Muffin Monday - Honey Pineapple Olive Oil Muffins with Lime Glaze

These week's muffin recipe for Muffin Monday is another easy one, if you have a bowl, a spatula and a muffin tray, you're all set to make these. The original recipe provided by Anuradha of Baker Street (our host) was for Honey Lemon Olive Oil Muffins with Lemon Glaze but I decided to switch it up a little and substitute the lemon flavor in the batter with pineapple, and in the glaze with lime.

I baked these in the evening and only 5 muffins survived for the photoshoot the following day! 

I have baked cakes and muffins with olive oil before and loved it. Having it in baked goods reminds me a lot of the breads and cakes of the Mediterranean region, ones I could eat truckloads of :). Thank goodness then that I reside far away in the tropics (where there are other, different food-related sins!).  From what I know, the combination of olive oil and tangy citrus are complementary flavors in cakes, so I reasoned that switching one citrus for another would have the same effect.

I opted for the more tropical citrus accents of pineapple and lime, both of which I have in abundance either growing in my garden or from the vegetable stall down the road from my home. The chopped pineapple bits were divided into two portions, one was mixed into the batter and the remainder was sprinkled on top of the muffins for effect. You won't get perfectly smooth muffin tops as a result, but there's no chance of mistaking these pineapple muffins for anything else! 

Pineapples from my local vegetable and fruit guy (L) and limes from my garden (R). 

Limes photo taken from my Instagram account :)

A quick half an hour is all you need to produce these beautifully light and refreshingly tangy muffins. If you have an extra 10 minutes, you might probably want to make the cute toppers shown here using toothpicks and bits of lime and pineapple. Squeeze the lime on top of the glaze for that extra zing and while you're at it, why not pretend you're on on a tropical holiday! ;)

Note: Muffin Monday is an initiative by Baker Street. A culinary journey of sharing a wickedly delicious muffin recipe every week. Drop her a quick line to join her on her journey to make the world smile and beat glum Monday mornings week after week.  

Honey Pineapple Olive Oil Muffins with Lime Glaze
(Adapted from Pinch My Salt)
Makes 12 muffins
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup honey (preferably local)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 tablespoons grated lemon zest (I used 3/4 cup pineapple chunks, cut into small cubes)
2 tablespoons freshly-squeezed lemon juice (Omitted this)

Glaze:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons freshly-squeezed lime juice

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with non-stick baking spray or line with paper cups (spray the inside of the cups with baking spray to prevent muffins from sticking to the paper).

2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until well combined. Set aside.

3. In a separate medium bowl, combine honey, sugar, olive oil, buttermilk, and eggs. Whisk together until well combined. Divide the pineapple chunks into 2 portions and stir 1 portion into the mixture. Reserve the rest of the pineapple for the topping.

4. Pour liquid ingredients into the flour mixture and stir with a wooden spoon just until all of the flour is incorporated. Don’t overmix.

5. Divide batter between muffin cups using a large spoon or mechanical ice cream scoop – the cups should be mostly full. Sprinkle remaining pineapple on top of the muffins.

6. Bake for 17 – 21 minutes or until the center of a muffin springs back lightly to the touch or a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean. Check early and watch carefully, they will brown fast.

7. While muffins are baking, make glaze. Sift powdered sugar in a small bowl and stir in the lime juice, mix until well incorporated.

8. Let muffins cool in pan for 5 minutes then remove to a wire rack. Brush the tops of the muffins with glaze while they are still warm. Let cool completely.

Going Crackers Mid-Week! :) Whole Wheat Raisin Rosemary Pepita Crackers

Hors d'oeuvres have always a pathetic interest for me; they remind me of one's childhood that one goes through wondering what the next course is going to be like - and during the rest of the menu one wishes one had eaten more of the hors d'oeuvres.

~ Hector Hugh Munro

So it's Wednesday, and I haven't blogged all week. Or all of last week for that matter. If you'd wanted to look for me, you would likely find me on Instagram, I'm there - every single day :). Taking photos with the handphone and posting them is an instant act, it's extremely easy and there's no need to write words, many words to describe your post. No wonder it's addictive. Maybe I'm just getting lazier with this blog, who knows? 

Unfortunately, if you don't have an iDevice to play around with, you'll have to keep on missing me until I come on here again and we can hang out and stuff. Yes, life's a bit unfair like that.

And why did I bother even mentioning Instagram (IG) for those of you who aren't interested or don't really care for it? Because this recipe - Whole Wheat Raisin Rosemary Pepita Crackers - was inspired by one of my pals on IG called @thebobbycaudle. Okay, his real name's probably just Bobby Caudle without the 'the', but that I'm not totally sure. What I'm sure about though is that one of his delicious food posts made me run straight to the kitchen to create these amazing crackers!

Clockwise from top left: Nigella seeds, rosemary, raisins and pepitas

There are many ardent food-lovers lurking on IG, and honestly, they, we, okay... I, tend to post up many, many meals that we've seen, made and consumed on a daily basis. Taking out a phone in a restaurant or public place and hovering it over your plate for a shot is a far less embarassing process than taking out a hefty SLR camera to do the same thing, you know? I do most of my 'hovering' at home and even have a colorful breakfast series up on IG where I post my daily morning meals. Check it out at @divabreakfasts if you're interested ;).

Anyway, Mr. Bobby Caudle had prepared an hors d'oeuvres platter using these savory-sweet Trader Joe's Raisin Rosemary Crisps and by the time he finished describing the ingredients on the box to me (yes, I shamelessly asked!), I knew exactly what to do. 

If you wish you could eat more whole foods without breaking your budget, these homemade crackers are for you. I've promised some friends that I'll post up the recipe and I’m finally dishing it out. When you think about the typical cracker, they're usually thin and salty so the key to good, crisp crackers is to make 'em really thin! And not too salty, if you're thinking healthy as well. You can substitute the flours in the recipe below with gluten-free flours, you simply need to experiment and play around with the measurements a little. I've also used olive oil in place of butter, it contributes to the crispness of the crackers, plus you can snack on these babies with less (much less) guilt.

The original Trader Joe's crisps also contained flaxseeds and sunflower seeds but I had neither and therefore substituted them with pumpkin seeds and Nigella seeds, which have an onion-y flavor. You can get the latter at many Indian food or spice stores, they're commonly known as blackseeds. You can experiment with other spices and seeds... right this very moment cumin and garlic just popped into my mind!

From the way everyone at home appreciatively munched on these, I would say this homemade cracker recipe will satisfy even the pickiest cracker eater. They have interesting flavors that blend well together, they're not bland, not too salty and not too sweet either. Just nice... Served with something creamy like goat's cheese or Brie, they become just that bit naughtier, and a whole lot nicer!

Whole Wheat Raisin Rosemary Pepita Crackers
Ingredients:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, finely chopped
1 tablespoon Nigella seeds (blackseeds)
2 tablespoons raisins, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
1/3 cup olive oil
1 cup water
2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds (pepitas), coarsely chopped

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F. Combine the whole wheat flour, plain flour, rosemary, raisins, Nigella seeds, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Add the olive oil and using a fork, mix the oil thoroughly into the dry mixture until it looks like large crumbs.

2. Add the water in 3 batches to adjust the dough consistency. Mix well until combined and dough forms, but only as long as necessary for the most tender crackers. Dough should be firm but not sticky when you form it into a ball. Add small amounts of whole wheat flour as necessary to adjust to this texture.

3. If you have a pasta machine, divide the dough into 4 portions and roll into thin, flat sheets. I usually go up to the second or third last setting on the machine. If it’s too thin, the dough will tear easily.

4. If you don’t have a pasta machine, don’t fret because you can roll these by hand! Use parchment paper, a lightly greased cookie sheet or a non-stick silicone baking mat. Roll each of the divided dough to your desired thinness right out on the paper, sheet or mat after flouring it lightly.

