Fame and Fashion

Today, I took off from school because of a headache. I slept till noon (which I haven't done in... forever). Got up, got dressed took a shower, baked and ate Ginger Pear Muffins with coffee. I went on an hour long walk, watched (don't judge me :)) Transformers and Priceless (featuring Audrey Tautou). Then I made Vegetarian Panini and Creme Brulee. Perfect, perfect day.

Ginger Pear Muffins:
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup canola oil
2 medium pears, cut into small dice
1/4 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
1/4 cup crystallised ginger, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 12-cup muffin tin or line with baking cups (you can also use a 6-cup jumbo muffin pan if you prefer your muffins mega-sized).
In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, ginger, cardamom and salt. Set aside.
In a second bowl, whisk together egg, yogurt, milk and oil until blended. Add in the dry ingredients and stir until just barely combined. Gently fold in the pears, walnuts and ginger.
Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tin (it's okay if the cups are nearly full). Sprinkle muffins with some chopped walnuts and a pinch of brown sugar, if desired, and bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean (if using a jumbo muffin tin, increase baking time to 40-45 minutes).

Creme Brulee
Crème Brûlée

Serves 8 (170 ml ramekins):

1 l cream (35% fat)
2 vanilla beans
12 egg yolks
180 g sugar
Brown or granulated sugar to caramelize top.

In a medium-sized saucepan bring to boil over low heat the heavy cream combined with the vanilla beans and the vanilla beans’ seeds.
Remove from heat and let it rest for 15-30 minutes.
Remove vanilla beans.
Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until thick.
Gently pour the cream over the egg mixture while stirring.
Bring to low heat until the mixture sticks t the back of a spoon.
The mixture shouldn’t boil (ideally it should be below 85ºC).
Remove from heat and pour the mixture into the ramekins.
Cover with film wrap and refrigerate overnight.
To serve put a thin layer of granulated or brown sugar atop each custard.and use a blow torch to caramelize it.
This should be a quick procedure to avoid the heating of the crème.
Ramekins could be refrigerated for 1 hour (maximum).

Sorry, I can't remember where I got the Ginger Pear Muffin Recipe, but the Creme Brulee recipe and pictures are from flagrante delicia.