Chocolate muffins

I've tried using the most famous and expensive cocoa powder that I see in grocery stores, but I can't seem to be contented with the taste of my chocolate muffins. Then, I tried Goya's cocoa powder recently and it was perfect! Yey! Denden, my number one customer, loved it!

Euen's Twelfth Month

Yey! Our baby is one year old!!  18 lbs. this month, her sixth teeth came out already.  She's started a few steps on her own but she's very cautious and didn't want to fall so she'll either sit down and crawl or find something to hold on to.  Just a few days ago, she walked 10 steps on her own! Good job, Euen!

Sadly, on her birthday, she also became sick with colds and coughs, for the first time.  It pains me to hear her cough and see her have a hard time breathing and sleeping.  A temperature of 38.5 made me bring her to the doctor.  She was prescribed with meds and hopefully, she'll be better before her party.

I baked NY cheesecake and brought a new set of candles.  We went to hear mass and my sisters came for dinner.  Good thing, she didn't lose her appetite.  And she's still active and playful even if sick.

Banoffee Pie

I asked my sister what she wanted to me bake.  Being the dessert-addict-who-is-so-skinny, I almost regretted I asked.  She requested: a banoffee pie.

There are three parts in making this dessert.  The shortbread crust, the dulce de leche and the whipped cream.  

I liked the texture of the crust that I baked.  The dulce de leche took time to cook and needs to be watched.  Since I don't have the whisk attachment on my mixer and Denden, my "whisk-man" was lazy at the time, we bought the spray-on whipped cream.  We enjoyed putting it all together, adding extra-extra bananas. 

The photo above might not look so good.  But it was yummy!  Mission accomplished. 

Chocolate cupcake

My first chocolate cupcake made from scratch and not from the "mix in a box."

I am even more fulfilled that I made the frosting and actually decorated it.  Of course my piping wasn't the same for the cupcakes.  But I was happy.

Carrot Cake

I baked my first actual cake, carrot cake with walnuts, with the help of my best friend.

I learned how to make frosting.  Its main ingredient is the confectioners sugar, that was found after going to four grocery stores.  The walnuts were supposed to the chopped but we ended up grinding almost all of them.

Though it was a bit complicated with the different steps and many ingredients, I had fun baking.

Especially when the finished product is nutritious and delicious!

Baking Trial

We did't have a space for a stove with oven in our kitchen. I thought it was okay because I do not know how to bake anyway. But during my pregnancy, I thought it would be fun to bake pastries and deserts when we have children already. Thus the number one excuse to get an oven. But where to put it is the question.

Our conventional microwave oven is placed on the left corner of our countertop. I was always puzzled as to why ALL microwave ovens open from the right. This complicates opening our microwave oven.

One day, a salesman gave me a positive answer, there is a microwave oven that do not open from the right. It opens downwards. But it is not just a microwave oven, it is a microwave, grill and convection oven in one, the Whirlpool Jet Chef. I got excited but I held off buying because it is pricey.

BUT, our microwave broke a few weeks ago. Instead of buying a normal microwave oven, it gave me the second, third and fourth excuse to get an Jet Chef oven. Yey!

For my first try in baking, I got the help of Betty Crocker with the Chocolate Chip Cookies. Not bad for a first timer. Denden and Mamacherub liked it.