Recipe: Banana Walnut Muffins

Hello there!

Sorry for not posting often (I am really terrible I swear) but yes today I have a recipe for you! So on Friday, I decided to bake some banana walnut muffins and they turned out great. The only flaw was that it did not rise well but other than that, it was enjoyable and rather delicious.

Banana Nut muffins

Total Time: 0 hours 27 minutes

Prep:

Cook:

0 hours 7 minutes

0 hours 20 minutes

Yield:

12 muffins

Level:

Easy

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 overripe bananas
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and lightly butter 2 muffin tins. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside. Mash 2 of the bananas with a fork in a small bowl so they still have a bit of texture. With an electric mixer fitted with a wire whisk, whip the remaining bananas and sugar together like you mean it, for a good 3 minutes. Add the melted butter, eggs, and vanilla and beat well, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice. Mix in the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Fold in the nuts and the mashed bananas with a rubber spatula. Spoon the batter into the muffin tins to fill them about halfway. Give them a rap on the counter to get any air bubbles out. Bake until a toothpick stuck in the muffins comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes before turning the muffins out. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Recipe by Tyler Florence

*I am leaving for Hong Kong soon, so no posts till the 18th of December, but, I promise a Hong Kong food review or something! :D

-Ruth 

Let's Try: Crodos

Hi guys.

Sorry for the inactivity on this blog. We promise that there will be some Christmas recipes and fun stuff up on the way! Please don't forsake us. 

I'm sure many of you have heard of Cronuts. 

"The Cronut™ is the unique pastry creation by Chef Dominique Ansel that many have described to be a croissant-donut hybrid. After its launch on May 10, 2013, Cronut™ fans spanned the world from Berlin to Singapore, making it the most virally talked about dessert item in history."

http://dominiqueansel.com/cronut-101/

Not only are they mouthwatering, they also made it to TIME magazine's 25 Best Inventions of 2013. There are Cronut recipes on-line as well, such as this one by Edd Kimber and SORTED.

It may already be December, but Cronutmania is far from over.

This blog post might be a little too late, but I noticed that Da Paolo Gastronomia were selling Cronuts when I visited PasarBella marketplace recently. I got reaaally excited, but was unfortunately unable to review them. However, I saw them again at the I12 Katong branch earlier. Due to copyright issues, Gastronomia sells them as Crodos. Are they really that good? 

There were only three flavours available: Plain, Chocolate and Festive (White Chocolate & Raspberry). Salted Caramel can be found at other branches, if you look hard enough.

Time for the taste test!

1. Plain (cream) Crodo

It tasted very much like a croissant. Buttery, flaky and filled with pockets of air. The vanilla custard in the Crodo was thick and fluffy, although a little too sweet. Otherwise, a delightful treat!

2. Chocolate Crodo

Made with the same pastry as the plain one. The slab of dark chocolate fell off immediately while slicing. It was very rich, sinful and oozing with chocolate cream. It was very much like a Pain Au Chocolat. Decadent and guaranteed to make you sigh in happiness.


3. Festive Crodo (White Chocolate & Raspberry) 

Unlike the other two, this Crodo was very pleasing to the eye. The cutesy star-shaped pastry adorned with icing and raspberry bits provided a much needed festive touch. Did it taste as good as it looked? At first bite, we were greeted with the same flaky yet soft pastry. The cream however, was a let-down. It was very rich, and way too sweet. The white chocolate completely overpowered the raspberry filling, which was already faint on its own. When done to perfection, white chocolate and raspberry is a match made in heaven. The flavours unfortunately did not complement each other. There was also a slight nutty taste to the cream. Perhaps it wasn't freshly made?

Anyway, Crodos (or Cronuts for that matter) ARE good. Stick to the classic Plain and Chocolate ones and you're in for a treat! Maybe one day we'll get to review the REAL Cronuts, fresh from Chef Dominique Ansel's bakery. Fingers crossed.

Best enjoyed with a hot cup of coffee/tea or simply on its own!

Da Paolo Gastronomia is at

• Bukit Timah
• PasarBella
• Katong
• Holland Village
• Marina Bay
• Orchard
• Raffles Place
• River Valley

More information at http://www.dapaolo.com.sg/ 

That's all for now. Leave a comment telling us what we should review next.

-Christabel

Recipe: Custard & White Chocolate biscuits

Hey guys!

Finally.....our first blog recipe. Enjoy!

Custard & White Chocolate biscuits

This is a very easy recipe that's perfect for a leisurely afternoon.

Ingredients

• 140g butter, softened
• 85g caster sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 225g self-raising flour
• 85g custard powder
• 85g white chocolate, chopped into small chunks

Method

1. Heat oven to 180C/gas 4
2. Line 2 baking sheets with baking parchment
3. Beat the butter and sugar with an electric hand mixer till light and fluffy OR put into a food processor
4. Add the egg and vanilla extract, and mix well
5. Sift together the flour and custard powder, adding it bit by bit into the bowl, and mixing into a dough
6. Work the chocolate in by hand (remember to take the dough out first if you are using a food processor)
7. Rough the dough into balls and place on the baking sheets, a little apart to allow for spreading
8. Press each biscuit down lightly with your fingers
9. Bake for 12-15 mins until lightly golden. Remove and cool on a wire rack

Recipe adapted by from Mary Cadogan of BBC GoodFood by Christabel

See original recipe here (especially if you like sweeter biscuits!)

Give this recipe a try and let us know the results! 

Comment down below if you'd prefer recipes with photographs guiding you through each step. 

