The Perfect Moist and Delicious Banana Bread

I can just picture some of you raising your eyebrows upon reading the title of this post (“Perfect?” Really?!). Well, even I’m a bit doubtful because this is the only banana bread recipe I’ve tried. But since I’d like to believe my eldest daughter and colleague when they both raved to me how great it was, I’ll keep my stand and say this recipe makes the Perfect Moist and Delicious Banana Bread ☺

Caila's 9th Birthday with Lego, Sprinkles, Sports, and Cream

Just like all her past birthdays, Caila had to have a theme when she turned 9 this year. And since she and her little sister had been spending their free time playing with Lego sets that their Oma and Opa gave last year, it was practically a no-brainer that she would choose that to be her theme. The good thing about it was we only had to spend on the giveaways and the family dinner to celebrate because she agreed not to have a party again. Whew! ☺

Caila's Trolls Themed 8th Birthday

Since my sister treated Caila (and the rest of us) to a luxurious weekend stay at the InterContinental Dubai Marina as a gift for her 8th birthday, I knew I couldn't top that... material-wise, at least.  Thankfully, my eldest daughter had already told me how she wanted to spend her actual birthday and it didn't include a big party so we didn't have to dig too deep into our pockets this time. Whew! 

However, it did include giving away goody bags to her close friends and classmates at school.  It would have been an easy task (just buy treats and put them in bags, right?), but since she was so used to having a theme every year for her birthday, she insisted that there be a theme as well this year...yes, even though it would just be for the lootbags. This time it was Trolls. 

How to Make Deliciously Chewy and Fudgy Brownies

Wanting to satisfy my cravings one day, I searched the net for an easy recipe for chewy and fudgy brownies made from scratch. After scrolling through the endless list of recipes all claiming to be the best, I settled on one of my trusted resources: Sally’s Baking Addiction. The steps seemed fairly easy to follow, it didn’t need me to take out my big mixer, and I had all of the ingredients available in our kitchen cabinet, so I immediately set to work.

I followed almost everything, except I didn’t use a normal baking pan. I had bought a Nordic Ware Bundt Tea Cakes and Candies Pan from Tavola weeks ago and, seeing the perfect opportunity, put it to use.  Of course I adjusted the baking time, so they were in the oven for a shorter period.

Red Velvet Cheesecake Bites with Chocolate Chips

Oh hello, October! You snuck up so suddenly, I didn’t realize we’re already into the last quarter of the year! Really, where did the time go?!

It’s already been 2 months since our Canada vacation, and I still haven’t blogged even half of it. Augh! Yup, bad blogger here, I know. Sorry! I’ve just been really busy with so many things lately. Even though we had a long weekend because of the Eid holidays, we always had something to do or somewhere to go to during those 4 days. Even this weekend, we’re busy; but a good kind of busy, though, because I’ll be able to relax and spend quality time with my family in another emirate nearby.

Anyway, I noticed it’s been a while since I shared a recipe of something I baked in the kitchen, so here’s one from Sally’s Baking Addiction I tried last week. If you love red velvet, cheesecakes, and chocolate chips, I guarantee you’ll definitely love this!

Ultimate Carrot Cake Recipe

Two Saturdays ago, my colleagues and I were at Ikea having lunch and sharing a delicious slice of carrot cake. One of them asked me if I had tried baking carrot cake before, and when I said “only cupcakes,” she asked me to make some again so that they could taste my version.

Quick & Easy Deliciously Moist Chocolate Cake in a Mug

Last night, I had a sudden craving.

We had just finished eating dinner, and I wanted a moist chocolate cake for dessert. Just my luck that we had all sorts of sweets at home, but no cake. I was too lazy to take out all the ingredients and bake because it was too time-consuming. I didn’t want to have to go out and buy one at the supermarket, either.

Thank goodness for the internet, I found a recipe on Table for Two that was so easy and quick to do, my craving was satisfied almost instantly.

