There is always a first time for everything. And this was my first time making ice-cream, semifreddo to be exact. I like ice-cream, don’t you? Especially on a hot, humid day here in Singapore, an ice-cream is so hard to resist!
So what’s a semifreddo? It has a texture icier than ice-cream yet still creamy if you let it melt a little. It’s somewhat between a mousse and an ice-cream. I set my eyes on this recipe when I saw Milk and Cookies execute it from Donna Hay’s magazine. And since I have that issue as well, I thought why not give it a try especially when this recipe doesn’t need an ice-cream maker to do the churning.
My first try was a disaster as I messed up the whipping of the cream. The egg mixture was nicely whipped and left to cool. As I proceed to whip the cream to soft peak, I decided to try hand whisking it quickly. How hard can it be right? That was a mistake. The cream needs to be whisked fast and I couldn’t as my hands got tired after a while. I wonder if it’s the type of cream I bought that caused the problem (I bought Bulla pure cream). I stopped whisking to rest my arms and continued to beat the cream. While resting, the cream hardened and no matter how hard I beat, it began to curdle and stayed hard. Without any extra cream to make a new batch, I felt really disappointed that night as I was looking forward to enjoying the semifreddo on a weekend night the next day. And I ended up sulking in front of the TV the whole night.
I did whipping of egg whites to stiff peak before for my tiramisu using the mixer. That was so much easier. So the following night, I re-did everything from scratch. And this time, I used the mixer instead. Lesson learnt. A different cream was used as well. I got the whipping cream instead which I thought might be easier to whip.
The original recipe asked for only raspberry, but I added some blueberries in and reduced to 2/3 the portion. Instead of letting the berries puree sank to the bottom, I made some swirls to make it looked more beautiful. I used the normal vanilla essence as I didn’t purchase any vanilla pods. I think you can make do with vanilla extract too. Everything went well the second time. Happy.
After leaving the semifreddo to set in the freezer overnight, I eagerly went to taste it the next morning. It was a bit hard to scoop partly because of the frozen berries puree. But once it starts to soften, it melts very fast. I like how the slightly sweet cream was paired with the tangy berries. Every mouthful was a delight, of course, eating my first home-made ice-cream.
My Canon G3 was giving me some problems some time back, so I was ‘forced’ to use B’s DSLR. See the semifreddo melting in the bowl? I still haven’t figured out how to use the DSLR properly. As I fumbled through the settings, the semifreddo couldn’t stand the heat and started to melt! It’s really frustrating as I was so used to the G3. With a flip screen, it was even easier for me to compose the shots comfortably. To take photos using the DSLR without a flip screen and with a pair of very unsteady hands, I got so panicky seeing the ice-cream melts. I guess it’s time to start learning again.
Raspberry Ripple Semifreddo Recipe from Donna Hay magazine, issue 36
3 x 120g punnets raspberries
3 eggs
2 egg yolks, extra
1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
1 cup (220g) caster sugar
13/4 cup single or pouring cream
Place the berries in the food processor and process until smooth. Set aside.
Place the eggs, egg yolks, vanilla and sugar in a large heatproof bowl. Place over saucepan of simmering water and whisk the mixture with a hand-held beater for 4 – 5 mins or until thick and pale. Remove the heat and continue whisking until cool. Whisk cream until soft peaks form and gently fold into the egg mixture. Reserve 2 cups of the mixture and pour the remainder into a 12-cup capacity dish (any container will do actually). Fold the reserved mixture through the pureed berries and spoon stripes over the semifreddo. Place in the freezer for 4 – 6 hours or until set. Serves 10.
This will be my first entry to Sugar High Friday! SHF is a monthly event organised by The Domestic Goddess. The theme for this month is berries and is hosted by Food Blogga. Thanks Sihan for enlightening me on this.
I am also submitting this entry to Red & White Foodie Photo Contest, a collaboration of three foodie bloggers Dhi-Fitri-Dwi, in celebration of Indonesia’s Independence day. I am really eager to see what other foodies have come up with.