5. After the dough sheets are rolled out, sprinkle the chopped pumpkin seeds over each sheet and gently roll over the sheets again with a pastry roller to press the seeds in (no, do not put these through the pasta machine again!).

6. Use a pizza cutter or sharp knife and cut the dough into squares or triangles, about 1 1/2 inches each. If you want all beautifully square crackers, you can trim the edges square. (Note: be sure not to cut your silicone mat).

7. Bake the crackers, one sheet at a time, until crisp and browned, 8 to 10 minutes. If some of the thinner crackers on the edges brown too quickly, remove them and return the remaining crackers to the oven to finish baking. These crackers bake quickly, so watch them closely – even 30 seconds can turn them from golden brown to toast! To make them extra crispy, I turn them over after 8 minutes and bake them for another 2 minutes in the oven.

8. Remove the crackers from the oven and cool on the pan or on a rack; they cool quickly. They will crisp up as they cool and stay crisp for many days, but are best stored in airtight containers.

Muffin Monday - Hazelnut Plum Muffins with Lemon Curd Frosting

I love quickies in the kitchen, I mean, who doesn't? :) Now, before your mind races off into the gutter, I  invite you to come back up to the same page and hear out this easy and quick recipe for Muffin Monday, Hazelnut Plum Muffins. Our MM host, Anuradha provided us with this recipe that can be mixed simply by hand and utilizes hazelnut meal and plum jam which give the muffin its namesake.

Nowadays, it's hard to think of hazelnut in a recipe without wanting to include Nutella in there somehow. Well, I fought my instinct and went for the plain hazelnut flavor without any pesky chocolate sharing the limelight. Okay, I was only kidding about the chocolate...it can never be pesky and can only make any recipe immediately taste better. But not today, I had to be firm with the chocolate-obsessed part of my brain. :) 

I also decided to leave out the plum jam (but only because I didn't have any) and substituted that with soft dried plums or prunes. I pressed one of these gently into the middle of each hazelnut batter before baking, not knowing for sure if they were going to sink or rise. As you can see, they rose and sat quite magnificently atop each muffin! Which meant frosting was going to be a slight issue....

Until, that is, I spotted a jar of lovingly-made Mrs. Darlington's Legendary Lemon Curd that would be perfect for spreading on top of the muffin and around the plums. And it was... The sweet, tart and creamy curd complemented the roasted, buttery hazelnut flavor rather nicely. You can bite around the muffin underneath the curd then end up chewing the plum last. At least, that was how I ate them!

Happy, happy Monday!

Muffin Monday is an initiative by Baker Street. A culinary journey of sharing a wickedly delicious muffin recipe every week. Drop in a quick line to join her on her journey to make the world smile and beat glum Monday mornings week after week!

Hazelnut Plum Muffins

(Adapted from Women's Weekly)

Ingredients:

90 grams butter, melted

21/2 cups (375 grams) self-raising flour

1/2 cup (55 grams) hazelnut meal

2/3 cup (150 grams) caster sugar

1 egg, beaten lightly

1 cup (250 ml) milk

1/2 cup (160 grams) plum jam (I used soft, dried plums instead)

1 cup lemon curd, for frosting

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200C.

2. Grease a 12-hole muffin pan or line with muffin liners

3. In a large bowl, combine butter, flour, hazelnut meal, sugar, egg and milk.

4. Spoon half of the muffin mixture into the prepared pan and make a well in each muffin, spoon in rounded teaspoons of jam and top with remaining muffin mixture (I simply pushed one dried plum gently into the middle of each  muffin batter before baking).