Just look at these pictures I took while I made it:

All ingredients in the mug ready to be popped in the microwave

Ready after only 70 seconds!

A mug of chocolate heaven

Here’s how I made this delicious cake in minutes:

Ingredients
• ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• ¼ tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp sugar
• ⅛ tsp salt
• ¼ cup + 1 tbsp. milk
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp hazelnut chocolate spread (I used Nutella)
• Chocolate chips

Directions
1) Mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, sugar and salt in a bowl.
2) Add the milk and oil, and mix well.
3) Pour the batter in your favorite microwave-safe mug.
4) Add the chocolate spread on top of the batter, and put in some chocolate chips. You can also skip the chocolate chips, or even opt to use other toppings. Go ahead and experiment!
5) Place the mug in the microwave (Table for Two suggests to put a paper tissue first and set the mug on top of it just in case the cake overflows).
6) Microwave for 1 minute and 10 seconds on high temperature.
7) Take it out and enjoy!

Yummy!

Whoever invented the concept of a mug cake was an absolute genius!

Ube Crinkles

Christmas season is fast approaching and one of the gifts commonly given and received (especially in the Philippines) are crinkles. Whether ordered or made with love, you can never go wrong because these goodies are absolutely delicious.

Crinkles first came in chocolate, but now there are also red velvet and, as you can guess from this post's title, ube flavors.

Although I never made chocolate crinkles before, I wanted my first attempt to be the ube ones. It made me curious kasi because it just wasn't common. And upon seeing the recipe from Bake Happy, I was relieved to see that they weren't difficult to make either. 

The hard part was finding the ube essence or flavoring here in Dubai because the Filipino supermarkets rarely have it.  Fortunately when we went to Wow Pinoy a few weeks ago, they had just restocked, so I immediately hoarded around 5 bottles of their McCormick ube flavor.

Once I had all the ingredients ready, I started making the purple-colored crinkles which were practically gone almost as soon as I had put them on our table for my taste-testers (i.e. family) to try.

Here's how you can make these yummy ube crinkles that my eldest just couldn't get enough of:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup ube jam

1 teaspoon ube flavoring

Powdered sugar

How to Make Them:

1) Mix together the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Set aside.

2) In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. 

3) Beat in the egg.

4) Mix in the ube jam and flavoring.

5) Add the flour mixture and mix.

6) Cover the bowl and chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours.

7) Preheat oven to 350 degrees farenheit.

8) Line a cookie sheet with baking paper.

9 Roll the dough into balls (I use a tablespoon to measure), coat with powdered sugar and place on cookie sheet.

10) Bake for 7 minutes. They may come out soft, but that's fine. Keeping them in the oven longer will result to "cakey" and dry crinkles.

This recipe makes about 2 dozen crinkles, depending on the size.

And there you have it. Ube flavored crinkles that you and your friends will love.

As a matter of fact, Mama requested me to make some today. Partly because my sister will be fetching her today, and mostly for her own consumption. I guess I'd better make a move on it then =)

Why I Should Never Stop Learning to Cook

Came across this from Food52 and I'm posting it here as my own personal reminder to motivate me.

Don't you agree?

White Chocolate Raspberry Muffins with Cream Cheese

We had a pack of fresh raspberries in our fridge a few days ago, and seeing that no one else at home wanted to eat them because they were sour, I checked for recipes on the internet to cook them into something that was more to my family’s tastes. And I came across this recipe from Taste of Home that included two of my favorite ingredients: cream cheese and white chocolate! Yum!

don't they look Christmas-y? =)

It was a pretty easy recipe to follow and, once they had been cooled, were an instant hit with my daughters. Sophie managed to eat five mini-muffins in one sitting!