Pork with Basil? Sounds familiar? That’s right, a particular Thai dish may have come to your mind, minced pork with thai basil, a common dish in Thailand. In order to try cooking my first dish with my flourishing home-grown basil, I immediately thought of this thai dish. But my version doesn’t have any fish sauce in it as I didn’t have any in my pantry. Fish sauce seems to be an important ingredient in most Thai dishes. I figured that they use it like how we use soy sauce? I’ve been wanting to buy a bottle but not sure which brand to get. I’m not sure if the taste of basil differs from thai basil. Can anyone enlighten me on this?
Since I only had some pork loin in my freezer, I’ve decided to just cook the pork my way (with just some soy sauce), with basil and some pine nuts. I’ve seen NoobCook cooked one of her dish with pine nuts. In another occasion, I had a nice deep fried yam ring at a restaurant, topped with pine nuts instead of the usual cashew nuts. Pine nuts are really delicious. I bought them solely for my hamsters. And I thought I should put them into better use before they expires. I had wanted to make some pesto sauce with my basil and pine nuts, but have yet to make it as B didn’t really like basil that much.
Stir Fry Pork Strips with Basil and Pine Nuts Serves 2
200g pork loin
1 tsp garlic, chopped
1 tbsp cooking oil
10 to 15 basil leaves
20 to 30 pine nuts, toasted
Marinade
½ tbsp light soy sauce
½ tbsp hua teow wine
1tsp corn flour
Use the back of the knife to ‘chop’ the pork loin evenly throughout, this is to make the meat thinner. Then cut the pork loin into ¼ inch strips. Marinate the pork loin strips with the above marinade and set it aside for about half an hour in the fridge.
To start cooking, heat oil in pan. Fry the chopped garlic until they starts to brown. Add meat to stir fry for a few minutes or until the meat is cooked. You do not need to fry the meat for too long as it might gets too tough. Add in the basil leaves and pine nuts. Stir fry for another 1 or 2 mins until the basil leaves wilt. Serves hot with rice.
You can add more basil and pine nuts if you like. Or try out the authentic thai minced meat with basil, by adding fish sauce. Paw paw has got some nice Thai recipes on her blog. Do try them out. It’s definitely tastier with some fats in the minced pork. Gosh.. me and my pork fats. Haha..
Have I enticed you enough from the title of this post? It’s not just any parts, it’s my favorite part, the pork belly meat. Sinful and gross as the pork belly may seems to some of you, especially girls, but it’s heavenly to me.
In my younger days, there were 2 different parts of pork in our frequent braised pork dish (卤肉) that Mum cooked for dinner. They were lean meat（瘦肉）and pork belly meat(三层肉). I love the pork belly, while my brother flicks them away. Be it braised or roasted, it doesn’t matter. I like them anyway. I love how chewy the pork skin are for my braised pork belly meat, but they can’t be too soft, which can be a bit gross to swallow. Mum used to cook them with bittergourd but she has now replace pork belly with chicken wings, which are more well-loved by my nieces. And not forgetting, my favorite bun of all buns, the kong bak bao (扣肉包).
When it comes to roasted pork belly (烧肉), the crispy crackling skin is a must. 三层 means 3 layers. I am guessing the 3 layers means the skin, the fats and the meat. So I detest those with just skin and fats, but no meat at all. There should be a balance, crackling skin, with some fats and meat. Whenever there are leftover roasted pork belly we bought for dinner, they are stir-fried the next day with lots of garlic, mum’s chilli paste and dark soya sauce. B had learnt to enjoy this leftover dish since I brought him home for dinner a few years ago.
Growing up from a family that eats pork almost daily, I find it hard to comprehend the fact that some of my friends do not eat pork. They hate the porky smell and worst of all, the fats. Give me pork any time, I’d take it. I prefer it to chicken, which I get sick after eating too much. The feeling of eating a perfectly cooked pork belly and pig trotters makes me contented. I really enjoy eating them.
As much as I love them, I must say it’s sad that I’ve started controlling the intake these 2 years. When I say “Pork Belly, come Dance to my Belly”, it not as rejoicing as it is 10 years ago. Donkey years back, everyone tells me, “Hey, you skinny bamboo, you can afford it.” I never seems to put on weight since I started schooling. And I really think that it was a blissful thing to not put on weight even when I like eating fatty stuffs. But NOW, people who have never met me for a long time are shocked that I CAN actually put on so much weight. Pants are getting tighter now, metabolism has slowed down A LOT. I don’t think I can afford it now. *chuckles*
However, I still love my pork belly. Everything in moderation should be fine. Below is just a simple dish B taught me. I never had pork belly eaten this way. It’s one of the 陈家私房菜. You can replace them with lean meat. It is light and simple to whip up, yet still satisfying for me.
