November 25, 2015

Bacon, Cheese and Scallions Muffins

bacon cheese and scallions muffins

I’ve been baking alot of muffins lately. Maybe twice to thrice a week. I wake up in the morning, quickly put together the muffins, plop them into the oven and by the time I’m done with my shower, the muffins are also done. Piping hot breakfast for the family. The big plus? Muffins *usually* do not require the use of a mixer. I don’t even bother sifting the flour typically. Just throw all the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl and whisk them together for about 15 seconds. Done.

There a couple of sweet muffin recipes on this blog, but since my dear hubby expressed (a couple of months back) that he very much prefers savoury breakfasts, I’ve been attempting to increase the savoury quotient in our breakfasts. Cheese muffins are great. Add bacon and it’s a combination made in heaven. Scallions cut the edge off the saltiness of the cheese and the bacon. Perfect.

Bacon, Cheese and Scallions Muffins
 
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Serves: 12 muffins
Ingredients
  • 2 cups plain flour
  • 2½ tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ¼ tsp black pepper
  • 1 cup shredded cheese (I used cheddar)
  • ½ cup chopped scallions
  • 1 cup milk
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 4 slices back bacon, baked till crisp and cut into small squares
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 175°C or 160°C fan mode.
  2. Line a 12 hole muffin pan with liners.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and pepper.
  4. Add in scallions and cheese and mix to combine.
  5. Whisk together milk, eggs and olive oil in a separate bowl.
  6. Pour wet ingredients into the flour mixture and using a spatula, roughly combine the mixture.
  7. Fold in the bacon. Do not overmix!
  8. Divide among 12 muffin holes.
  9. Top with some more shredded cheese (optional)
  10. Bake on the centre rack for 20-25 minutes, or until tops are golden brown and a tester comes out clean.
Notes
Adapted from http://abeautifulbite.com/ham-scallion-and-cheddar-muffins/

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September 9, 2015

Mini Cheese Bread

Mini Cheese Bread

As a fussy mom who’s very particular about the food that my children eat, I prepare most of their breakfasts at home. It’s not often easy though, since my 4 year old and 1 year old have rather different tastes when it comes to food! Thankfully, they both enjoy this cheese bread, the older one especially. She recently succumbed to a nasty virus and had many days of high fever. This was one of her first requests, together with mushroom soup. She loves dipping the bread in mushroom soup. Kind of like soft croutons maybe?

I first saw this recipe online, and thereafter experimented with a few variations, including adding sour cream to the dough! This variation is what works best for me, taste and texture wise. Try it! I’m sure it would be a hit both with young and old!

Mini Cheese Bread
 
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Ingredients
  • 80 ml milk
  • 1 egg
  • 30g granulated sugar
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 200 g bread flour
  • 30g grated parmesan cheese
  • 30g unsalted butter, cut into cubes
  • ½ tsp instant yeast
Instructions
  1. Place the first six ingredients into your bread machine, according to your machine's instructions.
  2. Add the cold butter cubes at the side of the pan.
  3. Make a well at the top of the flour mixture and add the instant yeast. (Make sure the yeast does not touch the salt)
  4. Set the bread machine to the dough function.
  5. When the dough is ready, remove it from the pan, press it down slightly into a disc and allow it to rest on a clean surface for 5-10 minutes.
  6. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out into a square that's about 1 cm thick.
  7. Cut into cubes approximately 2cm by 2cm.
  8. Arrange the cubes on a baking tray lined with baking paper or a silicon mat and spray some water on top of the cubes.
  9. Cover loosely with cling wrap and allow it to rise till it doubles in size, about 30-45 minutes.
  10. minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 170°C and centre an oven rack.
  11. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown.
  12. Cool slightly on a cooling rack. Enjoy!
Notes
Recipe adapted from http://my123favourites.blogspot.sg/2013/10/mini-cheese-bread.html

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May 4, 2014

Breakfast Series – Wholewheat Blueberry Cheesecake Muffins

blueberry cheesecake muffins

If you are a frequent visitor to Delicacious, you would have noticed that there are several muffin recipes. In fact, there are several variations of muffin recipes just for blueberry or berry muffins. One of my favourite thus far are these Whole Wheat Honey Berry Muffins. These Blueberry Cheesecake Muffins however, are making it fast to the top of the favourites list. The inspiration hit when I had some cream cheese left over from baking a cheesecake and the little one asked for blueberry muffins. How about a muffin with some cream cheese in the centre? Sounds good doesn’t it? I wanted a whole wheat muffin, and so I opted to use half whole wheat and half plain flour in this recipe. You can however, substitute the plain flour for whole wheat flour if you prefer.

I have since made these muffins at least three times and each time, my little one loved it. I have substituted strawberries in place of blueberries and the muffins have turned out great too! It’s a very versatile recipe. Do try it!

