Child Labour

This is how I bake these days. Little Mae seems eager to learn the ropes. Hopefully, she'll take over someday soon.

I (Ch)Eat

This can hardly be considered a recipe. It takes three minutes to put together and consists of just four ingredients. It completely lacks finesse, and verges on being trashy. But as undignified as it is, this tray of chocolate and butter coated cornflake goodness, tastes glorious (Chubbs can attest to this). It's unabashedly a cheat dessert, since it's one of the simplest recipes known to man. So guys, let yourselves go, indulge and "cook" a tray of this for your midnight noshing right now.

Chocolate and Cornflake "Cake"

Ingredients:-

50g salted butter

100g dark/ milk chocolate (whichever you prefer)

2 tbsp golden syrup

1 1/2 cups cornflakes, slightly crushed

Method:-

1) Melt the butter, chocolate and golden syrup over a low fire until well-combined.

2) Take off the heat and stir in cornflakes.

3) Pour into tray and pat flat.

4) Cover and refrigerate for at least 3-hours.

5) Eat all of it in one sitting.

Fuzzy's personal stash.

Afternoons at Our Home

I fire up my oven every other day; sometimes more often. I love the idea of making my family treats, and having something delicious to go with our afternoon coffee/ tea/ milk everyday. Of course, the smells wafting through the house when the oven's at work is an added bonus. I often bake a huge batch of salted chocolate chip and espresso cookies that'll last us about a week, and in between, I'll whip up some granola for breakfast or a butter cake or brownie for dessert after lunch. I bake with nothing but a bowl, a spatula, a whisk, and the pan the batter cooks in, at most, so washing up is a breeze.

Chubbs is mighty fond of the tradition of having a home-made afternoon snack and enjoying a small treat after dinner. Needless to say, Fuzzy and I really look forward to when 4pm/ 9pm comes around, when we can pull an espresso and put our feet up for 10min and enjoy a yummy home-made nibble.

Today I was in the mood for something caramel-y and full of fibre; so flapjacks it was. Just four humble ingredients to create these more-ish, relatively healthy oat bars (if you ignore the fact that they seethe with butter). It only takes 5-min to prepare the pan for the oven, so I was back with little Mae and Chubbs in the blink of an eye.

Flapjacks

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups porridge/ quick-cooking oats

150g salted butter

4 tbsp runny honey

2 tbsp golden syrup

handful of any dried fruit (optional)

Method:

1) Melt butter in a pot with the honey and golden syrup.

2) Stir in rolled oats and dried fruit, if you choose.

3) Pour into a 9 x 9-inch pan and pat the mixture flat.

4) Bake for 180 degreesC for 20-min, or until golden and crisp.

Biscuits and Gravy

Fuzzy received more than a quarter of his education in Indiana, and has developed a penchant for burritos the size of your biceps, burgers with half-pound patties and peanut butter (yucky to me) smeared all over, chili con carne with corn bread, foot-long hot dogs with relish, vats of fries, and of course, the Southern favourite, biscuits and gravy.

He's been bugging me for years now, to make him a huge batch of fluffy biscuits with thick sausage gravy. I've been putting it off all this time because frankly, I don't quite see the appeal of eating butter-rich, starchy biscuits with flour-thickened mystery-meat gravy poured all over. At this point, Fuzzy would say, "But, that's just you." Anyway, I'm done procrastinating, and to get Fuzzy off my back, I set my mind to make it our Sunday lunch this past weekend. I looked at some biscuit recipes (very similar to that of a scone) and came up with a recipe that I thought would work best. As for the gravy, I sort of eyeballed it, and it turned out well.

The result? The biscuits were fluffy, moist and surprisingly didn't weigh me down like a brick. They were so good that I'm contemplating making them on a weekly basis for Saturday breakfasts. I managed to put two biscuits away, but Fuzzy valiantly wolfed four down. I wasn't so crazy on the gravy, even though Fuzzy loved it. Nonetheless, we've definitely maxed out our calories for the day.