Pork Belly with Black Dipping Sauce Serves 2
250g pork belly meat (or any portion you would like to cook)
1/3 chicken stock cube
Dipping sauce
1tbsp dark soya sauce
½ tsp homemade chilli paste or chopped chilli padi
a dash of sesame oil
Boil the whole strip of pork belly with the chicken stock cube for about 10 to 15 mins in a pot (depending on the amount of meat, you need to gauge this yourself).
Once cooked, turn off the heat, remove pork belly from pot. Cut the pork belly ½ inch thick.
Mix ingredients for dipping sauce together in a saucer.
Serve meat with dipping sauce and rice.
Easy enough?
Few months ago, ovenhaven was really nice to pass me the Nice Matters Award. I’ve forgotten to mention it till now. Thanks, dearie.
What’s your favorite cold dish? Cold dish usually reminds me cold crabs, cold soba noodles and the first dish in every Chinese wedding banquet. I wonder why the first dish is called the Cold Dish (冷盘) though some of the items in the dish consists of deep fried spring rolls, braised duck, etc.. and they are not really served chilled.
How about some peanut butter with cold tofu? This is a dish B often had when he was still staying with his family. It’s like a family dish. He calls it the 陈家私房菜 (The Chen’s Secret Recipes). So naturally, shortly after we got married, he promised to whip up some of his family’s ‘special’ dishes. And he made me waited for a good one and a half years before I got to savor this. Although along the way, he did cooked some other dishes like their Foochow Red Wine Chicken(红糟鸡), Mee Sua in Rich Hua Teow Wine Soup with Egg (蛋面线)… Wait… I think that’s about it!
His family seems to like peanut butter. He once made for me his regular lunch at home, peanut butter noodles. I was skeptical about the taste. And I didn’t quite stomach this well. The noodles was cloyingly dry with the peanut butter sauce. After a few mouthful, I said, “No, thanks. I’ll stick to my instant noodles.” And I happily slurped up my curry instant noodles. And that was the first time he cooked something for me. Okay, I know it’s my bad, but I couldn’t make myself chomp down the sticky dry noodles.
So how did the cold tofu with peanut butter sauce fare? Excellent!! Although my first try on the peanut butter noodles was pretty bad, but this definitely works for me. It’s really easy to make and comforting to eat. The ingredients and steps are simple. You can adjust the amount of seasoning according to your own taste bud. The below recipe is just a guide. If you prefer it to be more salty, then add more soy sauce. Like it more watery, add more hot water.
Cold Tofu with Peanut Butter Sauce Dressing
topped with Pork Floss and Century egg Serves 2
1 silky tofu (standard size packed tofu from supermarket)
1 century egg (diced or cut into wedges)
2 tbsp pork floss
1 tbsp creamy peanut butter
sesame oil
½ tbsp light soy sauce
½ cup of hot water
spring onion for garnish (optional)
Remove tofu from container and wash it clean under slow running water. Drain well and place it on a plate. Chill it in the refrigerator. You can prepare this half an hour ahead.
To prepare the dressing, mix peanut butter sauce with hot water. You can add the water bit by bit and stir until the desired consistency. Next, add light soy sauce and a dash of sesame oil. Taste and season according to your preferred taste.
Pour the peanut butter dressing over the tofu, topped with pork floss and century egg. Garnish with chopped spring onions and serve.
We loved to mash and mix up all the ingredients in the plate before tucking in. If you ever try making this dish, let me know how it goes for you.
“Hey! Stop it! I’m really stuffed!!” This must be what the chicken thigh was telling me. Instead of making the usual roasted chicken, I added some stuffing to the chicken thigh. The idea struck me when I recalled having chicken ballotine at a café, chicken breast or thigh rolled with some vegetables inside.
