Sunday, June 24, 2007

milo, milo, MILO!



"Who loves MILO?"
"Caressa does."
"Is that true?"
"Uh-huh. I do, I do, I do-ooh"

Man, I haven't watch Kel and er.....some1 for a very very long time (I even forgot the show's name).Well, the famous line is, "who loves orange soda?". "Kel does.".... It's a kid show I used to watch on Nickelodeon.

Neways, i haven't met any normal person who hates Milo. Milo's great. So is Ovaltine. Some people might like one better than the other tho Milo's more popular here in Singapore (there are even various drinks concoctions using Milo. Milo dinosaur anyone?) But I think Milo and Ovaltine taste almost the same. I bet other kids, like me, grew up on Milo or Ovaltine. I still remember back in Primary school how we used to get real excited when the Milo van came to our school to promote the product. We then would sit nicely and wait eagerly for our cup of ice cold Milo.

I used to prefer eating Milo powder, tho. I think it tastes yummier than when mixed with water. But my maid would get really annoyed cuz then there would be Milo powder all over the living room.

I don't love Milo juz becoz of its delicious chocolatey flavor (I love anything chocolate!) but I do think that Milo is a great energy drink. I remembered once a few of us were out raising funds by selling jumble sale tickets. We had to go to those industrial sites/workshops and sell it door-to-door. It was really exhausting. But after drinking a tall glass of ice Milo, I felt I could do ticket-selling the whole day. No kidding. And it can easily be everyone's fav comfort drink.

Yesterday I noticed there's a box with the Milo logo. I peered inside and saw that there are 6 cans of Milo. The 1.5kg ones. So I asked mom whose are those. And she told me that some1 gave it to her. I was like. WOW! That's 9kg of Milo! My eyes turned chocolate... We still have like a half-ful can of Milo. So, as much as my sis and I love our Milo, how the *....* are we gonna finish all those Milo. I'm gonna get seriously obese if I were to drink all those Milo. So mom gave 1 can to my cousing, 1 to church for potluck and 1 or 2 reserved for our mission trip fundraising day [Do watch out for more info on this ;)]

That left me with 2 more cans. Mom decided to make Milo pudding and I, Milo Dinosaur!! Perfect for a warm Sunday afternoon. But there are still a lot more left. So I googled for recipes. I've got quite a few. But decided on this one recipe for now since I've got all the ingredients on hand.

Milo Muffins


What's in it:
3 Cups All-Purpose Flour
1 Cup Milo
3 Tspn Baking Powder
1 Tspn Baking Soda
½ Tspn Salt
4 Eggs1 Cup Caster Sugar
½ Cup Dark Brown Packed Sugar
250g Butter
1 Cup Milk
2 Cups White Chocolate Chips & Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips


'mm-mmm...

How to concoct it:
1. Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 200C.
2. Stir together flour, milo, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.
3. Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, add in eggs and milk until combined well.
4. Fold in flour mixture until combined, finally fold in chocolate chips.
5. Divide batter among muffin cups (⅓ - ½ full) , bake for 20 minutes until deep golden brown, rotate tray after 10 minutes so muffins brown evenly.Place on a wire rack to cool completely.

I put extra Milo to the recipe, added some chopped almonds and omitted the white choc (cuz I didn't have it).


Oh boy, I totally dig the sweet aroma of this muffin. And I like texture also. Really soft. I didn't even wait for it to cool completely before I pop one into my mouth. Yumm!! =D

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Double Chocolate Brownies

After failing the last two (it wasn't that bad really. Still edible, but a bit dry and hard), I went to find some more brownies recipe, even borrowed this brownies recipebook from the library (man, am I glad they finally build a library in Bishan). There are quite a lot of brownies recipe in that book, but somehow i prefer getting my recipe online from foodblogs, cuz I thot those recipe must be more do-able, and it seems easier when people have actually tried out those recipe.

