Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Blueberry Muffins - Blogging from the Land of Maple Syrup!


Bonjour from Montreal! This is my first post since I've arrived in Canada around two weeks ago. I've started to settle in already - adapting to the colder weather, cooking for myself, getting around the city and - the most tedious parts - cleaning my room and doing the laundry. Nonetheless, I have been really enjoying my time here in this beautiful city (especially the frsh air, green grass and blue skies!) both during frosh week and just going around with friends. Here are some pictures taken around Montreal:


But the best part is that I have an oven in my apartment!! That means I'll get to contin
ue baking here! I was so happy to see it when I moved in. During grocery shopping the other day I finally picked up a few basic ingredients and I whipped up these blueberry muffins to share with my roommates.


In Hong Kong I never really had any good blueberries before because they're really expensive, but here they're considerably cheaper and a lot fresher too. I like eating my berries in a product more than by itself, so blueberry muffins were the perfect thing - easy to make and delicious to eat. I'm glad all my roommates like them (well they were gone by the end of the day) - permanent taste testers for this year!


These muffins are light, just sweet enough to balance the tang of the berries and have a delightfully, slightly crunchy top. I had some trouble figuring out how the oven works, and it seemed like they were not baking. I peeked inside the oven and it turns out that there is no heating element on the top, but somehow the tops browned as well. Can anyone help out here?


I also splurged and got myself a stick blender, so I've been whipping up berry-banana smoothies everyday for breakfast too. It's a real handy tool and I love it to bits! With the freedom to cook and eat whatever I want now, I'm sure I will be trying out many new recipes and dishes - can't wait to share them all with you, successful or not!

Anyway I have a class soon (yes I'm blogging in the library again) so I'll leave you with the link to the recipe from Smitten Kitchen. The only thing different I got was that the recipe made 12 muffins instead of 9 or 10 for me. And they are awesome drizzled with maple syrup :)

13 comments:

  1. Wah this looks so nice. What camera do you have? I am slightly jealous that you have an oven. I'm kind of sad that I won't really get a chance to bake until Christmas when I go back home...
    This is Linda Zhang by the way. ^^

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  2. To keep the muffins from browning too much, you can just cover it with foil after you deem the crust brown enough and keep on baking until the muffins are done. The foil deflects the heat = no brown tops. The muffins look sooo yummy! Glad you're enjoying your time in Canada.

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  3. the muffins looks delicious! And enjoy your canada days :).

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  4. Congratulations for attending college! and abroad, that's so coooool :)
    I'm sure you will enjoy to bake with good fresh foods from Canada!

    Thanks for keeping sharing!

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  5. Nice & scenic clicks you shared! Love your hearty wholesome blueberry muffins, looks really good!

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  6. Hey Wendy!!! AWESOME blog, this is fabulous and i love your photos!!!

    -Jessica

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  7. Hi Just love the blueberries muffins...

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  8. Love your photos!
    Your muffins seem like the ones I like alot, brown & crisp on the surface and chewy on the inside. Salivating already~

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  9. Your muffins look great. Well, actually all of your food looks great. I follow you on flickr and check your blog occasionally for more information. I hope college goes well for you- I'm glad you will still be able to bake!
    Anyway, I saw your question about the oven. I hope this is the answer you were looking for.
    Most conventional ovens work through convection heating- the bottom element heats the air in the oven and the hot air bakes the food. Food bakes best in the center of those oven because the air can circulate around the food. (There are convection ovens that have a fan in the back that circulate the hot air better and cook food faster and more evenly, but you have to adjust the time and temperature on your recipes.) If your oven has a "broil" setting, it will have a top heating element, but it won't turn on during normal baking- just with broiling (like for the tops of creme brulee- yum).

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  10. Hi Wendy!

    I happened to stumble across your blog when I googled a recipe for chocolate muffins; I have just spent the last hour admiring your writing, your photos and especially your baking! I just wanted to ask, what kind of camera do you have? I am looking to buy one at the moment and I am just in awe of your beautiful photos and am hoping I can find a camera that takes photos just as amazing!

    I look forward to hearing from you.

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  11. Re: Anonymous

    I use a Canon EOS 450D dSLR camera and a 50mm f/1.8 lens for my food shots! Glad you liked my blog!

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  12. it's been ages since you last post :( .. can't wait for more of your recipes and photos

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