Pinoy Cheese Cupcake

This is what the typical neighborhood type of Filipino bakeshops would tout as their "special"kababayan in the sense that it uses cheese. A closer look at the ingredients would indicate that this is basically a muffin topped with grated cheese. Contrary to how the Western cheesecake is, this does not have any form of cream cheese (or anything cheese) in its batter.

This was my favorite muffin in my Tatay's bakery, especially when fresh out of the oven with its crunchy top. Once cooled, I would wrap them individually in small clear plastic bags and seal using the candle (I got proficient at making the seal without actually touching the flame; just the heat, so that the plastic would not have any dark marking as it does when it touches the yellow flame).

Husband had a taste of the batter and thought it tasted like butter cookies. (Hmmmm....maybe I should try making some into drop cookies.) When it was done, I had hubby taste it. His reaction was..."Hmmm, that's good!" Kids' reaction? Same. (gaya-gaya, puto-maya...)

This recipe was adapted from Mrs. Daisy Alonzo's recipe.

Ingredients:
1 bar (1/2 cup) butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
4 eggs
2 cans (14 oz each) sweetened condensed milk
3-2/3 cups all purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
cheddar cheese, finely grated, for topping

Instructions:

Line 2 muffin pans with paper cups.
Preheat oven to 350 ° F
Mix flour and baking powder well in a bowl.
Using a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar together on medium speed. Turn speed to slow and add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually increase speed to medium and beat well.
Turn speed to slow and slowly add the condensed milk. Beat well on medium speed for about a minute.
Turn to slow again and add the dry ingredients. Increase speed to medium and add oil. Beat well for about another minute. Add vanilla and beat to blend.
Transfer batter to a piping bag and pipe into the muffin cups, leaving about 1/4 inch space at the top.
Top with grated cheese (preferably the orange-colored cheddar cheese).
Bake for 15 minutes, then rotate the pans for even baking. (If you want, you may add some more cheese at this point).Bake for another 10 minutes. Enjoy with maple syrup or condensed milk if desired.
Transfer to cooling rack and completely cool before storing in ziploc bags those that you will not be able to consume right away.

The original recipe that I got from asiarecipe.com forum was as follows:
Pinoy Cheese Cupcake-Kababayan
(Pinoy Cheese Muffin)
Recipe courtesy of Mrs. Daisy Alonzo
Ingredients:
1 bar butter
4 eggs
100 grams sugar
2 can of condensed milk
15 grams cooking oil
5 grams baking powder
500 grams. all-purpose flour
you will need:
cheese grater
2 ounce paper baking cups
cake mixer, mixing bowl and spatula
Paraan ng pagluluto:
Hiwa-hiwain muna ang butter para madali itong lummbot.
Ilagay ang butter sa isang mixing bowl, ihalo ang asukal at apat na itlog.
Haluin ang mga sangkap na ito sa cake mixer. Gamitin ang pinakamahinang
speed upang hindi tumapon ang butter mixture.
Idagdag na din sa mixture ang dalawang lata ng condensed milk.
Ihinto muna ang mixer.
Pagsamahin naman ang harina at baking powder at saka ihalo sa butter mixture.
Paandarin muli ang mixer sa pinakamahinang speed. Haluing mabuti hanggang sa
maging basa ang mga sangkap.
Ihalo ang 15 grm ng mantika.
Pabilisin ang mixer hanggang maging pino ang sangkap.
Patayin ang mixer, ito na ngayon ang cupcake mixture.
Ihanay ang paper baking cups. Magbuhos ng cupcake mixture sa bawat baking cups
Punuin hanggang ikatlong bahagi ng bawat cups
Lagyan ng grated cheese ang cupcake mixture.
Ipasok sa mainit na oven, ihurno ng mga 30 minuto.
Luto na ang cheese cupcake. Palamigin

Kababayan (Filipino Muffins)

This recipe and photo above were shared by my fb friend Aileen Nopuente. Thanks for your generosity, Aileen!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
4 tsp. cream of tartar
3/4 cup softened butter( room temperature)
2 cup all purpose flour
2 cups cake flour
1 Tbs. baking powder 1 Tbs. vanilla extract
1 cup warm water
yellow food colouring,as needed for colour
28 ounces,sweetened condensed milk (2 cans)
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Directions:
- Pre-heat oven to 190"C .
- Combine sugar,salt,sugar,cream of tartar and soft butter in the bowl of an electric mixer.blend for 4 mins at lowest speed.
- Stir together in a separate bowl the all-purpose flour,cake flour & baking powder.
- Stir togeteher vanilla,water,yellowcolour and condensed milk in another small bowl.
- Add wet and dry ingredients along with oil alternately to mixer until it forms a smooth batter.
- Fill-each well-greased muffin cup with 1/2 cup batter.bake for 22 mins. or until toothpick inserted in cake center comes out clean.
- When the muffin is almost done, turn off the oven & partially open the oven door for another 5 mins. before taking out the muffin.

