We were over at Mom’s on Saturday for a visit and she decided to entice me with fluffy and crusty cornmeal bread rolls she baked the day before. I was just starting to cut down on my rice and breads.. 妈,这是对的吗?!!!

The planned 2-hour visit stretched till 8pm that night cos she enthusiastically took out all her barang barang and started to give me a step-by-step tutorial there and then! Seriously I never expected the steps to be so simple.. all you need is time for the dough to rise. Baking in the oven took all of 15 minutes. So technically you spend an afternoon producing this but only spend maybe half an hour for the work?

We used a total of 500g flour (400g bread flour, 100g plain flour). Mom also added wholemeal (the grain, not the flour) but it’s entirely optional. You can add chia seeds if you want and that’s what I’m gonna do when I bake it again. For the crispy crusty effect on the surface, dust some cornmeal (also widely sold as corn ‘polenta’) on top just before sending the bread rolls into the oven. Reminds me of English muffins, which are also dusted with cornmeal before baking. Delicious!

p/s- There are two types of cornmeal/polenta: the fine powdery type or the coarser type also called corn grits from brands like Bob’s Red Mill. Use the powdery type – we got it from Phoon Huat. But if you can only find the coarser ones, just grind them further in the food processor till fine. Here’s the label of what we used (Mom repacked this into a container):

The beautiful thing about this recipe is that once you get the base right, you can start adding your favourite ingredients like chocolate chips, raisins, oats, etc etc. I prefer mine just like this, served with cold butter or kiap-ed with roast beef (true story. mom made some roast beef that day to go with the rolls LOL)

Mom packed about 15 rolls for me to take back home.. they were still soft after 4 days. To get the crispy/crusty surface again, preheat your oven or airfryer to 180C, switch off the oven, and toast the rolls using the residual heat for 5 minutes. Watch the video (yes that’s cbb fussing at the end.. she wouldn’t even let me take a video in peace lol!):

This recipe yields 20-25 bread rolls (about 40-45g dough per roll). Of course you can shape them however you want! Enjoy with cold butter or jam (with a cup of coffee!), or make ham and egg rolls with them. Have fun!

The post Soft and Crusty Cornmeal Bread Rolls – step by step tutorial! appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.

The thing about baking is there’s a lot of science involved. Like why are we using baking soda and not baking powder, and why does the oven need to be preheated? Why can’t we overbeat the cream and eggs? And most of all, with cooking, I taste along the way. Baking doesn’t give me the luxury to do that. I cannot taste a raw egg batter. I cannot eat raw eggs, so I don’t get tiramisu. If you wouldn’t eat raw eggs, why would you eat tiramisu? If you would eat raw eggs, why would you?

Anyway. I have a huge bag of mixed nuts, cranberries, figs and raisins in my refrigerator and just have to do something with them. Cranberry muffins sound dandy! (<– this sounds like what Aegon would say! My nephew is all “English” like that, and he’s not faking anything.) An addition of chopped nuts sound even more exciting. So, using the A-star recipe as a base, I ventured courageously to bake my Cranberry Nut Muffins.

Makes 12 muffins

What I used:

1/3 cup salted butter, softened and cut into cubes (80g. The original recipe was 1/4 cup but I added just a bit more. If you have unsalted butter just add 1/4 teaspoon salt.)
1/2 cup granulated sugar (100g. The original recipe was 3/4 cup but I prefer it less sweet. It’s up to you.)
1 egg
180ml milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 and 1/4 cup plain or all-purpose flour, sifted (150g. Spoon flour lightly with another spoon into your measuring cup, instead of scooping the flour with the measuring cup.)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder, sifted together with flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda, sifted together with flour
A handful of cranberries and chopped nuts- I used unsalted walnuts, cashew, almonds and grams (yes grams, as in kacang putih grams). You can use whatever you like!

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
2 Beat butter and sugar in electric mixer til pale and fluffy.
3. Add egg and beat for a few minutes. Add vanilla essence, then alternate between milk and flour mixture til all ingredients are used up. Beat for 2-3 minutes til combined. Use a rubber spatula to scrape/ graze the sides as the mixing bowl swirls.
4. When batter is ready, switch off mixer and stir in cranberries and chopped nuts.
5. Fill your muffin liners til full so you get happy, tall and large muffins!
6. Bake at 180 degrees for 15 – 20 minutes, depending on your oven. Check at the 15 minute mark. (I did an Airfryer option! I “baked” it in my Philips Airfryer at 160 degrees for 15 minutes. If airfrying, use a larger cupcake cup which is thicker and stronger and can standalone, and not cupcake liners. Turned out beautifully!)
7. Remove from oven and cool. Eat one yourself first before they’re all gone in 2 minutes!

How much I spent:

Hmmmm $1 for milk? I have everything in my pantry! Sorry not very helpful there! *runs*

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These muffins are seriously the tastiest I have baked in my life. The cake is dense but not heavy, not oily nor airy.. I did not taste flour and it held together so beautifully. The cranberries lent a sweet (or tart, depending on your cranberry batch!) taste to the buttery muffins, and the chopped nuts gave a crunch that matches the chewy cranberries so well. Ah-mm couldn’t stop raving about them at past 12am last night as I handed her one fresh out of the oven. She had another one before bed and even “upsold” them to 88 this morning in the kitchen! Mid-day today, she went to the oven and said, “Har, 剩两个而已啊?” (“What, left two only?”) I promised her I will bake somemore tonight. I have never seen her so enthusiastic about my baking so this recipe sure is a winner!

All I can say is, if I can bake, so can you :)

The post Easy Cranberry Nut Muffin- with Philips Airfryer option! appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.