There are 2 pots of edible herbs added to my ‘mini garden’, namely basil and lemon balm. Fresh basil comes in handy when I whip up pasta dishes which are regular meals in the house. Or simply just toss them together with my salad. I didn’t know why I chose to grow lemon balm. It’s from the mint family, not much of a mint smell, but very strong lemon scent. Rubbing the leaves sometimes makes me happy, although sometimes I thought I am inhaling Mama Lemon, the dish detergent! I figured I could use it for baking which I seldom do these days. Well, I can also chopped them up and toss with salad too, for an added zesty taste.
As these 2 pots of herbs starts to flourish, I was so eager to harvest them. So apart from stuffing sautéed diced mushrooms and carrots with the chicken thigh, I stuffed together some of my freshly harvested basil and lemon balm leaves. You can omit these 2 herbs totally, as I was just getting excited that I wanted to use them in anything I cook!
I should have gotten some kitchen twine to tie up the chicken thigh tight instead, I used toothpicks to stitch them up, which didn’t worked very well. As you can see from the photo, the stuffing were dropping out.
The chicken thighs didn’t look good after they were roasted as they were a bit dry on the outside and still slightly raw on the inside. I would probably lower the oven temperature and roast them longer if I were to make this again. Another thing I will try is to use a rolling pin and roll it over the chicken thigh. This might make them thinner and thus a larger surface for containing the stuffing. Or I would roast a whole chicken, with some rice stuffing as well. That would be really nice to have for a weekend dinner!
Stuffed Chicken Thighs with Roasted Vegetables Serves 2
3 chicken thighs, deboned
30g butter
150g fresh shitake mushrooms, diced
1 small carrot, diced
2 big russet potatoes, cut into wedges
1 white onion, quartered
1 bulb garlic
4 baby corns
½ zucchini, cut into chunks
½ capsicum, cut into chunks
½ cup fresh basil leaves
½ cup lemon balm leaves
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar (optional)
dried parsley
paprika
black ground pepper
salt
Rub chicken thighs with salt, black ground pepper and olive oil. Leave it aside.
Preheat oven to 180°C.
Heat pan with butter. Once butter starts to bubbles, Sauté chopped garlic till fragrant. Add mushrooms and carrots. Sauté them till the mushrooms are cooked. Add about 1 tsp of dried parsley and stir for another 30 secs. Set aside on a plate for cooling.
Toss potatoes with dried parsley, parprika, salt and black ground pepper. Seasoned to your own preference. Next, drizzle olive oil generously and toss evenly.
Toss baby corn, zucchini and capsicum with black ground pepper and olive oil. Drizzle balsamic vinegar over the vegetables and toss evenly. Adding balsamic vinegar is optional.
Next, place some stuffing on the chicken thigh and rolled it up. Tie it with kitchen twine to secure the stuffing. Else, probably use toothpicks like I did. Be careful when poking the toothpicks through the chicken.
Lastly, arrange the vegetables(tossed vegetables, onion and garlic) and potatoes nicely around the chicken thighs on a roasting tray. I like the potatoes to be at the outermost edge as they will get slightly burnt on the edges and still soft on the inside. Brush more olive oil on the chicken skin if you want to have crispy skin to munch on.
Place roasting tray into the oven and bake for approximately 30 to 40 minutes. Chicken is cooked when you insert a knife and the juices are clear.
Sounds tedious, but it isn’t really complicated. It’s easier to stuff everything into a whole chicken. I wish I can cook a whole chicken instead but there will be a lot of leftovers for just the 2 of us.
This is not a food related post. It’s going to be a long-winded one. Skip this if you’re not interested.
As I’ve mentioned, my darling hamsters are part of the reasons why I set up this blog, although it’s mainly a food blog. Till now, I really, really regret to only share pictures and stories of them when they were gone. This post no doubt is to commemorate my beloved Kimchi, who left me 2 days before Chinese New Year.
I love the rest of them no less, but Kimchi shares a very special bond with me. You can say it’s a love and hate relationship. We had tissue tug-of-war, massage sessions, hide-and-seek, etc. The countless things destroyed by her multiple chewing, escaping from her tank to see the world out there. Visiting Mikosan for a good fight twice, leaving an undesirable wound on her face, which healed completely later.
