Copycat! Chicken madnuggets

After seeing the scary video of what is in macdonald nuggets, I decided maybe I should try to make my own? I mean, how difficult can it be right? And true enough, it wasn't difficult at all! Now why did we have to buy those frozen ones where we don't even know what they have added into the nuggets to make it more profitable?

These nuggets can be flavored anyway you like with your choice of spice and herbs , but since I was trying to replicate macdonald nuggets (based on my memory of the taste) I stick with only garlic and onion powder. Here’s my favourite list of flavours that goes well with chicken:

Rosemary

Basil
Honey and soy
Oregano
Garlic
Paprika
Masala

Ingredients
1/2 cup Flour
1 egg, whisked
1 tsp salt (or more to taste)
Pinch of pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp marmite
200 gram chicken, minced

Mix all the ingredients except the flour and egg in a bowl and set aside to marinate for 15 minutes

Roll chicken into balls about 1 tbsp each, then press down slightly, coat in flour, then coat in egg, then back to the flour again. Place coated nuggets on floured plate or n parchment paper.

Heat oil and deep fry for 7minutes or till golden brown, taking care not to overcrowd the frying area.

Drain on paper towels and serve hot.

I read online that the secret to the taste might be just a little marmite mixed into the chicken, but since I didn’t have any marmite on hand I skipped it. The verdict? Very tasty though not able to replicate the macdonald signature taste. But it was good! I will definitely not be buying any frozen ones anymore.

ingredients

instructions

Hot Cross Buns!

Hot Cross Buns!

Hot Cross Buns!
One a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns!
If you have no daughters, give em to your son
One a penny, two a penny,
Hot cross buns!

This is a nursery rhyme song that I always sing with my twins. Why one bun and two buns cost the same I can never understand, but then again I can't understand the new generation of pop songs nonsensical lyrics anyway. (Seriously If you don't know what I'm talking about you should see this video)

I have never had a hot cross buns though I have heard of this bun before, so this is my first attempt at making them and eating them. but let me tell you, it is actually just a spiced raisin bun. I made it using the 'water roux' method so that the buns will stay soft for many days.

Ingredients
350 gram bread flour
50 gram sugar
2 tsp yeast
2 tsp milk powder (optional)
1 tsp salt
2 eggs, whisked
1 tsp mix spice or cinnamon
125 ml milk
30 gram butter, softened
100 gram raisin
120 gram water roux (see below)

4 tbsp plain flour
2-3 tbsp water

To prepare water roux
Water roux should always be 1:5 flour to water. So for this recipe since we require 120 gram of water roux, just stir 20 gram bread flour to 100 gram water and mix well. Put in a non stick pan and heat it up over medium flame and continue to stir. The mixture will start to thicken. When the temperature hits 65 degree or when your spoon cuts through the mixture and you can see the bottom of the pan take it off the heat immediately. Cool in to room temperature before using.

Instructions

Place the bread flour, yeast, milk powder, salt, sugar, mix spice in mixer and mix well. Then add in 3/4 of the whisked egg, reserving the rest for the egg wash later and place in the fridge. Add in the milk and water roux and mix. When the dough has come together, add in the butter and knead for 10 minutes. Add in raisin and knead for 5 minutes until dough is elastic. Form the dough into a ball, grease and covered in oiled bowl and let rise for 40minutes or till dough double in size.

Deflate dough and knead a few times. Divide dough out into 12 pieces and roll into balls and place on a lined baking tray, 1 cm apart. Cover and let rise for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 190 degrees. Mix the plain flour with the water to form a paste. Brush the left over whisk egg as egg wash on the bun. Put the paste in a piping bag or plastic bag and cut away the sharp tip to squeeze the paste out. Form a cross over the buns with the paste.

Bake for 15-20minutes or when bun turns golden brown.

Aromatic Cinnamon Rolls

Ahhhhh, where are you my sweet sugar bun?

I can't stop eating these orgasmic soft cinnamon roll when they just got out of the oven. I love anything cinnamon and the sweet sticky fillings really gets me all crazy as I devour 3 in a row. These babies take only 90 minutes from start to finish so it isn't really that bad, since there's 30 minutes of waiting time for the bread to rise and 30 minutes of baking. So technically you're only hand-on for 30 minutes.

