~ Assorted Pancakes (Apple, Chocolate Chips, Cheese)

Taken from:
BBC

Description:
Fluffy pancakes!

Ingredients:

135 g flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp sugar

Pinch of salt

1 large egg, beaten

130 mL milk

2 tbsp melted butter

Directions

1). Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and caster sugar into a large bowl. In a separate bowl or jug, lightly whisk together the milk and egg, then whisk in the melted butter.
2) Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture and, using a fork, beat until you have a smooth batter. Any lumps will soon disappear with a little mixing. Let the batter stand for a few minutes.
3) Heat a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and add a knob of butter. When it's melted, add a ladle of batter (or two if your frying pan is big enough to cook two pancakes at the same time). It will seem very thick but this is how it should be. Wait until the top of the pancake begins to bubble, then turn it over and cook until both sides are golden brown and the pancake has risen to about 1cm (½in) thick.
4) Repeat until all the batter is used up. You can keep the pancakes warm in a low oven, but they taste best fresh out the pan.
5) Serve with lashings of real maple syrup and extra butter if you like.

Remarks:
-

~ Citrus Muffins

Taken from:
Recipezaar

Description:
Soft fluffy muffins with a burst of citrus flavours~

Ingredients (makes 9):

2 C flour

1/2 C brown sugar

1/2 C white sugar

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

2 eggs + 1 egg yolk, beaten

1/4 C vegetable oil

1/3 C low fat yoghurt (used Meiji's Soft Yoghurt with Aloe Vera as it is not very thick)

3/4 C freshly squeezed citrus juices (used 1/8 C mini key limes, 3/8 C limequats, 1/4 C lemon)

1 tbsp grated citrus rind

Directions

1) Add all the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, soda, salt) in a large bowl and mix well. Make a well in the middle.
2) Combine wet ingredients, and incorporate into the dry ingredients along with the rind.
3) Spoon into 50 x 39 mm souffle or muffin cups till 3/4 full and bake in preheated oven at 180 deg for 25 - 30 min till tops are golden brown.

Remarks:
-

~ Japanese Sweet Potato Shortbread Cookies

Taken from:
Cakepia

Description:
Shortbread cookies with a sweetness of Japanese potatoes~

Ingredients:

250 g Japanese sweet potato
30 g butter
20 g sugar

1/2 (20 g) egg, whisked
50 g flour, sifted

Directions

1) Wrap a wet kitchen towel over the sweet potato, and followed by a plastic wrap. Microwave on high for 7 min till the sweet potato is soft. While warm, press the sweet potato through a sieve and retrieve 100 g of sieved sweet potato.
2) Cream butter and sugar.
3) Stir in sweet potato and egg till well-blended.
4) Incorporate flour till there is no white specks left, and wrap the dough in a plastic wrap to be refrigerated for at least 1 hour.
5) Slice or cut into desired shape. Brush shaped cookie dough with egg. Bake in preheated over at 180 deg for 15 - 20 min till golden brown. Cool before storing.

Remarks:
Leftover ingredients in the kitchen pose a great temptation to me, for I'll definitely think of ways to use them up! Take for instance in this case, Mum left 2 purple sweet potatoes hanging around in the kitchen and not long after, they appeared somewhat different:

As I didn't know the recipe was for shortbread cookies at first, I baked the nuggets till brown and baked them further till they were no longer soft in the middle. It is only when I was blogging then I realised my folly ops.

Anyway, I was quite surprised that the cookies came out with a nice brown sheen over them (it's not oil). And during baking, the whole kitchen smelt like condensed milk, which was pretty odd since there wasn't even milk added into the dough. I guess it's probably due to the caramelization of the natural sugars in sweet potato and reaction with the butter.

Each cookie is one tough cookie! It was hard to bite through, and once you do, a milky flavour fills the entire mouth. Seriously, where did that milk come from?

~ Carrot, Apple, Tomato, Celery Blend

Every time I have no vegetables cooked in my preferred ways on my dinner table, I would feel a intense compulsion to get my vegetable fix. The sense of foreboding over having ill health due to reduced intake of vitamins and minerals as well as having harder stools certainly plagues me well.

So upon reaching home today, I pulled out my blender to make a vegetable and fruit drink instead of having them as a salad. In went 2 carrots, 1 apple, 1 tomato, 1 stalk of celery and some water and ice, and I had an antioxidant blend that comes with a lovely orange hue specked with red traces of apple skin. And for once, a vegetable blend was agreeable to my tastebuds~

Just to share a dusk scene which triggered emotions in me while I was waiting for my bus:

~ Tofu Banana "Cheese"cake

Taken from:
Veganfamilyliving.com

Description:
Smooth, guilt-free "cheese"cake with additional protein~

Ingredients:

300 g silken tofu

1/2 C milk

3 tbsp brown sugar

1/2 tbsp orange juice

1 medium (80 g) banana

1 egg

2 tbsp corn starch

1 1/2 tbsp water

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

5 (45 g) chocolate wafers, crushed

2 tsp oil

Directions

1) Drizzle oil evenly into the bottom of 4.5" springform pan and press the crushed chocolate wafers down firmly to form the crust. Bake at 175 deg for around 3 min and leave to cool.
2) Blend tofu, milk, sugar, orange juice, banana and egg together till smooth.
3) Over low heat, warm up the mixture.
4) Combine corn starch and water, and stir into the warmed mixture. Stir constantly till the mixture thickens, and remove from heat to sit for 3 min. Stir in vanilla extract.
5) Pour the mixture into the prepared crust and into a ramekin if there are excess, and bake in an oven preheated at 175 deg for 45 min (35 min for the ramekin), or till the top is firm. Turn off the oven and leave the cake in the oven for another 10 - 15 min.
6) Refrigerate overnight and serve chilled.

Remarks:
Midnight-baking had certainly taken a toil on me. I burnt my first crust, mistook the 1/2 tbsp measuring spoon to be the 1 tbsp one, spilled the warmed mixture, overturned the bowl of dissolved corn starch and over-baked my cake! Woah what a night.

After realising my oversight, I went to bed without high hopes that the "cheese"cake would turn out right and also wondered if I should rename it as banana custard pie/tart instead. Fortunately, it wasn't that bad though it was weeping terribly due to the tofu (didn't drain it), and that there was this sinister face on top of the cake:

The "cheese" part was quite velvety despite the obvious lumps, and has some slight tinge of vanilla and banana. I would prefer a more pungent taste though. Furthermore, there wasn't really a creaminess that's imparted by cream cheese.

By the way, I found that 35 min for the ramekin seemed too long as top was positively too charred to pass off as a "cheese"cake. Furthermore, it puffed up too much and collapse to form a wrinkled fabric of scorched surface after being taken out of the oven. Make it 25 min and avoid putting it too close to the hottest part of the oven:

All in all, it seems to be more apt to call it a banana custard.