Ingredients:
• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup fresh raspberries
• 1/2 cup white chips (I used chopped white chocolate)

Directions: 
Pre-heat oven to 375ºF.
Beat cream cheese and sugar in a bowl until smooth.
Add eggs and beat mixture.
Mix in vanilla and set aside.
In a smaller bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Add the dry ingredients to the cream cheese mixture and mix together.
Fold in raspberries and white chocolate.
Grease or line a muffin pan and fill with the batter.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes for regular-sized muffins, or 10-12 minutes for mini-muffins, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Enjoy!

Corn Muffins Just Like Kenny’s

During one of our lunch breaks at work early last week, one of my colleagues mentioned that Kenny Rogers Roasters will be returning to Dubai, saying that the branch will be in Karama near the Fish Market there. The conversation then progressed to our favourite items on their menu, prompting me to mention mine which all of them agreed was theirs as well: their corn muffins.

And since I haven’t baked muffins in a while and a KFC activity was coming up, I decided then and there to find the recipe (or at least, a similar one) and bake those goodies for Saturday.

Fortunately, when I checked the internet, there were so many sites that came up, and all of them (well, the ones that I checked) cited Todd Wilbur’s Top Secret Recipes as the source.

So after making sure I had all the ingredients, I started to make the muffins. They were pretty easy to make and didn’t take too long at all. I was making mini-muffins, so I made sure to half the baking time.

They were actually pretty good, if I do say so myself. It’s been ages since I’ve tasted a corn muffin from Kenny Rogers Roasters so I can’t tell if it tastes exactly the same, but, yeah, they were delicious. Slightly moist and not too crumbly, with just the right amount of sweetness.

When we served them to the Service Team at yesterday’s activity, several of them kept going back for more. A couple of them even said that they tasted just like Kenny’s! Hurray! Try it and see.

Ingredients:
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup milk
• 3/4 cup sweet whole kernel corn (I used the ones from the can and made sure to drain them)

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 400ºF
2) Cream butter, sugar, honey, and eggs in a bowl, making sure to mix them well.
3) Add flour, corn meal, baking powder, and salt and mix all together, adding milk while doing so.
4) Add the corn to the mixture and fold in.
5) Grease muffin pans (or line pan with liners) and fill with batter.
6) Bake for 20 to 25 minutes (or 10 minutes for mini-muffins).

Enjoy!

Cupcakes That I Made From Boxed Cake Mixes But Tasted Like Homemade

I know I still haven't finished sharing the details of our Germany trip, but I just wanted to share this amazing discovery =)  I promise, I'll blog about the rest of our trip later...even if it takes me until the end of the year (hopefully it won't take me that long, though).

Since the day of our KFC activity this month fell on a working Saturday for me (ergo, I wouldn’t be able to help out on the day itself), I was given the punishment task of baking cupcakes. Simple and easy, right? Wrong. Because the activity for this month focused on honouring the daddies and there was a special program planned, the number of cupcakes needed to equal the number of kids who would be participating; and on average, the attendance is usually 70 kids (sometimes more)! And then there’s the birthday celebrants of the kids and the service team, so I had to make approximately 100 cupcakes. Yikes!

Even if I worked on them the entire day of Friday, I knew I couldn’t bake that many, so I asked other mommies in KFC to make 3 dozen. And to make my task a bit easier, I got the help of ever reliable Betty Crocker. Good thing there was a sale in one of the supermarkets last week =)

Although it’s not a requirement that they had to be homemade, I just felt like I was cheating somehow because I was going to use boxed cake mixes. Please don’t judge me, though. I’m no expert in making cupcakes, I’ve never made money by selling them or accepting orders, and I’ve never made that many at once, so you can imagine how desperate I was.

But surprise, surprise! The ones I made actually tasted like they were made from scratch! Seriously! They taste way different than the normal ones that are made by using the ingredients asked for in the box.

When I made a batch of vanilla mini-cupcakes to practice, Caila finished 5 at once (and then a couple later that night), Sophie finished 2, and the 30 pieces (I think) that we brought for a meeting on Friday was wiped out in minutes! Then on Friday night after they arrived at our apartment, Gabe ate 3 regular-sized cupcakes, plus 1 on Saturday morning before I left for work. And when I asked Mama if she could tell that they weren’t made from scratch, she was really surprised because they were “malasa and moist” and “hindi ma-crumbs” (her words). Hurray!

