Double Chocolate Muffins

These yummy muffins were the first set of beauties to come out of my brand new oven late last year. The oven was home delivered by Girias and my excitement knew no bounds. I patiently waited for a day, went through the product manual and admired the oven for an entire day. When I couldn't wait anymore, I thought 'what could be better than double chocolate muffins for the very first trial'. And thus started the process and in 20minutes flat, my whole house was smelling of chocolate.

 

The recipe is very easy to follow. All you need is the raw materials, mixing bowl, spatula and muffins tins. Of course, no need to mention the oven I hope. Easy, right?! 

So, here comes the recipe:

Double Chocolate Muffins Recipe 

Ingredients: 

1 3/4 cup of all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tbsp best quality cocoa powder

3/4 cup superfine sugar

1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips, plus 1/8 cup for sprinkling.

1 cup milk

1/3 cup + 2tsp vegetable oil

1 egg

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Method:

• Put the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa, sugar and 3/4 cup of chocolate chips into a large bowl and mix well.
• Pour all the liquid ingredients into a measuring jug. Mix the dry and wet ingredients. together. Don't over mix it.
• Spoon the batter into muffin cases.
• Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips on top and bake at 180C for 20minutes or until the muffins are dark, risen and spring back when touched.

Notes:

1. Lumpy batter makes for the best cup cakes. Over mixing causes the muffins to be dry and tough.

2. I used chocolate shavings (just shave the chocolate slab with knife to get thin chocolate flecks) for topping as I was short of chocolate chips. 

3. If your oven is small, you can refrigerate the batter until the second batch is ready to go into the oven. The muffins still rise beautifully.

Nutella and Orange Rolls

Nutella and Orange Rolls are easy to make and yummy in taste. It is a yeast roll which are made with simple ingredients and the end result is spectacular. And the best part is that it is no-knead recipe. Yes, you heard it right!

I have got a couple of bread and rolls recipes in my kitty and have started making them one by one. Last week was my trial with Nutella and orange rolls. It is a simple recipe. Water, milk, sugar, yeast, orange zest and oil are combined with flour and the resulting dough mixture is left to rise. After the first rise, you roll it out  smear one side with Nutella, roll it and cut into pieces. The rolls are then left for second proofing and once the rolls have risen, they are baked and voila! your rolls are ready.

 

Here are some snaps for you to go though the process followed by the recipe:

Sugar and milk

Active Dry Yeast

Initial Dough Mixture

Rolls ready for the second rise

Rolls after second rise, ready to go into oven

Nutella and Orange Rolls

Nutella and Orange Rolls Recipe:

Ingredients:

Milk - 1 cup / 240 ml
Sugar - 1/4 cup / 50 grams
Vegetable Oil (or any flavorless oil) - 1/4 cup
Active dried yeast) - 1 1/4 teaspoon
All Purpose Flour - 260g (2 cups)  plus 33g (1/4 cup) Divided use
Baking powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Baking soda (scant, i.e, a little less than, just below the rim of the spoon) - 1/4 teaspoon
Salt - 3/4 teaspoon
Grated Orange zest - 3/4 teaspoon

For the filling: 

Nutella or any chocolate hazelnut spread - 3 tablespoons (alter to suit your taste)
Lightly toasted and chopped walnuts/ hazelnuts - 3 tablespoons ( optional but recommended)
  

Procedure: First things first -  Measure out all your ingredients and keep them ready.

