Category: Bread

Rachel Khoo’s Croque Madame Muffins – cute and super delicious!

It’s been a looooong time since I published a proper recipe post. I haven’t cooked as much I used to due to work, but now that I have quit my full time job as a Dilbert I reckon I could go back to more hardcore cooking! Yay!

# – Rachel Khoo’s Croque Madame Muffin.

Today I made Rachel Khoo’s version of croque madame, which are in muffin shape. Eversince I saw her made them on tv, I had wanted to do it so bad, but with work and the water rationing (by the way, it’s officially ending 1 May yahooooo!) I kept putting it off.

Not today!

Ingredients:

For bechamel sauce:

1 tablespoon of butter
1 tablespoon of flour
200 ml of milk
1/2 teaspoon of dijon mustard (I used 1 teaspoon cause I like more kick)
1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Other ingredients:

6 eggs
6 slices of bread
3 slices of ham/bacon (I used 3 slices of honey glazed hams which I cut into halves so they make 6)
A handful of grated gruyere or mature cheddar
Some butter

# – We begin by first making the bechamel sauce. Melt the one tablespoon of butter in a saucepan.

# – When the butter has melted, add one tablespoon of flour and stir with a wooden spoon.

# – When it’s all combined, slowly pour milk in while whisking.

# – It will get clumpy but don’t panic and continue whisking.

# – Eventually it will become a smooth sauce. At this point, add the dijon mustard.

# – Followed by ground nutmeg.

# – Of course, season with a pinch of salt.

# – As well as black pepper. Love our electronic grinder with light, a gift from Lance and Mel! Thank you! Whisk till combined, switch off flames and let it cool. Set aside.

# – Now to prep the bread slices. Cut off all the crusts.

# – Flatten the bread slices with a rolling pin.

# – Butter both sides of each bread.

# – Lay them in the muffin tin to form cups. Please make sure you have greased the tin with butter earlier.

# – Now put a slice of ham into each bread cup.

# – Then, crack an egg into each cup, making sure the yolk doesn’t break and the white does not spill out of the cup. This is because I found that too much of egg white that spilled over the cup would soak into the bread making it a bit soggy and hard to remove from the tin. So, the next time I do this, I will separate yolk from white first into two different bowls and then only pour the yolk in, followed by the white. This way I can control the amount of egg white I put into each bread cup.

# – Lastly, spoon a heaped tablespoon of bechamel sauce over into each cup…

# – Stick the muffin tray into a preheated oven at 180 degrees celcius for 13 minutes for runny yolks, 15 minutes for soft yolks or 20 minutes for firm yolks. I went for 13 minutes of course. (p/s: In my pregnancy haze I had totally forgotten to grate cheese over the cups before sticking them into the oven FML. So please do so with either gruyere or mature cheddar!)

# – Voila! Croque Madame Muffins, done!

# – Oooh la la.

It was very delicious! The crispy bread with savoury ham and the rich, soft egg were music in my mouth. The bechamel sauce certainly brought the flavours together, even without cheese it was very creamy thanks to the milk and butter. Must try!

Recipe for luxurious bread & butter pudding.

There are always opportunities to make bread & butter pudding in this household. Since it’s just the two of us, we almost always have more than half a loaf of near expiring bread in our kitchen.

Bread & butter pudding is easy to make and so delicious in spite of the minimal effort involved. I love it!

# – Luxurious bread & butter pudding.

I’ve posted a bread & butter pudding recipe before, but this is quite different. Like the title of this post, it’s a lot more luxurious and tastes rightly so ;)

The ingredients:

  • 300ml of milk
  • 1 vanilla pod (or 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence)
  • 40 grams of demerara sugar (or ordinary granulated sugar)
  • 8 slices of white bread
  • A handful of raisins
  • 50 grams of butter
  • 3 eggs
  • 150 ml of whipping cream
  • 3 tablespoon of apricot jam
  • A handful of sliced almonds

    • # – Throw in the sugar, vanilla seeds from as well its pod into a saucepan on medium heat. Pour the milk in.

