Tag: huffpostetaste

Tahini Blueberry Muffins

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I know the words tahini and blueberry make this sound pretty much holy, but the taste of these muffins are as lascivious as muffins can get. Not that muffins are meant to be lascivious or anything– they’re always taken as the granny-pants-boring stuff; the complete opposite. I abhor incorrect grammar and the use of words like lascivious in inappropriate contexts, but the fluff on this thing, flavours and textures made me think of that very word, so that they shall be. These muffins are so good, so simple, so delicious (and sexy).

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I think spontaneous, successful experiments call for celebration. It almost feels like a good replacement for the lack of dirty hands-on lab practicals the past week, though I’m eternally grateful for that one incredibly eye-opening introduction to anatomy dissections. As I peered under each vertebrate (cervical, thoracic, lumbar and coccygeal), fiddled with the moist muscle (sorry for the unappealing alliteration right there) and poked and prodded at the nerves and meningeal layers, I witnessed the magic that is the human form. I crave more of it now. There’s something grossly satisfying in touching something which you know is all you, and at the same time, everyone else. It’s universal, it’s each of us, it’s everyone.

The hands-on itch was a bit delayed– got home and had the blinding urge to experiment and yield results. Delicious results And seeing that I was visiting my fellow foodies Emily and Ella that night (!!), to make something not akin to your typical baked product felt quite appropriate. With lots of tahini and blueberries on hand, these babes were born.

I’ve recently been reading up a lot on our attitudes towards food, health and nutrition, and even with all the information and resources around us, am still boggled by the fact that so many of us are tricked into what I call ‘fake healthy’ eating. Different things may work for different people, but ultimately even the whole notion of ‘striving for balance’ proves to be an inherent problem. We all possess different gut flora, different sets of genes, different intolerances– how are we to rely on anything we hear, see and touch? Is the market trustworthy, justifiable? Diet. Oh, that contentious word.

Yes, it’s good to experiment and see what works for you (no meat, no eggs, etc), but I think it’s high time we stop believing everything we hear, and start listening to our bodies. I know, that phrase is so repeated it’s practically proverbial. And yet, it’s the one thing we must always remember. Chowing down on that Special K and sugary yoghurt isn’t a crime, but advertising betrays the truth, and unless your reward circuitry systems are truly messed up, there’s no saving anyone. All that sugar is practically like lifting up your shirt sleeve and injecting cocaine. So as much as I love sugar, sugar and more sugar, I’ve also become keenly aware on what’s right, and what’s just downright harmful (basically excessive consumption).

These muffins aren’t 100% healthy, but I’m ok with that, and you should be, too.

Because it’s a bloody muffin, guys.

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Tahini Blueberry Muffins (makes 6 large muffins, lightly adapted from my nut-butter-stuffed matcha cupcake recipe)

Ingredients

130g (1 cup) plain flour

70g (1/3 cup) white sugar

75g (1/3 cup) packed dark brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

pinch salt

2 eggs

113g (1/2 cup) unsalted butter

80ml (1/3 cup) tahini

1 tsp vanilla extract

50g (1/2 cup) fresh blueberries

 

Directions

Preheat your oven to 170C (340F) and line a muffin tin with liners, or simply place some cupcake/muffin liners on a baking tray.

In a medium bowl, briefly whisk together the flour, two leavening agents and salt. Dump in your blueberries and lightly toss to coat in flour.

In another large microwave-safe bowl, microwave your butter for 20 seconds until partially melted. Whisk the butter and two sugars in this bowl (quick creaming method) to aerate the mixture slightly, for at least a minute. Add the 2 eggs, vanilla and tahini, and whisk everything together well. Pour the dry mix into the wet mix, and use a wooden spoon or spatula to gently fold in the dry mix until everything is just combined.

Spoon the batter into 6 muffin liners, and bake in the preheated oven for 25-28 minutes. The muffins are large ones, so they need time to rise and brown. Check them at the 25-minute mark– a wooden skewer inserted right in the middle should come out clean. They should have a medium brown, almost caramelised and slightly domed top. You might even need a whole half hour. The insides will be fluffy and tender.

These muffins are best served the day they’re made, but you can keep them for an extra 1-2 days in an airtight container. Otherwise, freeze any uneaten ones in the freezer and microwave when the mood hits.

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Kaya Maple Loaf Cake

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If I had to choose the one local breakfast item I miss most from Singapore, it would have have have to be good, buttered kaya toast. Made complete with a steaming, frothy cup of teh tarik and half-boiled eggs. Thinking about it is already making me salivate.