Ingredients
180ml milk
55 gram butter /margarine,
400gram all purpose flour
7 gram instant yeast
50 gram white sugar
1 tsp salt
60ml water
1 egg

For the filling
220gram brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
115 gram butter /margarine, softened
Raisins (optional)

Instructions

Heat milk and melt butter in pan. Take off stove and cool completely to room temperature

Mix the flour, salt, yeast, sugar. Add in egg water and butter milk mixture. Mix well and knead for 5-7 minutes.

Oil bowl and let dough rise in covered bowl for 10 minutes. In the meantime prepare the fillings by mixing it in a separate bowl.

Roll out dough to 12 x 9 inches wide. Spread fillings, and roll up starting from the longer side of the rectangle. Pinch seams to seal. Cut into 12 pieces and place in muffin cups, or place side by side in rectangle pan with the cut side up.

Let rise for 30 minutes. Then bake In Preheated oven at 180 degrees for 20-30 minutes or till browned.

Note
The filling tend to bubble and ooze during cooking so it's important to catch the dripping by placing another pan below to catch the drippings. Because of the high sugar content the dripping can catches fire really easily so just watch it when it bakes!

Decadent chocolate banana bread

Quick and easy to make, this banana chocolate cake is almost fool-proof. If you want an unadulterated taste of banana just skip the chocolate chips.

ingredients
2 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 ripe bananas
1 tbsp milk
1 cup sugar ( I used light brown fine sugar)
1/2 cup butter (113 gram )
1 tsp cinnamon ( optional)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips (optional)

instructions

Preheat oven to 175 degree. Cream the butter and the sugar together till it turns light and fluffy. Add in one egg at a time, mixing well.

Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt in a separate bowl. In another bowl, mash the bananas with the milk and vanilla extract.

Add the banana mixture to the creamed butter and mix well. Then add the flour mixture in and mix. Finally, fold in the chocolate chips.

Pour mixture into a greased bread pan or into muffin moulds and bake immediately. Bake for 50 minutes if you choose muffin moulds or 60 if you choose to use bread pan.

Are Strollers Hazardous to other MRT Commuters?

Recently when browsing Facebook someone shared this article, taken from ST:



This article has angered quite a few mummies and honestly speaking, I find it
veryquite offensive as well. Reason being that this writer obviously sounded like someone who has never taken care of children before.

As a mother of twins and also a owner of a compact twin stroller, I am quite appalled by the writer's view of stroller on board. The letter is wrong on so many levels I can't even comprehend! While I understand that some parents might hoard the entrance/exit and blocking the way, I'm sure most of us would give way if you could just politely ask us to move slightly to facilitate traffic.

Here's some of the things I couldn't agree with:

Claim

1) Writer claims the size of strollers are getting bigger.

Is it really? Actually I was thinking it is more like the opposite! In a country where there are limited spaces, a lot of barriers,small lifts and a lot of people, we parents will always try to get something that is as compact as possible, IF possible. I have even changed my stroller from a side-by-side to a front and back tandem stroller just so I can move about faster as there are many areas that are not so stroller-friendly. In addition, I noticed an increasing number of people buying the really lightweight stroller that makes it look like the child is going to fall off, like this:



I am just being paranoid, I'm sure the stroller is completely safe but it is extremely compact. Probably for older children. Speaking of lifts, in a country where a lot of abled-bodied people board the lifts instead of taking the elevator, how can parents afford to get a damn huge stroller and never be able to fit into the available lift space?

2) Writer claims the size of the stroller will be hazardous during an emergency.

In an emergency, shouldn't the young and old be allow to leave first? And also, during an emergency do you really think we can possibly park the stroller near the door and obstruct the passage way? We will be inclined to push the stroller and get out of the carriage first, right?! Having the children in the stroller will definitely be helping the situation in an emergency because moving out of the carriage (and also out of your way missus) will be quick and fast, imagine dragging scared children out of the carriage will probably take much longer isn't it?

3) Writer asking for stroller to be folded up like bicycles on train

why are you even breathing? Have you ever carried a child and fold a stroller at the same time, and carry the stroller on board? Nuff' said.

4) Writer think stroller should only be for babies, toddlers who can walk should walk

Sure, both my twins are toddlers now and they can walk fine. But trust me, you don't want to be walking behind them, because it will take FOREVER. Simply because they are small and walk slow, that is why parents prefer for children to sit on stroller. Do you really think we love to push that damn thing out in the street? (By that damn thing, I mean the damn stroller, not the kid).

I rest my case. What do you think?

Savory and Fragrant Turnip Cake

I love turnip cake since I was young. I just love the taste of the fragrant turnip/radish. The recipes seems a little daunting initially but for the love of radish, I'm willing to do anything! Haha, just kidding.

Getting the ingredients ready. These are the Chinese "four treasures".
Stir frying the diced ingredients before adding the turnip and flour mixture.
After steaming and letting to rest before cutting.
Pan frying the cake, delicious!

I usually make a big portion and eat them over the next 1-2 days. You can pan fry them and eat it with sweet sauce and chilli, or cut them up into smaller pieces and stir fry it the 'black carrot cake' style.

ingredients
1 kg radish(approximately one large radish)
150 grams rice flour
25 grams corn flour
3 dried mushroom
1 Chinese waxed sausage
4 dried medium size scallops or 8 small ones
30 gram dried shrimps or hei bi
3 small shallots, sliced
seasonings
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 tbsp oil

instructions

Shred the turnip/radish and place in a colander for approximately 30 minutes to drain and collect the juice. Save the juice.

Wash the dried shrimps, mushroom and scallops and sausage. Soak them in hot water separately for 15-20 minutes, saving the soaking water from the mushroom, sausage and scallop and add to the juice from the radish. Keep approximately 1 3/4 cup of the total collected fluid and discard the rest.

Remove and discard the stem of the mushroom and dice up the mushroom. Dice up the sausage and shred the scallops. Slice the shallots finely and roughly chop the shrimps if they are big.

Marinate the diced mushroom, shrimps and scallops in 1/2 teaspoon sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon of hsiao xing wine. (Or hua tiao wine). Marinate for 10 minutes.

In the mean time, heat up 3 tablespoon of oil in wok. Sauté the shallots till fragrant, then add in the sausage. When the sausage is fragrant, add in the marinated dice mushroom/shrimps/scallops mixture and continue to stir fry. When everything is turning golden, add in the shredded turnips and seasonings. Add the two flours to the liquid from the soaking/draining and mix well.

Stirring occasionally, the turnips will begin to produce liquid and be soft when cooked. Cook it a little longer and mix the flour mixture in and stir immediately. Keep stirring till the mixture turns very sticky and paste-y, almost dough-like. Turn off the heat and scoop into a metal tray for steaming.

Steam for 40-50 minutes. Cool and cut.

note
When the cake is Cooked it will be a little sticky, let it air dry and cool for a while before cutting. Chilling it will make it easier to cut.

Quick and Easy Granola Using Only 4 Ingredients

I finally got around to clearing the cabinet which was stuffed full of snacks and biscuits. I bought them when I didn't know how to cook back then ( I only started picking up cooking around 6-8 months ago?) and now that I know how to cook I hardly ever eat any processed foods like biscuits because I would make my own and eat the ones I baked.

Back in the days when I was still living off takeaways, fast foods and processed food, I have always wondered what's the big deal about home cooked food. Only when I have started cooking successfully and churning out dishes and dishes of delicious home cooked fares that I come to truly understand why people prefer home cooked food. It just taste..... Different! And in a good way! No weird plasticky taste, no MSG that makes everything taste more or less the same.

But I digressed, so back to the cabinet story, while cleaning out and throwing away those uneaten and probably expired snacks, I found two large bags of rolled oats, totally forgotten and I can't even remember when I bought them. I quickly checked the expiry date and they were still good for another year. Seriously what am I going to do with two big bag of oats that nobody is going to eat?! Then I suddenly had a eureka moment, I can make them into granolas!





Granolas are super food in my opinion, they taste way better than corn flakes, and can be use as breakfast, snacks, or even as ice cream or yoghurt toppings. Store bought granolas are not cheap, so why not make your own? I estimate my cost of making these granolas to be just 1/5 of the price I would have paid for a box of granola from the supermarket. Granolas recipe are also very versatile, you can add any nuts of your choice or dried fruits such as coconut, apricot etc.

ingredients
2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup condensed milk + 1/4 cup water/milk
Raisins (change to another dried fruit or nuts of your choice if you want)
Cinnamon (optional)

instructions
Heat up the condensed milk in a pan plus the water/milk.

