Cooking with my Air Fryer | Cappuccino Muffins Recipe.

A-and we're back to regular programming! I had been in (social media) hiatus for about a week or so and had not been baking much because of my eye problem. Halfway through September, I had been having issues with my left eye - it felt dry, the upper part of the sclera had reddish streaks, and it felt like I had something stuck in my eye most of the time. I finally decided to see my eye doctor as soon as Yue's exams were over, and I was diagnosed with corneal abrasion. I'm still under medication as of this writing, and there's still a miniscule white spot on my cornea, but my eyes feel much, much better and less sensitive to light than it did two weeks ago. 

Anyway, moving on to what this blog post is really about - the recipe. I had been baking my Cappuccino Muffins differently, using just one egg. Until I realized that two eggs are better than one, lol. But seriously, my muffins became lighter, fluffier, and definitely more moist after I started using two (room temperature) eggs. And with that, here's the recipe. Enjoy! :)

Cappuccino Muffins

Ingredients:

2 cups flour 

3 tsps baking powder 

2 tsp coffee

1/2 tsp salt 

3/4 cup white sugar 

2 eggs 

1 cup milk 

1/4 cup vegetable oil 

1/4 tsp cinnamon 

1/4 tsp nutmeg 

2 tsp vanilla extract 

1 cup dark or semisweet chocolate chips 

Procedure: 

1. Preheat the air fryer to 190° Celsius. 

2. Stir together all the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, coffee, salt, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg) in a large bowl. Make a well in the center. 

3. In a small bowl, beat the egg with a fork. Stir in the milk, oil, and vanilla extract. Pour this mixture all at once into the well in the flour mixture.

4. Mix quickly and lightly until moistened. Do not overmix.

5. Lightly fold in the chocolate chips into the mixture.

6. Pour the batter into paper lined muffin pan cups. Top with more chocolate chips if desired.

7. Set your air fryer to Bake mode and bake at 170°C for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. 

8. Optional: Switch to Convection Broil for 3 to 5 minutes if you want the muffin tops to look more brown. (Kindly make adjustments to the temperature settings if you're cooking with a conventional oven.)

Smile Train Philippines Celebrates World Smile Day®.

World Smile Day®, a day devoted to smiles and acts of kindness, will be celebrated by people all over the world on the 2nd of October. Smile Train, the world’s leading cleft organization, through its local entity, Smile Train Philippines, will be hosting an online event to raise awareness for children with clefts. Together with Smile Train ambassadors Marian Rivera, Catriona Gray, and Megan Young, the charity launches #540Today to convey and champion the 540 babies around the world who are born with a cleft every day.

The crisis brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic has affected millions all over the world, including children born with a cleft lip and/or palate. With the global lockdown pushing for cities to establish stringent rules and regulations, thousands of babies are left untreated. It is estimated that COVID-19 has forced Smile Train partners to put more than 33,000 cleft surgeries on hold this year.

“Despite the pandemic, Smile Train is keen on celebrating all of the people who have contributed to their work and help change the lives of babies born with untreated clefts in the Philippines,” said Smile Train South East Asia Director Kimmy Flaviano. “We’ve adapted various avenues and utilized technology to reach more patients and communities in the Philippines.”

The event, which will be hosted Live on the Smile Train Philippines Facebook page at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, will allow Smile Train to bring more smiles into the homes of the Filipinos. More Smile Train ambassadors such as Tim Yap, Barbie Forteza, and Paul Marney Leobrera will take part in the festivities to encourage people to raise awareness for #540Today. They all share their experiences working with Smile Train and raise awareness for access to proper medical care and financial assistance needed by children born with cleft lip and/or palate.

Smile Train’s Team Empower will also take part in the celebration by inviting everyone to Ride for Smile Train Home Edition. Ride for Smile Train Home Edition is a virtual experience that will utilize two fitness platforms, Strava and Zwift, to challenge, engage, and grow the community of Smile Makers. Moreover, Smile Train long-standing fitness partners, Beyond Yoga and Electric Studio, will be offering classes to help promote the cause. Beyond Yoga will be hosting a free yoga class on Facebook while Electric Studio will offer their Ride, Box, HIIT, Strength, and Flow classes for the benefit of Smile Train Philippines.

Smile Train acknowledges the support and collaboration of its donors, partners, and ambassadors around the world as they continue to transform the lives of patients with cleft and help improve their ability to eat, breathe, speak, and ultimately thrive. The pandemic may have posed a challenge to the charity, but it is committed to applying sustainable solutions that would be of great help to their beneficiaries.

“Smile Train has always been and will continue to remain steadfast in advocating for children with cleft and to providing free surgery and comprehensive cleft care to them. With the help of all our partners, we can truly make a difference to create more smiles,” shared Flaviano.

For more information about Smile Train’s global efforts and to donate, please visit smiletrain.org. To learn more about Smile Train’s local programs in the Philippines, please visit smiletrain.ph, follow Smile Train Philippines on Twitter and Instagram @SmileTrainPh, and like us on Facebook at @SmileTrainPhilippines. 

7-day EGGciting recipes under ₱100.