Being the most active of them all, a trait inherited from their mother Butterscotch(also Mikisan’s mother), Kimchi is always ready to come out for some fun. Whether she’s sleeping or running on her wheel, once my hand goes in, she will eagerly hop onto my hand. She even clings on to my hands even though I am not bringing her out. She’s affectionate, as well as kaypoh(a word which means inquisitive). She allows me to stroke her even when she’s sleeping, but she will wake up and acknowledge my presence by affectionately rubbing her head against my hands. I sometimes call her the kaypoh queen, because she’s always so curious and determined to find out what my pair of hands are doing, be it holding on to something, or clearing her potty. When I call the others, she will think that I’m calling her.
Kimchi trying to get up my pants
Kimchi chasing after a stick. What a messy desk, how embarrassing….
When it comes to food, she’s adventurous. She’s always the one who readily eats whatever new food I introduced. And did I tell you, she loves durian? It’s an acquired taste. The other hamsters ran away upon sniffing the durian, pushing my hands away (just like how some tourists react when they were offered durians when they come to Singapore).
Why the special bond? She made me feel special on the day she died. I got a friend to board her for almost 2 weeks as I was going away for a short trip. She was getting old, not as active and was skinnier. The day I passed her to my friend, I can sense that she was restless. The night I was back in Singapore, I received the bad news that she might not be able to make it. I rushed down to fetch her home. Her condition got worse the day I left Singapore. She couldn’t eat any solid food anymore. Friends prayed hard that she hanged on till I get back. They told her to wait for me. And she did.
I brought her back to spend her last moments with me. I could hardly sleep that night. She could still respond to me calling her name. She was weak but was still aware of what’s going on around her. There was a moment when she climbed up my hand, indicating that she wants to come out. I held on to her. She struggled. She wanted to walk about on the ground, like she always do. I put her back to a small carrier but she tried so hard to come out of the tank. I let her out onto the ground, she scampered around for a while.
Just before she was gone, she called out so loud. I had never heard any of my hamster does that before. It’s not a squeaking sound they usually made. I don’t know if she was in pain or she was calling out to me. I rushed to her, stroking her, hoping to ease her discomfort, asking her what was wrong. She quietened down. I continued stroking her. I told her, “Kimchi, it’s ok. Just let go.” She was gone a few minutes later.
Up till her last moments, I can feel her love for me. Tears still welds up when I recalled these moments. It’s a bond that can never be replaced. It’s amazing how these litter critters can make you feel. Their innocent expressions and funny ethics, they never fail to cheer me up. Kimchi, you will be greatly missed.
This is the year of the Rat. Many people are buying golden hamsters for good luck. Please DO NOT buy them on impulse. Be responsible, and do not abandon them when you get tired of them. At least, find them a good home. Every year, there are so many abandoned hamsters. You’ll be shocked how heartless and irresponsible some humans are, leaving the hamsters to fend for themselves. Parents, please do educate your children to be responsible for their pets. A pet is for life. Please be kind to them.
What a lengthy post, I apologized if I’ve bored you.
How do you like your pizza? Thick or thin crust? Lots of cheese? Or just full of toppings? I definitely like mine with thin crust, lots of cheese with moderate toppings. As much as I like to try making a pizza base myself, I didn’t had the courage to do it, for fear of failing and wasting the cheese and toppings. From my understanding, to achieve a thin crust, you need a very high heat like a stone oven to toast the pizza fast and yet the toppings gets cooked with cheese melting at the same time. Nevertheless, it will still be in my to-make list. It’s just a matter of when I can strike this item off the list.
A promise’s a promise. The long awaited school holidays were here again. We baked chocolate chip cookies last National Day. The intention for this session was to make rolled cookies. I even got the cookie cutters ready. But I gave them 2 choices. So it’s gonna be pizzas or cookies? Pizza sounds delicious and fun to have, and so they decided on making pizzas instead.
Store-bought frozen pizza crust isn’t that bad. In fact, it’s quite decent and affordable. And you can have free-play to use whatever toppings and cheese you like. You can spread a layer of tomato sauce or puree on the base of the pizza. As I had a jar of tomato-based pasta sauce in my pantry, I used that instead. Next, is to grate a layer of mozzarella cheese on the tomato sauce, followed by the toppings you’ve prepared. I used ham and fresh button mushrooms. Lastly, grate another layer of mozzarella and sprinkle some dried parsley on top. And they were ready to go into the toaster! It’s that easy!!
