I'd been thinking a lot about the price of butter. I know, sad but this is a matter of prime importance as I manage to blow a fortune every week on it for both my toast and my baking. Dairy is expensive here!
Now in the UK, I'd be using a margarine block, not the spreadable stuff, but a solid block that is similarly packaged as a pound of butter. Here in Thailand, I am unable to find it. People who bake here often use a very runny type of margarine that requires no refrigeration, which in itself worries me, and I'll probably have a go with that later, but for now, and encouraged by @macchiata 's baking posts, I'm giving good old palm oil another chance. Oh, and if you're worried about Orangutans, it's Thai palm oil, so no Orangutans were relocated from their natural habitat to grow the palms!
So, what to make? It had to be chocolate again, but this time, muffins. The wife likes chocolate and won't be able to moan about the amount of time I spend 'messing about' in the kitchen. Actually, the main reason was that I'd just bought some cool brown paper bun cases! Really, though, it's an easy recipe that I can come back to over and over and exchange the type of oil used for margarine and butter and decide which is best...as if I didn't know!
Here we go, and right off the bat, get the oven on and preheated to 175°C (350°F). The batter doesn't take too long to come together.
I just realised that the eggs are missing from the ingredients picture!
Your list of ingredients is as follows:-
1 1/2 cups plain (all-purpose) flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
3/4 cup sugar (I used caster, but granulated is fine)
1 tbs baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup vegetable oil (I used palm oil)
I need to stay off Shopee and Lazada. I came across these cool bun cases like you might find in a proper bun shop and couldn't resist ordering them. A bit pricier than normal bun cases!
Firstly, we start by sifting the flour and cocoa powder into a mixing bowl. Do we really need to sift? I wonder. All the 'proper' cooking sites say you should, but would anyone notice if you didn't?
Of course, I need to use the sifting gadget I bought at Ikea!
Into that, tip in the rest of your dry ingredients...
...and gently combine using a bubble whisk...
...until you get a nice, smooth and lump-free mixture that looks something like this.
Now, combine the wet ingredients together in another bowl and also gently combine them...
...before pouring into the dry and whisking it all together until you end up with a beautiful, smooth and glossy batter.
Time to drop in about 3/4 of your chocolate chips, we need to save a few to sprinkle on the top before baking and stir them into the mix.
The recipe makes 12 decent-sized muffins, so prepare your tin...
...before spooning in the batter, being careful not to get it all over the place like I did!
Finally, sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips onto the batter before popping them into the oven for between 20 and 25 minutes. Make adjustments for the time and temperature if you're using a fan oven. All the baking sites tell you to take a toothpick and when it comes out clean, they're done, but I just wait until they look about right!
...23 minutes later!
So what were they like?
Starting on a positive note, the wife liked them. I, however, wasn't too impressed.
They looked alright, but the sponge was a little rubbery. This is something I find with most baked goods here in Thailand. The sponge isn't light and moist, and this is one reason that I'm hell bent on discovering why not. I suspect that it's all down to the fat used, in this case, palm oil. Next time it will be pure butter, so I'm expecting better results, and if that solves the problem, I'll try combinations of oils to try and make them less expensive to make.
I did have to eat quite a number of them, however, to ensure I was making the correct conclusions. They weren't all that bad!
As always, thanks for dropping by, and if you have any ideas or tricks on how to make a moist and light sponge, please let me know in the comments.
Best wishes
@nathen007
