Thoughtfulness in the oven

It made my day when Saw Leng of “Treasure Memories" wrote to me on Quay Po's Facebook Page and informing me that she had successfully made my Orange Hokkaido Chiffon Cupcakes with orange vanilla custard cream. 

Later, we communicated through emails and she invited me to lunch. What a sweet lady she is. Of course I accepted her invitation and looked forward to meet her.

I got up very early on the day of our lunch and decided to bake banana chocolate cupcakes because I had some very nice bananas called "Pisang Raja" in my freezer. I thought it would be nice to let her taste my bake. At the same time, I could bring a box of the cupcakes to my good friend cum Insurance Agent whose office is in the same building with Saw Leng. I was happy I could killed two birds with one stone. LOL!

In return, I got a box of moon cakes from my Insurance Agent and butter cookies in the oven from Saw Leng of “Treasure Memories”.  She told me, she baked them. I love the cute box she put the cookies in. If I did not tell you, you might be thinking those cookies were really in the oven right?

Clicking on the picture will bring you to her recipe

The cookies were delicious and I really appreciate my new friend's thoughtfulness and her friendship. We had a wonderful lunch and it was so good to know her hometown is near to mine. No wonder, we had so much to share and talked about. 

I saved two of the cupcakes I baked, for my Quay Lo and he told me that this is one of the best cakes I have ever made. Then I reminded him about my carrot cake, 

Clicking on the photo will bring you to the recipe

butter cake, 

Clicking on the photo will bring you to the recipe

and white cake 

which he tasted and raved about. Is this sign of old age or what? LOL!

Later that day, my Insurance Agent’s secretary called to tell me that her boss had shared the cupcakes with her and she loved it. She found to be very moist.  Saw Leng also mentioned in my facebook page that she tasted it and would like to have the recipe. Like I always said, good things must be shared. Here is the recipe and trust me, you will love this super moist, chocolatey yummy banana chocolate cupcakes.

Banana chocolate cupcakes

Adapted from Joy of Baking with slight modification

Make 12 regular size cupcakes

Ingredients:

175 gm granulated white sugar

130 gms all-purpose flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (regular or Dutch-processed)

3/4 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 jumbo egg

1/2 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 1 medium sized banana)

1/2 cup (120 ml) warm water

1/4 cup (60 ml) milk

1/4 cup (60 ml) canola, corn, or vegetable oil

3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Chocolate Fudge Frosting:

100 gms unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped

113 gms unsalted butter, room temperature

100 gms icing sugar, sifted

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place rack in the center of the oven. Line 12 regular-sized muffin cups with paper liners. Put sugar in a large bowl. Combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and sift them into the large bowl of sugar and whisk them together.

In another large bowl, whisk together the egg, mashed banana, water, milk, oil, and vanilla extract until well combined. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir, or whisk, until combined. (The batter is quite thin.)  Scoop the batter into the cupcakes liner to 3/4 full, and bake for about 20.

Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack before piping chocolate frosting.

Chocolate Frosting: Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

In an electric mixer bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy for about 1 minute. Add the icing sugar and beat until it is light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). Add vanilla extract and mix well. Add the melted chocolate and beat on low speed until incorporated. Beat for another 2 to 3 minutes on  medium-high speed until frosting is smooth and glossy.

Make the cork stand, HUH??

I don’t know if I have shared this story with you before. There was one evening, we had dinner with some of our close friends. I have blogged about this loving couple before. She is Singaporean and he is Australian. There were six of us. We invited my sister in law (SIL) and they invited one of their good friends which was an bachelor Englishman. While waiting for the food to be served, my SIL and I were playing with the cork from the bottle of wine we were drinking. It is a game my Quay Lo taught us to play sometime ago and we love it.  While we were having fun playing with the cork trying hard to make it stand, we were not aware that the Englishman was watching us. I guessed he finally could not resist his curiousity but asked us what we were doing. He asked, “May I ask what you ladies are doing?” Quick and Easy, I answered him with my Malaysian accent and I said, “I am trying to make the cork stand.” HOLY MOLLY!!  His face turned all red and I can see that he felt very uncomfortable on hearing that!  GOODNESS GRACIOUS God help Lucy!! She did it AGAIN!  My Quay Lo quickly jumped in to explain to him that it was a game we were playing whereby if the cork is dropped at a correct height, it will stand upright and who ever make it stand with the least number of drop will be the winner. He further explained that his wife could not pronounce the "R" very well so it may sound like something else. Lucy, next time, think before you speak, pronounce the words with the “R” properly. You must really ROLL and not LOLL or NOT ROLL your tongue for the "R" sound in the word, so that it will not sound like what it is not suppose to be, especially, when you speak to a proper and polished Englishman. LOL!

