I'm a full-time mummy

This is my 1st attempt of making:

BANANA MUFFIN

I baked this on Sunday 5th Sept. Sorry didn't have time to take the pictures of the process... as I rushed to get it done while Ben was taking his daytime nap and 10 of the muffins went to BIL's for his belated birthday celebration together with about 11 pieces of roasted chicken wings heheheh...

PREPARATION TIME: Less than 1 HOUR

* Less than 5 minutes to mix & fold batter

* 25 minutes for baking process

Ingredients / Tool Required:

* 1 pack of Banana Muffin Mix (500g)

* 330 grams of bananas (I used the small types)

* 3 eggs (room temperature)

* 150ml oil

* A measuring jug

* A big containter to mix ingredients in

* A flexible spatula for mixing and folding

* Cupcake casings-depending the casing size, I used 14 pieces this round

* Kitchen scale (to weigh bananas)

* A small ladle to spoon mixture into cupcake casings

* Baking aluminium foil the size of wire rack

What to Do?

* Place all ingredients into a big container.

* Mix and fold using the flexible spatula.

* Continue mixing and folding until all ingredients are combined.

* Using the small ladle, spoon the mixture to each cupcake casing until about 3/4 full.

* Drop in small amount of chocolate chips or whatever you want to decorate the muffins with into each cupcake casing

* Place each cupcake casings on top of wire rack which has been lined with baking foil.

BAKING PROCESS

*Pre-heat oven at 190℃ (about 5 minutes)

* Place wire rack tray into oven.

* Set oven to 180℃ and bake for 20 minutes (experimented by reducing temperature and time)

THE RESULTS

CLOSE UP SHOT

REACTIONS FROM MY "GUINEA PIGS"

* Test subject 1 (aka me): "Much better than previous chocolate chip muffins! The shapes are definitely nicer compared to previous attempt which peaked at all directions! But feel dry... :( "

* Test subject 2 (aka Ben): "Mmmmmmm... "(if only you can hear this sound... very delightful!!)

* Test subject 3 (aka hubby): "So nice!!! Perfect!"

* Test subject 4 (aka MIL): "Nice! Much better than last time. See Ben keeps wanting more!"

WHAT IS DIFFERENT WITH THIS ATTEMPT?

* I totally poured in the batter till 3/4 fulls - which resulted in few of the cups overflowing

* Reduce baking time from 25 to 20 minutes (at 20th minute, I use chopstik to poke one of the muffins to check doneness)

* Reduce temperature from 190℃ to 180℃ since one of my fellow very experienced baker advised me to do that as I'm using a fan oven

So there you go.... my 1st BANANA MUFFINS attempt!

Overall,I'm happy with most of the muffins - the way they turned out, nice rounded peak.

But I really gotta find way to make it more moist.

And I still can't figure out when should I drop in the sugar coating at the top?

Anyone with any tips on how do I go about doing this?

If you have any questions or tips to share, feel free to leave a comment as I might have left out details of it or I could find out more from my SIL who taught me this during my 1st baking class recently.

To view my other recipes, feel free to hop over to my Recipe Library page for more info!

Brought to you by: Mama Baker wannabe aka

Let me tell you it's not easy to make the Roasted Chicken Wings and bake the Chocolate Chip muffins while your mischievous little boy is running around distracting you.

You see, I was on my own cos MIL went out for the day and hubby was at work.

And I really wanted to get down to starting my baking adventures... so had to bear the interruptions every now and then...

Just check out the pictures of my dearest Benjamin which I managed to snap below:

Ben checking out why mummy keeps looking into the square machine (aka oven)

Ben looking up at me (thinking food is ready?) while I was just about to put back my camera on the kitchen table.

I let him play with one of my Astronaut Gloves, but he's still very curious with the oven...

He spent some time playing at the safety gate,

which is good for me cos he doesn't come into the kitchen area when I took out the roasted chickens to flip on the other side.

Btw, I didn't close the gate cos he'll definitely be fussing if I do so.

And anyway, he pretty much behaves himself and stay clear from me when I was handling the hot food.

Occassionally, he entertained himself with a basket of toys at the dining area...

MUMMY'S GOOD BOY! 

Warming up his fingers to devour the roasted chickens and chocolate muffins?

You bet!

I would like to dedicate this post to my breasts

for the wonderful jobs that they have done in providing (up to now),

18 blissful months of

nutritious, yummylicious, healthy, full of goodness

breastmilk for my little boy...

To those who said the following sentences to me:

* "You need to supplement Ben with formula milk. Can't you see him crying? It means he's hungry!" (This was said during the first 2 weeks after I delivered Ben)

* "Give him water to drink too! (This was said THROUGHOUT my first 6 months of exclusively breastfeeding Ben)"

* "Ermm... so small (looking at my breasts) you sure there's enough milk for your baby? You should top up with formula!" (This was said after Ben turned 6 months old and started solids)

* "He already started solids, don't you think it's time to wean him off your breasts?" (This was said after Ben turned 6 months old and started solids)

There are many many statements like this that I get...

but the above are the common ones I hear most often.

Now, for those who said the above to me, let me tell you this,

Month after month after month, I proved you guys wrong.

I am still going strong.

It's still zero speck of formula powder in our house.

Look, I'm not breastfeeding on just to prove to you guys anything,

what I wanted to say is that you guys should really keep your 'smart-arse' opinions to yourself,

especially if you've NEVER breastfeed before.

Negative statements like the ones I heard above can turn any vulnerable new moms to depression

and made them think breastfeeding is such a big challenge with so much hassles.

For any new mums or those who are going to be a mum anytime soon,

don't give a hoot to what others think or say about your ability to produce breastmilk and feed your baby.

If you put your thoughts to it, you can and you will succeed!

Cheers to my breasts again for the 18 wonderful months and pray for more to come!

Oh, and of course, happy 18 months to my dearest Benjamin!

Breastfeeding Ben at 16 months old...