5. Bake for 18-20 minutes. Leave to cool for 20 minutes before frosting with lemon curd.

French Fridays With Dorie - Roasted Salmon and Lentils

Late again for French Fridays with Dorie, as it's already Saturday night here as I'm typing up this post. The comforting thing though is, my fellow Doristas and other readers are so forgiving and I sure am not the first one (nor the last!) to be late in the history of FFWD. One of the reasons for this was that I'd spent a good part of the week scouring local stores to procure lentils du puy, or French green lentils, a key ingredient in this week's Roasted Salmon and Lentils recipe. Then Friday came...and went...and still no green lentils.

So this morning, I went out one last time to a speciality food store that stocks those difficult-to-get ingredients at the regular stores and.... nope, they didn't have the green lentils either. Normally, I would've settled for the more common (over here) red, yellow or black lentils, but I've read reviews swearing over the utter loveliness of these green lentils so I persisted in looking for them. Just as I was about to throw in the towel, I spotted a packet on the shelf printed with "Mélange Pour Soupe - Aux Légumes", a vegetable mix for making soup that consisted of lentils, split peas, barley and alphabet pasta bits made from wheat flour, spinach and tomato. Okay, there had to be a few lentils du puy in there....it would have to do!

Apart from the repeated boiling and straining steps involved in cooking the beans, the overall effort required to put this dish together was surprisingly minimal. I even managed to bake a set of muffins for my participation in Muffin Monday while this was on the stove. That was how easy it was!

I'm also quite used to throwing in a pinch of whole cloves when I cook my local dishes, so the one clove required in this recipe seemed to me rather piddly. In the spirit of compromise, I used three :). That still didn't have that much impact to the overall flavor of the dish that I was glad I hadn't stuck just one clove into the onion. Before the last boiling phase, I chopped up the softened onion but decided to leave the carrots in large chunks as they were. Yes, I can be inconsistent like that.... besides I was already thinking about the aesthetics of the presentation at that point. So annoying!

The seasoning for the salmon was very simple and in my mind's palate, bland. To make the fish portion a bit more interesting, I sprinkled paprika over it just before it went in for roasting and that worked to enhance the dish. Lastly, I snipped chives over the plate and drizzled olive oil over the salmon and lentils. Truffle oil? Oh, how I wish. 

This was a very hearty meal, especially since my base was also made up of not just lentils but barley, peas and pasta bits. Everyone at home loved it. Lentils du puy or not, I know this recipe willl be revisited again...soon.

If you're interested in this recipe of joining our FFWD online cooking group, pick up a copy of Around My French Table and you're all set for an amazing sharing experience every week. If you still don't believe me, click here to check out what everyone else who cooked this dish had to say about it. 

Have a great rest of the weekend, everyone!

5-Star Makeover: Beetroot Shikai Maki with Shiitake Mushroom and French Bean Filling

hosted by 5 Star Foodie & Lazaro Cooks!

I really don't know where the time went...2012 seems to whizz by so fast and now the time for the second 5-Star Makeover Challenge of the year has arrived. I missed last month's challenge due to disorganization on my part, plus I think I must've lost my creativity cap somewhere during the end-of-year festivities and holidays :). Well, I found it again (just) and for this month's key ingredient, beetroot, I decided to go for an Asian-themed dish.

Diva D is an excellent sushi-maker and her deep love of Japanese food and culture has compelled her to learn how to prepare all sorts of Japanese cuisine from cookbooks and yes, YouTube. Her sushi-rolling skills are pretty advanced to the point that she is now teaching me how to do some of the more creative patterns. Like this pretty Shikai Maki roll, for example.

Watching her make some plain ones a few days ago inspired me to created this beetroot shikai maki. I thought the red of the beets would be visually striking contained within the squarish roll. A shikai maki usually has an empty space in the middle and this can be filled with all sorts of flavors. This time round, I opted for a totally vegetarian dish.

I got hold of some sweet and tender baby beets that I cooked and mashed into the sushi rice. To complement the beet-flavored rice, I made a filling out of Shiitake mushrooms and French beans sauteed with a dash of oyster sauce, honey and seasoning. Wrapped up in Nori, this beet-themed dish had a lovely and a not-too-overpowering sweet and savory note to it.

