Light Matcha strawberry Muffin

Slept at 3am yesterday because I was searching for something 'light' to bake for the family and I found a recipe with a combination of both Green tea and cupcake. I like! After much feedback from my family, I've come to realise that my family, including myself prefer cakes that are much lighter in texture. Something not too heavy and filling. I thought this would be light, because for some strange reason I kept thinking about japanese cake (even though this recipe was adapted from Martha Steward). The result however was nothing close to light, in fact, I found it pretty heavy still. But the taste and texture was good. So i'll definitely bake this again, perhaps with some adjustments.

According to the recipe, it says, matcha powder but I used green tea steeped in milk instead because the matcha powder was very expensive and was gonna expire much sooner than I could possibly finish using.

This is my first attempt at making pretty cupcakes because I would like to sell them and be called angietanPIE. ( Okay not funny..) The main reason I stayed up late was also because I was finding out how to make fondants. I know its not reflected in the cupcake below because I have yet to make/ find any fondants yet! So I decided to use the buttercream recipe as suggested, which I failed 3 times. For some reason my butter cream was stiff for only 1 min before it turns watery again. The picture below is the little amount of butter cream that I was able to extract before it became a mashy lump of watery cottage cheesy thing.

The inside is filled with strawberry jam :)

I bought all these tips thinking that I'll be able to experiment with the buttercream today. It did not happen. Look how sad and lonely they look.

I half this recipe to make 6 muffins instead ( here is the original recipe from the sweetest kitchen. )

Matcha Cupcakes
Adapted from Billy’s Bakery & Martha Stewart
Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

3/4 cup + 2 Tbs cake flour, not self-rising

1/2 C + 2 Tbs all-purpose flour

1 C sugar

1 1/2 Tsps baking powder

1/2 Tsp salt

1 Tbs fresh matcha powder ( I used 2 green bags of green tea, but would suggest 3/4 tea bags for stronger flavor)

1/2 C unsalted butter, softened, cut into 1-inch cubes

2 large eggs

1/2 C whole milk

1/2 Tsp vanilla extract

Strawberry Jam or preserves

Method

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine flours, sugar, baking powder, salt and matcha powder; mix on low speed until combined. Add butter, mixing until the cubes of butter are peanut-sized or a little smaller.

In a large glass measuring cup, whisk together eggs, milk, and vanilla. With mixer on medium speed, add wet ingredients in 3 parts, scraping down sides of bowl before each addition; beat until ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat.

Divide batter evenly among liners, filling about 2/3 full. Bake until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 17 to 20 minutes.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Once cupcakes have cooled completely, using the cone method, fill cupcakes with strawberry jam or preserves.

Strawberry Muesli Muffin

My friend, friend told me about a recipe she found in a women's magazine and suggested that I try it out. It looked really healthy with all the oats and berries in the ingredients. Since I am back home, where about half of the family is pretty much concern about sugar intake level. I decided to give this a try. Instead of using berries, which is really expensive here, I decided to use frozen strawberries instead.

The strawberries looked so good even though they were frozen strawberries. So shiny and juicy. (actually they taste pretty sour.)

Before entering the oven.

Fresh out of the oven. The dash of red looks really pretty and simply screams "hello summer"!

Thought it was not sweet enough, because the frozen strawberries were pretty sour. So I added some strawberry jam for added sweetness! Pretty healthy breakfast I must say.

Here is the recipe, (Made some changes to the original ingredients)

Makes 12

165g flour

80g oats ( I used Muesli instead.)