Biscuits My Way

Ingredients:-

2 cups plain flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1/4 cup Greek/ plain yogurt

1/2 cup milk

115g cold butter

Method:-

1) Preheat oven to 220 degrees C.

2) Sift flour, baking powder and salt together. Mix in sugar.

3) Work in cubes of cold butter with the tips of your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Do not overwork the dough.

4) Stir the milk and yogurt well together, before adding to the mixture.

5) Knead the dough until all the liquid is absorbed.

6) Line a pan with parchment paper.

7) Pat out the dough till 1/2-inch thick and cut with a 2-inch biscuit cutter. Place biscuits on pan and bake for about 12 minutes or until slightly golden on top.

These biscuits are great with jam, preserves or honey for breakfast; as I plan to do with the leftovers. And feel free to make them more savoury by adding a big handful of grated Parmesan or aged Cheddar in the dough before baking; those would go perfectly with an ice-cold mug of beer. Cheers to the ultimate Southern comfort food!

Nigella's Chocolate Banana Muffins

This is the first sweet recipe I'm trying from the new cookbook that Shu bought me for my birthday. It was so simple to make, and the results were great for a cake, which only took me a few minutes to put together. The little tweak that I made to Nigella's recipe, is that I added some chopped 72% chocolate into the batter, to make the muffins more moist, oozy and sinful. And since I was bringing some of them as a sweet treat to my girlfriends (including Shu) last evening, I thought I'd top the already hip-hugging muffins off with my favourite peanut butter frosting. And I'm mighty glad I did.

Nigella's Chocolate Banana Muffins

Ingredients:-

2 cups plain flour

1tsp bi-carbonate of soda

1/2 cup soft brown sugar

3 tbsp cocoa powder

pinch of salt

125ml vegetable oil (I use canola)

2 eggs

3 very ripe bananas

50g chopped dark chocolate

Method:-

1) Preheat oven to 200degreesC.

2) Mash bananas well with fork.

3) Whisk in eggs, sugar, oil and salt.

4) Sift flour, baking soda and cocoa together. Mix into banana mixture until just combined.

5) Fold in chopped chocolate.

6) Spoon into 12 muffin cups and bake for 15min, or until skewer comes out clean.

The unadorned muffins.

p.s. Fuzzy forbids me to divulge the prized peanut butter frosting recipe :/ Sorry guys.

I Forgot

I am ashamed to admit, that I forgot our blog's second birthday on 30 November; almost one week ago. There are no excuses, but I hope there's a slim chance of you guys closing your eyes on my boo-boo after baking and devouring this wonderful cake.

Nothing screams, "Celebration!" more than alcohol or cake. But when you put alcohol AND cake together, it's almost assured that everybody will be having a good time. The beauty in the process of baking this cake, is that you only need 15-min from reaching into your pantry to popping the cake into the oven; together with a spatula, a large mixing bowl, a whisk, and a 9-inch springform/ silicon cake tin. The result after hardly any labour, is a refined and delicate cake that is caramelised on the outside, and moist, silky and custardy within. It's the kind of cake that can be eaten after lunch, at afternoon tea and, as a pre-bedtime treat, and most definitely, at a celebration.

French Apple Cake

Adapted from David Lebovitz

Ingredients:-

4 large apples, preferably a mixture of varieties- peeled, cored and cut into 1-inch cubes (I used two each of organic Royal Galas and Granny Smiths)

2/3- 3/4 cup of sugar (depending on sweetness of apples)

3/4 cup plain flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

3 eggs

3 tbsp dark rum

1/2 tsp vanilla extract (triple this if not using rum)

115g butter- melted and cooled down

Method:-

1) Preheat oven to 180degreesC.

2) Mix together flour, salt and baking powder, and set aside.

3) Whisk eggs until very frothy.

4) Whisk in vanilla extract, rum, and sugar.

5) Add half of the flour mixture and whisk until just incorporated.