Kaya toast to me is the epitome of simplicity done right– warm, charred white toast, the crusts traditionally, almost clinically removed with a sharp serrated knife, slathered thickly and unevenly with unsalted butter and a thick layer of homemade kaya. For those of you who do not know, kaya is basically coconut jam. A creamy, sweet, thick curd made from coconut milk, eggs and sugar. Some days I want butter and marmalade on my toast, others warrant almond butter, honey and banana, and sometimes it’s all about good old butter and kaya. The latter occasion has greatly increased in frequency.

This kaya loaf cake made with olive oil and maple syrup is your favourite local breakfast in one big warm hug of a loaf. It’s :

  • sweet, earthy, tender
  • such a breeze to make!!
  • got the most amazing sweet and crusty top
  • heaven in the morning
  • actually your new wake-up call

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It’s one of the most moist, dense (in a good way) and tender loaf cakes I’ve baked in a while, undoubtedly due to the texture of kaya itself, as well as the addition of olive oil, dark brown sugar and maple syrup.

The components all possess deep, earthy, sensual undertones which complement each other fantastically, the dark brown sugar providing a hint of molasses, the kaya’s almost-fluffy consistency offering milky sweetness and volume. I used nyonya kaya (couldn’t find the traditional brand on Amazon; the link I provide is the closest I could find but you should be able to find it at any oriental supermarket), but Hainanese kaya, which uses caramelised sugar and sometimes honey and is brown instead of green, would work perfectly too.

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Kaya Maple Loaf Cake (makes one standard 9×5-inch loaf), based loosely off my banana bread recipe

Ingredients

190g (1 1/2 cups) all-purpose flour

one generous pinch salt

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

60ml (1/4 cup) maple syrup

1 cup kaya (no metric measurement eek– you should be fine!)

2 eggs

120g (1/2 cup, packed) dark brown sugar

2 tbsp plain yoghurt (I used coconut yoghurt for extra pizzaz, but you don’t have to go that far)

120ml (1/2 cup) olive oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

For the crusty top: 2 tbsp dark brown sugar+ 1 tsp ground cinnamon

 

Directions

Preheat your oven to 180C (350F) and grease (line as well if you wish) a 9×5-inch loaf pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon.

In a large bowl, whisk together everything else except the ingredients for the crusty top. Pour the dry mix into this wet mix and stir everything together well with a whisk or wooden spoon. Pour the thick, green-tinged mix into your greased loaf tin– the batter should appear quite wet and not very lumpy (like a typical banana bread batter). Mix the topping ingredients briefly with a fork in a small saucer and sprinkle evenly on top.

Bake in your preheated oven for 50 minutes, then remove and let cool for at least a half hour before slicing. Any leftovers can be stored at room temperature for 3-5 days, or kept in the fridge for a week. It’s wonderful toasted on its own, with a smear of salted butter and hot coffee.

 

 

 

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No-bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Tahini Oat Bars

Kind of a mouthful. The good sort.

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Some breathing time during the week makes way for occasional creative insight. The early morning heralds possibility, and it’s only when my head hits the pillow that I realise how startlingly tired I am from the events of the day. The night pulls you in. Processed with VSCOcam with f2 presetProcessed with VSCOcam with f2 preset Processed with VSCOcam with f2 presetProcessed with VSCOcam with f2 presetProcessed with VSCOcam with f2 preset Processed with VSCOcam with f2 preset

There are so many things that make life sweet. Like this recipe. But there are also the cute coffee shop corners, insightful nutrition links I keep finding online, and inspiring folk everywhere. Here in London especially, there’s just no shortage of things to do, eat and see.

But yes. There’s just so much yes in this recipe.

No-bake chocolate peanut butter oat bars, bound together with earthy tahini, maple syrup and oats. 

There’s:

  • no flour
  • no egg
  • no sugar (as in your typical white sort, but the maple syrup provides all the goodness, and a wonderful flavour dimension)

and heck, even though I love all these things, it just means another 3 things you don’t have to lack and cry over. Easy.

The formula is simple, the taste lush. You don’t need much to handle in the first place. In fact, it’s so simple I won’t even provide a proper list of ingredients. Just some instructions, with a few cup measurements thrown in here and there. Oh right, and you need a pan. But I thought you would’ve figured that out.

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No-bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Tahini Oat Bars (makes 36 medium bars in a 9×9-inch baking pan)

Grease (line if you wish) a 9×9-inch baking pan. In a saucepan over low heat, melt together 100ml (a little more than 1/3 cup) maple syrup, 113g (one stick) salted butter, 270g (1 cup) peanut butter (smooth or chunky, do as you wish) and 180g of chopped dark chocolate. This will take about 3-5 minutes.

Take off the heat and stir in 80ml (1/3 cup) tahini, a half cup of chopped nuts (or more chopped chocolate), and 135g (1 1/2 cups) whole rolled oats. Pour the thick mix into your pan and let sit in the fridge until firm– around 30 minutes (yes that’s it!)

Cut into bars with a sharp knife and have a ball. There’s no real need to dress these up with anything, but I imagine them nice with chocolate hazelnut spread or more peanut butter on top.

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Chocolate Coffee ‘Mochi’ Cake

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I guess I should stop with the chocolate some time. Some time. In the future. Not now.

It’s been weeks since I left Japan, but I occasionally find myself reminiscing bits and parts of it. The little alleys, and corners, and scarily magnanimous people. Oh right, and the food. That.

I remember strolling into a little sweets shop with the rest of the family, and we were greeted by mile-high packs of mochi– little rice cakes made with Japanese glutinous rice. Mochi’s kind of like a magic food, consisting of polysaccharides, proteins, lipids and water. All weaved together to form this sticky, chewy, yet delicate mass. The gel-like consistency is actually due to lack of amylose in the starch grains of mochi rice, and it’s that sort of texture I wanted to recreate in this cake.

When I came across Food 52’s recipe for a chocolate mochi snack cake, I knew I had to give it a shot (and a little twist). Now I didn’t have the sort of rice necessary to make traditional mochi, but rice flour came close enough. And so rice flour it was.

I know I know, it’s a chocolate cake. Yet it’s much more than that. It’s akin to something bolder, and brighter, yet lighter. The crumb is so fine, yet each slice is perfect and straight-edged, holding its own, each bite one of chocolatey integrity.

This cake has:

  • an almost-crisp, sugary, crusty top
  • a soft, incredibly fine-crumbed interior
  • oozing pockets of chocolate chunks
  • a slightly squidgy, chewy middle
  • me smitten

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The secrets here are the addition of coffee, use of confectioner’s sugar, and the melting of chocolate, butter and honey as one of the first steps. Take your time making this– it’s simple but harbours close precision. I couldn’t resist adding a dash of coffee into the wet mix, and the result was moist and fragrant. You won’t regret dashing out to get that extra pack of confectioner’s sugar either– it yields the most fine and delicate cake crumb.

Yeah, pretty ethereal.

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Chocolate Coffee ‘Mochi’ Cake (adapted from Food 52’s chocolate mochi snack cake recipe; makes a thick 9×9 pan of cake)

Ingredients

325g (2 cups) rice flour (I used Doves Farm)

190g ( 1 1/2 cups) confectioner’s sugar

1 tbsp baking soda

pinch coarse salt

180g (1 heaping cup) dark chocolate (70% cocoa), chopped into chunks

1.5 tbsp honey

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

500ml (2 cups) whole milk

120ml (1/2 cup) coffee (I used instant– one tablespoon dissolved in half a cup of boiling water, but use the better stuff if you can!)

113g (1/2 cup) salted/unsalted butter

160g (slightly less than a cup) chopped dark chocolate, mixed with 2 tbsp extra of rice flour

5 tbsp maple syrup/honey (for the topping)

 

Directions

Preheat your oven to 180C (350F) and grease and line a 9×9-inch brownie pan.

In a medium-large bowl, whisk together the rice flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Put the 180g of chopped dark chocolate, butter and honey into another bowl and microwave for 1 minute. Take it out and stir until you get a smooth, homogenous mixture. Alternatively, do the same in a saucepan and over a low-medium heat.

Scrape the smooth chocolate mix into a large bowl (large because it’s going to hold quite a volume), then stir in the 2 eggs, milk, coffee and vanilla extract. Add the dry mix and fold into the wet mix until you get a smooth, rather wet, light brown batter. Probably much wetter than what you would expect, but not as sticky or glutinous as your typical brownie batter. Then stir in the extra 160g of chocolate chunks mixed with the extra 2 tbsp of rice flour.

Scrape the batter into your greased pan, and bake for 50 minutes in the preheated oven. Once out of the oven, pierce random parts of the cake with your fork or knife, then drizzle over the honey/maple syrup. Leave to cool for half an hour, then cut and serve. This cake can be kept for a week in an airtight container in the fridge, but as the original recipe from Food 52 states, it does taste better at room temperature (ah, what are microwaves for). Serve on its own, though it’s also delicious with a heavy hand of chocolate spread (as shown above) or whipped cream.

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Peanut Butter Stuffed Salted Brownie Cookies

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Cancelled morning lectures obviously means whining here about it being the last week of term and waxing lyrical about all things chocolate (once more). A bit on that later. If I start on chocolate now, I’ll probably forget to add other mundane details about my life, and who would want that right? The ‘first day of the last term’ is a funny thing to say; it really didn’t feel all that long ago when I was panicking to my mother about basic things I might or might not be able to do, like laundry, bedsheets and having enough Asian fare in uni to keep me sane, because the impulsive decision to buy Tesco meal deals doesn’t quite cut it most of the time. It’s all just whizzed by much too fast. The Friday flight home is both an ecstatic and nauseating thought to me.

Despite my pension for café fare, I’m embarrassed to say that not once have I had my favourite alone-time at any one café, though I’ve definitely had the chance to visit some must-see places on my list. I should do a write-up about one of them soon, before I forget and the tides of life push me far ahead, me in blissful oblivion, once more.

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The other day I bought the loveliest little tub of peanut-speckles cashew butter, and just knew I had to use it another mind get-up. It’s practically peanut butter because of all those peanut bits, and since not everyone likes cashew butter and peanut butter is easier to find in stores, I decided to put peanut butter in the recipe title instead of what it really is. It’s not even the processed sort, which some recipes insist on for better results, but really you get a perfect peanut-buttery flavour upon first bite even with the natural unprocessed stuff.

The densest, fudgiest brownie cookie with white chocolate and dark chocolate bits, filled with peanut butter (and in this case, for the sake of aesthetic and flavourful pleasure, salted caramel spread on top). 

I like food hybrids like cruffins and cronuts and whathaveyous. Brownie cookies are on the list. The shape and form resembles that of a cookie, but the texture is all of what you want in a good fudgy brownie– this is not quite the chewy sort, but more dense and fudge-like. Definitely more than what you would guess the texture is akin to in the first picture above. The middle is soft, the edges still squishable. Best part? Adjacency of salt and sweet. Nothing beats it. Yes, my description vocabulary needs a bit of a boost, but squishable is still a word. And an accurate one here, at that.

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Peanut Butter Stuffed Salted Brownie Cookies (makes 18-20 medium-sized cookies)

Ingredients

125g (half cup) creamy/chunky peanut butter (natural or processed; either works fine)

30g (1/4 cup) powdered sugar (doesn’t need sifting)

large pinch salt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

210g (slightly less than 1 3/4 cups) all-purpose flour

35g (1/2 cup+couple of tablespoons) cocoa powder, doesn’t need sifting (I suggest Green and Black’s here)

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

115g (1/2 cup or 1 stick) salted butter (unsalted works too, but flavour is enhanced with salted)

230g (1 packed cup) dark brown sugar

60g (a heaping 1/3 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

110g (one heaping half cup) of dark chocolate chips or chopped chocolate

*optional: an extra handful of white chocolate chunks/chips (30g) and one heaping tablespoon of salted caramel sauce

 

Directions

Preheat your oven to 180C (350F) and grease (line if you want) 2 baking trays. In a medium bowl, mix together the first 4 ingredients to make the peanut butter filling. Roll into small balls; you should have around 20 balls, if not more or less. Place the balls on a small baking tray and place in the freezer while you work on the brownie cookies.

In another bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, chopped chocolate (both white and dark) and salt. In a large bowl, whisk together the butter, eggs, two sugars and vanilla extract (add the heaping tablespoon of salted caramel here, if you wish!). Pour the dry mix into the wet mix and mix until just combined. Take out the frozen balls of filling from the freezer. Scoop a heaped teaspoon of dough onto a baking tray, then place one ball of filling in the centre, press down a little, then take another teaspoonful of dough and place on top, smushing around the sides of the filling ball so it’s nicely covered. Repeat until the balls are all enclosed within the gooey chocolatey dough you made.

Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes– resist baking for longer even though the cookies look and feel weak to the touch after such a short baking time. If you happen to have made very large cookies, then bake for 11-12 minutes, but nothing more than 12. Leave to cool for at least half an hour before eating. These cookies will keep in an airtight container for up to 5 days, but they’re best eaten within 2 days, during which they retain the ultimate taste and texture. Eat with coarse salt sprinkled on top or more salted caramel sauce.

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