The 2 girls had fun preparing for the pizza, mainly cutting up the ham and mushrooms. These pizza crusts are of personal pan size and takes only 12 to 15 mins to toast. I love to watch the cheese melts and turn brown. Gosh, I am drooling at the of thought that while typing this post.
These pizzas are really not bad tasting! I am quite pleased with the results. My niece said it looked ‘real’. What she meant was the photo of the pizza looks pretty professional. Haha… I thought pizzas are not filling enough for them. So I made some wild mushroom soup for them to go with the pizzas. What a nice auntie I am. Hehe… But my effort was not wasted. They LOVE the soup and gave me both thumbs up!
Sorry for not posting this entire month. I didn’t had the mood to blog as work keeps piling up. I have so many things to blog about!!
“Bagel, bagel, yum yum bagel, yum yum pumpernickel, pumpernickel bread! I have a bagel and it’s delicious. Would you like a bite?” I came to know of this song from the popular kid’s show, Barney. Although I have no kids, but I am quite familiar with the songs in the show, singing along and dancing around with my nieces.
Mini bagels is what I made some time back. My first try handling dough and yeast. These bagels are really small, only 5cm in diameter. I made them plain as I forgot to buy seasame seeds for the toppings. The first time I saw these cute little bagels at Evan’s blog, I thought they were donuts. Haha..
Bagels are know to be hard, dense and chewy. It is a popular choice of bread in the US. You can add various types of toppings such as poppy seeds, seasame seeds, onions, cheese, garlic, etc. When making bagels, you need to bathe them in boiling water. Depending on how hard or soft you want your bagels to be, the time they spent bathing in the water is varied. Want them harder, longer in the boiling water. Prefer them softer, reduce the water bath duration.
As the bagels I made are really small, they were very chewy even though I followed the recipe. The next time I make them, I will either reduce the time further, or make bigger bagels! Plain bagels are so versatile, eat them with cream cheese, cheese, or the blt way. I had mine with ham, cucumber and tomatoes for breakfast. 3 of them and I’m stuffed!
I am somewhat satisfied with my first experience handling dough although there were some hiccups during the process. My dough didn’t seemed to doubled in size and I kept peeping. Haha.. I realized that I should make them during the day where temperature is higher and warm, as the dough needs to be in a warm area to be able to rise nicely. But it’s nice to have fresh homemade bagels for breakfast the next day.
This is the last day of year. I hope 2007 was a good one for you. Let’s look forward to 2008 together! See you soon and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!
How often does one consume fresh blueberries in Singapore? Not very often, I would say, at least for me. These berries don’t come cheap here in Singapore. One small punnet sets you back by $6.50. The organic ones cost about $10.50 per punnet. By the way, this post is way overdue. About half a year back, the cost of fresh blueberries was reduced to almost half their usual price, $3.20 per punnet! I was an elated woman when I saw the price tag. My initial thought was, my hamsters were in for a treat. They love these mildly sweet blueberries! Lucky little rodents. Without further hesitation, I quickly grabbed 2 punnets home.
Since I can’t keep these berries for long and my hamsters won’t be able to eat much, I surfed around looking for some nice recipes where I could make use of them. What a coincidence when I went to Cherly’s food blog, her latest post was on Blueberry Muffins! Woooh, the way she described how the blueberries burst in the muffin, the thought of it made me drooled. Alright then, the remaining berries would all go into my blueberry muffins.
As I wanted these muffins bursting with the flavour of blueberries, I reduced the amount of sugar slightly. The word ‘streusel’ for this muffin simply means toppings that form a crumbly top on the muffin. Muffins are one of the easiest to make but make sure that you don’t overmix the batter, else you won’t get the dense texture a muffin should be. Prepare the toppings after you’ve prepared the batter. I made a mistake preparing the toppings first and the butter had already melted a abit, resulting in the not so crumbly, but lumpy look. When preparing the toppings using the rubbing-in method, you have to really do it quickly using only your fingertips(heat from the palm will melt the butter).
The aroma in the kitchen when the muffins were baking in the oven was wonderful. Eat them fresh on it’s own, or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a glass of milk. Perfect for breakfast or tea.
Blueberries are low in calories and packed with anti-oxidants. They are a very good source of vitamin C, manganese, and both soluble and insoluble fiber like pectin. Blueberries are also a good source of vitamin E.
How to Select and Store
Choose blueberries that are firm and have a lively, uniform hue coloured with a whitish bloom. Avoid berries that look dull in color or are soft and watery in texture. They should be free from moisture since the presence of water will cause the berries to decay. Ripe blueberries should be stored in a covered container in the refrigerator where they will keep for about a week. They will be freshest if consumed within a few days. Always check berries before storing and remove any damaged berries to prevent the spread of mold. But don’t wash berries until right before eating as washing will remove the bloom that protects the berries’ skins from degradation. If kept out at room temperature for more than a day, the berries may spoil.
Tips on preparing blueberries
Fresh berries are very fragile and should be washed briefly and carefully and then gently patted dry if they are not organic. Wash berries just prior to use to not prematurely remove the protective bloom that resides on the skin’s surface.
There are many ways to enjoy blueberries other than eating on it’s own. Add them to your breakfast cereals. Use them in your cheesecake, pies, tarts and muffins. Or you can make blueberry pancakes and waffles.
I wonder if the price of fresh blueberries will drop again. Hee.
Blueberry Streusel Muffins
Recipe from Williams-Sonoma Muffins
Makes 12 muffins.
For the muffins:
7 tablespoons (3½ oz/ 105g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup (6oz/185g) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2¼ cups (11½ oz/ 360g) all-purpose (plain)flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup (8 fl oz/ 250ml) milk
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract (essence)
1½ cups (6 oz/ 185g) fresh blueberries or frozen unsweetened blueberries, unthawed.
For the topping:
¼ cup (1½ oz/ 45g) all-purpose (plain) flour
2 tablespoons each granulated sugar and firmly packed light brown sugar
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces.
Preheat the oven to 375 Fahrenheit (190 degree celcius). Grease 12 standard muffin cups with butter or butter-flavoured nonstick cooking spray.
To make the topping, stir together the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Using a pastry cutter or your fingers, cut or rub the butter into the dry ingredients just until coarse crumbs form. Alternatively, combine the dry ingredients and the butter in a food processor and pulse just until coarse crumbs form.
To make the muffins, in a bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each edition until blended into the butter mixture.
In another bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture in 2 increments, alternating with the milk and vanilla. Stir just until evenly moistened. The batter will be slightly lumpy. Using a large rubber spatula, gently fold in the blueberries just until evenly distributed, no more than a few strokes. Take care not to break up the fruit. Do not overmix.
Spoon the batter into each muffin cup, filling it level with the rim of the cup. Sprinkle each muffin with some topping.
Bake until golden, dry, and springy to the touch, 20-25 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin should come out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes. Unmold the muffins. Serve warm or at room temperature.
December 1, 2007 at 11:10 pm · Filed under Food Reviews
Donuts, donuts everywhere! Gosh, they are everywhere now. The bubble’s gonna burst sooner or later. Till then, I shall indulge in them now. Yes, donuts are deep fried and unhealthy. But I always believe in eating everything in moderation, be it the good stuffs or the bad ones.
If you remember, I blogged about J.Co donuts I brought back from Batam a few months ago. They tasted quite good, but we didn’t like the rancid taste of the oil they use. A couple of weeks ago, I passed by Donut Factory at Velocity@Novena Square. They have a sit-in café where you can enjoy a cuppa or coffee with your favourite donuts just like J.Co in Batam. I like the idea, simply because I wouldn’t indulge too much by buying half a dozen or more donuts home and get too fat. Must control you know, haha…
This is my first time eating their donuts and I really like it. It’s nice, soft and fluffy. As it was newly opened, we got 2 complimentary glazed donuts to bring home. The Double Chocolate was good! Woo, bite into it and taste more of the dark chocolate filling inside. Yum, yum! Okay, I admit that I may be biased because I love, love, love chocolate. The Orange White Chocolate was nice too. The chocolate coating was sweet, but not overly sweet. It’s after all a dessert (as I would call it, instead of a snack).
I’m glad they opened more outlets and you don’t need to queue that long for the donuts (I wouldn’t queue more than 20 mins for that). Try their donuts at the café, it’s really nice and relaxed (depends on the crowd though).
