Chocolate Muffins with a Peanut Butter Swirl

This is the result of another spontaneous baking session! I was sitting, revising for those dreaded mocks next Monday, when I realized I just needed a break. I had been to the gym that morning, so that wasn't really an option. Not that gymming twice in one day isn't cool - in fact, I admire you if you do! Anyways, I didn't have anything in mind so I flipped open my laptop (ignore the fact that it was already open - this is just for dramatic effect) and looked for a healthy, yet delicious-looking recipe.

This was definitely it. I mean, just look at them. Do they look healthy? No. Do they look delicious? Yes. Are they both? YES. 

The great thing about these is that mashed bananas replace some of the moisture and sweetness, meaning that there's no need for butter or oil (!) and the sugar is cut down. And seriously, peanut butter + chocolate + bananas = heaven. Additionally, these were actually called cupcakes because the peanut butter swirl replaces the frosting, but for me, cupcakes really do need frosting... So the peanut butter swirl is just an added plus to these already yummy rich chocolate muffins! 

They take just a few minutes to mix up, not much time to bake and really only need one bowl. What are you waiting for? Get baking!

PS. Unfortunately, it was around 4 pm when these came out of the oven and it was already getting dark (bleh), so I wasn't really able to get too many great photos. But I think the one up there speaks for itself.

Ingredients
2 bananas, mashed 
2/3 cup unrefined sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup yogurt, natural or greek
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup dark chocolate chunks

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter, melted

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180 C. Line a muffin tin with 9 muffin cups and set aside.
In a large bowl, mash the bananas well and stir in the sugar, egg, yogurt and vanilla extract.
On top of the wet ingredients, sift the flours cocoa powder, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Slowly mix together, and be sure to not overmix. Fold in the chocolate chips. 
Divide the batter between 9 muffin cups - fill them as high as you can! Take 1 teaspoon of the melted peanut butter and drop it on top of each of the 9 muffins. Swirl using a knife or toothpick.
Place the muffins in the oven and bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Allow them to cool slightly, grab a cold glass of milk and enjoy!
Just kidding.. Definitely do that, but these will stay fresh in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 days, or in the fridge for five days.
But really do enjoy!

Cranberry White Chocolate Scones

On Sunday I returned from one home to another.. Now I know that almost doesn't make sense, but Singapore is and forever will be my home. Yet, we now officially live in London and it was definitely nice to return to our own apartment after two weeks out of London (one of the weeks was in India!). I already miss Singapore terribly but I'd be lying if I didn't admit I love London as well. The cold weather is almost refreshing, but the early sunsets I could definitely do without!

Anyways, you may be wondering why I'm rambling on about all that other than to just share tidbits about life... Well, it's because this amazingly delicious, wholesome scones were created out of an urge to stay awake. Yes, you read correctly. At around 4 pm on Sunday, I could feel the jet lag taking effect as well as felt my lack of good sleep on the flight. I knew that if I didn't get moving and do something, I'd crash within moments. And so I did. The kitchen was calling.

On the note of getting moving, I just thought I'd share that I'm actually on the elliptical in the gym as I write this post!

Back to baking - It's still winter and although the festive season is over, these white chocolate cranberry scones looked too good to resist. Unlike your traditional butter-laden scone, these are made with a mere two tablespoons of butter, whole-wheat flour, rolled oats, buttermilk and just enough sugar. The light drizzle of glaze adds just the right amount of sweetness. 

I ate one for breakfast yesterday morning and fell in love. It's definitely a keeper. In fact, by swapping out the cinnamon, cranberries and white chocolate, you could customize these any way you wish to. They take all of 15 minutes to whip up, and only 25-30 minutes in the oven. There's no excuse.

Trust me and make these soon. YUM.

Ingredients (recipe adapted from http://apple-of-my-eye.com/2013/12/22/white-chocolate-cranberry-scones/)

For the scones:

3/4 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup unrefined sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg

3/4 cup flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup rolled oats

1 tbsp baking powder

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp chilled butter

1/3 cup dried cranberries

1/3 cup chopped white chocolate

1 tbsp unrefined sugar

For the glaze:

1/3 cup icing sugar

1 tbsp milk

Instructions 
Preheat oven to 180 C.
In a large bowl, mix together the buttermilk, sugar, vanilla extract and egg.
In another bowl, sift together the white flour, whole wheat flour, oats, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
Grate the butter into the flour mixture (this is such a neat technique!).
Mix the dried cranberries and white chocolate into the flour mixture.
Add the flour mixture into the wet ingredients, stirring till just combined.
Place the dough on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and form it into a circle around one inch thick. Sprinkle the sugar on the scones.
Cut the dough into 8-12 wedges, depending on your preference and bake for 25-30 minutes until center is cooked and tops are golden brown.
Let the scones cool.