On hindsight, I wish I'd created an equally 5-star dipping sauce to go with the shikai maki but I was in a bit of a rush to finish photographing and writing this post, it completely slipped my mind! Oh well, let's just say that simplicity and elegance is the order of the day. :)

As always, many thanks go to our superb challenge hosts, Natasha of 5-Star Foodie and Lazaro of Lazaro Cooks! The round-up of participants' makeover dishes will be this Friday over at Natasha's blog, so don't forget to head over there to see what innovations they've come up with.

PS. I did a photo-tutorial on how to create this shikai maki pattern below. If I had more time (read: if I had better time management), this would've been a video.

Beetroot Shikai Maki with Shiitake Mushroom and French Bean Filling

Serves 2

Ingredients:

3 square nori sheets

2 cups cooked sushi rice

5-6 baby beetroot, roasted or steamed until very soft

2-3 tablespoons vinegar

4 French beans, each sliced into two

6 fresh Shiitake mushrooms, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 scallion, finely diced

2-3 tablespoons olive oil, for sautéing

2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 tablespoon honey

Approx ½ cup water

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Prepare the filling: Heat olive oil in a pan on medium high heat and sauté the garlic and scallion for 1 minute. Add the French beans and mushroom and stir for another minute.

2. Stir in the oyster sauce, honey and water and cover pan to let the vegetables steam and soften, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper. Set aside to cool slightly.

3. Preparing the sushi rice: Add vinegar to the hot rice in a bowl and stir until well incorporated. Add the softened beetroot to the bowl and with a fork, gently mash the beets into the rice. Let this cool slightly before using (see below).

Assembly:

1. Cut one square sheet of nori into two. Overlap them to create one long piece.

2. Arrange a thin layer of beetroot-sushi rice covering the entire length of the nori. Roll tightly from one end to the other.

3. Cut roll into quarters lengthwise. Flip the quarters so the inside corners face outwards.

4. On another half-sheet of nori, place bottom two quarters and place mushroom and french bean filling along the crease created between these two quarters.

5. Place the remaining two quarters on top of the filling, then carefully wrap the half-sheet of nori around the four quarters, rolling the whole thing into a square. Do the same with the remaining nori sheets.

6. With a very sharp knife, slice roll according to desired thickness. Serve immediately with soy sauce dip.

Tips:

• When pressing the sushi rice down on the nori sheet, frequently dip your fingertips (if using) or the back of a spoon in a small bowl of salted water. This prevents your fingers or the spoon from sticking to the rice.

• When slicing roll, wipe blade of knife with a damp cloth in between slices. This allows for neater cuts and prevents sticking.

Muffin Monday - Blackcurrant Cheesecake Muffins

I think we're seeing in working mothers a change from "Thank God it's Friday" to "Thank God it's Monday." If any working mother has not experienced that feeling, her children are not adolescent.

- Ann Diehl 

Now that I no longer have to go into an office to do a regular 9 to 5, I really look forward to Mondays. For a start, I have the whole house to myself and after what is a normally hectic weekend full of activities, the peace and quiet is a much welcomed relief. Another reason I now look forward to the start of the week is of course, Muffin Monday, our weekly cooking group hosted by Anuradha of Baker Street.

This week's recipe is Berry Cheesecake Muffins, and it was up to us what kind of berries we wished to adopt in the recipe. I was all excited and enthusiastic until I went grocery shopping and no fresh berries were to be found anywhere! Which was really strange because only a few days ago, the store shelves were lined with punnets upon punnets of the most beautiful strawberries... That's one of the hazards of living out here in the low-lying tropics, we rely on the regularity of overseas shipments for fruits such as these and unfortunately, they are not as regular as I'd like... 

And so I surrendered to the fact that my muffins would not contain any fresh berries this time round. I located a jar of blackcurrant jam instead and used that as the filling for the cheesecake muffins. The jam was already very sweet so to compensate for that, I reduced the amount of the other sugars stated in the recipe. The added lemon zest provided a warm citrusy note that balanced off the sweetness and creaminess of the muffins quite well. 

