Strawberry Muffins

Yesterday morning my mom came in and started demanding strawberry muffins; it sounded sorta weird but since I have no backbone I got to work.  It actually turned out really well. Even people who normally grind their own spices rarely grind cinnamon sticks or whole cloves, I guess because they are so big, which is a shame; it'll just take an extra second or 2 in your electric spice grinder.  It really makes a difference.

12 1/2 oz cake flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup plain greek yogurt
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup vegetable or other neutral oil
1 egg
2 tsp butter flavoring 
2 tsp grand marnier
1/4 tsp freshly ground cloves
1/4 tsp freshly ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups chopped fresh strawberries(cut to about the size of blueberries)
hefty pinch of salt 
coarse sugar


1. Sift or whisk the flour, baking soda, powder, cinnamon, cloves and salt together.
2. In another bowl, whisk together  the yogurt, sugar, oil, butter flavoring, grand marnier, and egg.
3. Take a tablespoon of the flour mixture and toss 1 cup of the strawberries in it, this will keep them from sinking to the bottom.
3. Pour the wet stuff on the dry stuff, and stir it together as quickly and using as few strokes as possible. The more your stir, the tougher they get so best to minimize it. fold in the flour coated strawberries
4. fill muffin tins 3/4 of the way full; sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of strawberries and some course sugar on top, and bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. serve warm with butter or clotted cream.

Pineapple Tarts

Pineapple tarts are an all time favorite chinese new year snack in Singapore, when they really should be an all time favorite snack all around the world all year long. They're a little tedious to make but it's definitely well worth the effort.

2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1/8 cup powdered sugar
10 tbsp chilled butter
1 egg + 1 yolk beaten
2 tbsp cold water

2 cups/ 1 whole pineapple shredded/pureed
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 whole cloves

1 egg beaten to glaze

1. mix together flour, baking powder, pinch of salt, powdered sugar and butter. Combine ingredients until mixture has a crumbly consistency.

2. make a small well in the middle of the flour mixture and add in the eggs and water. do not over knead the dough. Once the pastry dough comes together wrap it up in some cling wrap and leave in the fridge to chill untill firm (about 2 hours or overnight if preferred).

3. in a saucepan over medium heat, bring pureed pineapple, sugar and cloves to a boil then lower the heat to a simmer. be sure to drain excess water from the pureed pineapple before cooking to reduce the time taken for it to thicken and cook. stir the mixture for about 40 mins until it thickens and turns a golden brown. remove and let it cool and thicken some more.

4. roll out the pastry to a quarter inch in thickness. you will need two different sizes of cookie cutters, 2" and 1" circle cookie cutter. this recipe should yield about 18 tarts. cut out the first layer of tarts and lay them out on a baking sheet. spoon out the pineapple jam in the middle of each 2 inch circle. for the second layer, do the same but this time using the 1" cutter, cut out a hole in the middle to create a ring and place it over the first layer with the filling sticking out in the middle. lightly glaze each tart with the beaten egg.

5. preheat oven to 370 degrees fahrenheit (190 degrees celcius) and bake for 20-25 minutes.

Blueberry Muffins

I remember the blueberry muffins my oma making being so good.  Recently I tried them and realized how wrong I was.  Alton Brown's muffins, however, are good but I thought I could give it a try to improve them; this recipe is based off his.  The almond paste and butter flavoring ensure that even if you don't get a blueberry in a bite it'll still be delicious.

12 1/2 oz cake flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable or other neutral oil
1 egg
1 1/2 tbsp almond paste
1 tbsp butter flavoring
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
hefty pinch of salt

1. Sift or whisk the flour, baking soda, powder, and salt together.
2. In a blender combine the yogurt, sugars, oil, butter flavoring, egg, and almond paste and blend unto homogenized
3. Take a tablespoon of the flour mixture and toss the blueberries in it, this will keep the berries from sinking to the bottom.
3. Pour the wet stuff on the dry stuff, and stir it together as quickly and using as few strokes as possible. The more your stir, the tougher they get so best to minimize it.  Fold in the blueberries
4. fill muffin tins 3/4 of the way full and bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. serve warm with butter or clotted cream.

Duck Fat Brioche

People go nuts for duck fat and for good reason; it's delicious.  This recipe replaces some of the butter with duck fat; it doesn't end up as savory as you would think, and would make great french toast or bread pudding.  You end up with a lot of dough. I used 1/4 of it to make rolls with a dried fruit filling, and the rest to make the loaf.  Either version makes a delicious breakfast.

Starter
2 1/4 tsp dry active yeast
1/2 cup warm milk
1 cup AP flour
1 tbsp sugar

Dough
6 eggs
1/4 cup warm water
2 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter, at room temperature (2 sticks)
1/2 duck fat, at room temperature
AP flour (lets say maybe 4 cups)

For the fruit fillings
6 oz dried figs
4 oz prunes
3 tbsp honey
2 tbsp ground almonds
1 1/2 tbsp dark rum
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground pepper
pinch of salt

1 egg beaten with 1 tbsp water
demerara sugar

For the starter
1. Mix the yeast, milk, and sugar together and let sit for 5 minutes. In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, mix in the flour. Let it rise, covered, for at least 2 hours.

For the dough
1. Mix the eggs and warm water together.
2. Put 2 cups of AP flour in the work bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, slowly drizzle in 2/3 of the egg mixture with the mixer on low speed to make a batter. add in the salt and sugar.
3. Work in the butter and duck fat into the batter slowly, bit by bit.
4. Slowly drizzle in the rest of the egg mixture.
5. Switch to a dough hook attachment, adding in about 1/2 a cup at a time, work in the AP flour until you get a soft elastic bowl of dough.  It'll be somewhat softer than most bread doughs because the duck fat is so liquid-y at room temperature.
6. Knead the starter and the dough together until completely homogenized. It's easier to do this with a combination of your hands and a bench scraper.
7. Let rise in a greased bowl, covered until doubled in size, about 2 1/2 hours. punch down and then chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes so the fats have a chance to harden up.

For the filling
1. Simply put all the ingredients for the fillings in a food processor and process until it makes a chunky paste.  This should be enough to fill about 1/4 of the dough.

For the Fruit Filled rolls
1. Take a bit of the dough, roughly the size of half of a fist. Roll it out into a circle
4-5 inches wide. Place about 1 1/2 tbsp of the filling in the center (one of the spring loaded fishers is great for this).  Wrap the dough around the filling and squish/twist it to make a seal.
2. Let rise for 30-45 minutes on the pan you are gonna bake them on.
3. Snip the top with kitchen shears to make a shallow X.  Brush with the egg wash and sprinkle with the demerara sugar.  Bake at 375 until golden brown, 15-20 minutes

For the loaf
1. Divide the dough into 9 pieces, rollin each out into a snake the length of the loaf pan. place them in the pan, 3 across, 3 stacks high. (a roll out a bit of the dough, cut it into strips and decorate the top with a lattice pattern, it makes it look way impressive)
2. Let Bench proof for 45 minutes.
3. Brush with the egg wash and sprinkle with the demerara sugar.  Bake at 375 until golden brown and a bamboo skewer comes out clean, about 50 minutes, turning it halfway through the baking time.

Blueberry Oatmeal Pie

I just sorta came up with this out of the blue.  I really wanted to use oats in a dessert that wasn't cookies or the top of a crumble.

For the blueberry filling
200 gm frozen blueberries
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
juice of 1/2 lemon
zest of 1 lemon
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt

For the oat custard
1 stick butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
30 grams rolled oats, toasted in a pan over medium heat until they smell nutty
1/4 cup half and half
1/4 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp cinnamon

frozen pie crust (I know it's cheating)

rolled oats and demerara sugar to sprinkle on top

1. Preheat oven to 350. Combine all the ingredients for the blueberry filling except the cornstarch in a small saucepan. Cook over medium low heat for about 15 minutes. Mix the cornstarch with 1 tbsp water to make a slurry, stir into the blueberry filling and continue to cook until thickened.
2. Run the toasted oats through a blender until until they are the consistency of flour.
3. Cream the butter, sesame oil and sugar together; beat the eggs in one at a time and then drizzle in the half and half. mix in the ground toasted oats and cinnamon
4. press the pie crust into a pie tin. Spoon in the blueberry mixture and then top with the oat custard.  Sprinkle the top with rolled oats and some demerara sugar.
5. Bake for about 50 minutes or until the top is brown and only slightly jiggles when shaken.  Let cool completely before slicing and serve with clotted cream.

Pandan Infused Tang Zhong Rolls

When I think of great bread I think French, Italian, maybe even German and American but not from Asia; then I found out about Tangzhong bread.  It's a cooked paste made of flour and water and/or milk added to the bread dough.  It makes the bread extra fluffy and moist.  I use this little trick to finally make rolls as good as my great grandma (god I was sick of my mom telling me they're good but not as good as her grandma). Pandan leaf can be found frozen and possible fresh in some Asian markets.  According to my boyfriend it's normally paired with coconut milk but I thought the sorta musty flavor would taste great in a yeast bread.