• Mix milk, sugar and vegetable oil in a pan, preferably one big enough to mix the dough in too, less cleanup later. Scald (heat until just before boiling) the mixture. Leave to cool for 45mins to an hour. The milk mixture must be lukewarm at the end of this period. In case you leave it for longer, just warm it till it's lukewarm.
• When the mixture is lukewarm, add the active dry yeast, leave it for about 5-10 minutes till frothy. Whisk in the orange zest, make sure there are no clumps of it.
• Then add 260 grams of flour to the mixture. Stir to mix with a spatula, you will get a batter that's quite sticky. Cover and let the batter sit for 1 hour or till double. Mine took an hour. It may take lesser time if its warmer.
• Mix the 33 grams (1/4 cup) flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add this to the flour mixture in the pan. Mix till everything comes together. It will still be very sticky. You could make the rolls straightway or refrigerate the dough. I would not attempt handling the sticky mass at this point of time. Chilling makes it easier to handle. So transfer it to a large box, close the lid loosely. The box must be large enough to allow the dough to more than double and still have some space left over.
• When ready to make the rolls, before you even take the dough out of the fridge, get these things ready. Line your baking tin with parchment and grease the sides. Have your silicon brush, soft butter, rolling pin, sharp knife or dough scraper, extra flour ready. Flour your work surface with enough flour. This being a sticky dough, it would otherwise be impossible to roll out. If you take the dough out first and then spend time on this, your dough will lose the firmness and will not be as easy to handle.
• Roll out the dough into a rectangular shape of 17'' x 11''rectangle aprox. This will be quite thin. Dust the dough and work surface with flour when necessary.
• Spread Nutella evenly and sprinkle the toasted nuts.
• Start from the opposite end of the dough, roll the dough neatly in a line towards you. Roll as tightly as possible. Dust fingers with flour if the dough feels sticky. Pinch the seams to seal.
• Using a sharp knife or bench scraper, cut into1 inch thick slices and arrange in your pan(s). Place them spaced apart.
• Let the the rolls double in size. It might take 45-60min. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C / 350 degree F towards the end of the rise time.
• Bake for 20 -25 minutes until golden brown. 
• Brush the rolls with melted butter for a softer crust. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then completely on the rack.

Basic Vanilla Sponge Cake

A basic sponge is a fluffy, soft. delightful cake which is a treat for the palette. You bite into this not so sweet lightness, makes your heart sing.

The very first cake I tried with my new oven was this basic vanilla sponge. This light airy cake uses vegetable oil instead of butter, hence healthier than the regular cake.

I had promised my sister that my nephew's 2nd year birthday cake would be prepared by none other than his chikkamma (aunt). So I had to get going, see if I could bake a decent cake. Of course, the oven was also new. Once the cake was baked, I had some whipping cream ready. Chilled the bowl and blade of electric mixer and beat the whipping cream till it held medium peaks. A semi sweet whipped cream frosting with this light cake made this maiden venture extra special. The cake was enjoyed by family and was gone in no time. To say the least, I was a happy baker!

Vanilla Sponge Cake Recipe

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup Flour

1 cup powdered sugar

3/4 cup vegetable oil

4 large eggs

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla essence

Method:

Sift flour and baking powder together twice.

Beat eggs till light and frothy to about 3 times the original volume.

Add the vanilla, sugar and beat again for about 2minutes.

Pour in the oil continuously in a stream while continuing the beating.

Fold the flour mixture gently into the wet ingredients.

Pour into the greased tin, dusted with flour.

Tap the tin couple of times so that the bubbles settle down.

Bake at 180C for about 25-30min or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Notes:
1. Pour the sugar and oil into the mixture slowly and continuously.
2. Move the mixer in one direction only lest you let the air out from the batter.
3. Don't mix the flour in frantically. Gently cut and fold in circular motion.
4. Gluten will start forming if you overmix.

Happy Baking!

Budding Baker

Welcome to Budding Baker

Welcome to the world of budding baker. Here I share my journey of making my/others' life sweeter. This is a small corner of the cyberspace which I call my own and this is where I write about the adventures and the occasional disasters.

The world of baking opened its doors to me quite accidentally. But it has been amazing so far. Learnt basics of baking from Monika Manchanda, gingerly started experimenting few months back with Kanchan. After postponing the buying decision for quite a few months, finally bought an OTG and set out baking the muffins, cakes and breads which I was lusting after from the amazing home bakers' blogs.

Why am I writing a blog? When there are amazing food bloggers out there, what difference is one more food blog going to make? I don't know. Honestly. I want to share the stories, the bakes and the experiences. Just a chronicle. So here I am, making an effort at blogging the stuff I bake. I am by no means a food stylist or a food photographer. Neither do I have the aptitude nor the patience required. Hence, kindly adjust :-D