For the glaze, combine the icing sugar with a milk to form a thick sugar-y drizzle. You may need to add more milk to thin it out slightly. Drizzle onto the scones.

Enjoy!

Borough Market, London UK

Last last Saturday, I went to Borough Market (London's oldest and one of the best food markets in the world!) with my parents (my sister opted out....!). I meant to put up this post a while ago, but it took me much too long to sift through my photos... We left after a light breakfast (I regret eating anything at all!) and took the tube to London Bridge. We walked into Borough market at 10:30 am and it was already packed. We had no idea what we were in for. 

Note: this post is definitely more pictures than words, but I think they speak for themselves.

Another note: this post is dedicated to a dear friend who once told me she would consider getting married in Borough market - a true sign of a foodie and one of the many reasons why we're friends!

We walked into Borough Market and were first greeted by an amazing fresh produce stall. The fruits and veggies were bursting with color and we were tempted to pick up so many things, but limited ourselves to some strawberries, bell peppers and spinach. There's only so much food we can eat, keeping in mind that we were leaving London for a few weeks on Friday (I am in Mumbai now!).

Just look at those colors. And the brussel sprouts below... On that note, I've only eaten brussel sprouts twice - the first time I absolutely hated them, the second time they were part of my Cambridge Christmas dinner, and they were alright. At the moment, I'm pretty indifferent. I'm mentioning this because I know that there are definitely some strong views on brussel sprouts. It's funny how much discussion can take place over a tiny cabbage-looking vegetable.

Brussel sprouts galore.

We kept meandering our way through the market. My mom almost picked up some truffle oil to drizzle on pasta but resisted. We tried some delicious fresh buffalo mozzarella but didn't think we would use it, so resisted once again. Coincidentally, we ended up making a caprese salad last week and regretting not buying the mozzarella. The next half hour was filled with gawking over the various foods on over and sneaking ever sample we could possibly get our hands on. 

However, once we reached the section with the bakeries, we just had to pick up something. There was everything - literally - on offer: feta spinach stuffed croissants, foccacia, ginger tea cake, spelt loaves, bread butter pudding, apple cinnamon almond tarts... I could keep going on. We planned to make some tomato soup the next morning so picked up the foccacia to accompany that. The bread butter pudding was too tempting so my mom and I decided that would be breakfast one morning - who doesn't like cake for breakfast? My dad decided the spelt and seed tin loaf was something different from the regular breads you get, so convinced my mom it was a good idea to buy it (which it was!).

Brownie tower. Need I say more?

I'm going to stop explaining our every move right about now and just give you some other highlights. We were attracted to a fresh pasta counter giving out free samples and absolutely fell in love with the fresh ricotta spinach ravioli... Yes, we did buy some and ended up eating it for dinner that night topped with a tomato cream sauce I made.

Oyster bar WITH champagne in classy flutes!

#selfie with the sweetest and coolest parents in the universe!

Moving on to the main things we ate AT the market itself. On the left are pictures of a stall selling hot food cooked in huge pans. The dishes included a Thai green curry, a Vietnamese fish stew, another Caribbean curry and "Bomba Paella". The people manning the stall kept filling spoons of the different dishes and offering them to passers-by. We succumbed to the delicious, fresh, piping hot and hearty paella. We bought one box to share between the three of us.

Next stop: Kappacasein. Type in "best grilled cheese in the world" and I can assure you that Kappacasein will come up several times on the first page. It's THAT good. The Montgomery cheddar cheese is distinct, tangy and just oh-so-good. This stall is not optional during a visit to Borough market. It's a must. The grilled cheese is two slices of delicious crusty Poilane sourdough bread stuffed with piles of the cheese and as a twist, a few chopped leeks, onions and garlic are added. They are all grilled right there - the cheese inside is melty and gooey and the bits that spill out form a lovely crust. To. Die. For. Kappacasein also does a delicious raclette with a spin off of the original. A generous helping of melted Ogleshield cheese on a pile of new potatoes, baby gherkins and pickled onions.

That cheese.....Mmmmm.

Wait for it - all this is coming from someone who is not a cheese fan whatsoever. In fact, I usually don't like cheese unless it's on pizza. Parmesan and buffalo mozzarella are exceptions!

My parents and I bought two grilled cheeses between us. We all ate half and took the last remaining half home for my sister.