Torta Mamon Cebuano

The photo above and the recipe below are courtesy of my online/fb friend Leslie Ruelan (I did have the same recipe shared to me long ago by another online friend/ED nurse Glenn A. through email he sent me, but he did not have photos, and I lost my photos of it when I made them. They are so good!).  Thanks for these generous people who were willing to pass on recipes handed to them through generations. I never really heard of torta cebuana until I met friends online. Just a reminder for those who do not know what to do with the egg whites, turn them into lengua de gato or sans rival (both recipes available in this kusina).

Ingredients:

1 c sugar
10 egg yolks
1/2 c water
1 1/2 tbsp. baking powder
3 c all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. anise powder
1/2 c butter, melted
1/2 c vegetable oil
1 can 300 ml. condensed milk

Procedure:
1.) boil sugar and water for 5 mins. to make a syrup. Set aside to cool.
2.) combine flour and anise powder in a bowl.
3.) pour in melted butter, prepared syrup, oil, condensed milk and egg yolks
4.) stir using mixer until smooth
5.) sift in baking powder
6.) pour into wax paper-lined torta molds and
7.) bake at 350F for 22 mins. or until inserted toothpick comes out clean
8.) brush the top with margarine and sprinkle with refined sugar; enjoy with prepared syrup.

Basic Muffin Recipe

I have always been intrigued by the muffins I see in stores -- the ones with high domes/peaks....I have always wondered how that is achieved, whether that depends on the recipe or the oven temperature or the placement of pan in the oven. Well, I started the quest for the answer by using a basic muffin recipe. I finally learned the secret to making nice domes of muffins: preheating the oven to high heat, which creates an effect akin to "golpe de gulat" as we would refer to it in the Philippines. As soon as the muffin pan is placed inside the oven, the temp is dropped down to the right temp (which will not burn the muffins's exterior and leave the center underbaked). Next thing I will experiment on is whether I could do the same trick with my favorite blueberry muffin recipe.

I did use the King Arthur recipe just to experience for myself whether the trick they taught there was for real, which it was. But Wena also has an almost the same recipe, only with more oil, which also helps with prolonging shelf life and accounts for the tenderness, although we probably can experiment adding mashed sweet potato or regular potato, or some sweet sticky rice flour or tapioca flour to see how these affect the tenderness. I knew at some point in my childhood life, my Tatay experimented with adding grated kamoteng-kahoy (cassava) that he harvested from our backyard, into his basic muffin recipe which he used for his version of cheese cupcakes (which was basically muffins with grated cheese on top), and I liked the outcome better than the original; more moist and tender.

The beauty of having a basic recipe is the many variations you can try, as suggested by KAF. I found the plain one not sweet enough, and was thinking of maybe experimenting with adding colored sugar crystals on top at the last minutes of baking, aside from using chocolate chips, or sweet fruits, nuts.

For purposes of keeping the recipe easy to find here, I am copying and pasting here the recipe from KAF.
Ingredients:
2 cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil or softened butter (optional)*
2 large eggs

*If you leave the oil out, you can reduce the calories in your muffins by about 30%; the flavor will still be excellent, but muffins won't be quite as tender, and won't keep as well should you happen to have any left over.

(I added blueberries in half of my batter; I just sprinkled them with some flour to help them be uniformly distributed.)
Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 500°F.

Blend together the dry ingredients as long and as vigorously as you want. If you use a little whole wheat flour in your mixture, it's easy to tell when everything is thoroughly mixed.

Beat the liquid ingredients together -- milk, oil or butter, and eggs -- until they are light. If you have a 2-cup liquid measure (one with a lip above the 2-cup mark) it makes mixing the liquid ingredients very easy. Most eggbeaters will fit right in the cup, so you can use it both as a measure, and as a small mixing bowl.

Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Take a fork or wire whisk and blend the two for 20 seconds -- no more! The secret to light and tender muffins lies in this final blending. It's OK if you've left some lumps that look as if they want more stirring; they really don't. So, no matter how hard it is, resist the impulse.

Fill cups of a lightly greased muffin tin two-thirds to three-quarters full. Place muffins in the oven and immediately drop temperature to 400°F*. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until muffins test done. Yield: 12 muffins, 24 mini-muffins, or six "crown" muffins.

*When you put muffins in a very hot oven and immediately drop the temperature, you help create the high peaks that make them so appealing.

Nutrition information per serving (1 muffin, 63 g): 161 cal, 6 g fat, 4 g protein, 16 g complex carbohydrates, 8 g sugar, 1 g fiber, 47 mg cholesterol, 217 mg sodium, 66 mg potassium, 1 mg iron, 124 mg calcium, 72 mg phosphorus.
More tips can be found at KAF's basic muffin recipe page.

Blueberry Muffins

Out of season, this is a re-posting from my old kusina, with some text revision.


Every year my in-laws would either invite me to pick from their garden, or they would just give me, blueberries amounting to about a gallon. There are times my friend Fe gives me some as well. They are good for eating fresh from the bush, but I freeze them (as is, in freezer bags) if I am not ready to make something with them. I may make them into blueberry jam or a blueberry sourcream coffee cake, or I make muffins with them.

