blueberry muffins, sardine rolls and chocolate cake

i was walking down the aisle at one of the supermarkets when suddenly i saw a markdown price for fresh blueberries. imagine, RM5.99 per packet. i bought 2 (well, i can't simply borong, blueberries afterall, are expensive) and decided to freeze, a tip given by nigella.

and on one morning, i decided to make blueberry muffins, and how delightful it is to eat fresh blueberry muffins instead of blueberry filling muffins!

Blueberry muffins

180g flour
60g sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
55g butter, melted
175ml milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp grated lemon rind
170g (i used half the amount) fresh blueberries

preheat a 200C oven. grease a 12 cup muffin tin. sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a bowl. in another bowl, whisk the eggs until blended. add the melted butter, milk, vanilla and lemon rind and stir to combine. make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the egg mixture. with a large metal spoon, stir just until the flour is moistened. fold in blueberries.spoon the batter into the cups, leaving the room for the muffins to rise.bake until the tops spring back when touched lightly, 20-25 mins.

Next on the list is sardine rolls. the recipe is featured in ERT book, but i used the recipe from Roti Kek Pastri, written by Norani Sidek, a lecturer of Hotel Management and Tourism of UiTM. i normally have the urge to eat the rolls once a year. can't have too much of everything everyday, i don't know why but the sardine gives me the bloatedness. here's the recipe:


Pastry (for savoury dishes)

200g flour
2-3 tb cold water (i used 5-6)
100g butter
a pinch of salt

add flour and salt in a bowl. add in butter, and use the rubbing method until the flour resembles breadcrumbs. add in the water and knead a little bit. rest the pastry for half an hour before using.


Sardine filling
2 small cans of sardines
1 red chilli, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
1 tsp of lime juice

flake the sardines (without the tomato sauce) and add in chilli, onion and lime juice.

to assemble: roll the dough on a flat surface until it is 1/8 inch thick, and in rectangle shape. cut into squares of 2 inch, put the sardine filling onto each square and roll. egg wash the roll using 1 egg and 2 tb of milk. bake on a preheated oven of 200 Celcius for 15-20 mins.

since i'm a chocoholic, i'll have this craving from time to time. usually i use the hershey recipe, but today i used the recipe taken from Classic Essential Cake book. as i'm typing this, the whole house smells of the divine smell, nevermind its unappealing pic, since i'm not much of a photographer.

Favourite Chocolate Cake

185g butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup self raising flour
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup milk

use the creaming method and bake on a preheated oven of 180 Celcius for 45 mins.