I had a muffin making spree, consisting of Pandan Coconut Muffins, Blueberry Buttermilk Muffins, Cashew Nut Muffins and Chocolate Chunk Muffins. What fun I had. As per normal, things are not as hard as they seem ;-) well I was anxious to have them all ready, packed in plastic containers with a doily lining each, and bagged into my white paper bag with pink or brown satin ribbon handles. They were fun, making the bags and making the muffins.
As you noticed, I just got myself this camera and am still learning how to use it, to get optimum results that is...I could say that I have progressed.
The muffins got good unbiased reviews and I ultimately found out that people actually have unexpectedly versatile tastebuds...
Pandan Coconut Muffin
I micro processed the PANDAN LEAVES ( go to theworkingdapurresources.blogspot.com ) and left them too steep in coconut cream, as opposed to steeping them in water to extract the juices out. This in turn, resulted a dense, moist muffin, very Asian I might say as reviews said '...smells and taste like Malay kueh...'.'Malay kuehs' are usually scented with pandan , or has pandan infused ingredients. Some leaves are even added into the steamer ( tiered gas stove steamer)so that the steam will be pandan scented. Another element which resulted the muffins to be almost like a traditional 'kueh' is the addition of coconut cream, which to me gives out a scent as well. Dessicated coconut also was a contributing element to the traditional kueh taste, smeel and feel.Mission accomplished.
daun pandan ( screwpine leaves)Pandanus amaryllifolius
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandanus_amaryllifolius
'Pandanus amaryllifolius is a tropical plant in the screwpine genus which is known commonly as pandan and used widely in South East Asian cooking. It is an erect green plant with fan-shaped sprays of long, narrow, bladelike leaves and woody aerial roots.
The plant is rare in the wild but cultivated widely for use as a flavoring in cooking. The leaves are used fresh or wilted. They have a nutty, botanical fragrance which enhances the flavor of Thai, Malaysian, Filipino, and Indonesian foods, especially rice dishes. The leaves are sometimes steeped in coconut milk, which is then added to the dish. They may be tied in a bunch and cooked with the food. They also may be woven into a basket which is used as a pot for cooking rice. Pandan chicken, or gai ob bai toey, is a Thai dish with chicken wrapped in pandan leaves and fried. The leaves are also used as a flavoring for desserts such as pandan cake and sweet beverages.
The plant is sterile, flowers only very rarely, and is propagated by cuttings.'
Typically, I would suggest for you to use fresh pandan leaves if its available to you...why not right?
1. Chop the leaves coarsely, then put it in a blender and pulse till fine.
2. Steep the chopped leaves in the liquid the recipe calls for.
3. The color of the product you will be making will not be as green and nice as the
pandan juice, so many might suggest for you to add a drop or two of green food coloring, as cakes, muffins and 'kueh' will turn out an unapppetising shade of green if you do not do so..you might have issues about tinting your food, so dont do it if you do not want to..
Blueberry Buttermilk Muffin
A typical Blueberry Buttermilk Muffin, moist and filled with blueberries, which I bought in the freezer section of Cold Storage. The berries were good, plump and fresh. I had them defrosted in the microwave before adding them in the muffin batter.
Cashew Nut Muffin
These were a world on their own. My Daddy's favourite out of all four made. It has ground cashews in it, chopped cashews and topped with halved cashews, plenty of cahews. Very nutty smell and flavour.
Chocolate Chunk Muffin
Packed, bagged and ready to go...
Tuna Cutlets