55g brown sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar, extra

15g baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

235ml fresh milk ( used 1 cup yoghurt instead)

1 egg

45ml Vegetable oil

2 tbsps butter

290g fresh or frozen berries ( Used strawberry instead)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 220 deg cel. Meanwhile, grease a 12-hole muffin pan and line with paper cupcake liners

2. Combine flour, oats, brown sugar, baking powder and cinnamon in a mixing bowl. Stir in milk, egg, oil, butter and extra brown sugar. Fold in berries. Continue mixing until well-combined

3. Spoon mixture into the prepared muffin pan, filling each paper case only 2/3 full.

4. Bake for 25 - 30mins or until golden brown. Serve Warm.

*If you prefer muffin that are less sweet, leave out the 1/4 cup brown sugar, extra

*If using frozen berries, thaw them and drain the excess water before folding into muffin mixture

*Its advisable to use extra brown sugar if berries are sour.

Herb and cheese Muffin.

Decided to try savory muffins today. While I was searching for something to bake, that does not require any cooking, I found this cheese and herb muffin. Which seem pretty interesting. I decided to give it a try and used Dill for the herb and mixed cheese.

I like this recipe. It has a really good texture to, moist and soft. But its important to get the right amount of salt and pepper to it. ( My muffins tasted a little blend, because I was really bad at estimating the amount of salt and pepper.) And I would suggest cheese with a stronger taste, for a stronger flavor.

12 large muffins

• Flour - 2 cups
• Baking powder - 2 teaspoons
• Baking soda - 1/2 teaspoon
• Salt, pepper, spices to taste
• Sugar - 1/2 tablespoon
• Cheese (chedder, gouda, etc), grated - 100 g
• Herbs (dill, parsley, cilantro, etc), chopped - 25g
• Egg, slightly whisked - 1
• Plain yogurt - 1 1/2 cup (+ more if the the batter is too thick)
• Butter, melted - 4 tablespoons

- Preheat the oven to 400F (200C).

- Line the muffin tin with muffin cups and oil them.

- Sift the flour, baking powder and baking soda together in a large bowl.

- Add the cheese, herbs, salt, pepper and sugar. Mix.

- In a separate bowl whisk together yogurt, egg and melted butter.

- Pour the liquid ingredients into the flour mixture and mix just until it comes together. You might need to add a little more yogurt if the dough is too thick.

- Pour the batter into the prepared muffin tin filling 3/4 full.

- Bake for about 20 minutes until the muffins are golden and risen and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Banana Chocolate Muffin

Since there aren't any parents at home, at least till sunday, I have the whole kitchen to myself and will make full use of it.  ( Plus there is a dishwasher here wish means I do not need to do the cleaning after baking.) The chemistry of baking is another story altogether. Because there were some bananas thats about to rot and some left over chocolate from a few days ago, you put the two together and what do we have here, Banana Chocolate Muffin.

bWhats even more fun about baking is when you are able to find substitute for certain ingredients and the final product taste just as good. (At least from ah huat's feedback, and I hope he is not being bias.) I found out that baking powder works just as well as baking soda, and could be used as a substitute for one another. ( 1tsp of baking soda = 2tsp of baking powder) And that there are many substitutes for yogurts. ( Milk and lemon/ vinegar or Buttermilk could be substituted for yogurts, which is suppose to make make the muffin/ cake moist on the inside.) And I prefer to chop up chocolate bars rather than use chocolate chips because different types of chocolates used gives a different taste and i find it more visually pleasing. 

I am still a noob at baking and will try to bake other stuff and I often get my recipe from allrecipe because they have reviews that are pretty useful and get my inspiration from looking at Tastspotting, (Warning: website could cause hunger)

For today's bake I got the original recipe from Here.

 

• • 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 3 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/2 cup plain yogurt ( I used 1 tbsp of lemon juice and mixed it with milk till its a full cup, then used half the portion)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup mashed ripe bananas
  • 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, combine the egg, oil, yogurt and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in bananas and chocolate chips. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 180 degrees for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.

 

Dark and White chocolate muffin

Today is suppose to be my commencement and I was not there. I should stop looking at fb pictures of commencement.
Baking has a therapeutic effect.

Made some changes to the Recipe
Its a recipe for chocolate chip but i decided to add white chocolate as well and took the advise of some of the reviewers as well!