Blueberry Popovers

This is great as a teatime snack or for a light breakfast. It is a healthy snack without any butter and very little sugar.  I would usually reduce the sugar in most recipes, but for this, I added a little bit more!  And to give additional flavour to this otherwise plain popovers, I added in orange zest and orange essence.  My kids love to eat these with some honey drizzled over the top while still hot.  This is extremely easy to make and takes only about 15 minutes of preparation. The original recipe are served with sweet, fresh berries. These popovers are best eaten while still hot, don't forget the honey!

I made this twice actually, the first time with vanilla essence, which is good too.  Just increase the sugar a little otherwise this will be quite bland. And of course, eat it while still hot with drizzled honey.

I'm still on holiday! I scheduled this post to be published today! See you in a few days time!

Blueberry Popovers
(adapted from Baking with Love by Readers Digest)
125gm (1 cup/4-1/2 oz) plain (all-purpose) flour
1 teaspoon caster sugar (I use 2 tablespoons sugar)
2 eggs
250ml (1 cup/9fl oz) milk
80gm (1/2 cup/2-1/2 oz) blueberries
1 tablespoon icing (confectioners') sugar
my add-on:
grated zest of 1 orange
1/2 tsp orange essence
pinch of salt

1. Use 1 x 12 hole (80ml/1/3 cup/2-1/2fl oz) deep muffin pan and grease 8 cups. Preheat the oven to 220C(425F, gas mark 7).
2. To make batter, sift flour, sugar and salt into a bowl and make a well in the centre. Break eggs into the well, add milk, orange zest and essence and combine with a fork.
3. Using a wire whisk, gradually work the flour into the liquid to make a smooth batter with the consistency of pouring cream. Pour into a large jug.
4. Pour batter into muffin cups; they should be two-thirds full. Drop blueberries into the batter in each cup, dividing them equally.
5. Bake on the centre rack of the oven for 25-30 minutes or until popovers are golden brown, well risen and crisp around the edges.
6. Unmold the popovers with the help of a round-bladed knife and dust with icing sugar. Serve hot.

(my notes : I use frozen blueberries, there's no need to thaw them, I bake the popovers at 200C for 25 minutes, serve these with drizzled honey while still hot)

Kenny Rogers' Corn Muffin

Each time when we went to Kenny Rogers' for a meal, the muffins would be the last one to be eaten, and usually it will be packed for takeaway as we would be full from the meal.  Over here in Malaysia, Kenny Rogers restaurants only served three types of muffins, Chocolate Raisin, Banana Raisin and Golden Vanilla Muffins. So this Corn Muffin is a new flavour to me and  since they do not sell this muffin over here, I'm unable to know whether it tastes just as Kenny Rogers'!  Among these four flavours, I would go for the Chocolate and Golden Vanilla. 

I'll be taking a little break for a short holiday with my family.  See you when I get back!

I'm submitting this to the monthly roundup at Copycat Club at Buttercream Barbie and Recipe Swap Thursday at Prairie Story

Kenny Rogers' Corn Muffins
(source from recipe.goldmine.com)
Ingredients :
1/2 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar (I only use 80gm)
1/4 cup honey (I use slightly less, I reduce about 1 tablespoon from the 1/4 cup)
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup frozen yellow corn

Method :

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees F
2. Cream together butter, sugar, honey, eggs and salt in a large bowl.  Add flour, cornmeal and baking powder and blend thoroughly.  Add milk while mixing.  Add corn to mixture and combine by hand until corn is worked in.
3. Grease a 12 cup muffin pan and fill each cup with batter. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until muffins begin to turn brown on top.

The Winner for the "Culinary Smackdown Let's Get Tangy With Citrus November 2010" goes to ....

Thank you everyone for taking the time and especially to these lovely ladies who has submitted their delicious entries for the Culinary Smackdown. I thought choosing the theme was extremely difficult. I changed my mind over and over before decided on  citrus as the theme  for the month of November 2010.  Choosing the winner is even more difficult than anything else! The entries submitted are all mouth-watering and looks so delicious that I have a hard time picking out the winner!

Let me present the delicious entries to this Culinary Smackdown, in random order, and you can see for yourself how delicious each entry is. They are :

Orange Oatmeal Bread from Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipe

Chicken Breasts with Lemon from Hun...What's for Dinner

Homemade Orange and Lemon Marshmallows from At Home With Rebecka

Orange Lassi from love2cook

Lemon Onion Chicken from Miz Helen's Country Cottage

Grapefruit Rhubarb Jam from Mom's Sunday Cafe

Rum Painted Pineapple Orange Bundt Cake from Brenda's Canadian Kitchen

Lemon Dill Chicken and Rice from From Apples to Zucchini

Lemon Bars from Krakilette

Lemon Yogurt Cake with Lemon Glaze from Big Mama's Home Kitchen

There now, don't you agree with me that they all look so deliciously yummy! I'm sure by now that you would want to know who the winner is. Alright, lovely ladies, this is a very challenging and extremely difficult decision for me as all of your entries are absolutely incredible!  OK. here goes, hold your breath......

THE WINNER FOR THE "CULINARY SMACKDOWN LET'S GET TANGY WITH CITRUS NOVEMBER 2010 "  goes to ........

*** MELYNDA OF MOM'S SUNDAY CAFE ***

her fabulous entry "Grapefruit Rhubarb Jam"

Yahooooo !  Melynda, you have won!!!! Please email me your full address and this wonderful cookbook shall be on its way to your kitchen very soon!

Congratulations Melynda!!!!

Thank you to the rest of the participants for your entries and support! It has been fun hosting! Now, I'm handing over the hosting for the next month's challenge to Melynda.  Have fun, Melynda!