donna hay's milk chocolate chunk muffins

 

 

 

so... I made muffins.

 

i bought this book, Simple Essentials Chocolate by Donna Hay, quite some time ago. when i first got the book i tried this recipe. then...i sorta like *ehem* misplaced the book and sorta like *ehem* forgotten that i even had the book. haha.

 

anyhoo...long story short, i found the book and since i had all the ingredients aaaaaand this is yet another NON-mixer recipe, i decided to give this a go...you know, for class.

 

my take on this muffin is that, if you are a chocolate lover and you don't like your muffins to be on the sweet side, then, this is THE recipe for you. BUT you need to really use good quality cocoa powder and milk chocolate chunk to get the most out of this recipe. i personally like it because the texture is a bit densed, unlike normal muffins...and it has this rich chocolatey flavor minus the sweetness of sugar. this is a winner, for me lah.

 

if you want to know, you trylah... you try, okay? okay!

 

ready for the recipe?

 

 

 

 

you will need: *

2 cups (300g/10½ oz) self-raising flour, sifted 

⅓ cup (40g) cocoa powder, sifted
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup (220g/7¾ oz)caster sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
⅔ cup (160ml) vegetable oil
½ cup (125ml) mil
1 cup chopped milk chocolate **

*i don't know lah this donna hay...i don't know if she uses the US cup measurement or the OZ measurement cup...but bila I tried to convert it is not the same as the metric measurement given in her book. Pening mak temah...what I did was for the flour I used 250g of flour. because when I baked the first batch, the batter was a bit too sticky and thick.

**I chopped up about 200g of milk chocolate.

the how to:
1)  preheat oven to 180°C (350°F)

2)  in a bowl, place the flour, cocoa, baking powder and sugar. mix to combine.

3)  in another bowl, combine the eggs, vanilla, oil and milk. whisk these together.

4)  stir the egg mixture into the flour mixture until just combined.

5)  fold in the chocolate chunks and spoon the mixture into your muffin liners.

6)  bake for 20-25 minutes.

this is a pretty simple and straightforward recipe. no rocket science required. so...I hope you guys will give this a go. kalau tak...rugiiii...sedap wohhhh.

luck luck...and be sure to come back okay?

thanks to:
1)  www.goodreads.com for the book cover image
2)  donna hay's Simple Essentials - Chocolate book for the recipe.

chocolate madeleines

i made madeleines. yesterday. chocolate ones. i didn't make the original ones because i didn't have any of those zesty fruit things to zest and mix in the batter plus i just bought this book by donna hay and saw the recipe and thought that since it looked easy enough, why don't i just give it a try, right?

and plus, the wife was coming over and i had nothing to whip up at the very last minute, so...

i was a bit scared, of course, since it was my first time baking these tiny cakes. i always had the impression that they would be the french version of our 'kuih bahulu' you know?

you can read more about the madeleine, here.

as for what i think about this particular version of the madeleine is that this one is a bit too dry to my liking, but then again, it could be my fault entirely what with this being my first time and all. but, fear not, i will attempt this again, but this time with the original recipe, complete with them zesty fruit things in the batter. hehehehe...

so, anyone interested in this chocolate madeleine recipe? yes?

let's go!!

 

 

you will need:

2 eggs
75g caster sugar
50g all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoon cocoa powder
60g butter, melted

the how to:

1)  preheat the oven to 180°C

2) in a medium sized bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar till combined.

3) sift in the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder over the egg mixture.

4) then in goes the melted butter and proceed to fold the ingredients till everything is mixed.

5)  spoon the mixture into a pre-greased madeleine tin, about two-thirds full.

6)  bake for 10 minutes or till the madeleines are set.

* i used a mini madeleine pan, so i got about 29 madeleines.

psst, guess what? they taste vanderful with a dollop of cream cheese frosting. hehehehe...you can get the recipe here. ;-)

luck luck you guys!!

recipe taken from Donna Hay's Simple Essentials - Chocolate.
madeleine information courtesy of wikipedia, thank you!
image of donna hay's book, taken from amazon.com, thank you!