There are a number of reasons why people love eggs – it’s easy to cook, versatile, and one of the cheapest and convenient protein sources. Filipinos have especially stocked up on this pantry staple amid the height of lockdowns due to COVID-19 pandemic.

7-Day EGGCiting Recipes under Php 100!

Based on the consumption survey conducted in 2015 by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute of the Department of Science and Technology (FNRI-DOST), chicken eggs ranked seventh on the “Top 30 Commonly Consumed Food Items” in the Philippines, proving that it is an indispensable ingredient in a household. While eggs are often seen as an accompaniment to our breakfast silog meals, it has many other uses from making quick meals, a thickener and binding agent, to adding flavor.

Cheesy Tamago.

Eggs are packed with nutrients that children need for healthy growth and development. It contains vitamins and minerals and all nine essential amino acids that the human body cannot produce on its own, making it an ingredient that can be easily added to other food to enhance its nutritional value. It’s no wonder that it is a favorite of Filipinos as it’s not only nutritious but an inexpensive source of nutrients and easy to prepare especially for busy parents.

Pizza Omelette.

But just because eggs are an obvious choice in making healthy and delicious egg-cellent meals, it doesn’t mean that you should be limited with the usual boiled, fried, or poached. Skip the same-old ways of cooking eggs and try introducing more variety into your child’s diet. Ajinomoto Philippines Corporation has prepared a “7-Day Egg Challenge” for you that will help you learn new ways to cook eggs for your kids. You’d be surprise that even picky eaters would love the way we added other ingredients like veggies to enrich the color, texture and nutrients of the dishes. Best of all, all are under a hundred pesos for a family-size meal!

For full recipes and for more information about Ajinomoto and its products, visit www.ajinomoto.com.ph and facebook.com/CookmunitybyAjinomotoPH. Don’t forget to snap a photo of your eggciting dish and share it with us using the hashtag #AjinomotoEggcitingRecipe.

Cooking with my Air Fryer | Crispy Fried Chicken (ala Max's Restaurant).

This is a recipe that I've been wanting to experiment with ever since I got my hands on my Hanabishi Air Fryer Oven. It took me quite awhile to actually try it, since chicken leg quarters were always out of stock whenever I do the groceries (which is actually like, twice a month at the most).

Luckily, I chanced upon some chicken leg quarters at SM Supermarket's Bounty Fresh section on my last grocery run. Yay! And so finally, here it is - my Crispy Fried Chicken, Max's style.

Crispy Fried Chicken (ala Max's Restaurant)

Ingredients:

4 chicken leg quarters (or 1 whole spring chicken)

4 cloves garlic, chopped (or crushed)

6 slices ginger

4 pieces bay leaf

3 Tbsps fish sauce/patis

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground black pepper

4 cups water

Procedure:

1. In a large pot, mix the water, fish sauce, garlic, ginger, and bay leaf. Stir, then bring to a boil.

2. Place the chicken in the pot and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.

3. Remove the chicken from the broth and drain using a colander. Let it cool for 15 to 20 minutes and rub with salt and pepper on all sides of the skin.

4. Set your air fryer to Air Fry mode and air fry at 190°C for 20 minutes. Flip the chicken at the 5-minute mark. 

5. Flip the chicken again at let it rest for 10 minutes.

6. Air fry the chicken again at 190°C for another 3 to 5 minutes for added crisp. You may adjust the length of time depending on how crispy you want your chicken to be.

7. Serve with fried sweet potato or french fries and tomato ketchup with Worcestershire sauce.

Cooking with my Air Fryer | Triple Chocolate Muffins Recipe.

Weekends are for baking, and that's exactly what I did last weekend. Yay! I baked a few batches of muffins, enough for the not-so-little kid to snack on for the next few days. Because you all know it gets pretty crazy around the house during weekdays, with my son's online distance learning classes and all. (Please teachers, stop sending schoolwork after 4 pm!)

Anyways, I was craving for something sweet, a bit more decadent over the weekend because it's that time of the month again when I'd have erratic food cravings. Usually, I would just rush over to the mall to buy cake or doughnuts or the like to satisfy my sweet tooth. But times sure have changed and now I go by the mantra, "Why buy when you can bake", lol. 

And with that, I came up with this Triple Chocolate Muffins recipe using the cocoa powder that I got from All About Baking at SM City San Pablo. They've recently opened store here in my area, and I'm absolutely thrilled to find a place that can cater to all of my baking needs. (Not sponsored, though!)

Triple Chocolate Muffins

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour 

1/2 cup cocoa powder (I used Dutch Premium Alkalized Cocoa Powder)

1 Tbsp baking powder

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup milk

1 large egg, room temperature

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips 

1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips for topping

1/4 cup white chocolate chips for topping

Procedure:

1. Preheat the air fryer to 190° Celsius.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients - flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Make a well at the center of the mixture.

3. Mix the wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Whisk the milk, egg, oil, and vanilla extract until well-combined.

4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir with a spatula until just combined. Do not overmix.

5. Lightly fold in the semisweet chocolate chips into the mixture.

6. Pour the batter into paper-lined muffin cups. Sprinkle each cup with semisweet chocolate chips and white chocolate chips.

7. Set your air fryer to Bake mode and bake at 170°C for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the muffin comes out clean.