Orange & Poppyseed muffins.. because toast for brekky gets boring!

We tend to get bored of eating toast or cereal for breakfast every morning, so sometimes I go looking for something yummy to bake so we can keep it for breakfast the following day(s). Sometimes we get frozen mantous or rice rolls (chee cheong fun) from the oriental shop to create some variety as well.

But last weekend, we visited the Subi Station St markets for our weekly fruit & veg shop, and jie went to pick up some veggie chips (of which she has an upsetting story to tell) as well as some poppyseeds.

I’ve never seen poppyseeds until I came to Australia, and they would typically be paired with lemon in a muffin/cake. It doesn’t add much flavour or smell, but it is visually appealing, and adds a bit of texture -sometimes you might bite into a seed when chowing down the muffin/cake.

So since we had them, I decided to hunt down a recipe to use them in. Off i went to Dr. G again.. oh what would I have done if the internet wasn’t around? (probably not writing this post.. but I digress!) And I found this orange and poppyseed muffin recipe from taste.com.au (they have some great recipes there! I’ve used them a few times for dinner ideas before)

Muffins have got to be the easiest thing ever to bake! No gentle folding, or creaming butter and sugar, or need for fancy-schmancy cake mixers. Just measure out the ingredients, put them in a bowl, give it a good stir with a wooden spoon (or spatula, whichever you fancy!), and put them into lined/greased muffin pans! even Becks (our younger sister) should be able to do it! 😛

So thats basically what I did. Measured the ingredients according to the recipe, and about an hour later (taking into account the prep & baking time) we had fresh, hot and fluffy orange and poppyseed muffins ready to be devoured! *lip-licking smiley* (someone sholud create one!)

 

Need a snack in a hurry? Chocolate Palmiers

The best thing since sliced bread…in my opinion? Frozen puff pastry!! You put anything on it, chuck it in the oven and it comes out tasting fantastic. You can even eat it on it’s own (like Gardenia). But on a half serious note, puff pastry makes life so much easier especially when it comes to making quick snacks or dessert. We had fellowship on Monday at BSF, so that means bringing something quick to share with everyone. And since I work full time, I needed something quick (and something sweet!) so I chose to make Chocolate Palmiers. It’s soooo easy, I guarantee it!

I got this idea from the Baking Cookbook introduced in the Crumpet post.

Ingredients
3 sheets of puff pastry
Nutella or any hazelnut spread (we used the cheaper version, Nutino :P)
Hazelnuts
Sugar

Method
First we had to prepare the ingredients, so we bought fresh hazelnuts from Angry Almonds – which I just found out, now trades as 2brothersfoods! – in Subiaco Station Street Markets (fantastic range!), then we roasted them in a tray using low heat (100 degrees) for about 15-20 minutes.

Turn up the oven heat to about 200 degrees. Then chop the roasted hazelnuts up into as fine or as rough as you want it. I like chunky bits, because I crunching into the nuts…I like to bite into ice cream too, which my husband considers a little weird. But that’s a story for another time.

Take the puff pastry out of the freezer and let it thaw. Then start spreading your hazelnut spread on it. I realized my spread wasn’t sticking because the surface was so smooth (and wet because of the condensation), so I spread it on the side where you peel the film off because it was a little drier. Then sprinkle the hazelnuts on top, as liberally or as stingy-ly as you like. What can I say, I like my nuts! (ok, that sounds wrong).

Then roll the puff pastry sides together until you get like a rolled up scroll – I like to roll it a bit tighter so that the tendency for it to unravel is less 😛 Then, when you have rolled it together, just put a little bit of water where the two ends meet so that it will stick.

Using a sharp knife, slice it up into about 1-1.5cm pieces and flatten it a little with a cake spreader (or anything that can be used to flatten it).

Then it’s as simple as sprinkling the sugar on top (once again, as liberal as you like) and then placing it in the oven for about 10-15 minutes or until it browns.

For best results, eat them immediately! But if you’re packing it for later, let it cool completely on a wire rack before putting it away, or it will get soggy (like some of mine did :() But there you go, guaranteed success with frozen puff pastry, and it’s such a simple thing to make too! So, if you’re so inclined to share, tell us what have you done with your frozen puff pastry?