19 Jul 2012

All you need is Love, Love, Love!


Why do men cook? 
Because cooking leads to eating and it's challenging enough to make them feel strong and clever.

Why do women cook? 
Because that’s how they show their love. 

No, just kidding. 
Although….for many people (may they be women of men), giving love goes with giving food

I don’t have children yet, but I am already pretty sure I will be a mum who cooks and bakes cakes all the time. I think it might be hereditary.

I still have vivid memories of my older sisters cooking for me and taking care of me every time I visited them when I was a teenager.  
Amélie would cook anything that involved melted cheese and potatoes, and Marie would bake cakes. We would watch Buffy with a plate on our laps and I would suddenly forget all my worries (exams, homework, boyfriends dramas, etc).
Until now, when I am in crisis, the best remedy is a prescription of pecan pie at my sister’s.
So until I have my own children and can force-feed them with love and British cakes, I use my families, friends and colleagues as recipients of my love-cooking outbursts. 

It was then only fair that I baked for my friends’ wedding brunch earlier this month. The brief being to make as many cakes as possible in a day to feed a crowd, muffins came as the perfect option.
I broke my own personal record: 120 muffins of 5 different flavours baked in a day. 
Isn’t this love? 

 

Basic Muffin mix and variations

Servings: 12 muffins

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
3/8 cup oil (that is 1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons)
1/2 tsp of vanilla essence
About 1 cup of ingredients which will make up for the "flavour" of the muffins

Make the muffins:

1/Pre-heat the oven at 200 deg C.
2/ In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients together: flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
3/ In another bowl, mix the wet ingredients together:  egg, milk and oil
4/ Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones, as well as the cup of flavouring and stir until just moistened. Do not over mix! (The less you mix, the better. Don't worry about lumps, they will disappear in the baking process)
5/ Grease or line muffin tins with paper baking cups (not necessary if you use silicone muffin cases).
6/ Fill about 2/3 full. 
7/ Bake at 200 degrees C for about 20-25 minutes or until well risen

Flavouring suggestions:
Double chocolate: white and dark chocolate chips + 1 tbsp of unsweetened chocolate powder
Pinacolada: desiccated coconut and pineapple chunks (I used canned pineapple)
Jam’s heart: just make a plan muffin and just before cooking, drop a dollop of your favourite jam on the center of the muffin mix. 
Banana nuts: mashed banana + crushed walnuts
Cinnabon: grated apple + ½ tsp ground ginger + ½ tsp ground cinnamon

NB: You can bake the muffins, leave them to cool completely and them freeze them (in freezing bags) for up to 2 weeks.

Jam's heart muffin

Pinacolada muffin
 PS: A special Thank You to Karine for letting me make a mess of her kitchen for a day!

2 comments:

  1. Men also cook out of despair cause there's less and less women who juggle nutrition and flavour. But joking aside, I love to spend time in the kitchen to relax and to feed me (and sometimes others) with meat and affection. But when it comes to baking, I've become very lazy and solely rely on you...

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  2. Men cook because men are hungry and the fish and chips parlour on the corner does not provide eternal happiness. But I agree with you, preparing food is also showing affection. Unfortunately I don't have your patience any more regarding cakes, so I solely rely on your good spirits - or the local Patisserie...

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