One last thing to note - be prepared to wait for at least 30 mins for either of the two items... Emphasis on the at least.

It's worth it. For grilled cheese!

View of The Shard while waiting in

line for Kappacasein grilled cheese!

Close up of that outstanding grilled cheese.

My favorite people enjoying their grilled cheese!

It was around 2 pm at this point. We finished our route with the dessert section. Stalls filled with cakes, candies, meringues, cupcakes, pies, tarts, chocolate, ice cream... and everything of the sort. 

I had wanted to eat banoffee pie (an English dessert pie made from bananas, cream and toffee from dulce de leche, either on a pastry base or one made from crumbled biscuits and butter) for the past two years but was waiting for the right one. The one I bought at Borough market was that one. As my first slice of banoffee pie (shame, I know!) it was too good to be true. I don't thing I'll have another for a long time, because I assure you, I'll be disappointed. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture.

Obligatory picture of cupcakes.

Borough market is a must for any foodies (or not) visiting London. Whether you go for the food or the atmosphere, you won't regret it!

There's No Such Thing as Too Much Cake: Chocolate Oreo Overload Cake

Cake sees no limit.

And neither does being fit. So bake your cake and eat it too, as long as you workout! Don't make it ever feel like a chore: just do what you love - swim, run, go to the gym, dance your heart out, play tennis, ice skate. There's no excuse!

That was my quick motivation for the day, but it's back to the cake. As I mentioned in my last post, it was my sister's fifteenth birthday last Wednesday and we went to the Ritz Carlton to celebrate. This also means that we only officially cut the cake I baked on Saturday (don't worry, she got a scrumptious mini cake at the Ritz too! what's a birthday without cake?).

This is my standard, no-fail, rich, absolutely fantastic standard chocolate cake recipe. It's slightly adapted from the one you'll find on almost any other site all over the internet. This specific cake is actually baked with oreo chunks in the batter. It's filled with a silky vanilla cookies and cream buttercream and wrapped in a fluffy thin layer of chocolate frosting. The edges are lined with oreo cookie chunks.

I made half the traditional recipe this time as my mom had just made her famous tiramisu (recipe here) and I didn't want to overdo the dessert lying around in our house. Remember, balance is key!

I'm so glad my sister loved the cake (not to mention we all did as well!). The oreos were such a great addition. I do have to bring up one quirk, however. I am head over heels obsessed with any oreo dessert or cookies and cream ice cream, but the cookies themselves... I'm not the hugest fan. Grabbing a couple of oreos and dunking them in milk doesn't really appeal to me whatsoever. But give me an oreo ice cream sundae, especially one from Island Creamery (see here) and I won't be able to resist it!

Ingredients
For the cake:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup strong black coffee
1/3 cup coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
6 oreo cookies, broken into chunks

For the oreo buttercream:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
8-9 tbsp whole milk
6 oreo cookies, broken into chunks

For the chocolate frosting:
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup double cream, whipped
1 cup icing sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3 oreo cookies for final decoration

Instructions
For the cake:
Heat the oven to 175 C. Line a rectangular pan with baking paper and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda and baking powder.
Add the eggs, buttermilk, coffee, oil and vanilla. Lightly beat until ingredients are well mixed.
Stir in the oreo chunks.
Pour batter into prepared pans.
Bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

For the oreo buttercream:

Whip the butter until creamy and white-ish. Beat in the sugar and vanilla extract. Add the milk tablespoon by tablespoon until the buttercream has reached desired consistency.

For the chocolate frosting:

Whip the butter until creamy and white-ish. Beat in the icing sugar and cocoa powder. In a separate bowl, whip the cream. Fold the whipped cream into the butter, sugar, cocoa mixture. Add the milk tablespoon by tablespoon until the frosting reaches desired consistency. 

To assemble:

Split the cake in half and slice the two halves into two layers each yielding a total of four pieces (I refrigerated the cake first to make it easier to get a clean cut. Get out a serving dish and line the edges with squares of parchment paper to ensure a clean plate after frosting (presentation matters!). Place the first layer on the plate and smother it in the oreo butter cream. Lay the next layer on top and repeat thrice. The layer of oreo buttercream on top of the last layer should be very thin. Cover the whole cake in the chocolate frosting. Take the last few chunks of oreo cookies and decorate the edges of the cake [or decorate in whatever way your heart desires! sprinkles, silver balls, chocolate shavings, berries - anything works!]. Place in the fridge until serving. It most definitely tastest best served at room temperature (in my opinion) but it's absolutely mind-blowingly delicious at any temperature and at any point of day.