The Sugar Bar

Because I don’t like to beat around the bush, let me get straight to the point and admit to my flaws. Shortcoming #1 (which we already know anyway): I am well lazy. Shortcoming #2: I was and am not built for the heat. General summer heat messes with my mind and takes away from my concentration. In fact, some suspect I’m a vampire since I’m often caught flinching from the sun’s glare and cussing away profusely if I’m out without my Raybans. The irony of my existence is that I enjoy sunbathing if (and only if) I am, in my head, officially on holiday. Gosh, I’m a psychological mess aren’t I? Conclusive shortcoming #3: laziness + heat-frustration and confusion = hard tortoise-shell muffins which surprisingly still tasted SO DAMN FINE and SMELT like a piece of MATCHA HEAVEN. I am in absolute awe of people who can bake breads, sugarcraft cakes and pastry in this heat and I suppose I’m starting to feel the inferiority settling in in comparison to these awesome kitchen beings. I need someone to discover or invent a heat immunity pills for temperature-sensitive losers like yours truly.

So what really happened? These recipes are perfectly fine (and thank you to the foodbloggers who posted em up!) and taste positively scrumptious; except Diva decided to preheat the oven to 190d Celsius rather than 180d Celsius for what reason, only the heavens know. Note to self, if oven is too hot, muffins will form a hard crust and will look weird! Nevertheless, the smooth top crust in contrast to the general moist springiness of the muffin reminded me of imagawayaki (今川焼き) - a kind of anko-filled Japanese cake often found at fairs and festivals. The muffins tasted delicious and I still can’t get over how good these smell. Let the muffins sit for a day and the matcha perfume intensifies threefold. Beautiful. The intense oven heat might’ve drawn out quite a bit of the muffins’ moisture but when warmed through a little before eating, these muffins retain a kind of gelatinous sort of moisture which is very pleasant. The heat also releases even more of the green tea fragrance. I can’t fault this recipe at all! It’s good. Despite my muddleheadedness which butchered the final result, the muffins still held through which shows what a trooper of a recipe this is.

I might have messed up the muffins but I cannot wait to make another trip to the store for more matcha and give it another go, should I dare allow myself the risk of preheating the oven personally. Might actually need someone with an eye for detail and mathematical exactness to keep a good watch on the temperature knob. Imagining the fruits of a successful bake session is making me disgustingly drool-ish. If these babies already taste this good messed-up, I can’t say how mind-blowing the real McCoy would be. I would probably require the muffins to be blended in a food processor, put through a fine sieve or liquified then slapped into my system daily like a drug through a drip. Considering that my drip would be a lovely pale matcha green colour too, man! I would be the coolest druggy of all times. (boys and girls - that is really not a good thing alright. heed my words.)

And then, I drive off a veering cliff on the straight road to matcha heaven to announce another unfortunate accident of mine. Well, it wasn’t so much an accident but a deliberate act of laziness. Ack. Yes, lightning strike me down now. I’d go willingly, repenting. Remind me to never make adzuki bean paste again. Or if I do, to at least be prepared to spend at least an hour in front of the stove slaving away in the heat and over the heat of the hob. I can now understand why some people prefer getting the dastard thing in cans from the supermarket. There will be no cutting corners by reducing the amount of water used to cook the beans - this will only result in fairly crunchy bean paste lacking the smooth mushiness of real adzuki bean paste (or anko) which in my opinion, should resemble something like smooth cement. Smooth like creamy buttery mashed potatoes, with a fair amount of substance (and chunks) that it is still able to hold its shape if you stir, whack and spread it about with a spatula or butter knife.

My younger sister C thought my bean paste looked pretty dubious. I mean, that girl is obsessed with red bean paste, so she really knows what it should look like. But younger sisters can be really adorable in their supportiveness. Bless her. Mothers, on the other hand, being mothers are the champion advocates of tough love. They are the best and worst critics to have around. But they are always right, annoyingly so. Apart from the texture which was found wanting, the bean paste had a lovely dark purplish-brown sultriness, tasted good (partly because it was homemade as well) and really brought something to the muffins. I recommend filling up the muffins with as much paste as possible as it really makes it. Another thing, mum’s tip: soak the adzuki beans overnight. This will soften it up loads and prime it well for use the next day.

Matcha Muffins
Ingredients
(Recipe from Fresh from the oven)

2 cups plain flour
60g unsalted butter, melted
1 cup milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tbs sugar
1 tbs baking powder
pinch of salt
2 tsp matcha
about 1/2 cup adzuki bean paste or canned paste

Preheat oven to 180d Celsius.

Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and matcha in a large bowl. Form a well in the middle and add egg, milk and melted butter into it. Mix until just incorporated. Batter may be lumpy.

Spoon into muffin cups about 1/2 full, add a tbs of adzuki paste into middle and cover with more batter until 2/3 full. You may add more paste on the top in drops if you like.
Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean.

Makes 6 regular-sized muffins.

Sweet Adzuki Bean Paste
Ingredients
(Recipe from Apple Pie, Patis, & Paté)

1 cup adzuki beans, preferably soaked in water overnight
1/2 cup caster sugar
pinch of salt

Drain water and wash the beans. Place in a large saucepan of water and bring to the boil over high heat. Now drain, and discard the water. Add about 3 cups of water to pan and bring to boil over high heat once again. Reduce the heat, and let simmer covered. Simmer for about 45mins to over an hour, or until soft and most of the water has been absorbed. Add warm water to pan during simmering if needed to prevent the adzuki beans from scorching.

When the beans are soft enough (I find that you must ensure the beans are moist enough as well), add sugar and stir in to heat through until glossy. Mash with a potato-masher or fork if needed, leaving some chunks and half-chunks through the paste. Season with pinch of salt and mix well.

This yields about 2 cups of paste.