On the other hand, a complete Hotcake Mix is a ready mix for a time, money and energy saving to a perfect flipping hotcake for a satisfying breakfast or for a wholesome snack.

ZESTY HOTCAKE

1 pack of Maya Hotcake mix
1 egg
3/4 cup water (less 1 tbsp. water)
2 tbsp. oil

1 tbsp. fresh orange juice

Beat egg in a bowl. Add oil, water and hotcake mix. Add in fresh orange juice. Stir until slightly lumpy. Do not overmix.

Heat pan or flat skillet over low fire. Grease pan with a bit of oil or butter.

Pour batter according to desired size. Cook until bubbly and turn to cook the other side.

Serve hot with butter, pancake/hotcake syrup or honey or jam.

I took a break for a while from baking. It is quite hard for me with my big belly to go around the kitchen, reach for baking utensils in our cabinets, bend on my knees if I dropped something and whew, I find it very warm for my tummy each time I bake. I was grateful Royce was at home last weekend and helped me bake some goodies again. I guess he misses my baking.

I had a couple of apples waiting in our fridge so I gave APPLE CINNAMON MUFFIN a shot. I am not really a big fan of apples but with the APPLE CINNAMON MUFFIN recipe that I experimented with, I am now an apple aficionada. I just ran out of nuts so if you will try this recipe, don’t forget to shower the batter with chopped almonds or walnuts for the ccrruunnccchhh! And instead of chopping the apples, I grated them creating a wonderful moist bread.

APPLE and CINNAMON truly are perfect pair. Not only fills our house with the fresh and fruity scent of APPLE and CINNAMON, but fills the big tummy of my two boys.

APPLE CINNAMON MUFFIN

2 cups grated apples
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground allspice
3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
3 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 tsp. vanilla
chopped nuts or raisins

Sift flour, cinnamon, baking powder, allspice and salt together. Set aside.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy on medium speed of electric mixer.

Add eggs and mix on medium speed until smooth.

Add buttermilk and vanilla.

Add flour mixture. Mix until well blended.

Fold in the grated apples.

Scoop into muffin pans.

Top with chopped nuts or raisins.

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 325 degrees F for 15-20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Last October, hungrynez.com was included as one of nominees for the country’s best food and beverage blog category of The Philippine Blog Awards. I am very proud and at the same time humbled for the nomination. hungrynez.com is young and new but then it was tagged with blogs that are mature, skilled and very much creative. It is still really unbelievable and impossible but hey it is real and it is really amazing! The nomination made me feel that my efforts in writing and my passion for food are worthwhile. My friend and I planned to go to the awards night last October 10 in Peta Theater, Quezon City but then 2 days before that, October 8, the typhoon Pepeng hit our province hard and caused a terrible flood. No possible way for us to be there. We were very sad we were not able to attend but then I am grateful to the people of The Philippine Blog Awards for this great privilege of being included as the finalist for best food and beverage blog. Again, thank you!

Also, I want to express my gratitude to yummy.ph especially to Ms. Bridgette Ann Rebuca for the wonderful write-up she made for hungrynez . I am terribly sorry for not getting in touch. I truly got out from the world of connection.

I turned 29 last December and about to leave my twenties (waaaaaa!). Looking back, life has been full of happiness and achievements. Though there were some frustrations and disappointments, they were too small to give detail compared to success I had as an individual.

Well, Christmas had passed and Year 2010 came and I didn’t cook much, same thing with networking. Royce, Colby and I spent the holiday season at my mom’s place. She did most of the cooking and I do the buying – cakes, ice creams and anything ready to eat. I just took time reading, watching and sleeping. No wonder I gained 22 pounds since I got pregnant.

And I am adding even more pounds. I have my excuse anyway, I am pregnant! Since somehow I am back with myself, I did a little baking a while ago and good thing I am back with my blog! I am again renewed with my cooking, my writing and my blogging. I am just glad I am back!

Chocolate Muffins

2 eggs
1 cup white sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 tsps. baking powder
1 tsps. vanilla essence
2/3 cup butter
candy sprinkles

Preheat oven to 350 deg F (gas mark 4)

Sift flour and baking powder. Set aside.

Cream the butter until light and fluffy.

Add sugar and egg alternately and continue creaming until the mixture is smooth.

Stir in the flour mixture. Blend well.

Add vanilla.

Pour the mixture into a well greased pan.

Add candy sprinkles on top.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until done.

Pound cake is a light cake with delicate crumbs. A very simple cake to bake which remains as one of the amateur bakers’ best pleasure – nobody commits mistake with Pound Cake. Just carefully follow the instructions and you will be baking like a pro!

