Christmas is here again

It's almost Christmas! Time has run away with me, again... Yes, it's been like forever since my last post, and a thousand apologies to everyone. I've been busy, lazy and well, expecting a new addition to the family, if that's any excuse! So future posts could be scarce in the coming months, too...

Every year, I make some Christmas cookies for YH's colleagues. This year, despite everything, I wanted to do the same. I had no energy for the usual gingerbread men complete with decorated faces, etc. so I kept things simple and made my favourite cookie recipe - Double Chocolate Chip Cookies. I quadrupled the standard recipe, packed them into little bags, and decorated the bag with a rather garish ribbon and striped candy cane. Ah well, if one can't be a little garish at Christmas, when can one?

Things may get a little frantic for me the next few days/weeks/months, so I just wanted to wish everyone and their families a very Blessed Christmas.




Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

If you love soft, gooey, chocolate cookies (or are a Mrs Fields cookie fan), you'll love this recipe. Take them out when they are just cooked through (the bottom may still be a touch gooey) and they will remain soft even after they have cooled (which I find pretty amazing). The only downside is that the cookies, being a little cracked and brown, may not look overly attractive to some. The taste more than makes up for that, I think...

Eat on their own, with some black coffee or vanilla ice-cream!

& Happy Easter to those celebrating!

Continue reading for the recipe...

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
(makes around 20 cookies)

140 g semisweet chocolate chips
70 g unsalted butter
1 large egg
5 ml vanilla essence (pure, if possible)
65 g caster sugar
30 g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
10 g unsweetened cocoa powder
dash salt
100 g brazil nuts, chopped (you can also use macadamia nuts)

1. In a small saucepan, melt 85 g of the chocolate chips and butter together. Set aside to cool a little.

2. In a medium bowl, mix the sugar, egg and vanilla essence together until the mixture is well combined, thick and pale. Add the chocolate butter and stir.

3. Sift the flour into a separate bowl, and mix in the baking power, cocoa powder and salt. Add these dry ingredients into the liquid chocolate mixture and stir until blended.

4. Fold in the nuts and the remainder of the chocolate chips (55 g). Cover and refrigerate the dough for 1/2 hour - 1 hour.

5. Pre-heat the oven to 175 degrees C. Line a baking tray with nonstick baking paper/parchment paper, or lightly grease the baking tray.

6. Scoop out balls of the chilled dough and place them a little apart from each other on the baking tray. Flatten the top of each mound slightly. (I use a small ice-cream scoop to evenly measure out each ball of cookie dough.)

7. Bake for 14 minutes, or until the cookies are just set.

8. Remove from the oven. Allow the cookies to rest for 1 -2 minutes before transferring them onto a wire rack with a spatula. Cool thoroughly, before packing them away into an airtight container.

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Sticky Date Maple Cupcakes

Tomorrow, New Years Eve, we are off on a short cruise with my parents and sister's family to celebrate my dad's birthday, and the New Year. (Look out for my next post from the cruise ship which will document our first meal on board!) 

I wanted to prepare a little something for my dad, so in the spirit of bento (as in packing food in a box) I decided to make a little birthday cupcake bento to bring along with us. This is obviously technically not a bento lunch, it's just cake packed into one of my bento boxes! But it is another versatile way of using your bento accessories. 

My dad is not very keen on cakes, but he does love sticky date puddings. So I decided to make a sticky date maple syrup cupcake which is very moist and pudding-like, rather than the normal buttercake recipe that many cupcakes are based on... This recipe is really simple and pretty fail-proof - you simply stick everything in a blender/food processer and zap it. Happy New Year!

Continue reading for the recipe...

Sticky Date Maple Cupcakes
(makes approx 12 cupcakes)

200g dried and pitted dates
310ml (1 1/4 cup) boiling water
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
50g butter
100g brown sugar
2 Tbsp pure maple syrup (try and use pure maple syrup, not the maple-flavoured syrup)
2 eggs
150g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder

Pre-heat the oven to 175 degrees C.

1. Put the dates in a blender/food processor. Mix the bicarbonate of soda with the boiling water, and add it to the dates. Soak for 5 minutes.

2. Blend/Process the date mixture a little. Add the butter and sugar, and blend.

3. Add the maple syrup, lightly beaten eggs, flour and baking powder. Blend until all the ingredients are combined. You should have quite a liquid batter.

4. Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners, or lightly oil the muffin pan (if you are using the pan directly). Alternatively, you can use silicon moulds. Fill whichever container you use 3/4 full of batter. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes until browned. Poke the middle of the cupcake with a metal skewer/cake tester (or raw piece of spaghetti) to test if the centre is cooked. The skewer should come out clean.

Tip: If you are making mini cupcakes, lessen the cooking time accordingly.

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Banana and Walnut Muffins

Last year, I went a little crazy making batches and batches of cupcakes and muffins. This was much to the despair of YH, and 2 friends who were all trying to lose weight. Thankfully for all involved, I've stopped the baking madness for now, but there is one muffin I still make. I'm not a very good baker, as baking involves precise weighing and measurement, but this recipe is very forgiving. For those who are keen on baking muffins and just want one simple recipe that works consistently each time, this would be it.

It's also fairly healthy - there's very little butter in the recipe, and it is sweetened with honey and banana (and for my version, a crunchy sugar walnut cinammon topping, which adds a lovely toasted nutty flavour and texture to the muffin).

Continue reading...

This recipe is adapted from Nigella Lawson cookbook "How To Be A Domestic Goddess". It's under her "Children" cooking section, which probably explains why it is so simple and fool-proof. I've added a walnut topping which I find gives the muffin a nice texture and more flavour.

Banana and Walnut Muffins

Makes 10 standard size muffins

30g unsalted butter
2 heaped Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp vanilla essence
2 large ripe bananas
150g plain flour
1 heaped tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of salt

Sugar Walnut topping
Mix together:
100g chopped walnuts
3 tsp golden raw sugar crystals (the large sugar crystals used for coffee)
dash ground cinnamon

Line muffin pan with 10 paper muffin liners and preheat the oven to 190 degrees C.

Melt butter, honey and vanilla extract on low heat in a small saucepan. Set aside to cool a little. Mash the bananas and add to the butter. In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder, bicarb of soda, ground cinnamon and salt together. Add the banana liquid into the dry ingredients all at once, and mix gently to combine. Don't overmix here or the muffins will be tough. I find mixing with a fork helps as well. 

Fill the muffin liners 2/3 full of muffin mixture. I find using an ice-cream scoop to helps to measure the mixture out evenly and quickly. Top with around 1 tsp of the sugar walnut topping (optional but highly recommended!) and bake for 25 minutes. 

During the last 5 minutes, check the muffins (the walnuts on top may brown quite a bit, watch they don't burn too much). Test with a skewer to ensure the inside is cooked (skewer should come out clean). Remove and cool on a wire rack.

Store the muffins in an air-tight container. They can last in room temperature about 4-5 days. They taste better warm, so after the first day, revive them by warming one muffin in the microwave on High for 10 seconds.

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