Clearing out the old stuff

I am clearing out all the bits and pieces of stuff in my treasure trove of ingredients. Leftover handful of chocolate chips, a quarter pack of cranberries… you get the idea. Since I also have a bunch of very ripe bananas sitting around, I made some cupcakes with all the ingredients. I used quite abit of sour cream in it, and the cupcakes turned out super soft and fluffy. Nice! Will be bringing them to office tomorrow. Hope my colleagues like them as much as I do

Update! My colleagues loved them very much! Here is the recipe as requested!

Kitchen sink banana cupcakes

 

1 ½ cups sour cream

¾ butter

3 cups flour

1 ¼ cups sugar

2 large eggs, room temperature

1 cup mashed bananas

1/3 cup cranberries

Handful of chocolate chips (or as much as you like!)

2 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla extract

Flavourless oil (eg. vegetable oil, or canola oil)  

 

1.       Preheat the oven to 175C (350F), with rack at center position. Grease your 12-cup muffin tray or line with paper liners.

 

2.       Whisk flour, baking soda and salt together. Working with a mixer using the paddle attachment, beat the butter to break it up. Gradually add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time, making sure it combines before adding the next one. Scrap the sides if needed.

 

3.       Lowering your mixer speed, mix in the bananas. Lastly, mix in half the flour mixture, all the sour cream, then the rest of the flour mixture. If the mixture seems abit dry, add in some flavourless oil (eg vegetable oil), 1 tablespoon at a time. I added about 2 tablespoons in mine, but see for yourself before adding. Stir in the cranberries and chocolate chips quickly.

 

4.       Fill the cups up to ¾ full and bake for about 20 – 25 minutes, or until the stick inserted into the centre of the cupcake comes out clean. Makes about 18 cupcakes.   

Sunday = Bread Day

Nowadays, I usually make bread on sunday, so that I get to have a light snack during lunch on monday. Also, homemade bread are usually best eaten on the day itself or within 2 – 3 days. Therefore, making it on friday night or saturday isn’t exactly the most ideal situation.

Today’s bread is slightly healthier, with the addition of quick cooking oats. Let’s hush about that dollop of butter I added  I made them into these big pull apart buns so that it is much easier to eat. Love the addition of cranberries which sweetened the whole deal. This recipe is super simple and uses minimal time. Do try it. I am sure you will love it as much as I do.

Oatmeal Cranberry Bread

(Adapted from 100 bread recipes by Teacher Meng)

 

For the oatmeal paste

15g instant oats

¼ cup milk

1 tsp bread flour

 

For the dough

220g bread flour

20g sugar

¼ tsp salt

¾ tsp instant yeast

130ml milk

50g dried cranberries  

20g butter, softened

 

1 lightly beaten egg (for eggwash)

1 tbsp instant oats (for topping)

 

1.     Add all the ingredients for the paste into a saucepan. Over a low flame, whisk the mixture continuously until it forms a paste. Leave the oatmeal paste aside to cool.

 

2.     In your mixing bowl, add instant yeast, milk and sugar. Let it sit for 15 minutes.

 

3.     Next, add flour, salt and milk powder. With dough hook attachment, mix on low speed and gradually increase to medium speed. When a sticky dough is formed, add in the butter and continue to mix on medium until the dough cleans the bowl.

 

4.     The dough is ready when it is smooth and elastic. Put the dough in an oiled bowl, covering with cling wrap. Let it proof for 80 minutes or until it doubles in size.

 

5.     Knead the dough lightly and roll it into a ball and let it rest for 15 minutes. With a rolling pin, roll out the dough into a 20 by 18 cm rectangle. Sprinkle the cranberries evenly and press them lightly into the dough. Roll the dough up, jelly roll fashion. Make sure it is snug, so that it will not loosen after the second proof. Slice the dough into 3 even pieces and place them into a 9×5inch loaf pan. Let it proof for another 60 minutes.   

