Food As Sweet As Love

It's nice to be able to serve up a plate of desserts on a Saturday-church-lunch-fellowship-love-meal. Everyone brings a plate of home cooked food to share with others and you can bring whatever your heart desires as long as you are willing and able to do so. At church, during meal times, everybody takes the food and eats it with delight despite the different cuisines, preferences, quantity or quality-it's a love meal, meaning the food is made with love, shared with love, and eaten with love.

I took the opportunity this week to try baking something chocolate-y. And not just any chocolate. It had to use white chocolate, contain no nuts, and be easy to make so I could make a larger quantity without spending too long in the kitchen. I subconsciously kept these requirements in mind because when you make things for a group of people, it has to be practical, appropriate, and pleasing too.

I remember serving up a plate of slightly burnt custard puffs. My conscience pricked me. I felt bad. I took a step back from baking anything more for a while. But the eventual lesson learnt: "let failure be your teacher, not your executioner". At times we may experience failures in different aspects of life but we shouldn't let that stop us from pursuing our goals or dreams. 

I once made a resolution that I would like to make the people around me happy. Today I have took one step further to make that resolve true.

Mini White Choc Muffins
Makes 48

Ingredients:
2 cups plain flour
1 tablespoon baking powder (I used two teaspoon)
½ teaspoon salt (I used just a pinch)
12 ounces white chocolate , finely chopped (I used 12 oz. white chocolate chips which is about a packet of 375 grams of Nestles' white choc buttons)
4 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
1 large egg, at room temperature
¾ cup caster sugar (I use 1/2 cup)
¾ cup milk (do not use nonfat)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used vanilla essence)

Directions:

1. In a mixing bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt until uniform; set aside.
2. Add 4 ounces (about a 110 grams) white chocolate and all the butter in the top of a bowl set over a pot of simmering water.
3. Stir constantly until half the chocolate and butter is melted.
4. Remove the bowl, continue stirring, away from the heat, until the mixture is smooth; let cool for 10 minutes.
5. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the egg and sugar until thick and pale yellow (takes about 2 minutes).
6. Whisk in the cooled chocolate mixture until smooth; whisk in the milk and vanilla.
7. Use a wooden spoon and stir in the remaining chopped white chocolate.
8. Stir in flour mixture just until moistened.
9. Fill muffin tins that have been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray, 3/4 full.
10. Bake in a 180°F oven for 14 minutes OR until muffins are browned with sightly rounded tops OR pick comes out clean when poked into muffin.
11. Set pan on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes.
12. Turn muffins out of pan; cool on wire rack for 5 minutes.
13. If storing or freezing muffins, cool completely before sealing in airtight container or in freezer-safe plastic bags, or else enjoy muffin warm or cool (: