just two bowls

It seems like my learning curve is quite flat...and very likely it will remain that way for sometime...

I have started baking 4 years ago...yet, I couldn't move too far away from simple bakes such as muffins and cookies. Many fellow home bakers who began their baking journey way after me are already displaying baking skills...in my opinion, which has already surpassed or at least equivalent to professional pastry chefs! They never failed to wow me with challenging bakes such as those lovely French macaroons, delicious choux puff pastry, gorgeous layered cakes, dainty desserts, fondant sugarcraft, and even challenging breads such as sourdough.

Me being a rather conservative (a better word for 'kiasee'...a Singlish term which means 'afraid to die') person, is not always willing to take up baking challenges. My fear of failure is the greatest stumbling block. I know, to avoid kitchen failures I should equip myself with the necessary knowledge and skills, which I should acquire by learning from professional bakers. In the past, I like to use the excuse of not being able to find time to attend baking classes...but now, with more free time on hand, I still couldn't make myself sign up for any baking course. The thought of going for lessons on specific time on a periodic basis, just, puts me off. With this kind of mentality, I wonder when I am able to accelerate my learning pace?

So, in the mean time, I hope you won't get too bored reading post after post on simple bakes on this blog space. I am not being humble, I did get a comment sometime back that I am getting boring (^_^''')

The subject of this post is none other than this batch of 'Two Bowls' Chocolate Chips Muffins. As the name suggests, these moist chocolaty treats are made using just two bowls. One for mixing up the wet ingredients, the other for the dry ones. The content inside the 'wet' bowl is then dumped into the 'dry' bowl, with a few quick stirs, the batter is ready for baking. I bet a 10 year old will be able to make this with little supervision.

I modified the original recipe a little...basically the fat used. The original recipe calls for melted butter, but I was too lazy to even melt some butter, so I simply substituted it with olive oil. There is not much difference between the two types of fat...even there is, I believe it is going to be quite subtle. Butter will definitely enhance the taste...I am sure the muffins will smell better when they were baking...but oil wins by being able to keep them moist.

My younger child has been craving for something as chocolaty and rich as brownies...but a really good tray of brownies has got too much fat and sugar, despite his constant pleadings, I would only bake them on special occasions. In order to fool the boy to eat my bakes, I replaced some of the plain flour with cocoa powder...so as to make these muffins look close enough to be the slightly healthier cousin of the brownies :)

I made these muffins on a weekday night...while they were still hot to the touch, my kids wouldn't even wait for them to cool off. I was surprised that they couldn't stop at just one...the chocolaty and moist crumbs certainly appealed to their taste buds.

My cyberfriend, VB once asked me how I usually eat my muffins...do I strip off the paper liners or do I use a spoon to scoop it from the muffin cups? Well, my kids always eat it with a spoon, as for me, I usually rid off the paper liners. For these muffins, I had to use a spoon to dig in...just because these sweet little paper souffle cups are so sturdy that I had problem trying to pull them apart ;)

So, if I may ask, how do you usually eat your muffins?





Chocolate Chips Muffins

Ingredients:
(makes 12 small muffins)

235g plain flour
15g cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
50g mini dark chocolate chips
1 large egg, lightly beaten
60ml olive oil or any vegetable oil
175ml milk (I used low fat fresh milk)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
100g granulated sugar*

*note: use 125g if you prefer it to be sweeter, original recipe calls for 150g sugar.

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degC.
2. Sieve together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a mixing bowl. Mix in chocolate chips. Make a well in the centre.
3. Place egg, oil, milk, vanilla extract and sugar in another bowl. Mix (with a manual whisk) until thoroughly combined.
4. Pour the liquid mixture into the flour mixture. With a spatula, gently fold all the ingredients to form a wet batter. Just mix until the flour are incorporate into the batter. DO NOT Over mix. The batter should appear lumpy.
5. Spoon batter into paper muffin cups to about 3/4 full. Bake for 15~20mins or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Let cool on a wire rack and serve warm.

Recipe source: adapted from Bread baking by hand or bread machine, by Eric Treuille and Ursula Ferrigno