In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients together, adding more water/milk if needed to coat the oats evenly. Just ensure the oats are coated. You can also add honey if you like.

In a lined baking tray, press the mixture into the tray and make it spread evenly. Preheat oven to 130degrees and bake for 40-50 minutes.

Cool before cutting and storing. These granolas store well in air tight containers.

updated: I just made a fresh batch yesterday with addition of sliced almond and sunflower seed and it tasted even better! Also, instead of just condense milk and water in the pan I mixed maple syrup, cooking honey, condense milk, milk, a little vanilla extract. Super duper delicious!

Crunchy Curry Puffs!

My hubby has been bugging me to make curry puffs for several weeks, so last week he sort of 'tricked' me into making them by sneaking potatoes and curry powder into my shopping cart while we were at the supermarket.  I only realized that when we got home.  The thought of making the filling and the pastry seemed like a lot of work and put me off making curry puffs (been feeling lazy recently, hehe).



Honestly, I have never made curry puffs so I didn't know it was not as really as tedious as it seems!  For a rather noob cook like me, I would probably rate it 2 on a scale 1 to 10 for difficulty (10 being most difficult) but perhaps cleaning up would be more work than making the puffs as I fried these delicious munchies so the kitchen was really oily. Luckily, this recipe allows you to bake these puffs for a easier and healthier fuss free option. And the best part? You can make a huge batch ahead and freeze them to store. So you can have fresh, hot and crunchy curry puffs whenever desired. You can also replace the potato fillings with anything you like. I have tried putting otah inside (my hub's fav) and my favorite would be sardine. I am contemplating to make them into apple puffs as well because the pastry skin actually taste like the apple pies at MOS BURGER.

Ingredients for the puff skin

250 gram plain flour

50 gram tapioca flour (or corn flour)

50 gram rice flour

50 gram butter (omit the salt below if your butter is salted)

50 gram vegetable oil

130 ml icy cold water

1/2 tsp of salt

Instructions for the puff skin

1. Melt the butter in a pan with the oil. Do not let it bubble, but just to melt the butter. Leave aside.


2. Combine the 3 different flours and mix well with the salt in a large bowl.


3. Pour the butter/oil mixture in and stir. The resulting dough will be crumbly.


4. Slowly mix in the icy cold water bit by bit till the dough comes together.


5. Cover the dough with cling wrap and set aside for at least 30 minutes.


6. Divide the dough out into 12 or more depending on how big you want the puffs to be.

Ingredients for the potato fillings

3/4 medium sized potatoes, or 600 grams in total. Peeled and diced

1 onion, diced (i personally prefer to use red onion because they are sweeter but it is up to you)

2 tbsp curry powder (for seafood/chicken)

2 tbsp vegetable oil

some curry leaves (optional, I didnt add in during my first attempt)

1 cup water

salt to taste

Instructions for potato fillings

1. Heat oil in pan or wok, stir fry the onions and curry leaves. Stir fry till the onions turns translucent.


2. Add in the potatoes and cook till the edges of the potato changes colour.


3. Add in the curry powder. If you prefer a spicier filling you can add in chilli paste at this point.


4. Mix well, cook for 2 minutes. Add in water and let it boil.


5. Add salt and reduce heat and let simmer with the lid on, till potatoes are cooked through and soft.


6. Most of the liquid should have been boiled off as you do not want the filling to be too watery. The end result should be a little dry and paste-y. Leave to cool before wrapping.

Instructions for wrapping and frying

1. Roll the dough in a ball shape and flatten out using a small wooden roller or your palm. The dough should be around 1/2 cm thick or thinner, depends if you like a thicker or thinner crust.


2. Place the filling in the middle and fold the dough in half. Pinch the seams to seal.


3. Using your thumb and index finger, pinching one end, fold in and 'crimp' the folded area. Then move your finger to the next available space along the seams working through it.


4. The puffs are now ready for frying or freezing. Do not let the puffs touch each other at this point as they will stick together.


5. if frying immediately, heat oil up and when oil is heated slowly slide the puffs into the oil.


6. Fry till golden brown. Remove from oil and dap exceed oil off on paper towels.

NOTE

Do not let the puffs touch each other at this point as they will stick together. If freezing, place them apart on a tray or plate and place in the freezer for 1/2 hour - 1 hour, then remove them and place in ziplock bags. They should not stick together by then.

If you are frying frozen puffs, start placing them frozen in cold oil and then heat up the oil together with the puffs. This is so that the fillings will be warmed up while the external skin is being fried. When the puffs starts to brown, turn up the heat so that the skin will be crunchy and not soggy.

Simple Mooncakes and Tender Piglets Biscuits

Personally, I don't like to eat mooncake because I think it is too sweet for my liking, but I really like to eat those cute little piglets that are usually on sale during the mid autumn festival each year. These piglets usually cost between 40-70cents each and I usually buy many of them as I can eat three in one sitting! It didn't occur to me that they were just moon cake skin shaped in a pig's form!

I decided to try my virgin attempt on making mooncakes this year to give to my relatives. Although I had a few hiccups initially, the process wasn't that bad as the ingredient list is really short and cheap. I have listed some of the hiccups that I encounter so that you can avoid them.

Since now I can make my own piglets biscuits I guess I won't be buying any store bought ones anymore. Hehe. But they are really 'heaty' so do take more fluids if you happen to eat a lot of these yummy piglet biscuits!

Ingredients
110gram Hong Kong flour or top flour ( you can use regular flour, but it will not taste as tender)
25 gram peanut oil
1/2 tsp alkaline water
60gram golden syrup
Store bought paste fillings
Egg for egg wash

Instructions
Mix the oil, syrup and alkaline water together.

Mix the flour in and using a spatula, mix well till it forms a soft dough. Make sure there is no flour lumps.

Cling wrap and chill for at least 2 hours or maximum 3 days before shaping.

Shape fillings into balls and weigh them. The proportion of the fillings to dough should be 4:1. So if you have 100gram of fillings you should use approximately 25gram of dough. The weigh depends on the mould you are using to make the mooncakes, so do check the weight with the store.

Divide out the dough and wrap the fillings with the doughs and press them into the mould.

Knock the moon cake out on a baking sheet and bake in a preheated oven at 180degree for 10minutes, then take them out immediately and brush with egg wash and return to bake for another 5 minutes.

Cool on wire rack. Keep the mooncakes for two days for the skin to soften. The mooncake will taste hard and crunchy initially so you will need to rest the mooncakes for 1-2 days.

NOTES
I suggest making one and baking it before you mould the rest out because depending on your measurement/human error etc, the dough might become too soft and melt in the oven before the dough is even cooked! I learnt that the hard way on my first trial, all my moon cake melted and went out of shape before it was cooked. This is due to too much oil or too little flour. If you find your dough melting too much, just add a little more flour to the dough to mix and chill for 60 minutes.

In choosing a mould, it is better to go for the plastic ones as they slip out more easily. Get the press out type instead of the wooden mould and save you energy from all that knocking! I made the mistake of buying the wooden type as I was feeling all gung-ho and wanted to be traditional, only to regret it later with a sore arm and ugly disfigured moon cakes.

If you find the mooncake surface cracking it means the temperature was too high, as seen in my piglet photos, so you just have to lower the temperature by 10 degree or so.

You can make your own golden syrup actually, just google it there are many recipes for it. It's essentially just lemon juice, water and sugar cooked to a thick consistency.

How Music Affects Studying

A few weeks ago, I paid a surprise visit to my sister at her home. She looked confused initially, then she started crying out:"Oh no!  M is having her exams this week!".

M is my niece and she's having her PSLE this year. My sister and my brother-in-law have been vexing and worrying about her performance in her exams. While M is nonchalant about the on-going prelim exams, both her parents have been losing sleep over it. "Problem with her is, she is always on her earphones listening to music! How to study with the music blasting? How can she concentrate?", my sister laments. I just kept quiet, nodding my head. But in my head I thought of how I studied when I was still in school and I realize I was exactly like M, listening or watching tv while studying. And I begin to question whether music is really detrimental to studying and learning? After all, I survived all my exams by this method! Most people can agree that studying and poring over textbooks is boring and sleep inducing, which is why I understand why my niece is listening to music while studying; to kill her boredom and to stay awake.



