I'm back from my nice and relaxed Christmas break, hoping to bake and share more in 2020!!!
Looking back... I recalled that 2019 had been an intense year for me... with my new job and a minor health issue. Thankfully, I survived! I'm well-adjusted with these changes. And I'm happy that I'm still running, baking and blogging...
What's next for 2010? I realised that my life can be more than just working, running, baking and blogging and so I'm going to...
1) eat less meat, use less plastic and do more recycle.
Having said that, I'm not going to be extreme being totally plastic-free. To be honest, my family and I are neither tree huggers nor vegans. We just want to do our part to minimise waste and maintain environment sustainability. I will still cook meat for my family but we will consume LESS meat. We will respect the farm animals and prefer to consume the free range eggs and meat or at least RSPCA-approved products.
2) consume less processed food.These days, we have been consciously filling our shopping trolleys with fresh foods like fruits and vegetables and avoid processed food like frozen pizza, microwave food, snacks and biscuits. We still love our chips and bikkies but we will remind ourselves to eat less process food eventually.
Alternatively, I have been creating our own DIY "processed" food by adding more fresh ingredients and reducing less sugar in our treats... just like how I have over-loaded these lovely muffins with raspberries, not sugar!
Berri-licious Raspberry Muffins
So good that the raspberry-loving me will bake these again and again...
I love Summer. I love the sun. The warmth. The mangoes. The berries. The longer days... so that I don't have to run in darkness... but not the bushfires!!!
Australia has been severely damaged by the worst wildfires this year. I feel so sorry for the people who lost their homes and also the wildlife animals that have innocently killed by the fires. Let's hope that the ferocious fires will cease soon and donate generously to the bushfire appeal for faster recovery.
Now, back to baking...
Summer is also the season that we consume too many fruits!
Try leaving one small punnet of 125g raspberries that cost us about AUD$4.50 with my always hungry son? It will be gone in seconds!
Instead of using the expensive fresh raspberries in our muffins, I have chosen to use the frozen organics ones so that I can generously overload these muffins with tonnes of raspberries till every bite of these muffins is screaming "summer" loudy.
This recipe is originally modified one of the recipes from the book, Flour by Joanne Chang. Instead of adding both raspberries and rhubarb, I have added just raspberries, raspberries and nothing but raspberries into my muffins... LOL! And of course, I have reduced the amount of sugar by half and used the inexpensive sour cream instead of the fanciful crème fraîche. The reaction between the acidic sour cream and baking soda makes the muffins well-risen even with a loadful of raspberries. And the muffins are moist, milky and most importantly... not too sweet! My favorite bit is actually its full-domed mushroom-shaped lightly-crisped buttery muffin tops. VERY YUMMY!!!
Check out these full-domed mushroom-shaped buttery muffin tops...
My son and I always save this best part of the muffins and enjoy it at the last :p
Every mouthful of these moist milky muffins is loaded with raspberries, raspberries and raspberries!
So moist so fruity and so delicious... I'm must be such a glutton as I gotta have at least two of these muffins to feel fully satisfied! Like these less-sugar very raspberries muffins and want to bake them? Watch my video and you will see that these yummy fruity treats are actually very easy to bake.
What's next? Chinese New Year baking!!! So stay tune if you are after yummy CNY baking recipes!
Can't wait? Please try these HIGHLY RECOMMENDED CNY recipes that I have shared previously...
Best Sturdy Melt-in-the-mouth Enclosed Pineapple Tarts at hereBest Sturdy Melt-in-your-mouth Open Faced Pineapple Tarts at here
Best Ultimate Melt-in-your-mouth Nastar Pineapple Tarts at here
Ultimate Melt-in-the-mouth Malay Style Condensed Milk Enclosed or Nastar Pineapple Tarts at here
Melt-in-the-mouth Gula Melaka Pineapple Tarts at here
Ultimate Melt-in-the-mouth Salted Egg Yolk Pineapple Tarts 咸蛋黄凤梨酥 that are baked with Salted Egg Yolk Butter Pastry at here
Melt-in-the-mouth Parmesan Cheese Nastar Pineapple Tarts at here
Melt-in-the-mouth Maple Syrup Pineapple Tarts at hereVegan Coconut Oil Pineapple Tarts at here
Easy Fail Proof Strawberry Jam Butter Cookies at here
Parmesan Cheese Butter Cookies at here
Best Nyonya Butter Cookies / Biscuit Samprit at here
4 Different Chinese Almond Cookies recipes at here
Ultimate Melt in the Mouth Chinese Cashew Cookies 腰果酥 at here
Melt in the Mouth Crispy Chinese Butter Cashew Cookies 香脆牛油腰果酥 at here
Melt-in-your-mouth Pork Floss Chinese Cookies at here
Melt-in-your-mouth Salted Egg Yolk Cookies at here
My favorite Kek Lapis recipe at here
Crispy Nestum Cereal Cookies at here
Extra Crispy Nestum loaded Cookies at here - extra crispy with twice amount of Nestum!
Buttery Crispy Nestum cookies (with NO egg and a subtle melty texture) at hereUltra Soft Pineapple Chiffon Cake at here
Hope that you will like my baking tips and recipes. If you do, please LIKE, SHARE and FOLLOW me my Facebook at here or here or my Instagram @zoebakeforhappykids because every LIKE, SHARE and FOLLOW from you will motivate a hardworking working mom like me to share more! Thank you for your support!!!
Here's the recipe.
Make 9 standard 1/3 cup size muffins
75g unsalted butter, soften at room temperature
60g caster sugar - This is the reduced amount and the sweetness is ok for us. Do not reduce this amount further as these very raspberries muffins might be too sour for some people to handle. And you might wish to know that the original amount should be 135g!
1 tsp vanilla paste or extract
30g egg yolks (from 2 eggs but please use the exact amount), at room temperature
35g egg white (from 1 large egg but please use the exact amount), at room temperature
225g self raising flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
120g (1/2 cup) sour cream or crème fraîche, cold or at room temperature
120g (1/2 cup) milk - ok to use cold milk
1 cup (130g) fresh or frozen raspberries - do not thaw frozen raspberries
Preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C or 160°C fan forced. Grease or line 9 muffin cups in a pan with standard 1/3 cup capacity.
Using a wooden spoon or an electric mixer with paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl until fluffy and combined. Beat in vanilla, egg yolks and egg white, adding bit by bit and beat well after each addition.
Sift half of the flour, baking soda and salt into the butter mixture and add half of the cream and milk. Use a spoon to stir until just combined. Sift in the remaining flour and add the remaining cream and milk into the batter. Do not over-mix as it will toughen the muffins.
Then, mix in the raspberries very gently.
Divide the muffin batter into 9 equal portions and fill each muffin cup with each portion of batter to the rim.
Bake for 30-40 mins (30-35 mins for muffins with fresh raspberries or 40 mins for muffins with frozen raspberries) or until golden brown and the skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Allow muffins to cool in the pan for about 10 mins. Then, transfer them onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Best to consume the muffins within the same day of bake but the leftover muffins can be stored either in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or indivdually wrapped in a freezer for up to 2 months.
Happy Baking!Please support me and like me at Facebook...
