Double Chocolate Chip Muffins: The Baking Adventures Continue…

It’s been so long since the last post that I forgot the password to my account. It’s been crazy. The semester started off easy enough, but then projects, assignments, labs…..phew! But, finally, my exams are done and dusted, the semester is up, and I’m free (for a month, then it’s back to the grind 😦 ). But a busy semester did not stop me from cooking something special every now and then. Over the next few days, we shall relive the culinary journey that was my first semester.

One of the major accomplishments this semester brought about was my growing confidence in baking. I baked a couple of cakes, and then I thought I was ready for the next big (or rather, small) step. I decided to go for muffins. But continuing with the theme of go big or go home, I went for chocolate chip muffins, and took that further up one notch by making them double chocolate. I mean, if I was going to fail, I’d rather fail making something spectacular. Anyway, the plan worked, and the muffins came out outstandingly amazing. So, here’s the recipe. Enjoy!

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• All purpose flour/maida: 1 2/3 cup
• Unsweetened cocoa powder: 1/3 cup
• Sugar: 1 cup
• Eggs: 3
• Butter: 3 tbsp.
• Oil: 1/2 cup
• Milk: 1 tbsp.
• Vanilla essence: 1 tsp.
• Baking powder: 1 level tsp.
• Baking soda: 1/2 level tsp.
• Salt: 1 pinch
• Chocolate chips: 2/3 cup

Method:

1. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder and salt.
2. Mix together the oil, butter and sugar.
3. Beat the eggs till fluffy.
4. Set the oven to preheat at 350 F/180 C.
5. Add the flour mix and eggs slowly to the sugar and oil and mix well to remove any clumps.
6. Once the lumps are gone, add milk to get a good ribbon consistency. You can adjust the quantity as per your batter.
7. Mix in the vanilla essence, baking soda, baking powder and chocolate chips.
8. Line a muffin tray with paper cups. Add batter to the cups till they are around 3/4th full.
9. Sprinkle some chocolate chips on top of each muffin and lightly press them into the batter with your choice of equipment (a spoon in my case)
10. Bake the muffins at 350 F/ 180 C for around 20 minutes or till a fork stuck into the centre comes out clean.

Ta-da! Muffins are ready! Add some frosting and sprinkles if you like, or just have them plain.

Lemon Cakes: My First Foray into Serious Baking

I’m back (again), and this time I’ve got some big news. I’ve moved to Tempe, AZ, and am starting my Grad school. Yes peeps, I’m back to being a student now. So in the weeks leading up to the move, I asked my sister to teach me how to bake a cake. She’s an awesome baker, and I’m sure can bake a cake blindfolded. She suggested making a lemon cake, I just wanted a cake, any cake, so lemon cake it was. And yes, the Sansa reference wasn’t lost here. If you haven’t read A Song of Ice and Fire, or watched Game of Thrones, that reference wasn’t for you (and seriously, what’s wrong with you, why haven’t you done either of those two things?).

Note that this recipe is not a run of the mill cake recipe. I mean it’s still a cake recipe, but the ratios and quantities have been adjusted after trial and error. A tip I was given was, to increase the quantity of cake, multiply the entire recipe by an integer. Don’t increase 2 cups of flour to 3, because 4 and a half eggs are a little hard to find. Go to 4 cups and 6 eggs. Also, the baking time will depend on the quantity. The cooking time given here will increase if you’re making a bigger cake. 

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• All purpose flour/maida: 1 3/4 cups. Yeah, the quantity above was just for illustration. Sorry about that.
• Sugar: 1 cup
• Eggs: 3
• Lemon juice: 1/6 cup. You will need to adjust this as per your lemon. This quantity is for a relatively strong lemon.
• Lemon extract: 1 tsp.
• Lemon yellow color: 1/2 tsp.
• Vanilla essence: 5-6 drops
• Baking powder: 1 level tsp.
• Baking soda: 1/2 level tsp.
• Salt: 1/4 tsp.
• Oil: 1/2 cup
• Butter: 2 tbsp.

Method:

1. Sift together flour and salt
2. Melt butter, mix with oil and sugar
3. Beat the eggs
4. In a mixing bowl, mix the oil sugar mix with the flour and eggs. The method I was taught was to keep the entire oil sugar mix together, then add a little flour, then a little egg, and then mix. Repeat the above till all the flour and eggs are mixed with the oil and sugar.
5. Set the oven to preheat at 180 C/350 F.
6. Add lemon juice, extract, color and vanilla essence to the batter. Mix everything well and check consistency. It should flow in a single ribbon. If the batter is too thick, add a little milk. If it is too runny (which is mostly going to be the case), add a little flour.
7. Once you have ribbon consistency, add baking powder and soda to the batter and mix well.
8. Grease a baking tray well and pour the batter in.
9. Once the oven is ready, put the cake in and bake at 180 C/350 F for approx. 30 minutes.
10. Start checking from around the 25 minute mark to see if the cake is done. Stick a knitting needle or a fork in the center of the cake and see if something sticks. If it comes out clean, the cake is done.

Ta-da! You have a hot lemon cake at hand. Enjoy!