But I still visit the library for recipe books. I still believe in Jamie and Nigella, and occasionally Martha and I need to satisfy my fettish for drool-inducing, yummy pictures on recipe books. That's why I really can't figure out why people would publish recipe books without pictures. I mean it's so silly. People need to sort of have an idea how the end product should look like, especially noobs like me, right?

I forgot the name of the book, but the chocolate frosting recipe was great! Neways, I found this brownie recipe online and tried it out during the weekend.

Double Chocolate Brownie
adapted from Martha Stewart's Double Chocolate Brownie recipe

What's in it:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
200 grams good-quality semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 cup brown sugar (packed firm)
2 tablespoons caster sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

How to concoct it:
1. Preheat your oven to 180 degree celcius. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan and line with parchment paper.
2. Put butter, chocolate, and cocoa powder in a medium heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water; stir until completely melted. Let cool slightly.
3. Mix your flour, baking powder, and salt well and aside.
4. Using an electric mixer (or a handwhisk if you prefer), mix sugar, egg, and vanilla well until pale, about 4 minutes. Add chocolate mixture; mix until combined. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture; mix until well combined.
5. Pour brownie batter into prepared pan and spread evenly with a spatula. Bake for about 25 minutes or until a skewer, when inserted in the brownie, comes out clean.
6. Let cool in pan for about 15 minutes then lift out to cool completely on a wire rack before cutting into squares.

It turned out pretty good. See... (I took more pics actually, but my ever-so-smart sis deleted them *grrr*)

I sprinkled some chopped Brazil nuts on top. Aunt Soh gave us a big container full of nuts (brazil nuts, pecans, macadamia nuts etc). I've never tried Brazil nuts before and never came across a recipe that uses it. It tasted quite bland when eaten on its own. But it went really well with the brownies. It tastes kinda like walnut but with a tinge of coconut taste. The texture is also more dense than walnut, kinda like almond.

Oh btw, I know the recipe asks for pure vanilla extract. But I've read in several recipe books that imitation one is good enough and they are really close to the real thing. Unless you're a real pro, you won't be able to taste/smell the difference. But if u are a purist and/or have lots of dosh to spare, by all means, get the real thing.

Neways, although the the brownies was not bad at all, I wasn't really satisfied. The brownies was a bit too cakey I think. I prefer it to be more fudgy. But well, Ralph said it was good. I guess different folks different strokes.

I really like the brownies from the Secret Recipe. It's just nice for me. Top it off with vanilla ice cream to make it even more 'mmm :):) I shall look for more recipes that'll give me that kind of brownies. Yup!

Monday, June 11, 2007

For the love of food...

I've been wanting to post all the baked goodies that I've made during the hols but somehow I've been really busy that I've no time! What with internship, getting sponsorship for PPIS, planning for mission trip, reading new books yadda yadda yadda.... See I'm so busy right?

Oh okay, I've been addicted to J-dorama lately also. Ever since end of exams last April, when I watched Taiyo no uta. It's funny how i'm really into dramas now. i was never really a drama person but I guess it's how one show leads to another. Let's just say I've watched lyk 7 or 8 j-dramas and 2 j-movies (goin to watch another 1 tonite :P) in the past 2 months and those are outside my usual anime fix. haha.... I should stop and do sth more constructive. Like more baking! and posting them up ;)

I've actually started like a wk into my hols but haven't got round to write about it.

Just a fifth of what I've borrowed from library. Not to mention the hundreds of recipe I've found online :P

I was thinking of setting up a foodblog, but figured once school starts I won't have much time to bake cuz i'll be super duper busy (for real. not cuz of j-doramas), that I won't be updating much. So neways, it'll be food pics galore from now on till er.... I'm too lazy to blog again. haha....

PS: Do remember as u are reading my posts that I'm very much a noob at baking AND photography. So pardon the bad pics that make my babies look oogly. But seriously, apart from some minor glitches, they're all edible (and most taste real good too! Really!). So far, I haven't got any lawsuit pertaining to food-poisoning.

PSS: I wanna thank those who were willing to be my guinea pigs. But I think they should thank me instead for feeding them good food :P