What did I do? Here’s my secret. Actually, it’s not my secret. You can check the internet for all sorts of tips; and believe me, there are a lot! But these are the ones I tried and tested to be very effective in improving the taste of the vanilla and chocolate cupcakes I made.

• Add 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour
• Replace the vegetable oil with melted butter
• Add one more egg to what is asked (if it needs 2 eggs, put in 3; if it asks for 3, use 4 eggs)
• Use fresh milk instead of water
• Instead of water for the chocolate cupcakes, use 1 cup chocolate milk and 1/4 cup chocolate syrup
• Add 1/3 cup of sugar for vanilla cupcakes, and 1/4 cup of sugar for chocolate cupcakes
• For the vanilla cupcakes, add 1 teaspoon of vanilla
I also mixed in chocolate chips to the batter, but the cupcakes were also fine without them.

And to make sure no one would even think they were made from boxed cake mixes, I topped them up with frosting made from scratch.

Don't they look delicious?!
(L to R) Chocolate Cupcake with Cream Cheese Frosting, Vanilla Cupcake with Nutella Cream Cheese Frosting, and a plain Chocolate Cupcake

Try it and let me know how yours turn out. I guarantee you’ll be tempted to use boxed cake mixes when you feel the need to cheat *wink*

oreo cupcakes in vanilla and chocolate

For the second time this month, I baked Oreo cupcakes. The first was for Caila’s Hi-5 birthday celebration at school. And the second one was for our monthly KFC activity that was held this morning.

Caila’s birthday cupcakes were in vanilla, and today’s cupcakes were chocolate.

Actually, they’re pretty simple to make. You can search the internet for the recipe, and it’ll bring you pretty much the same procedures; the most common of which is making your favourite cupcake flavor recipe (usually chocolate or vanilla), placing an Oreo cookie at the bottom of the cupcake liner, and baking it as usual.

However, I did something else for mine: I mixed in chunks of Oreos in the batter before putting them in the liners. It made them more…umm…err…Oreo-ier! Hahaha!

For the chocolate Oreo cupcakes, I used normal cream Oreos all throughout. I separated the cookies, placing the sides with the cream at the bottom of the liners, and the other sides in the batter. For the vanilla Oreo cupcakes, I used the cookies with chocolate cream for the bottoms of the liners, and the normal cream Oreos for the batter. All cookies were used whole, meaning I didn’t twist or separate them.

Here are a few pictures of the steps I followed when I made the chocolate cupcakes. As mentioned earlier, you can use your favourite chocolate or vanilla cupcake recipe to make the batter. So I’ll just skip that part and fast forward to when I used the star ingredient.

Separate the cookies. Place the sides with the cream at the bottoms of the liners.

The sides without the creams are to be chopped into quarters and mixed in the batter.

Divide the batter evenly into the liners.

Bake as usual.

Fresh from the oven.

And because I have a mixer, I used the recipe from CenterCutCook.com to top off the cupcakes with yummy Cookies and Cream frosting.

The cookies mixed in the batter don’t really show in the chocolate cupcake.

But you can see them in the vanilla one here.

Definitely a great recipe for Oreo lovers like me!

my mini apple muffins at a breakfast buffet

While checking the contents of Caila’s school envelope a few weeks ago, I found a letter amongst her diary and homework. It was a invitation for the mothers to bring and serve healthy goodies for the FS2 Healthy Breakfast Buffet that Thursday. It wasn’t something that we had to do, plus it was a weekday, so I didn’t think about it anymore. However, the next day Caila told me that she really wanted me to participate. Yikes! A part of me didn’t want to give in, but then a bigger part of me felt guilty. Sure it wasn’t a major event and it wasn’t a requirement, but again, I kept remembering last year when Caila was disappointed at me and her daddy for not being at her very first school Sports Meet. Eventually of course, I agreed. My workload that week was manageable and I knew my manager would let me if I applied for a half-day leave from work.