1 3/4 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
pinch of salt
1 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
4 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. coffee creamer
lemon zest

Preheat oven to 340 degrees F.
Lightly butter cake pan. Dust it with flour. Make sure all corners are well coated. Tap out any excess.
Sift flour, coffee creamer, baking powder and salt.
Cream butter until it turns light in color. Gradually add sugar. Add eggs one at a time. Then add lemon zest and vanilla. Fold in the flour mixture in the butter mixture. Pour and scrap the batter into the pan, smoothing it to the corners.
Bake until puffed and firm to touch and golden about, 40-50 minutes or until toothpick come out clean when inserted in the center.
Set the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Turn the cake out of the pan and continue cooling on the rack in a room temperature.
Then, slice and serve your Pound Cake with a hot or cold drink!

I know I have already posted a number of cookie recipes here in my blog. But yesterday my co-workers, who checked my blog for the first time, were teasing me for not having tasted any of my baked goodies yet, so, I made the easiest and quickest cookie recipe for them. I made them last night – my preparation time was about 20 minutes and baking time was just only 15 minutes. And the cookies were ready!

I got this recipe from Ma’am Fladiza Castillo who is a teacher of Food and Technology at Pangasinan State University. I never got a hold of her since the training I had with her but I heard she and her family migrated to New Zealand. She gave a number of recipes which are mostly quick prep breads and food preserves some of which which I will be making soon.

This is a big shout for those who wanted to start baking and doesn’t want to get frustrated of doing something wrong with the goodies. Sugar Cookies are best baked cookie recipe as a birth of a new baker arises. These are best for snack or even as a dessert!

5 cups of flour
2 cups white sugar, and 1/2 cup for toppings
1/2 cup margarine
1/4 cup milk
3 pcs. large eggs
4 tbsp. baking powder
1 tbsp. vanilla

Place 1/2 cup of sugar in a shallow bowl. Set aside.
Sift flour and baking powder together. Set aside.
Cream the margarine until lemon in color. Add the sugar at a time, alternately with egg. Cream until smooth.
Add flour mixture alternately with milk. Blend well. Important: Do not overwork the dough.
Use a cookie scoop or measuring spoon (I used 1 tbsp. spoon). Be sure to shape cookies in all same sizes so they will be baked evenly. Roll each cookie with your hands and flat each cookie.
Drop one side of each cookie in sugar. Arrange in a well-greased pan or cookie sheets.
Bake for 12 minutes at 350 degrees F.
Let them cool and enjoy!

One of the things I like about working in an educational institution is having a frequent FREE food tasting from students of Hotel and Restaurant Management and Nursing Nutrition class. I always ask for the recipes they make if a meal gets my palate’s interest. I have been enjoying this treat for 5 years now since I got the job in the school. I have collected a good number of recipes from international cuisines to local faves ranging from the tummy crumbling appetizers to mouth watering desserts.

Cindy & Cris Sheil in my office

Last weekend, while enjoying the cool and rainy weather, I got to have time to be at home. I browsed my old and wrinkled recipes from my container box and did some filing. Some of the recipes were cut from newspapers and magazines, some were photocopies from books (it’s okay, don’t worry, I’m using it just for personal use), some were print-outs from food blogs, and some were from the trainings I attended. But most of the ones I now have are those that are from the kitchen-tested recipes that are being taught to the students of the school I work at. So while in the process of filing the mountain of papers, I saw the Chocolate Crinkles recipe that my friends, Cris Sheil and Cindy, gave me few years ago during their college days here in the school. So I made this after the Fruity Gelatin Layer that Colby and I made.

Chocolate Crinkles is also known as Blacks and Whites because its black cookie, coated with white confectioners sugar. A very chocolaty, crisp outside and heavenly soft inside cookie that everyone will surely love. There is a reminder though to have a perfect Chocolat Crinkles. This recipe needs for at least 5 hours chilling or they might end up like the Peanut Butter Cookie dissatisfaction.

1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup cocoa powder
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 large eggs
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix flour, salt and baking powder. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, combine cocoa, brown sugar, vanilla, and vegetable oil. Add in eggs one at a time. Then, add in the flour mixture. Cover bowl with a plastic or foil. Chill for at least 5 hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degress. In a shallow bowl, pour confectioner’s sugar. Scoop dough with a teaspoon, roll and flat each cookie. Place one side of the cookie on the confectioner’s sugar until completely coated. Do this fast because your chocolate cookies will absorb the confectioner’s sugar fast. Place each cookie onto pans.
Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven. Do not overbake – this will make your cookies dry.

This mixture makes 24 chocolate crinkles.