I got the recipe from Sarah's baking911, and that recipe was definitely a keeper. I don't come up at all with high-dome cupcakes (to my disappointment!) but the taste is superb, and they get better after a day or two as the sugar has tamed the tartness of the less ripe blueberries.

Ingredients:

8 tbsp (1 stick) soft unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups sugar, plus more for sprinkling the tops of the muffins
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour (preferably bleached--gives a whiter color)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup buttermilk or milk
1 pint blueberries, rinsed, drained and dried
One 12-cavity muffin pan with paper liners(they are sticky!)

Instructions:



1. Set a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees F.

2. Cream the butter with the sugar and salt by hand or with an electric mixer until light. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until smooth. Mix the flour and baking powder together well and stir into the batter alternating with the milk or buttermilk.

3. Crush a quarter of the berries and stir into the batter; fold in the remaining berries whole.

4. Spoon the batter into the muffin pan. Sprinkle the tops with some sugar.

5. Bake the muffins about 30 minutes, until well risen and deep golden. Cool the muffins in the pan.

Black & White Brownie Cupcakes

I had a box of Ghirardelli brownie mix in the pantry for quite sometime now.

From Black & White Brownie Cupcakes

I bought it because it was on sale. I was thinking last night of what to have for dessert to accompany a New England Boiled Dinner in which I used a pork shoulder for meat. So I was looking at the instructions for this mix and the photo of a variation caught my attention. I thought I'd follow that instead, and I added red wine just 'cause I had two opened red wine bottles that I must consume as fast as I can. My husband got excited and had to lick the dough even as I was placing it in muffin cups. As supper was served, I had a plate of this ready on the table and everyone was looking longingly for them. Nobody was disappointed. It was soooo good!

From Black & White Brownie Cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 box Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Brownie Mix
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
(optional) 1 tbsp cabernet sauvignon (red wine)
2 eggs
1 cup (8-oz) cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 deg F. In a medium bowl, stir together brownie mix, water, oil and 1 egg until moistened (about 40 strokes). Line muffin tin with paper cups and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray. Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling 2/3 full. Using electric mixer, mix cream cheese, sugar, 1 egg and vanilla on medium speed for 1 minutes or until smooth. For each cupcake, place rounded tablespoon of cream cheese mixture on top of batter. Bake 28-32 minutes. Makes 16 cupcakes.

Blueberries

Every year I get about 1 gallon of freshly picked blueberries from my MIL's garden.

I make blueberry jam (recipe here), which I store in 3/4 cup jars, and which I love using on bananas, or saltine crackers, or toast...

I also use one such jar for the very tastyStonewall Kitchen's blueberry sourcream coffee cake, the recipe for which is as follows:

Ingredients
2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 Tsp salt
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter
2 eggs, beaten lightly
1 cup sour cream
1 - 13 oz. jar Stonewall Kitchen Wild Maine Blueberry Jam, stirred well

Directions
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
Butter a 10” bundt pan and lightly dust the inside with flour.
In a mixer, or by hand, cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
Add eggs, blending well, and then add sour cream. Mix until combined.
Gradually fold in flour, vanilla, baking powder, and salt into creamed mixture until just blended.
Reserve 1/2 cup of batter and mix with 3/4 of the jar of blueberry jam.
Pour 3/4 remaining batter into the prepared pan, smoothing to the edges and creating a slight "trough" with a spatula.
Gently spoon the blueberry mix into the batter "trough", being careful not to touch the side of the pan.
Pour the remaining batter over the jam and smooth the top.
Set pan on middle rack in the oven and bake for about 60 minutes, or until the sides of the cake pull away from the pan and a cake tester (or toothpick) inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes. Turn onto a plate, sprinkle with confectioners sugar, drizzle with remaining jam and enjoy!

I also usually make these blueberry muffins, and though my favorite recipe for that so far does not produce the dome that I would like to have, it does come up with muffins which I like so much, and get better and better on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th days.

Cornmeal Muffins

I was supposed to post about Chicken Curry, but I realized I was not able to take photos of the cooking! Anyway, I will just prepare the recipe page for its beef counterpart. For today I decided to post a recipe for baking: Cornmeal Muffins.

Cornmeal muffins are NOT MY FAVORITE muffins; they're my husband's. And while I like to eat it only fresh from the oven, my husband likes it cooled to room temperature. No other muffins will do for him (and no amount of experimenting with various muffin recipes on my part will convince him otherwise). So I am still sharing this recipe for those Filipinas whose husband's taste is as weird (?) as my husband's (he says I have the weird taste).


Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup Corn Meal (Quaker or Aunt Jemima)
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp salt (optional)
1 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 egg, beaten

Instructions:

Heat over to 400 deg F. Grease muffin pan.
Combine dry ingredients.
Stir in milk, oil and egg, mixing just until dry ingredients are moistened.
Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.
Cool on wire rack. Remove with a small rubber spatula.
Serve with maple syrup or strawberry jam.