Peach & Blueberry Crumble

Over the weekend, I was busy pinning away ideas on another one of my favourite stone-fruit; PEACHES. Only on rare occasions that I get to work with them since it's so crazy expensive when sold here in our local supermarkets. Let me tell you how it all began. Growing up, I had endless fascinations over this juicy sweet golden orbs, almost like gold nuggets to me. They were always cans and cans of peaches stacked up in the pantry. The brand imprinted in my memory till this very day is by this company called S&M. If you haven't had them before, you have no idea what you're missing out on.

Anyways, moving along.. I could still remember, that the simplest pleasure was just serving this can of peach with a generous scoop of creamy smooth good old vanilla ice-cream.  Imagine, scooping a mouth full of cold ice-cream with a slice of peach .. mMMMmmm.. so..so good right? Till this very day, I still find myself swooning over this simple luxurious treat.

However this time, instead of just enjoying my simple pleasure in life, I decided that I am going to take it up a notch and make a crumble. Not just any crumble, it had to be PEACH & BLUEBERRY CRUMBLE with slight variation of course and with FRESH Peaches. Simple, light and packed with all the natural goodness!

Summer Berry Pavlova + Rose & Raspberry Syrup and NEW VANILLE MAGAZINE is out!

Announcing the third issue of Vanille Magazine! The Spanish version is out and is filled with all lovely Spring and Summer dessert recipes. There's also a section dedicated to cold treats. As we all know, what can be more perfect to cool off a sweaty hot sunny day with a scoop of ice-cream of sorbet? That's not all. This issue also focuses on on of our all time favourite special ingredient. The Vanilla Bean. So, be sure to hop on over to check it out or try out the recipes or like what I always find joy in doing; feasting with the eyes. To celebrate this issue I baked A SUMMER BERRY PAVLOVA served with ROSE & RASPBERRY SYRUP.

PB N' J Bread & Butter Pudding

Past week has been chaotic. Not to mention the weather has been rather crazy too. One moment it was sunny and hot, which literally burns the skin [metaphorically speaking] and then the next, it rains like cats and dogs. Somehow, I believed the craziness affected my mood swings or hormones too as I was easily agitated [sigh...]. So whenever I'm down, apart from running to the fridge to grab a bar of chocolate, I thought wouldn't it be nice to make a small tray of PEANUT BUTTER N' JELLY BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING. And the rest was history!

Mini Blueberry & Lemon Marbled Cheesecake

From my kitchen to you, I bring you my "post" Chinese New Year treat. Nothing Chinese or Asian about it really. As Chinese New Year draws to a close and with an entire week filled with over indulgence at reunion lunches & dinners, has left me yearning for small, light, creamy, fluffy melt in the mouth individual MINI BLUEBERRY & LEMON MARBLED CHEESECAKE. Like that is ever going to help right? But hey! my friends and I used to joke that we have two stomachs. As long we hear those magic words "Dessert anyone?", our eyes lit up like twinkling Christmas lights and suddenly all those feeling of not being able to ingest another food is gone. Sometimes, I'm glad that my groupie shares the same love with me. Otherwise, I will likely feel like a little piggy in that dark cold corner..LOL.

Baking Recipe: Blueberry Cheesecake Tartelettes & Happy 2nd Anniversary!

Oh! I can't wait anymore. My initial plan was to post on 1st August as Chic & Gorgeous Treats is turning 2 this year. Wow, can you believe it? I sure can't, who knows.. time really flies and months just went by so quickly that it's hard to slow down and take a moment to remember what I did. It has been 2 years now that I first started my first post on Chic & Gorgeous then; and now finally it has found a voice, and is known as Chic & Gorgeous Treats in the foodies blogosphere.

Baking Recipe: Apple and Blueberry Pie with Vanilla Bean Sauce

How does an apple and blueberry pie sound to you right now? Don't you think a freshly baked apple pie served straight out of the oven sounds divine? Would you care to have one? Not only that, I made them in pocket or mini sizes.. is that how I should put it? Instead of a large pie, I wanted them in individual servings. So everyone could have their little pocket of warm goodies.

Each apple and blueberry pie will be served with chilled creamy vanilla bean sauce. I like how this simple pie can satisfy any crave. It somehow makes you feel warm, cuddly and would probably like to snuggle up under a throw over.

For recipe: Click on image + Zoom

This recipe does not really require you to have fresh blueberries. You can use canned or like me; I always keep a stash of the berries frozen in my freezer. So when you need some berry goodness, just take it out and whip up some muffins or bread or a mini pie. If you're feeling a little blue, or coldness of fall is kicking in; try baking some of these. Make some extras, and its good to freeze up to a month. Just heat up the oven and pop them in and bake till they are golden in colour. Serve them with your favourite custard sauce, or have them plain or with some good old fashion vanilla ice-cream. This will certainly help fight those cold nights, or kick some blues away. Till then!!

xx

Baking Recipe: Blueberry Muffin with Cream Cheese Filling & A Switchup

 

I was going through my collection recently, and realised that I have not shared with you my blueberry muffin with lemon cream cheese filling. Sometime ago, I had my hands on blueberries and I just couldn't resist from baking my family a batch of warm, soft berry muffins. This is a great weekend breakfast treat. Serve it with coffee, latte or milk and I assure you it's possibly the best way to kick start your weekend.

What is the switch up? I made some light vanilla bean cream [recipe] to frost some of the muffins, and turn them into blueberry cuppies. So at the end we have 2 choices. A plain blueberry muffin filled with all the goodies and a another one which is slightly sinful is a blueberry muffin or cuppies frosted with a tiny heap of light vanilla bean cream topped with a fresh berry.

Recipe

For the blueberry lemon cream cheese muffins
adapted from Two Peas and their Pod  (Yields about 9 muffins)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
Zest of 1 large lemon
1/4 cup canola oil (or substitute with vegetable oil)
1 large egg
1/3 cup skim milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)


Cream cheese filling:
3 tablespoons cream cheese
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon sugar
**Some Turbinado sugar-for sprinkling on muffins before baking


To prepare muffins:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease muffin pan or line pan with muffin liners. Set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon.

3. In a small bowl, add the sugar and lemon zest. Rub sugar and zest together, until fragrant. Add to the flour mixture and whisk again.

4. In a separate medium bowl, mix canola oil, egg, milk, and vanilla together.

5. Incorporate the wet ingredients into flour mixture. Add slowly and do not over mix. The batter will be lumpy and thick. Gently fold in the blueberries.

6. In a small bowl, mix together the cream cheese, lemon zest, and sugar until smooth. Fill each muffin cup half way with batter. Next, add about 1 teaspoon of cream cheese filling to each muffin cup. Cover each cup with remaining batter so you can't see the cream cheese filling. Sprinkle each muffin with turbinado sugar.

7. Bake muffins for 17-20 minutes, or until muffins are golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Let muffins cool on a cooking rack.

xx