I bought a bottle of home-made peanut butter from Ate Belen, our school canteen cook. Some of it was used for our vegetarian kare-kare, some as spread and some I used for the peanut butter cookies. This is one of the results from my out-of-curiosity’s sake and unhappily, it was a failure. If I would follow my cookie standard, they ought to be crispy outside yet chewy inside. They were neither crisp nor chewy. They were too soft and too light and if I let them in the oven for another minute, they surely get burned. Candy (the spaghetti queen) and the gang loved it though. Maybe, I should have had the mixture chilled in the ref for hours because it was sloppy when I molded it with my hand. I said so, I said so. Sigh. Still glad I was, it took only hours for them to vanish – all in their ravenous tummies. Well, you might still want to try this one, just make sure to put the mixture in the ref for several hours, do some changes and tell me of your results.

PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

1 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp. cinnamon powder
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 egg, well-beaten
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 salt

Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
Sift flour, cinnamon powder, salt, baking powder, baking soda. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, cream butter, peanut butter, brown and white sugar. Add egg and vanilla.
Pour in flour mixture. Using your hands, roll a teaspoon of the mixture and flat each cookie with a fork to make a criss-cross pattern – a sign that you are about to wolf a peanut butter cookie.
Bake for 15 minutes.

Last night, Royce and I were having a deliberation of what to call this recipe. I actually got this from my mom’s old recipe book which she named cheesecake, the more it added confusion, coz it not a cheesecake, even if mom added cheese in it.

Wikipedia defines Cheesecake as a dessert formed of a topping made with soft, fresh cheese upon a base made from biscuit, pastry or sponge, has a topping which is frequently sweetened with sugar and flavored or topped with a puree or compote of fruit. It shouldn’t be named cheesecake.

If this is a cupcake, shouldn’t it have an icing or frosting or some kind of cake decorations, such as sprinkles and other colorful toppings? It didn’t pass in cupcake category either.

Then I had a thought of my previous post where I shared my banana muffin recipe. A muffin has no frosting and is denser and in cupped bread-like delight. Finally, this is a muffin – milky muffin? Simple muffin? Easy to bake muffin? I can’t decide.

To end my small predicament, Royce labeled it Heavenly Muffins not only because it is delightful to look at but of its divine buttery light texture, yet dense and packed with pleasing sweetness of milk.

This is a great recipe for muffin variations – just add any of 1 cup of chopped nuts, raisins, fresh blueberry, cooked bacon or ham or choco chips.

HEAVENLY MUFFINS

4 cups flour
1 ½ cup white sugar

6 tsps. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
2 cups milk

½ cup oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease muffin pans or line with paper cups. Yet again, I used my silicon muffin pans – easy to use, easy to clean.
In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, beat egg. Add milk and oil.
Pour milk mixture to flour mixture. Mix lightly with a fork.
Pour batter into to muffin pans.
Bake for 25 minutes.

* I threw a cup of grated cheese to have a touch of my Mom’s Cheesecake (again, not a cheesecake) recipe.
** Royce suggested me to change my font size, if you haven’t noticed it yet. Men can read small print than women, yet women can hear better… smug.

After our lunch date at Caloys Kambingan House (goat meat eatery) with my officemates last Saturday, Royce dropped me off to our unit, and then he went to attend the High Priest Group meeting at Arellano Chapel. So thankful I was as I thought, “Weekend, finally”. Only in weekends and holidays that I have time to do the some of the things I wanted to do, particularly, doze at siestas. I really wanted to nap but Colby was awfully bugging me to switch on the computer and play games. I didn’t want to get upset thus I got up and let him play. After I turned the PC on, I sat down on our sofa, watching Colby enjoying his games, and I said to myself, “Well, I guess, this is my chance to do baking again.”

Here is what I have cooked in my oven.

OATMEAL COOKIES

1 pc. egg, well-beaten

½ cup Sun-Maid raisin

½ cup Dari Crème buttermilk, melted

1 cup brown sugar

¼ cup chopped nuts

1 ¼ cup Quaker Oats

1 ¼ cup A1 baking flour

1 tbsp. Calumet baking powder

1 tbsp. Arm and Hammer baking soda

1 tsp. McCormick cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350F degrees

2. Combine egg, raisin, buttermilk, brown sugar and nuts. Set aside.

3. Combine the remaining ingredients on a separate bowl.

4. Mix the flour mixture to the butter mixture. This will be stiff.

5. Drop and flat a tablespoonful of the mixture unto ungreased pan 1/2 inch apart each cookie.

6. For chewy cookie, bake for 12 minutes. For crispy cookie, bake for 15 minutes.

7. Remove from pan.

8. Serve with iced Kool-aid strawberry juice.

Makes 30 cookies.

After baking, Colby and I ate some of the cookies and went back to play. It was a nice afternoon. I didn’t have the luck to sleep though, maybe next week.

Royce came home around 7pm and we went out for Pigar-Pigar.