Saturday, January 21, 2012

Banana and Kiwi Muffins

Made a batch of banana & kiwi muffins today...  :)

The muffin tasted really good. 
It was moist and not too sweet.  The slightly sour taste of the kiwi added a twist to the banana muffin.



My only complain is the look.  The muffins looked very good in the oven... nice and puffy...  But they shrinked after getting out of the oven, so the muffin tops had wrinkles. 



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Banana and Kiwi Muffins
(original recipe from Food.com)

Ingredients:

    1/2 cup sugar
    2 cups flour
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    1 tablespoon baking powder
    1/2 teaspoon baking soda
    1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
    3/4 cup vanilla yogurt
    6 tablespoons milk
    3 tablespoons oil
    1 egg
    1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    2 large ripe bananas , mashed
    3 ripe kiwi , chopped into small cubes

Directions:
  1. Combine the first 6 ingredients (DRY) in a large mixing bowl; set aside.
  2. Mix yogurt, milk, oil, egg, vanilla and mashed bananas together in a smaller bowl until well-combined (WET).
  3. Add WET mixture to the DRY mixture, mix until just combined (DO NOT OVERMIX) - lumps are ok.
  4. Now stir in chopped kiwi gently.
  5. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 375°F or 180°C for 25-30mins (mini muffins take about 20mins).
  6. Cool in pan for 10mins, then remove and cool thoroughly on wire rack.
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Tuesday, January 3, 2012

唂咕

During Christmas holidays, my Dad told me that he missed a drink called "唂咕" (音: 谷古) in HK.  He used to drink it when he was small, but he couldn't find it anymore. 
Out of curiosity, I did some googling....

唂咕 is cocoa... hahaha...  I guessed correctly.  ;) 

Hong Kong Style Tea Cafe (港式茶餐廳) used to sell this drink many years ago.   Some tea cafes called it "荷蘭唂咕".  I guess it's because those tea cafes used Dutch-processed cocoa powder.  However, 唂咕 was not as popular as hot chocolate due to its bitter taste.  So, most tea cafe in HK don't sell this drink anymore.  Only some very old tea cafes still sell 唂咕.  In Canada, I haven't seen any tea cafe selling this drink.


How to make 唂咕?
  • Add cocoa powder into hot water and then add sugar.
  • Some people add condensed milk as well.

What's the difference between 唂咕 and hot chocolate?
唂咕 has a higher cocoa content.
唂咕 uses cocoa powder, which has 70% cocoa.
Hot chocolate also contains cocoa powder, but it only has 20% cocoa.


Nowadays, people use cocoa powder mainly for baking.




Natrel Dark Chocolate 1% Milk

I like dark chocolates, so when I saw this dark chocolate milk at grocery store, I had to buy and try. ;)

I normally don't like chocolate milk, because they are usually too sweet.  This dark chocolate milk, on the other hand, is not as sweet as regular chocolate milk and I like the slightly bitter dark chocolate taste.  :D

However, after checking on the label, this dark chocolate milk actually has more sugar than regular chocolate milk.  I guess it needed more sugar due to the bitter dark chocolate taste.  This milk also has more calories per cup than regular chocolate milk.  I guess I would only drink this once in a long, long while.

Second thought... This milk would be good for chocolate muffins/cookies or other chocolate desserts. ;)