calamansi muffins – Jellybeans in the City

It’s already the rainy season and the metro is still in the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is not the time to let up on our nutrition, especially Vitamin C. Also known as ascorbic acid, it is touted as one of the safest and most effective nutrients. Vitamin C can help in fortifying immune systems weakened by stress, preventing serious complications arising from cold, reducing the risk of stroke, as well managing skin aging.

How fortunate that we Pinoys are blessed with an abundance of ready sources of Vitamin C: the calamansi!

But don’t hassle yourself juicing all those little fruits by hand. You can have concentrated calamansi juice by the bottle, thanks to Pickfresh.

Pickfresh Calamansi Concentrate is organic and all natural with no use of extenders or preservatives. Available variants include unsweetened (best for diabetics), sweetened (for the kids) and with honey.

To make yourself a glass of refreshing calamansi juice, just stir in two to three parts water into one part of the concentrate, adjust to taste, then add ice. Each bottle of Pickfresh yields fifteen to twenty glasses of calamansi juice.

Now, some people might not be too excited about drinking calamansi juice (it may be an acquired taste) but how about some calamansi muffins?

Fluffy, tangy and sweet, these little yummies are sure to get you eager for your dose of Vitamin C.

Here’s how you can whip ’em right up!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/5 tsp salt
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup Pickfresh Sweetened Calamansi Concentrate

Procedure:

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Combine the milk and the calamani concentrate in another bowl. Set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar together for two to three minutes until well combined. Add in the eggs and mix well.

Add in the milk mixture and flour mixture, mixing until all ingredients are well-blended. For fluffy muffins, take care not to over-mix.

Scoop the mixture into paper-lined cupcake pans then bake in a preheated 350 deg F (170 deg C) oven for 18 to 23 minutes.

Feel free to enjoy your calamansi muffins, along with a glass of calamansi juice, as you relax while watching your favorite shows…

Or when you take a snack break while working from home!

To get your bottle of Pickfresh Calamansi Concentrate (Php180/liter), send a message via Facebook or Instagram. Online payments via BDO or BPI are accepted.

Check out my blog posts on other small enterprises and startups in the food business:

We all need a little (or in my case, a lot!) of sweetness in our lives.

Those little sugary treats can sometimes spell the difference between a disappointingly sad or a sweetly satisfying end to a day. (Foodies, don’t ever underestimate the power of a good dessert!)

That’s what you can expect from Cucina ni Sheng: classic desserts made with love. Every weekend, you can anticipate honest-to-goodness treats to sate your sweet tooth.

This little cucina is run by mompreneur Sheng Magcalas left her corporate job a few years ago to take care of her newborn. Aside from her daily routine of house chores and child care tasks, she also took up baking as a hobby and would sometimes gift her creations to friends and family.

However, the recent quarantine heightened her anxiety. Seeking a distraction, she tried out different recipes and expanded her baking repertoire. After three months of trial and error, she grew confident of her baking skills, enough to venture into online selling.

And thus, Cucina ni Sheng came to be.

Sheng takes pride in her little home-based operation: her cucina’s offerings are not outrageous nor avant-garde, just classic desserts that are tasty and affordable, such as:

Calamansi Muffins (Php180/6 pieces). The tangy taste of freshly squeezed calamansi juice adds a zesty, palate-tickling highlight to this fluffy and buttery muffin. It’s perfect when taking a break and leisurely enjoying a cup of your favorite coffee.

Decadent Chocolate Cake (Php400). A choco-holic’s dream come true! This tin-can dessert is made with super moist chocolate cake topped with a thick layer of creamy chocolate ganache and dusted with cocoa powder. Cap a fabulous dinner with this show-stopping dessert and you’ve got yourself a memorable meal.

So this weekend, treat yourself to something sweet from Cucina ni Sheng. You deserve it.

To get your hands on these goodies, place your orders via Instagram. Cut-off for orders is every Wednesday at 12 noon. Payment via BDO and GCash are accepted. Delivery and pick-ups of these freshly baked delights are scheduled on Saturdays or Sundays, charged to the buyer.

Disclosure: Product samples were provided to facilitate an honest review.

Check out my blog posts on other small enterprises and startups in the food business: