Plain and simple Vanilla Muffin

Sometimes, all you really want is a simple, delicious plain muffin.

In my case, my 2 year old seems to dig for this simple and healthy muffins and she brings them to school at the nursery for her snacks and small lunch at the nursery and everyday  she b rings back an empty lunch box so I think I'm doing right here :)

Anyhow, baking for kiddies snack we must always pay attention to the sugar and butter content for it to be healthy snack for the LO :)

Ingredients

1 cup (125g) self rising flour

3/4 cup (180 ml) milk

1/2 cup (100g) of brown raw sugar

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla essence

1-2 normal egg(s)

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 tablespoons (30g) butter or vegetable based butter like Olive or sunflower  margerine

  

Preparation

1. Preheat to 170ºC/325ºF.

2. You need a bowl and a fork to mix with for start then add flour, milk, sugar, and baking powder and mix for 1 to 2 minutes. 

3. Then add the butter and egg(s). and mix for 1 to 2 minutes then  add a tsp of vanilla.

4. Prepare your baking tray. Grease the muffin tray or silicone muffin moulds

5. Pour mixture evenly onto the greased muffin tray or mould.

6. Put in the oven for 15-18 minutes or until the surface  slighty browed or more.

7. Take out then leave to cool before serving.

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NOTE: To have a different flavour of muffin you can use the same recipe just add in the berries or fruits and also cocoa for a a chocolate vanilla muffin. It's all up to you. You can double the portion for this plain muffin and then put in whatever flavour you want after that.

DONE!

Have a go at this simple but tasty vanilla muffin.

  À bientôt

 foodatelier@gmail.com

Chiken & Mushroom pie

Both me and my husband loves to eat pie's anything that has pastry into it is our kinda food and recently we found out that our little one is crazy about pie too :)
Because we love pie so much I decided to make my own chicken & mushroom pie the easy way :)

So here are the ingredients you will need :)

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 chicken breasts, skin and bone removed
• 150g/5½oz button mushrooms, quartered
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 50g/2oz butter
• 2 tbsp plain flour, plus extra for dusting
• 300ml/½ pint milk
• 200ml/7fl oz chicken stock (you can use the chicken cubes and just pour hot water into it and you get your chicken stock)
  
  
  white pepper
• pinch salt
• dried / fresh parsley
• 500g/1lb 2oz ready-made short-crust pastry ( If you dont have this then you can make your own pastry  and I usually use this recipe to make pastry dough from scratch)
• 
  

Preparation Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C
2. Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the chicken and fry until the chicken begins to turn white.
3. Add the mushrooms and continue to fry until the chicken is golden-brown.
4. Add the onion and garlic to the same pan and fry for 2-3 minutes or until softened. Remove from the heat and set aside.
5. Melt the butter in a saucepan, stir in the flour and cook for about three minutes, stirring constantly until it has formed a thick smooth paste (this is called a roux).
6. Mix the milk and stock together in a jug, then add white pepper and salt, to taste. Pour the liquid slowly into the flour mixture, whisking all the time until smooth. Simmer over a gentle heat, stirring constantly, for about five minutes or until the sauce has thickened.
7. Stir in the dried/fresh  parsley and pour the sauce over the chicken and mushroom mixture. Mix well, then spoon into a pie dish and leave until completely cool.
8. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface until it is the thickness of a pound coin. Brush the edges of the pie dish with beaten egg, lay the pastry on top, press down the edges and trim. Brush the top of the pie with beaten egg .
9. Take a fork and punch in some holes on the top of the pie allow steam to escape and then bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden-brown on top.

And here is the end result of it ! yummylicious   Chicken & mushroom pie! :)

enjoy trying this recipe!


  À bientôt

 foodatelier@gmail.com

Crispy Apple Tart

This is a quick and easy recipe to the usual apple dessert and furthermore, it is kinda pretty too :)

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 35 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Oven Temperature: 240° c  -  460° f

Step 1: You will need

• 110g of shortcrust pastry ( recipe for shortcrust pastry)
• 30 g butter, cut into cubes
• 4  apples, peeled
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 apples, peeled and diced
• ½ tsp cinnamon powder
• 85 g sugar

  Make the apple filling

Place a wide saucepan on a medium heat and put in the diced apples and with the sugar. Heat and stir until they start to break down. You can mash them with the back of the spoon to help them along.
Keep stirring until most of the liquid has evaporated. Then turn off the heat and put in the cinnamon powder.
Continue to stir and mash the apple mixture for about a minute more, then set aside.

  Preheat the oven

Preheat the oven to 230°C, 450°F or gas mark 8.

Cut the apples

Take one of the peeled apples and cut off the sides without cutting into the core, which you can then discard. Cut the apple pieces into thin wedges and repeat this with the rest of the apples.

  Assembling the apple tart

Place the shortcrust pastry circle on a baking tray, …and spread the apple filling ...evenly over its surface. Next, layer the apple wedges in a circle ...carefully around the side … and finish off with an arrangement in the centre

Springkle with sugar and butter

Sprinkle a little sugar over the top of the tart. Then also place on various small knobs of butter.

  Baking

Place the tart into the preheated oven and bake for approximately 25 minutes, then remove.

Glaze and serve

Using a brush, paint the surface of the tart with some of the apple filling. This will give it a glazed, shiny look, and add to the flavour.

 It is now ready to serve.

Voila!

À bientôt

 foodatelier@gmail.com

French Vanilla Moist and Strawberry Cake

 Cake:

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 cups white sugar

4 eggs, room temperature

2-3/4 cups flour

2-1/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1 cup milk

2 TBS pure vanilla extract

6 pieces of large strawberries (sliced)

Frosting:

1 cup butter, softened

7 to 8 cups powdered sugar, sifted

1/2 cup evaporated milk

1 TBS pure vanilla extract

5 to 6 pieces of strawberries (Divided)  

Directions

PREHEAT oven to 350 degrees. Butter your  9 inch cake pans and dust the inside with flour . Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.

Sift the dry ingredients together and set aside.

Beat the butter for 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat another 3 minutes.

Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat thoroughly after each addition.

Start adding the flour mixture one cup at a time, and alternate with the milk; ending with the flour mixture. Add the vanilla, mix well and finally pour half into prepared cake pan then layers it with pieces of the sliced strawberries refer photo)

Then pour in the remaining half of the cake mix.

Then spread the cake mix evenly and covering all conners.

Bake for 25-30 minutes.

 

Transfer to a rack and cool for 5 minutes, then

unmold them and peel off the paper liners.

Invert and cool to room temperature, bottom side up.

FROSTING:

Place the softened butter in a mixing bowl and beat with 1/2 of the powdered sugar.

Add the vanilla and milk and mix well. Add another cup of powdered sugar 1 cup at a time until you reach the desired consistency to spread; you may not need all of the sugar specified. Beat until light and fluffy; spread on the cooled cake and decorate the cake with some strawberries and your cake is done!

Happy Trying everyone!!


À bientôt

 foodatelier@gmail.com

DAY 47 - Mardi Gras Day!

Yesss its a holiday again :)

According to the locals there would be some carnival going on the streets just like the ones in Brazil, although i was so wanting to go i didnt really have the mood to go out today and so we stayed home and just listen to the rythmn of the drums of people dancing samba on the streets with their elaborate costume and all. There's always next year..i hope :)

Besides, we also woke up late for last night we had some little CNY goin on in the apartment and didnt get to sleep until late and so we decided to be lazy and doze off till it was close to mid day hehehe

We had some light brunch then we watch some television and i was busy making petite madelines for we run out of things to munch during tea time so i was off to the kitchen baking them while peeping through the kitchen window for some glimpse of the festival....but No luck. there were none :(

all i did saw were...

 

these hard working ladies i found browsing in the street for some sales of their produce :)



And voila! we are all set for our afternoon tea and watch a little bit of Traveling documentaries on Tele for a bit.


Happy Mardi Gras!

À bientôt

claritydefinesyou@gmail.com

DAY 42 - Baking day :)

spent the whole afternoon baking these french breads and registering to my new school :) Looks like im going to hit the books and yet again :) Should be a very interesting year for me :)

À bientôt

claritydefinesyou@gmail.com

Recipe de Gratin de Brocoli with chicken :)

Ah my first post from a new country and place :) ah well to start of my debut post i would like to wish Fariza Ismail Celestial VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY although i wont be able to cook this special meal to her but i hope with this recipe you can have a go at home and cook it together with your beloved family :)

Its actually very easy to make but a very healthy and yummy food to have and not much work on it too because you leave it to the oven to do the main job :) But anyhow...here is the recipe :)

The Ingredients :-

* 1/2 kg brocoli
* 30 g flour
* 1/2 l milk
* a few slices of the craft cheese or whichever cheese you like
* 20 cl creme
* 30 g Butter
* 2 or 3 potatoes
* 1 chicken breast fillet / cubed
* 1 big onion chopped


The Preparation :-

1. toss your onions in a pot for 2 minutes then add your chicken and toss for 3 minutes add your salt and pepper to taste. let it set for 2 mins then add 1 cup or more of water until the chopped chickens are submerged. covered and wait until it is cooked and simmering in the broth. take out the chicken cubes and set aside. and keep the broth aside.

2. Pealed and washed the potatoes are now ready for a short steaming for a good 15 minutes then followed by the broccoli for another 7 minutes. After steaming take out and let rest aside.

3. Preheat your oven to 200C.

4. Now you are ready to make your Bechamel Sauce.
Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, until the paste cooks and bubbles a bit, but don't let it brown — about 2 minutes. Add the milk, continuing to stir as the sauce thickens. Bring it to a boil. Add salt and pepper to taste, lower the heat, and cook, stirring for 2 to 3 minutes more. Stir in 1 sliced of the Kraft Cheese during the last 2 minutes of cooking. After it dissolves remove from the heat.

5. Now you are ready to assemble your baking dish
take a wide Pyrex see through dish if you have or anything that you can use for baking. Pour some bechamel sauce in your chicken and stir through it thoroughly until all portions are covered then pour everything to the baking dish and level it out then sliced your steamed potatoes just like the size a potato chip but not too thin the arranged them in your baking dish so that it will be well composed with the chicken and finally throw in your steamed broccoli and the pour down the other half of the Bechamel sauce and if its not enough to cover the dish add in some of the chicken broth u made with the chicken early on.



6. and finally layer down your kraft cheese as much as you want or you can use mozzarella cheese as you like. Sprinkle some black pepper and some basil leaves and its ready to go in the oven.


6. after about 25 to 30 minutes when you see the cheezes started to turn golden or brown turn off the oven and you are ready to serve your Gratin de Brocoli with chicken!!



In the original recipe, it doesnt have any chicken cubes thrown into it but i like it to be a one meal thingy so that you can eat it just like that so thats why i put the chicken in :)

I hope you like it and oh by the way.... Happy birthday to you my dear Fariza and many happy returns :)


À bientôt

claritydefinesyou@gmail.com

The Week end of Asunción - 21st May 2009

Its Asunción Day and since a couple of the family members are heading this way i decided to make some Brioche and also bread while maman made "Clafootis" for dessert :)

I made two things at one time the bread and the brioche and of course brioche needs a lot more labour then making the bread so anyhow the pictures will show the finished product and tiny bits of the process :) And unlike back in Malaysia, waiting time for the dough to rise is much faster and indoors too but somehow... eventhough its spring here, the wind is still blowing hard and so a bit cool so i had to put them outside for some sunbathing process hehehe :)

cute aren't they hehehe...actually while waiting i managed to play soccer wt my little nephew and niece and we won!!!!!! hehehehe

after raised up to the level i wanted its time to bake it and brush it with some egg yolk + milk and you get that brown crusty look like that :)

nice and smells nice too :) managed to perfumerised the whole house hehehe

thanks to my phone camera can zoom zoom so can take this pic to show slightly the inside which is nothing its just like roti butter kosong very delicious to eat with cafe :) and and and usually the recipe is with pure butter, but hmn...dont want to feel too guilty to eat it later so i used demi-sel which means semi salted.

voila! my very own Brioche from the Vendée Region:)

This is maman's fruit tart or rather they call it "Clafootis" here yummy too made from Cassis berries :)

and here is the bread...

closer look at and can you imagine i used a rice cooker to bake this :)

and finally the two yummies :)

anyways have a great weekend everyone and take care!

À bientôt!

Clarity!

Making bread from a microcomputer Rice Cooker :)

The dutifully rice cooker :)

Who says you need a proper oven to make a nice bread? well, since i,m moving around so much and going to picnics or staying over at relatives place i can easily make something up out of my rice cooker :) I bought 2 of this one for my parents in law in france hence this one manually translated into french as for the functions of it and secondly one is somewhere in africa now awaiting for me to work on it hehehe. Anyways, i have made cakes with it also as it has a cake funtion button as well, so i was thinking why not bread so i tried it and voila! a wonderful golden bread :)

here is the recipe, actually anykind of good bread recipe will do as this is just another mode of emploi for baking the bread. my bread recipe is really pretty easy to follow indeed :-

The bread starter

• 1 cups of warm water
• 1.5 Tablespoons of active dry yeast
• 1 cup of plain flour

¤ mixed all up and wait for about 30 minutes or less until it becomes frothy

The dough

• 1 cup of wholemeal plain flour
• 1 cup of plain flour
• 1 Tablespoon of salt
• 1 handfull of cereal
• extra flour (almost a cup)
• 1 cup of warm water
  

¤ mixed all the dry ingredients up and finally pour in the "bread starter" [pic 1] to the dough and mixed well adding every now and then extra flour until it forms a dough [pic 2] then let it rest for 1 hour

¤ after for about an hour the dough will resemble something shown on [pic 3] flatten out the dough [pic 4] and finally let it rest for about 3 to 4 more hours until it resembles the dough in [pic 5] the doubled now sized dough indicates that its ready to be baked

¤ baked in the oven for 45 minutes until its brown or golden on the top or if using the rice cooker for about 1 hour until it resembles like the picture on [pic 6]

a voila! my golden brown bread made from baking in the rice cooker :)

have a go everyone!

À bientôt!

Clarity!

My 1st Croissant! :)

I have always love to eat croissant its one of my old time favourite. The problem with me is that, i love to eat my croissant with butter and thats sinfully rich in everything particularly fats. So i have been toying with the idea of making my own "guilt-free croissant" for i have done a few recipes of my own through trial and error for my butter free bread or organic wholemeal bread as well as guilt-free Brioches as well. So i was thinking why not make my croissant less oilly and less butter and make it as healthy as possible so i came up with my own recipe for this and so this is my first procuce. Raymond was my tester person for he is french and so he should know better on how a croissant should taste and he is very particular with breads and pastries and particularly croissant. So this morning i suprised him with my mini croissant as well as mini croissant breads and he loved it! Especially when its not oilly at all and its very crispy and crunchy he said to me you must have put in tonnes of burre but i told him just the normal then less amount of butter and unsalted and just play around with the texture for the mixture for the dough so voilà! a healthy croissant!


The process of making the croissant

And the final product...voilà! Clarity's mini croissant :)


clarity me!

Love Cookies

Somebody have a sweet tooth so here is a treat for that special someone :)

Raisin and almond butter cookies :)

a lot of love pour into the working of this simple but heartfull cookies :)

Ready as can be....

Voila!

Kept inside the cookie tin especially for mon coeur :)

I call this cookies Love Cookies eventhough they are not the shape of a heart. Anyhow hope you like them cookies mon coeur!! ***emmuahhh***!!!


Love always,
Clarity!