6) Whisk in half of the melted butter.

7) Repeat with remaining flour and butter.

8) Stir in the cubed apples and pour into cake tin. Smooth the top with a spatula.

9) Bake for 45min- 1hour, until toothpick inserted comes out clean. My cake took 45min to cook.

Storage: Cake keeps best in a cake dome for up to three days.

A cup of strong, black tea goes beautifully with it.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Fuzzy and I drink a lot of coffee. And what's worse than drinking a lot of coffee, is that I have this incurable need to munch on something sweet and sinful on the side, EVERYTIME I have my jolt of java. On many occasions, it's shortbread, butter cake, Belgium wafer cookies, or some dark chocolate. I've managed to justify this artery-clogging habit to myself, because I take my coffee straight black, and the sugar and cream that's missing in the coffee comes in the form of sweet nibbles on the side. Right?

These wholesome whole wheat chocolate chip cookies are the perfect nibbles with coffee. They are crisp on the outside and tender on the inside; not terribly sweet, rich with butter and dark, oozy chocolate. Using whole wheat flour also makes them feel like less of a sin. Just. After eating them, Fuzzy was a happy hubby, and Chubbs was a happy baby.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from Molly Wizenberg

Ingredients:-

2 cups whole wheat flour (I use stone-ground, organic)

1 cup unbleached plain flour
1 ½ tsp. aluminium-free baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 ½ tsp salt
227g unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes (I used Tillamook)
3/4 cup lightly packed dark brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
227g/8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped into ¼- and ½-inch pieces (I used Lindt 70%)

Method:-

1) Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl, and whisk to blend.

2) Put the butter and sugars in the bowl and whisk with hand-held whisk or stand-mixer until the butter and sugars are blended, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.

3) Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

4) Beat in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture to the bowl, and blend on low speed until the flour is just incorporated. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.

5) Add the chocolate, and mix until evenly combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, and then use your hands to turn and gently massage the dough, making sure all the flour is absorbed.

6) Chill dough in fridge for one day before baking.

7) Next day, preheat oven to 180degreesC. Position racks in upper and lower third of oven. Use an ice-cream scoop to scoop each cookie, leaving about 3 inches between each cookie. If you, like me, don't have an ice-cream scoop, just roll similar-sized balls of dough in your hands instead. But you have to act fast because the dough goes runny easily.

8) Bake the cookies for 15 to 20 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through, until the cookies are evenly browned. Transfer the cookies, still on parchment, to a rack to cool. Store in airtight container for up to a week (if they even last that long). After the first day, just slightly warm them up in a toaster oven before eating, to make them extra moreish.

Afternoon tea/ breakfast of champs.

The Simple Things

Recently, I've been craving for simple things to eat. Not that I've ever longed for the opposite, but more so nowadays, chomping on a thick slice of good bread, thoroughly soaked with the best fruity olive oil one can find, makes me more cheerful than I'm genetically inclined to be in the late afternoons.

I've long gone by the yard stick that the best foods are those made with five ingredients or less (without counting salt and pepper). Think for instance, pizza margherita, spaghetti aglio olio, scrambled eggs on toast, a piece of salmon belly sushi, the perfect steak, a wedge of butter cake, and my home-made granola.

Everybody has a granola recipe to share, and for me, it's all about finding one that is fuss-free, and creates granola that is crunchy, nourishing and not cloyingly sweet. So after a few trials, I've finally come up with a recipe that makes me the best granola.

Nourish with Five- Granola

Ingredients:-

3 1/2 cups whole rolled oats (not quick-cooking)

1/2 cup honey

3 tbsp light brown sugar

2 tbsp canola oil

100 grams slivered raw almonds and/or 100g sunflower seeds/ pumpkin seeds/ chopped pecans/ chopped walnuts...

50g sesame seeds

a pinch of salt

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 150degreesC.

2) Mix oats, almonds (and any other nuts/ seeds), salt and brown sugar in a big bowl.