Here is the dessert I made for my Quay Lo to thank him for saving my skin. Otherwise, Lucy would have to dig a hole in the ground and stick her head inside.

Banana Crumble

Adapated from Food.com

Ingredients:

4 bananas , sliced (in circles)

rind of one orange

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 cup rolled oats or 1 cup granola cereal

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons butter , softened

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Evenly distribute bananas among 4 ramekins, lightly sprayed with Pam. Place all dry ingredients in a medium mixing bowl, add the butter and work mixture with your hands till crumbly. Sprinkle over bananas, crumbling further with your fingers, enough to cover. Bake till crumble get firm and golden in color, about 10-12 minutes. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Sour cream banana & roasted pecan cupcakes - Featured in Group Recipes & Bakeolious

I am a hopeless baker....so hopeless that the first time I tried baking a cake it was a disaster. My hubby had bought a box of cake mix and asked me to follow the instructions on the box. I did, but then I baked it in a toaster oven instead of the regular oven. A near fire was the result of course. I don't blame you for laughing at how silly I was. That was when I had no clue at what to use in a kitchen.

I love all my foodie friends’ cup cakes! They all look so lovely, especially recently. Some of them are so creative in coming up with spooky ones for Halloween. I hope someday I will come up with nicer and more creative cupcakes. So for now, I have baked some, but they are very basic. From a taste stand point, my darling hubby said they were delicious, but presentation is a fail by my own estimation. I am sharing this because I find this recipe makes really yummy banana cupcakes. I hope to see some foodie friends use it and come up with those amazing little things! Do buzz me if you use this recipe to make cup cakes so that I can enjoy some eye candies!

Makes 18 – 20 cupcakes

Ingredients:
1/4 c. butter

1 ¼ c. sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

2 c. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. salt

1 c. sour cream

1 c. mashed bananas

1/2 c. chopped pecans

Method:
Line cupcake pan with cup cake papers. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla, blend thoroughly. Combine flour, baking powder, soda and salt. Add to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Add bananas and pecans, mixing just until blended. Spoon batter into the paper cupcake liners. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 – 20 mins minutes. Cool well and before adding any frosting.

Kuih Kodok (Deep fried banana balls) - Featured in Group Recipes, Dishfolio & TOP 9 at FOODBUZZ

Talking about bananas, I have a funny story to tell. This happened on my first visit to Hong Kong. My girlfriend, Corine and I were shopping at a night market and Corine wanted to buy some bananas. We managed to find a store that had many types of bananas. It was manned by an old lady who was probably in her late 60s. Corine then asked her for the price of a bunch of "kung jiu" (banana in cantonese). "kung" means "male" in cantonese. Malaysians call banana "kung jiu", whereas the Hong Kong people call it "heong jiu" ("heong" means fragrant). We didn't know that. So, when Corine asked the old lady to give her a nice bunch of "kung jiu", she looked at her in disbelief and replied in a very serious tone of voice. She said, "I have been selling "hiong jiu" (bananas) for 50 years but I have never heard of "kung" (male) or "na" (female) for "hiong jiu". We laughed so hard together that we could barely conclude the purchase.

This recipe is good for over-riped bananas. Here, locally, I will not make this if I cannot get pisang raja (banana raja). These are small plantation bananas, grown and consumed here, that are very sweet, and most who make this treat do so only when they are available. However, don't let this stop you from making this lovely banana fritter, the perfect accompaniment to a cup of tea or coffee in the afternoon.

Ingredients:

(A)

180 gm plain flour

½ ts baking powder

pinch of salt

(B)

500 gm slightly overripe bananas, mashed

2 cups of desiccated coconut (optional)

oil for deep frying

Method:
Sift A, add mashed bananas and mix well into a soft batter.

Heat oil in a wok until hot and drop tablespoonful of batter in. Remove with slotted ladle when golden brown and drain on absorbent paper.

Note:

For those who prefer this to be a little sweeter, coat the banana balls with icing sugar or cinnamon sugar. My family love it.