Air fryer chocolate chip muffins

Ever since I brought my iPhone swimming and it didn't recover, I have lost interest in using my phone. Emotionally my iPhone is related to my baking, so no iphone made me less interested in baking.
But I was craving for something sweet, so I baked these on a Saturday afternoon with 1 hour before the boys' Heguru class.
Yummy! The chocolate rice on top makes it even better because it adds some crunch, but does not look so nice. Perhaps next time scoop the batter in a more rounded form before adding.

 

 

 

 

Recipe adapted from:http://m.allrecipes.com/recipe/6865/to-die-for-blueberry-muffins

 

Makes 8-9 silicon cup small muffins

 

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

Top up with yoghurt to 1 cup

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Sprinkle of chocolate rice (optional, if you do this you can reduce the mini chocolate chips)

HOW:

1) Combine flour, sugar, salt, baking powder in one large bowl. Whisk well to ensure even spreading of salt and baking powder. 

2) In a separate cup, pour oil in. Then add egg. Add yoghurt till full cup. Then add vanilla extract. Whisk till combined. 

3) Add (2) to (3). Mix just till combined. Aim for less than 15 strokes, it's ok to have some flour visible.

4) Preheat air fryer at 180 degree Celsius. 

5) Fold in chocolate chips.

 

6) Fill silicon cups 3/4 full (the muffin expands only ever so slightly). If you are sprinkling chocolate rice, make top smooth first before sprinkling.

 

7) Bake at 180 degree Celsius for 10 min. If not done, add another 2 min at 160 degree Celsius.
 

 

  

Air fryer eggless chocolate banana bread pudding

This is rather similar to the apple raisin bread pudding recipe, except this time I was lazy and didn't put the crumble on top. I woke up at 6am to make it. The preparation cum cooking was so fast, so while it was cooking I got ready for work. And then I even got a chance to sit down with Lucas to eat it before leaving for work. 

Yummy!

Recipe adapted from http://www.vegan.com/recipes/vegancom-top-10-recipes-of-2008/banana-chocolate-chip-bread-pudding-vegancom-top-10-recipe-2008/

Makes 4 soufflé cup and 1 6-inch round cake pan

INGREDIENTS:
6 cups 1″ cubed bread
1/2 cup chocolate chips
2 ripe bananas, sliced ½” thick
1.5 cups unsweeten soy milk (can add more if bread pudding looks too dry)
2 teaspoons corn starch 
½ cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon cinnamon

DIRECTIONS:

1) Grease a 6-inch round pan or your soufflé cups with oil or butter. 

2) Place cubed bread in a large bowl.

3) In a small bowl whisk together ½ cup soy milk and the corn flourtill no lumps remain.

4) Add remaining soy milk, honey, vanilla and cinnamon and whisk to combine. 

5) Pour over cubed bread and stir to coat every piece. 

6) Now, preheat Airfryer to 170 degree Celsius.

7) Allow bread mixture to sit for at least 15 minutes for liquid to soak into bread. Depending on what kind of bread you use and how stale it is, add more soy milk (¼ cup at a time) and allow more soaking time till every piece of bread is saturated and there’s a little bit of extra liquid. Mixture should look mushy and wet. 

8) Fold in chocolate chips and bananas 

9) Pour mixture into pan or soufflé cups, patting down to make an even top.

10) Bake 18 minutes till top is puffed, slightly browned and feels firm. 

Taste is good! But some of it stuck to the sides and some top parts were hard. Perhaps try a shorter timing or lower temp next time. 

Air fryer healthy carrot cake with cream cheese frosting

By now it should be quite clear that I like recipes that are as healthy as possible while still being tasty. When I first found out there is such a thing as carrot cake, not the Singapore hawker stir-fried savoury type, I was skeptical. How good can it be... it's a vegetable cake!
However during my second pregnancy, I began to like this cake very much and even until now. I like that it's healthy and the cream cheese is literally the 'icing on the cake'. No carrot cake can do without the cream cheese!
I searched online and to my disappointment, many of the carrot cake recipes were not healthy at all. The cake can contain 2 cups of sugar! And the cream cheese another 2 cups!
But there were also many others who really wanted healthy versions and so I combined 3 recipes that I found, with some adaptations of my own, and here goes.
The end result: the cake's taste has too much cinammon (so I reduced it in the recipe below) but still overall it's tasty and moist. The sugar still can be reduced (so I did in the recipe below). The cream cheese has a nice light tangy taste.
According to my husband, it's good but not sweet enough commercially. So I shall take that as a compliment!

Seriously, if you like carrot cake you have got to try this!

Makes two 6-inch cakes.