3) Mix in oil and honey and stir till everything's coated.

4) Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

5) Pour mixture onto baking sheet, flatten out evenly, and bake for 30-40 min, until the granola's a deep brown. But be sure to take the granola out of the oven every 10-min to give it a good stir around to ensure even baking.

6) Cool completely before storing it in an airtight container and use within two weeks.

You could of course jazz this simple recipe up to suit your taste. Try adding a teaspoon of cinnamon, stirring in some butterscotch chips/ chopped dark chocolate at the end (I like!), or throwing in some currants/ cranberries/ dates. But the simplicity of this basic granola really does it for me. I eat a bowlful of it with plain Greek yogurt and a splash of unsweetened soy milk, and a fruit on the side for breakfast, and it keeps me going all the way till lunch; no icky hunger pangs in between! I pack a little for Fuzzy to munch on throughout the day in the office, since it keeps well, and is also wheat and gluten-free, and full of good fat from the almonds and sesame seeds. I really hope you enjoy this.

My bucketful of bird-food-looking joy.

Chubbs' Treat

I try to give Chubbs a special treat everyday. Sometimes it's fancy biscuits, sometimes it's milk pudding, sometimes it's a few bites of a fresh cream cake. Today, I baked him banana and peanut butter muffins for tea.

The main oven has been broken for a few months; which also means I haven't baked in that long. I can stand it no longer, and resorted to using the dingy/ oily oven for roast chicken and the like, out back. Everything is played by ear; there is no thermostat to tell you when the oven is at the desired temperature, the hot air does not circulate, meaning I have to keep turning the muffin tray, etc. Anyway, I've been itching to create a recipe using bananas and peanut butter. And I'm pleased to announce that the end result turned out fantastic. I mean, we love peanut butter, and we love bananas, so what could go wrong?

This first time I'm properly sharing a recipe, and to be honest, it makes me kind of nervous. I don't exactly know why, though. Maybe it's because recipe-sharing is akin to opening up the kitchen and it's secrets for the world to see, and my taste preferences may be scrutinised. Imagine after you try the recipe, you think the muffins are awful, and you go, "What?! This is delicious? I thought she had good taste in food. Bah!" You catch my drift. The thing is, I have a few personal rules when I bake for Chubbs, I never use just plain flour, I use less fat, salt and sugar, and organic ingredients wherever possible (in this case, I used organic flours and oats). I find ways and means to incorporate whole wheat flour, whole oats, different sweeteners (brown rice syrup, pure maple syrup, honey, etc), less baking powder, etc. But at the end of the day, these healthier goodies taste, urm, good! So dive in!

Banana and Peanut Butter Muffins

Ingredients:-

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 cup wholewheat flour

3/4 cup whole rolled oats

1 tbsp aluminium-free baking powder

2 small eggs/ 1 large egg

30ml melted butter/ vegetable oil (I use canola)

1 cup milk

1/2 cup mashed ripe bananas

1/2 cup peanut butter (I use Adam's natural unsalted smooth peanut butter)

1/4 cup demerara sugar

Method:-

1) Preheat the oven to 180C.

2) Line/ oil a 12-hole muffin tin.

3) Mix the flours, oats, and baking powder together. Set aside.

4) Beat the eggs lightly, stir in the oil, bananas, peanut butter, and sugar. Mix thoroughly.

5) Stir in the milk.

6) Stir in dry ingredients. Mix until just combined; do not overmix.

7) Bake in the oven for 20-25min, or until an inserted toothpick comes out dry.

8) Let muffins cool in tin for 5min, and turn out onto a cooling rack. Enjoy them warm.

They were very moist, tender, slightly chewy because of the oats and just sweet enough. Even the hubby, who's my harshest critic, liked them. Chubbs ate a whole muffin at one go. I'll probably give him a muffin for brekkie tomorrow morning too, with a bowl of blueberries and some cheese. I want to experiment with a gluten-free version soon, so stay tuned.

Lots of energy to mess around after eating.