Once that decision had been made, I asked Caila what she wanted me to bring from the list that was given. One by one I read the items, but out of the choices (almost all of which could easily be bought from the supermarket), she picked “mini-muffins.” Ohh-kay. The major supermarkets sell several types of mini-muffins; there wouldn’t be any problem in buying a couple of dozen packs. But when she said “I want apple muffins like the ones you make. I will help you, Mommy,” I knew there was no easy way out. I just HAD TO make these for her.

There was only one minor problem: I didn’t have a mini-muffin pan. I had a regular muffin pan, but the list specifically said “mini-muffins;” and considering these kids’ appetites, minis were the way to go to avoid wastage. So the following night (the night before the buffet) Hubby and I went to a baking supply store in Deira, but it was just my luck that they didn’t have any. We had already passed Carrefour and the traffic was getting heavier, losing us more time. Fortunately, after checking two different places, I managed to find the very last mini-muffin pan in Lulu Hypermarket hidden at the very back of the rack behind the rest of the baking equipment. Someone must have hidden it there and planned on going back to get it later.

We then rushed to get apples, pay for the items, then straight home so that we could have dinner and I could start baking.

Caila was excited the whole time I was making the muffins. She was very helpful too, handing me the ingredients and equipment that I asked for, mixing the batter, and saying “It smells very yummy, Mommy!” and then “Mummy, it’s very tasty and delicious!” after she finished a piece. She actually finished 3 that night =)

Since we didn’t have any liners, it was a good thing that I had printed out some school-theme flags earlier which I cut out and attached to toothpicks before sticking them into the muffins. The little toppers made them look more appealing.

I had managed to make almost 3 dozen mini-muffins (plus the 3 that Caila ate, 1 that Hubby tasted, and a few more for home consumption) to take to the school which I packed in aluminium trays. The following morning at the school, several mothers were already there waiting with their own goodies, and at 8am, we were asked to set up whatever we brought.

There were cereals and milk, yoghurt, juice, sandwiches, fruits, croissants, corn, and muffins of course.

 

After a while, the children began coming out. Kids of each section took turns in going around the buffet spread to take whatever they wanted, and then go to their assigned tables to enjoy their food.

I was sharing the “Muffins Area” with two other mommies who had brought store-bought muffins. Of course, since most of them were chocolate-flavoured, they were the first ones to run out. However, my muffins weren’t totally ignored because the little school toppers caught several kids’ eyes, making them reach out or ask for a piece.

Finally, just 3 mini-muffins were left on a tray and all the kids had finished eating. Suddenly, one of the mothers who had also been handing out muffins from another table approached me and asked if she could get one because she also thought the flags looked cute. Of course I said yes. When that happened, the mother standing beside me also took one. And then right after she put it in her mouth, another mother came and took the last remaining muffin. They all said they were delicious, and one of them even asked for the recipe!

simot!

the school principal thanking the mommies

So all in all, it was a success. Tiring, but definitely worth it. And to make it more rewarding, when Caila arrived at home a few hours later, she gave me this sticker which she got from the “Cereal Area” earlier.

When I asked her why, she said “Because you came to my school and you made my favourite apple muffins for my classmates,” topping it off with a tight hug and a “Thank you, Mommy.” Awww! Ang sarap, di ba?

I am sooo glad I took part in the buffet!

apple cinnamon muffins

I know I’ve just recently started learning how to bake from scratch, but out of the few cupcakes and muffins I’ve tried so far, I can say that my apple muffins are the best. The first batch I made was for Mama's birthday last April. 