Adapted from http://www.littlespicejar.com/super-moist-healthy-carrot-cake-muffins/

& http://natashaskitchen.com/2013/09/10/the-healthier-carrot-cake-recipe/

& http://fooddoodles.com/2013/06/27/whole-wheat-carrot-cake-with-honey-cream-cheese-frosting/

 

INGREDIENTS

Carrot cake:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 3 eggs at room temp
• 1/3 cup sugar (can convert this to honey for a healthier alternative)
• 1/4 cup honey
• Less than 3/4 cup sunflower oil (I used 3/4 cup and found it too oily)
• 2 tsp vanilla essence
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1/4 cup plain yoghurt
• 2.5 cups shredded carrots (~2 sticks)
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup walnuts

Cream cheese frosting:

• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1 cup icing sugar (can try honey instead too)
• 1/2 cup plain yoghurt
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 tbsp lemon juice for a tangy taste (optional)

HOW

Before starting take cream cheese out from fridge.

Carrot cake:

1) Grease baking tray and line bottom with paper.

 

2) In a medium bowl, sift together all purpose flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt, set aside.

 

3) In a large bowl with a handheld mixer on medium speed, combine the sugar/honey and oil. Beat in the yogurt and apple sauce until fully combined - about 1 minute. Mixture will be gritty and thin.

(I used a hand whisk so just beat slightly longer)

 

4) Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla.

 

5) Preheat Airfryer at 175 deg C for 10 min.

 

6) With a spatula, manually stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined and all flour pockets are gone - do not overmix.

 

6) Fold in the finely shredded carrots,  raisins, and walnuts.

7) Pour into prepared pan and in the Airfryer. Cover loosely with aluminium foil. 

Bake at 175 deg C for 30 minutes. (I tried 175 deg C for 25 min with no foil and it was burnt on top and not cooked inside. Then I added 5 more min at 160 deg C and it was ok).
 

8) Remove and cool. If the top part is burnt, cut it off. Unfortunately mine was burnt :(

 

Cream cheese frosting:

1) In a food processor(or with hand beaters) beat the cream cheese until soft.

note: this step is very important to do before adding anything else if not you will get lumpy frosting.

2) Add the icing sugar a little at a time and cream till it's not visible, then repeat. Do the same with the yogurt.

3) Then add vanilla and lemon juice and beat until completely smooth.

3) Pour into a container, cover and chill until ready to frost (frosting will thicken in the fridge after a couple hours).

 

Finally:

1) Cut cooled cake into 2 layers, add frosting to 1 layer and add frosting on top and side. Top with walnut.

2) Chill in fridge before serving.

Super moist Air fryer blueberry muffins

It took me about 5 batches over a few weeks before I can get these muffins to the right golden brown colour and moisture. I was trying to be healthy and cut fat and sugar but I think the muffins become more dry. So far this is as good as it gets! Oh what a sense of satisfaction!

Recipe adapted from: http://m.allrecipes.com/recipe/6865/to-die-for-blueberry-muffins

Makes 10-11 silicon cup small muffins

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cup flour (cake flour may be an option for less dense and fluffier texture)

1/2 cup sugar (less if your fillings are sweet)

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

Top up with yoghurt to 1 cup

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup blueberries

HOW:

1) Wash and drain blueberries then coat with flour. 

2) Combine flour, sugar, salt, baking powder in one large bowl. Whisk well to ensure even spreading of salt and baking powder. 

3) In a separate cup, pour oil in. Then add egg. Add yoghurt till full cup. Then add vanilla extract. Whisk till combined. 

4) Add wet to dry ingredients. Combine with fork. Do not over mix, just till they are combined. 

5) Use a spoon or spatula to fold in the blueberries. Do not add too much else they will burst 'uglily' while baking. 

6) Put 4 or 5 muffin cups in air fryer basket and then add batter to 3/4 full. Sprinkle some brown sugar on top of each muffin. 

7) Preheat airfryer for 10 min at 180 deg C. Bake for 10 min at 180 deg C. Then stick a toothpick in. Those that are not cooked continue at 2 min for 160 deg C. Those that are cooked remove from airfryer. 

Notes:

1 cup = 250ml

Sprinkled sugar on top of muffin is very nice especially because the top is crispy. 

I realise that different air fryers may have different temperature control. Using the same temperature on my brother's and my air fryer, his muffins always turn out more golden and mine dark. Thus do adjust your temperature up or down, or time as well accordingly. 

My air fryer bakes unevenly. Muffin near the front right gets dark faster. And muffins near the left inner side are not cooked fully at the end of 10min, thus need 2 more min. 

Other variations:

Cranberries and chocolate, with cake flour, is a surprisingly nice combination. 

Lychee is very fragrant and moist. If after adding the lychee and juice it's wet, just add more flour. 

Apple and cinammon can be added when you don't have enough blueberries.

Generally just go with your heart's desires!

Past tries: I tried 190deg C and a small bit was burned on top, and it's a little hard though crunchy on top. 160 and 165 for 15 min is golden brown but dry and lopsided.