes, roast rack of lamb, and an entire chunk of good succulent roast beef. But sadly, I had no part to play in those amazing creations. Truth be told, after watching Mum prepare her roasts, I was pretty psyched to finally get down to having a go at it. Wasn’t the full works of a Sunday Roast i.e. Roast beef, yorkshire pudding, gravy and mash, but was satisfying enough for my first attempt!

Chocolate Bundt Cake

Ah, reality is beginning to hit me in the face, and by reality, I basically mean school. Over the next 4 months, I anticipate losing myself to stacks of readings, books and assignments. But of course, I will still try my best to do my weekly bakes and find the time to fill this space (for whoever still reads it).

Mint Brownies

Ok, I am taking this brownie very seriously.

This is no ordinary run of the mill brownie, not some slightly fudgy chocolate cake wannabe with drops of mint essence. THIS is a perfect marriage of mint and dark chocolate. Alright, enough of that dramatic start, I just meant to say how much I was won over by this beautiful brown thing.

There is this unexplainable happiness in giving away something personally baked for a friend, especially for a 21st birthday. 21st birthdays are always special, and since I meant to bake this as part of a birthday gift, I wanted it to look and taste amazingly special. Of course, the combination of mint and chocolate isn’t new. I mean, who doesn’t love a luscious green mint flecked with chocolate chips.

Beef and Mushroom Pasta

I’m no domestic goddess, although I am completely and shamelessly obsessed with Nigella Lawson. But that, I shall talk about another day. As mentioned before, I find cooking such a chore in terms of the amount of ingredients to prepare, but sometimes, cooking can be therapeutic and almost bordering on the line of cathartic. I mean, after a long day at work/school, you just want to come home to a bowl of comfort, something that can perk you up and give you that instant gratification that you need.

 Cooking is my mum’s realm and that is why I rarely meddle with the things in the kitchen. So that day when my mum said “Why not you cook dinner tonight”, I must admit that I was a little scared that my cooking wouldn’t be up to standard because everything that comes out from her kitchen is nothing short of amazing. It felt nice though, being able to prepare dinner – from the very start of prepping my ingredients to the end of dishing out plates of pasta. As cheesy as this might sound, I think there is no better feeling than cooking for the ones you love, especially if you know that they enjoyed it.