Ever since I became a mother, music is still a big part of my life, albeit it has taken a different route; nursery rhymes and children songs (hi-5 anyone?). I have been singing to my twins because firstly, it's something I do best. I can remember a lot of songs and lyrics and we usually play a game that whenever we see an animal I will sing a song related to it. Furthermore, my kids enjoy listening to my singing and we will do the jiggly dance to the head & shoulder song, or skeleton dance. We could do this for hours, while my hubby disgruntle at the annoying songs. Thirdly, singing nursery rhymes actually help children in expanding their vocabulary. It also helps in memory development.( find out more here). So in a way, songs can capture the attention more which is why children learn songs lyrics fast because as it is catchy and fun.



Looks like music is good for younger children, but what about for older children or even adults? In younger children, singing helps them to learn as the songs are part of the 'learning materials', but if you were studying for your maths exam how would it actually affects your ability to learn? After reading many journals with regards to this, I found that music can both hurt OR help learning at the same time. How is that possible? Well, firstly we all have a fixed cognitive capacity. When you do both things at the same time, both task will require your attention, so you will have less attention to focus on each. However, music helps to keep us awake and interested and reduce stress, so we are more likely to finish reading a textbook if the music was on than if the music was off. For boring, repetitive tasks/chores, music actually help make the task easier or more enjoyable so you finish it faster.

In that case, what does that leaves us with? To studying with music or not? I personally believe in creating an environment that arouses you enough to stay awake but not distracting enough to disturb your studying. When I was still in school, I remember going to a nearby not-so-crowded fast food restaurant to study. The background noise and unfamiliar environment create a moderate arousing environment so I won't be able to fall asleep. If that is not possible, perhaps you can make a playlist of songs that doesn't contain any lyrics so that it will not interfere with the "language department" in your brain, as you need that for reading.

 

Pros of using music while on a task:

1) Reduces stress and relaxes the body and mind, allowing better performance on task.

2) According to studies, if you listen to a familiar music while learning/studying a subject, recollection of the song will aid in retrieval of the information studied.

3) Keep the body and mind arouse to allow for task completion

4) Make the task more enjoyable.

Cons of using music while on a task:

1) Distraction as the brain has to concentrate on both task. You definitely do not want to do this on important or dangerous task!

2) Songs with lyrics are more distracting during studying because it takes up the language capacity needed during reading.

3) Newer songs or unfamiliar songs are more mentally taxing and distracting.

 

Therefore, I have come to a conclusion that is:

• If it is possible for you to not listen to any music while studying or doing a task then don't start!


• If you need to listen to music while studying new information, then choose a playlist of familiar songs that does not contain lyrics so that it will not interfere with reading.


• If you need to listen to music while doing a boring and familiar task, such as mopping the house, it doesn't matter if the songs is lyric-ed or not. Also does not matter if the song is new or old as the task is more or less "auto-pilot".


• If you are reading and comes across some information that are important, pause your music so that you can concentrate and absorb the information.

 

PS: Read here for more information about what music does to productivity if you are interested!

Also, you might be interested in reading this article if your child does not seem to adapt well to the traditional "mugging" type of studying. I will write about this another time when I have more time because I think it is really important!

 

Blueberry Muffins

Woke up late on a Saturday morning. No, I didn't have a hangover from a Friday night party but was up "entertaining" my twins when they refused to sleep after waking up at 2am in the morning! And both my hubby and I had to be up with them till 6 in the morning before they willingly go to bed. By the time we woke up again, it was past 2 in the noon!

Quickly, I ran through my mental list of "fast food". Not as in macdonald or KFC, but just quick cooking food that is easy to whip up. My usual go-to scramble eggs and pancakes does not seem that appealing to me that morning(or should I say noon?), so I went to the fridge to get some inspiration. Looking into the fridge and saw the punnet of blueberries and the thought of aromatic blueberry muffins comes to mind! I quickly get set to bake them.

ingredients
1 cup flour
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup caster sugar
100gram blueberries
1 tsp vanilla essence
80 ml milk
45 gram butter, soften

instructions
Put the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix evenly.

Peheat oven to 200 degree. Add in the wet ingredients except for the blueberries and mix briefly. The consistency should be lumpy and not smooth. Over mixing will result in a tough muffin. I usually just stir it slowly so that the flour have some time to absorb the liquid, resulting in less stirring required.

Fold in the blueberries and scoop the batter into muffin tray or muffin paper cups. Fill up to around 80% of cup.

Bake for 20 minutes or till golden brown.