The sight of some of the hot jam oozing out from underneath the batter as these came out of the oven simply added to the muffins' allure. If you love the idea of mini New York-style cheesecakes, then these muffins are  definitely for you!

Note: Muffin Monday is an initiative by Baker Street. A culinary journey of sharing a wickedly delicious muffin recipe every week. Drop in a quick line to join her on her journey to make the world smile and beat glum Monday mornings week after week.

Berry Cheesecake Muffins
Adapted from allrecipes.com
Ingredients:
1/2 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar (I reduced this to 1/4 cup)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 1/4 cups milk
1/2 cup brown sugar (I reduced this to 1/3 cup)
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup strawberry jam (I used blackcurrant jam)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 375F (190C). Grease 12 muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.

2. Beat together cream cheese and confectioners' sugar until smooth and set aside.

3. In a large mixing bowl, combine all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, beat together egg milk, brown sugar, butter, lemon zest and vanilla extract. Stir egg mixture into dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened.

4. Spoon half of batter into muffin cups. Top each portion with 1 tablespoon cream cheese mixture and 1 teaspoon jam. Spoon remaining muffin batter on top.

5. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until golden. Cool in pan for 5 minutes, then remove muffins and cool on rack. Store in airtight container.

French Fridays With Dorie - Mussels With Mushroom and Peperoncino Pasta

The only kind of seafood I trust is the fish stick, a totally featureless fish that doesn't have eyeballs or fins.

~ Dave Barry

I bit my nails when I saw that this week's French Fridays with Dorie featured mussels. Not that I have an aversion to it or any seafood in general, and in fact, I love to eat all sorts of creatures that come out of the sea! What I'm not a fan of is the cleaning and preparation side of things. So every time someone brings any seafood into this house (I've never bought or caught any of it), they'd better be all ready-to-cook or somebody else better be willing to get their hands dirty and smell of the stale sea for a while. 

You can therefore bet that I went and searched for the cleanest, most prepped mussels and found these ones that have been quick-frozen on the half-shelf. I high-fived myself in my mind when I scored these. Firstly, they don't smell much and best of all...there were no more beards to clean up!  Sure, aesthetically they didn't look as good as the two-shelled mussels but since we were not going to eat the shells anyway, I didn't let that small detail get to me. 

I also wasn't keen on mixing my seafood with meat, so I omitted the chorizo and substituted it with some tender brown beech mushrooms. And the bell pepper was replaced with chilli peppers although I must make a disclaimer that I deseeded most of them (you know how awfully chicken I am at the prospect of too much heat in my food).

I served the mussels and mushroom up on a bed of Spaghetti al Peperoncino that was slightly spicy but manageably so. Eating this brought back fond memories of my frequent day-trips to Brussels, a mere two-hours' drive from where I used to live in Germany. Basically, I only went there for three reasons - to eat Belgian chocolates, waffles and their famous moules. Sightseeing? Forget it. 

Before this week, I thought there was no way I could replicate those fine mussels from Brussels (sidenote: why does an image of Jean-Claude Van Damme come up every time someone says that?) in my very own kitchen. After cooking this, well I'm very sure I hadn't replicated them at all. But boy, it was a very good try. No bad shellfish-related incidents occurred on this occasion and everyone in the house lived to tell the tale! :)

On a final note, I've recovered somewhat from the nasty bug that got hold of me over last weekend and earlier this week. Thanks to all of you who dropped by and shared your comments and kind wishes. With your encouragement and friendship, I'm getting my blogging mojo back although it's proving to be a bit slow on the uptake...  (remember, I used to post 3-4 times a week...oh, what happened to those days?). In the meantime,  I shall come over to yours and check out some of your talented offerings. 

Have a gorgeous weekend, Doristas and everyone else!