For the Tangzhong paste
30 gm bread flour
1/2 cup whole milk
1 leaf of pandan, crumpled to bruise

For the Bread
60 gm sugar
1 tsp salt
1 egg
1/2 cup whole milk, warmed to about 110 degrees
1 tbsp dried milk powder
1 package dried active yeast
3 tbsp butter, at room temperature, cut into pieces
1 tbsp garbanzo bean flour
300 gm bread flour*

1 egg + tbsp water for egg wash
course/flaky sea salt like flour de sel

It's sorta pointless to include a measurement for the flour; so many things can affect how much flour is needed (how old the flour is, how it was stored, when the wheat was grown, the weather the day your baking).  You'll just have to start with 300 gm and add more as it needs it, after a few tries you'll get how the dough should look.

1. To make the tangzhong paste, combine all the ingredients for the Tangzhong paste, tearing the pandan leaf into several pieces.  Cook over medium low heat until it thickens, discard the pandan leaf.
2. Combine the tangzhong paste, milk, sugar, yeast, egg, garbanzo bean flour and 100 gm of the flour.  Let the sponge (thats what this is called) rise for 30 minutes to 2 hours.
3. Mix in the salt and then the rest of the flour.  You'll probably need to add more flour.  The dough should be sticky but not too sticky, keep in mind as the flour has time to absorb the moisture and as the gluten is formed during the kneading it'll become less sticky and its easier to add more flour later than more water.
4. Using the dough hook knead until the gluten is formed. You can test by tearing off a small bit, work it between your fingers into a disk like you're making a small pizza.  If you can form a membrane thin enough that you can see light through it, its ready.
5. Still using the dough hook, work in the butter.
6. Flatten the dough and fold it into itself to create a continuous membrane around the dough mass.  Move to a greased bowl. Let the dough rise until doubled in size, about 2 hours. This goes faster if you place it in a cold oven and place a casserole dish on the floor of the oven/ bottom rack if an electric oven. Fill the casserole with boiling water; the hot water will create the warm humid environment yeast loves.
7. Preheat oven to 350. Punch down the dough.  Divide the dough into 9-12 equal pieces. Flatten each of the smaller dough pieces and form them like before.  Place each into a greased muffin tin. Let bench proof covered until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
8. Make shallow slashes in the top of each roll.  I use kitchen shears to make an X in each one but there are several different patterns you can make (a square, parallel lines, spiraling lines).  Brush with the egg wash and sprinkle with the fleur de sel.
9. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until they are golden brown.

Oma's Apple Cake

This was one of my favorite things growing up, especially the top part at the outer edge which is just so light and crunchy and well delicious.  My oma would make it every Thanksgiving and Christmas but since my family has never made it to dessert on a holiday, I was always allowed to have it for breakfast the next morning.

For the crust
200gr flour
80gr sugar
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 stick of butter, softened at room temperature
1 egg
1 tbsp vanilla sugar
small pinch of salt

Filling
about 2lbs macintosh apples, small to medium
2 tbsp almond flour

Topping
3 eggs, separated
150 gr sugar
juice of half a lemon
2 tbsp flour

powdered sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 375.  To form the crust whisk the baking powder, flour, sugar, vanilla sugar, and salt together.  Using your fingertips, a fork, or a pastry cutter to work the butter into flour mixture until it looks like breadcrumbs like you're making biscuits. Then work the egg in to form a dough, if its a bit dry and crumbly, add in a bit of milk.  Wrap in plastic wrap and rest in the fridge for at least 15 minutes.  Spread the dough onto the bottom of a spring form pan and bring slightly up the sides, about 3/4 of an inch.
2. Peel, quarter, and core the apples. Make shallow slits across the apples.  Arrange them in concentric circles in the pan and sprinkle with the almond flour.
3. Bake for about 30 minutes or until the crust and apples are slightly golden.
4. While the crust and apples are baking, beat the egg whites and lemon juice until stiff peaks.  Beat the egg yolks, sugar, and flour together.  Fold the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture.
5. Top the cake with the egg mixture and return to the oven until the top is golden brown and it only jiggles slightly when the pan is shook.
6. wait until it is completely cooled, run a thin bladed knife along the inside of the pan before you open the pan.  Top with powdered sugar