Pecan raisins cupcake

Ingredients: 
1) 250g butter, softened (I use Golden Churn) 
2) 180g castor sugar (I use unrefined sugar) 
3) 4 eggs, slightly beaten 
4) 250g top flour 
5) 1 tsp baking powder 
6) 2 tsp cinnamon powder (I like the smell, so I use more) 
7) 80g pecans 
 50g raisins (I should have used more  ) 

Method: 
1) Preheat oven to 160 deg C. 
2) When oven is ready, toast the pecans for 10 mins. 
3) Crush the toasted pecans into small pieces with a rolling pin. Leave to cool. 
4) Preheat the oven to 170 deg C or 180 deg C if you like a browner top. 
5) Sieve the flour, baking powder and cinnamon powder together. 
6) Add the raisins to the flour mixture. 
7) Cream the butter and sugar together till fluffy at slow speed. The sugar has not dissolved completely. 
 Add the eggs, one at a time to the butter mixture at slow speed. Make sure each addition is well mixed before adding the next egg. 
9) Spoon the flour mixture into the batter gradually at slow speed. Make sure each addition is well mixed before adding another spoon. 
10) Lastly add in the crushed pecans and mix at slow speed (the mixing bowl goes around about 3 times). 
11) Spoon the batter into cupcake paper cups. I weighed each cup, it is about 92 grams with the batter. 
12) Bake for 30 mins. I used the toothpick test. 


by Jennifer Quah

Raisins Mochi Bread Recipe

Ingredients (yields about 650 ~ 660g of dough) 
Starter Dough 
250g Bread Flour 
150g Water 
2 tsp Instant Yeast 

Main Dough 
70g Bread Flour 
40g Water 
40g Caster Sugar 
20g Egg (beaten and weighed, reserve the remaining for egg wash) 
10g Milk Powder 
3g Salt 
40g Corn Oil 
50g Raisins (soak in some water to plump them up) 

Some flour to dust 
Some butter to grease pan 

Filling (yields about 230g ~ 240g of mochi) 
80g Mochi Flour (Japanese Glutinous flour, I bought from Daiso) 
150ml Water 
2 tbsp Caster Sugar 
2 tbsp Milk Powder 
1 tsp Corn Oil 

Some cornflour to dust 

Method 
1) Mix all ingredients for Starter Dough in a mixing bowl, use dough hook, using low speed, beat to form a dough. Increase to medium speed, beat dough till it doesn't stick to the side of the bowl and appears to be smooth. Roll the dough into a ball, cover the bowl with cling wrap, leave aside to proof for 90 minutes. 

2) In a non-stick saucepan, add water and sugar. Add milk powder and mochi flour by batches till there are no lumps. Add in corn oil and heat up the mixture using low heat. Stir the mixture constantly till it forms a dough using a wooden spoon. Continue to stir till it reaches a QQ consistency. Turn off the heat and let it cool. When the mochi is warm to touch, wear a plastic glove, knead the mochi further. The mochi should be smooth and can be pulled for an arm's length without breaking. Portion the mochi into 12 portions and dust with cornflour, set aside. 

3) After 90 minutes, transfer the Starter Dough to a bowl. In the mixing bowl, add all ingredients for Main dough, except corn oil. Beat at medium speed, gradually add in Starter Dough in small batches to the Main dough until well corporated. Add in corn oil slowly and beat to a smooth, elastic dough (Do the pinch test to check if it is ready). 

4) Transfer the dough to a floured surface. Roll the dough into a ball and rest it for 10 minutes. The dough will be quite sticky; either dust with some flour or oil your hands. Divide into 12 portions. Wrap the mochi with the dough, place on the greased pan. Cover with damp cloth and proof for 45 minutes or till double in size. 

5) Apply egg wash and bake them at 170 degree C for 15 minutes. 

*Note : to make it more interesting, maybe you can wrap some peanuts with mochi, then it up wrap with the dough during shaping. By doing so, you will get 3 different texture in 1 bread.


by reirei