Mama's birthday muffins

Since then, it's the only kind I bake for any special occasions in the family or when we're expecting guests.  If you can remember, I also cooked these for Leih’s baby shower more than two weeks ago. And usually on the day that the last muffin has been eaten up, my nephew always asks “Auntie Pamela, kelan ka uli gagawa ng apple muffins?” Now if that doesn’t mean they’re delicious, I don’t know what is. And honestly, they really are.

I can’t take the credit for coming up with the recipe, though. Like all the others, I found it on the internet, but unfortunately, I can’t remember which site I got it from. So if you come across a similar recipe as the one I’m using, most probably, that’s where I got them from. 

Ingredients:
1 ¾ cups of white sugar
2 eggs
1 cup of oil
1 tablespoon of vanilla
2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
2 apples (peeled, cored and diced)
Brown sugar

Procedure:
1) Cream together the first four ingredients in a bowl.
2) In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, salt and ground cinnamon. You can either sift them or not.
3) Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and mix. The batter will be very thick.
4) Usually at this point, I turn on the oven and preheat it to 180 degrees celsius.
5) Add the diced apples and mix again. The batter will become smoother and easier to mix after the apples have been added.
6) Line a cupcake pan with paper liners and fill the liners with the batter
7) Sprinkle with brown sugar
8) Bake for 20 minutes, cool, and enjoy the muffins!

The brown sugar on top gives a slight crunch, but then you’ll be surprised at how soft and moist the inside is once you bite into it. I seriously recommend you to try this recipe because it’s really delicious. Not only that, it’s so easy to follow and the ingredients can easily be found in any supermarket or grocery.

Luto na! =)

pick-me-upper #1

Even though my spirits lifted after reading those bible verses the other day, I still couldn’t help feeling a bit miserable. After all, I’m still human; you can’t expect the feelings of crappiness immediately disappear. The next day (yesterday), I went on with my life as normal and did whatever I needed to do. I was still offended, but I had already accepted the fact that it just wasn’t time to get what I was hoping for. In the afternoon when Hubby fetched me from work, he asked me what the plan (for the rest of the day) was. We didn’t have our regular upper household that night, so our evening was totally free. I just shrugged and said “Wala. Anong plano mo?” To which he asked if I wanted to go to Deira City Centre.

my first ever moist chocolate cupcake from scratch

I actually did it! My first attempt at baking cupcakes from scratch and it was a success! Yahooo!!! Since last year (or was it 2 years ago?), when I started using the instant mixes to make cupcakes, muffins and brownies, I promised myself that I would learn how to bake from scratch. And then, as time passed and I found out our friends could bake really nice cakes and even made them for parties, I became even more determined. I don’t plan on competing with them, I just want to be able to bake.

fluffy mashed potatoes

I cannot believe it! My colleague who is a really great cook asked me for the recipe of my mashed potatoes! Wow!

You see, last Friday we prepared dinner for our German family at our place. Hubby prepared the main courses (chop suey, kilawin, pork kaldereta) while I prepared the mashed potatoes and gulaman. And since there were a few leftovers, I brought the mashed potato and kaldereta for my baon yesterday at work. Like what we do during lunch, my (female) colleagues and I taste and share each other’s food. Anyway, they all tasted my potatoes and said it was ok. And then this morning, my colleague asked me for the recipe!!! She said it’s masarap and she’s planning to cook it for her daughter. Yaaaaaaaaayyy!!!

hawaiian pork chop

I am on a roll! I cooked another dish last night and Hubby was all praises! Whoooppeeee! You see, yesterday on our way home from work, Hubby and I were talking about what to have for dinner, when I suddenly craved for Mama’s Hawaiian Pork Chop, and since we’ve never cooked that before, I called Mama right away. Here’s how our conversation went:

orange fruit cocktail gelatin

It had been a while since I cooked anything special, so last week I decided to make some gelatin for dessert for our household which would be held the following day.

Out of the various Mr. Gulaman packets we had, I chose the orange one since that was Caila’s favorite color and I was hoping that it would make it look more appealing to her.