    # – Stir until the mixture is almost boiling and the sugar has dissolved. Turn off the heat.

    # – Set the mixture aside to cool while you continue with other tasks.

    # – Cut the bread slices across into triangular shapes.

    # – Butter the bread. You can butter both front & back if you’re hardcore like that.

    # – Arrange the bread slices in a baking tin, like this.

    # – Then sprinkle a handful of raisins all over the bread slices.

    # – In the meantime, break the eggs into the whipping cream.

    # – Beat until combined.

    # – Then pour in the milk mixture prepared earlier into the egg mixture. Make sure the vanilla pod has been removed. Stir.

    # – Next, pour the mixture all over the bread. Set aside for 30 minutes to allow the bread to absorb all the milky, creamy goodness.

    # – Put the baking tin into a larger tin filled half way up with water and stick them into a preheated oven at 170 degrees celcius for 45 minutes or until set. You are essentially steaming and baking at the same time with this method.

    # – When done, brush apricot jam all over the crust to glaze.

    # – Then sprinkle a handful of almond slices all over the top.

    # – Stick it under the grill for 10 minutes to brown (top rack of oven, on grill mode).

    # – Luxurious bread & butter pudding, DONE!

    # – Serve with more whipping cream, ice cream or custard sauce.

    # – Yummy!

    Soft & creamy in the middle with a crispy, fruity crust. This recipe is enough for 4 but we hoovered everything up in a matter of minutes, just the two of us.

    What better way to make use of stale bread? Have fun baking!

    Easy poppy seed burger buns recipe.

    Yeah, I can be a little snobbish when it comes to making homemade burgers. I always insist on serving them with homemade buns. Just something about using store bought buns that make me feel like I can’t really call the burgers homemade.

    That’s probably why I’ve only ever made homemade burgers twice so far, hehehe.

    Anyway, I’ll probably be making more homemade burgers now that I’ve discovered this bun recipe. I took the liberty to tweak it a little with some knowledge I acquired from watching one too many bread making videos on YouTube.

    This recipe is fantastic because everything only happens in 2 bowls. You don’t really need a large, clean surface to knead the dough or anything (something I personally quite detest due to the mess).

    # – Easy poppy seed burger buns.

    The ingredients:

  • 1 cup of warm milk
  • 2 tablespoons of butter, melted
  • 2 tablespoons of warm water
  • 2 tablespoons of white sugar
  • 2 tablespoon of dry instant yeast
  • 1 teaspoons salt
  • 3 cups of all-purpose flour
  • 1 egg white
  • Poppy seeds
  • 1 tablespoon of olive oil

    • # – First, pour the mixture of warm milk, warm water and melted butter into a mixing bowl.

    # – Then sprinkle the dry yeast and sugar all over the surface. Allow to stand for 10 minutes.

    # – Sift flour over the yeast mixture.

    # – Followed by salt (Don’t put salt in with yeast, it murders them!)

    # – Now, with your fingers gently mix everything together till combined. It will be very sticky, but refrain from adding flour. The more you work with your finger, the less sticky it will be, trust me! Stop when the dough is only just a bit sticky but manageable.

    # – Grease another bowl with olive oil (I poured 1 tablespoon of oil into the bowl then used a kitchen towel to spread it all over). Transfer the dough into the greased bowl and cover with cling film. Leave it be in room temperature for 1 hour.

    # – After an hour, the dough should double in size. Use a pastry cutter or a knife to cut the dough into 6 equal pieces. It is very easy to handle the dough now. Not sticky! :)

    # – Take one piece and pull it towards the end of your finger tips like this.

    # – Then pull it back towards your body, like this. Repeat 2 or 3 times.

    # – Then form into a ball and lay it on a non-stick baking tray. Do the pulling thing with the rest of the dough pieces.

    # – Cover the balls with a clean tea towel and let stand for another hour. They will expand in size as well.

    # – Before sticking them into the oven, brush egg white all over the surface of the balls.

    # – Sprinkle poppy seeds all over. You may use other type of seeds too.

    # – Bake in a pre-heated oven at 190 degrees celcius for 15 minutes.

    # – Poppy seed burger buns, DONE!

    # – Slice bun in half and put in your homemade patty for a true homemade burger :D

    The buns were soft and spongy. Absolutely delicious and so simple to make! Like I said, it all only happened in 2 bowls, no messy counter top to clean, no flying flour. Lovely :)