 

6.     Lightly brush the surface of the dough with eggwash. Sprinkle the oatmeal over the top. Bake in a preheated oven for 190C (375F) for 35 minutes. Check after 20 minutes, if the bread is too brown, tent it with aluminum foil. Makes 1 loaf.

Tis The Season To Be Jolly…. (Not)

Amidst the mass retrenchmentsand very gloomy market sentiments, this is probably one of the most sombre christmas season ever. Even for me, though I don’t really celebrate the holiday other than work/go party/sleep. Still I appreciate the upcoming holiday. My utilisation rate for the past few months have been unbelieveably low, meaning that I have been practically doing nothing but surfing the net 8 hours a day in office. It wasn’t really my choice as there were pitifully little jobs during off peak season. My boss asked me outright the other day what I have been doing in the office. Caught by surprised, I decided to tell her the truth. She wasn’t quite happy and told me the pple up there are looking at the matter. After that conversation, my colleague whispered to me that there is a second round of retrenchment going on. I am not very sure how to react to this news. Of course, my mind immediate comes up with questions. Is it my turn to go this time? Am I amongst the poorest performers in the firm? Perhaps. This doesn’t exactly help my already depressed state.

Althought I am not unduly worried about losing my job, I know I still need to find another job fast due to family commitments if need be. Sigh. Another update, I solved my toothache through surgery. I hope it heals fast. I don’t think I can afford another expensive operation at this point in time. I tried to think hard of something to cheer about. Can’t come up with any. I guess I can only turn to baking to put my mind off these depressing matters at this point in time. When I saw the whopping 68 favourite cookies recipes posted in Gourmet (Each recipe to represent a year of the magazine’s publication), I was overjoyed and enthusiastically bookmarked quite a few. There are alot of old favourites, and some which I have never seen before. The one the left the deepest impression is Cranberry Pistatchio Icebox Cookies. I love the photo of it in the magazine. How pretty!! I have never done a slice and bake cookie before so I had quite a bit of fun shaping the dough (yep I am into cheap thrills ) If you peeps out there live in humid and hot climates like me, do work quickly and throw the dough into the fridge every now and then to ensure it is cold. It is much easier is shape firm dough. I added slightly less butter and sugar than indicated in the recipe. Mostly because I did not want to cut open another package of butter, and the cranberries are already sweetened. This must be one of my favourite cookies ever. They are reminiscent of those danish cookies (in those blue round tins) I used to eat when I was young, except these are way better! For those who celebrate christmas, have a good one… If you can.

Pistachio Cranberry Icebox Cookies

 (Adapted from Gourmet)

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ tsp salt

1 ¼ cup unsalted butter, softened

½ cup

1 cup shelled pistachios

2/3  cup dried cranberries

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1/4 cup decorative sugar (preferably coarse)

 

Make dough:

1. Stir together flour, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl.

 

2. Beat together butter, granulated sugar, and zest in a large bowl with an electric mixer  at m edium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture in 3 batches, mixing until dough just comes together in clumps, then mix in pistachios and cranberries. Gather and press dough together, then divide into 2 equal pieces. Using a sheet of plastic wrap or wax paper as an aid, form each piece of dough into a log about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Square off long sides of each log to form a bar, then chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, until very firm, at least 2 hours.

 

Slice and bake cookies:

 

3. Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

 

4. Brush egg over all 4 long sides of bars (but not ends). Sprinkle decorative sugar on a separate sheet of parchment or wax paper and press bars into sugar, coating well.

 

5. Cut each bar crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices, rotating bar after cutting each slice to help keep square shape. (If dough gets too soft to slice, freeze bars briefly until firm.) Arrange cookies about 1/2 inch apart on lined baking sheets.

 

6. Bake cookies, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until edges are pale golden, 15 to 18 minutes total. Transfer cookies from parchment to racks using a slotted spatula and cool completely.

 

(Dough bars can be chilled up to 3 days or frozen, wrapped in plastic wrap and then foil, 1 month (thaw frozen dough in refrigerator just until dough can be sliced). Cookies keep in an airtight container at room temperature 5 days.)