-Christabel

p/s. All photographs taken with a Canon EOS 1000D

Instamonday- LAREIACAKERIE

Hello there!
Sorry for my long absence due to my hectic schedule and O level Chinese examination. It is finally over and I am back to blogging. Before I start on this week's Instamonday, I have an announcement. We have decided that Instamonday will be once in 2 weeks instead on every week, to focus on new blog posts and many more! Do not worry, as I will still be blogging every Monday to the best of my ability,  unless I have something on.

So today on Instamonday, we have lareiacakerie , also know as Lariea Cake and Co. They specialise in mille crepes. Usually we do not do much stores on instamonday, but this time round, I decided to as they are only available in Jakarta and Surabaya.

Mille crepes are thousand layers or French crepe stacked together with light fluffy cream or rich nutella, depending on their flavours. They taste like heaven in your mouth. In Singapore, they are quite rare and even if they can be found, they are not as delicious as I wanted them too be. Many mille crepes are no light enough, or are too sweet. I have even eaten one that was frozen and it was terrible. By the photos on their instagram and comments on their facebook page, I think that this is quite a recommended mille crepe place and I will wish to try them out if I ever had a chance to.

This is their vanilla flavoured mille crepe, Vanilla Cloud. With hand whisked, light fluffy cream between silk this crepes, it looks really beautiful. It has even layers of crepe and the cream is neither too thick, which can make it too creamy, or too little, which can cause the crepe to have less flavour, so the ratio of crepe to cream is perfect. To top it off, it also has a caramel top, to give it an extra crunch. I rarely see mille crepes with a torched top, as they are really soft and the top may affect the texture, but it really is a twist to the usual mille crepe (with a powered top) and I really wish to try it. Simplicity is key, I feel that even though this mille crepe is rather sophisticated, but it has a tint of simplicity, and is worth a try.

Their strawberry field. Strawberry and cream is a match made in heaven. Strawberry and cream is the perfect combination in the winter, and even if you are living in a sunny island like me, it is also wonderful comfort food. It is layered with a generous serving of strawberries and it seems like something people will rave about (sooner or later). I really wish to get a chance to taste this one as it looks really delicious. I believe that children will like this, and I am sure that my brothers would!

Tea party. Green tea infused pastry cream and layers of beautiful crepe. I am never really for the idea of anything green tea either than Japanese soft serve ice-cream and green tea itself, but I think that this mille crepe will be good. Green tea is nice from the start, but sometimes it can get to much and feel as if you are choking on green tea. This mille crepe, covered with a blanket of matcha powder, does not seem as heavy as I thought it will be, especially when they decided to keep the crepe a the original plain crepe. I really hope that is crepe will taste exquisite and that the flavours of green tea, and cream are balanced well enough so that it is not too heavy, and still light.


Other than this, they also have other favours, like banana nutella, oreo castle, and summer lemon. Summer lemon also seems like a great treat, but I feel that it is more suitable on a summer day, around march-may. They also have seasonal flavours, like Raspberry flavoured ones for pink October and also an earl grey one.

Their flavours (price in RP)

Mille crepe with raspberry infused creme for pink October special.

I hope that you have enjoyed this blog post and if you do know places with good mille crepes, feel free to comment below and we can go try them out and make a post on them. See you soon!

-Ruth 

Mini Let's Try: Healthier Oreos

Hi guys!

Sorry for not posting Insta Mondays recently (if anyone noticed) as Ruth, who's in charge of them, has been quite busy with school lately. 

A few days ago, I was browsing through the snack aisle when something caught my eye. Mildly sweet Oreos. I am a sucker for anything less fat, less sweet, organic and healthier so I was definitely excited about them. However, do they taste as good as they sound? I gave it a try, and did a comparison with everyone's favourite- Original Oreos. 

Pretty much the same in terms of packaging. Just a different shade of blue.

Yup, no differences whatsoever. 

After close inspection, I noticed that the original Oreo is slightly lighter in colour than the mildly sweet one.

Cream looks the same. 

Time for the taste test!

COOKIE

The mildly sweet one was tougher and less sweet than the original.

The usual crunchiness was nowhere to be found.

CREAM

The mildly sweet cream was not as creamy or sweet as the original.

It also had a slight grainy texture to it. Very, very odd.

Next, I tried them with fresh milk. Milk and Oreo cookies are the perfect combination. They were made for each other. 

This is how to dunk an Oreo cookie in milk without getting your fingers dirty. I do it all the time.

The original Oreo dunked in milk was absolute perfection. The mildly sweet Oreo dunked in milk was a different story altogether. There was absolutely no hint of the creamy, chunky goodness I was used to. Long story short, the mildly sweet Oreo does not complement milk at all. 

WHICH IS BETTER?

This one's no biggie. The mildly sweet Oreo cookies may be (slightly) healthier, but they definitely don't taste as good as the original ones. 

Just stick to buying original Oreos. No questions needed. 

-Christabel

p/s. Mildly Sweet Oreos can be found at most Giant supermarkets. I bought mine from Suntec City.

FOODO BLOG

Hi guys!
Cherilynn here and because I'm a little lost of what to say, what is more appropriate than a food photo post right? (read: foodo post, get it? Get it??)

Thai Kway Chap

Lightly roasted salmon with mixed herb rice and vegetables

Pumpkin soup and open-faced sandwich with guacamole spread and alfalfa

Dry fish ball noodles 

French toast

Tom Yum soup

Laksa-infused fried rice

Open-faced sandwich with alfalfa, ham and tomato

Mushroom Risotto

Vegetarian udon noodles

Baked rice

Pasta Bolognese

Vegetarian ramen

Baked eggs with cream and tomato

Quesadillas with tacos and guacamole dip

Tom Yum-infused fried rice

Red wine residue chicken

Home-made bread pudding with rum-soaked raisins

Editor's note: Some pictures are not captioned and we're sorry for that. All the foods above were made by Cherilynn's mom!