Breakfast Series - Wholewheat Blueberry Cheesecake Muffins
 
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Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 1¼ cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 cup plain flour (you may substitute with whole wheat flour)
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 4 tsp baking powder
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 3½ oz unsalted butter, melted and cooled
  • ¼ cup honey
  • 1 cup milk
  • 5 oz blueberries
  • 2 oz cream cheese, cut into 12 pieces
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 200°C and centre an oven rack. Place 12 paper muffin cases on a baking tray.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flours, salt and baking powder. Set aside.
  3. In a large measuring cup, whisk together butter, honey, eggs and milk.
  4. Pour wet ingredients into the flour mixture and using a whisk, stir gently to combine. Do not overmix.
  5. Fold in blueberries.
  6. Half fill each muffin case with the mixture. Place a piece of cream cheese in the centre. Evenly distribute the rest of the muffin mixture among the 12 cases.
  7. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes, or until muffins are golden brown.

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April 28, 2014

Breakfast Series – Potato pancakes with scrambled eggs and cheese

potato pancakes

Here’s a continuation of the breakfast series on Delicacious! This time, I’m sharing a recipe for savoury potato pancakes, topped with creamy scrambled eggs and a knob of cream cheese. Yummy! In the past, my family enjoys going out for weekend breakfast or brunch. We usually choose a location near to a park or playground so that my little one can run around too. Lately though, the rising costs of food prices and the dropping of food standards at some of our preferred haunts have resulted in us preparing weekend breakfasts at home. Not a bad thing, I must say.

These savoury potato pancakes were popular both with the hubby and my little one. They are crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. The scrambled eggs and cream cheese enhanced the flavours of the pancake. You can be creative and add smoked salmon or crisp bacon atop the scrambled eggs too!

I shared the recipe for this delicious breakfast at The Best Blog Recipes. Hop over and check it out!

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January 12, 2014

Pan-roasted corn and peppers dip

roasted corn and peppers dip

Time flies and we are already into the second week of the new year! It has been a hectic and tiring December and the terrible me could not find any time to settle down to blog after the new blog layout was done. Hopefully now that things at home and at work are more settled, I can find more time to blog! For a change, I thought I’d share a recipe for my favourite dip today. I seldom make dips; I rarely have an occasion for them. My cell group had a post Christmas before New Year gathering though, and I finally found an opportunity to make my favourite dip. The first time I made this was for an office gathering and it received great reviews. This time, people loved it too, so it’s definitely a keeper.

Pan-roasted corn and peppers dip
 
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Ingredients
  • 3 cups of corn (fresh or frozen)
  • 1 red pepper, cut into small cubes
  • 1 green pepper, cut into small cubes
  • ¾ cups of shredded cheddar
  • ¾ cups of shredded mozarella
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 cup mayonnaise
  • ¾ cup chopped spring onions
  • salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Heat a non-stick pan over a medium flame.
  2. Pan roast corn till they char slightly.
  3. Remove from heat and allow it to cool.
  4. In the same pan, pan roast cubed peppers till they char slightly.
  5. Set aside to cool.
  6. In a large bowl, combine corn, peppers and the rest of the ingredient. Mix well and season to taste.
  7. Allow the dip to chill for at least an hour to allow the flavours to meld.
  8. Serve with corn chips.

 

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October 28, 2013

Old Fashioned Cheese Bread and my Bread-making Journey

Old Fashioned Cheese Bread

I received a photo, followed by a voice message while at work today. The voice message was my daughter asking me to make her the bread in the photo – some raisin roll. A second message soon followed with “instructions” from her on how I should make the bread. “Mama, you need to put some flour, then put some blueberries, then put some oil and more flour. Then I can eat it for breakfast.” I think she thought the raisins in the bread were blueberries. Her bread won’t rise for sure – no yeast. 🙂

My bread-making journey has many twists and turns. If you were to ask me to bake bread two years ago, I probably would have cringed. Now, it’s something I do every other day. It wasn’t always easy. The first time I tried to make bread, I used a wooden spoon. I may have overmixed/undermixed or punched the dough too hard because the bread turned out rock hard. And I had aching arms.

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Filed Under: Baking and Cooking, Breads, Muffins and Scones, Breakfast Tagged With: , , 2 Comments
October 13, 2013

Potato Crusted Spinach and Ham Quiche

Potato crusted spinach quiche | Delicacious

Potato crusted spinach quiche – just because I was too lazy tired to make a proper shortcrust pastry for the quiche. Why? Last weekend was a crazy weekend. I was coordinating a wedding on Sunday, my girl was the flower girl for the wedding and hubby was coordinating a Children’s Day carnival at the same time, somewhere else. By the time we were all done with our various engagements and responsibilities, it was 4pm, and we were ready to hit the sack. There was still dinner to plan for though. Neither of us wanted to eat out, and I was too tired to prepare anything complicated.

Since I had spinach and ham, a quiche sounded like a possibility but no way was I making the crust from scratch at 4pm. I recalled seeing a potato crusted quiche somewhere on Pinterest and so I decided to use potatoes in place of the crust. Whoever thought of that was brilliant.

Potato crusted spinach quiche

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Filed Under: Savory Bakes, Vegetables and Fruit Tagged With: , , , , 4 Comments
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