Black Sesame Muffins & Denim Overalls

                                  Food photos by Fork to Belly                                   Outfit photos by Dan Tran
Overalls: Treasure & Bond | Crop top: Topshop | Combat boots: Bought in an alley in HK (similar here) | Necklace: Similar her

This week I’ve teamed up with @forktobelly (Courtney), an amazing baker, blogger, and photographer, to create the Stir for this week’s Style. If you love this recipe and these gorgeous muffin photos, you'll love her blog Fork to Belly. We spent the afternoon baking, food styling, and shooting these gorgeous black sesame muffins to match these denim overall shorts.

STIR
It’s difficult to create a Stir without any food coloring to match denim. Instead of using artificial blue dye to create the color, we used black sesame paste for the speckled pattern on the muffin to match the speckled denim. The batter also turned out a greyish blue which was perfect.

Courtney came up with this incredible recipe. These reminded me of a Chinese black sesame cake that I ate growing up. It’s not too sweet and it’s light and fluffy. I’m not much of a baker, so I definitely needed Courtney’s guidance for this Stir.

Here’s her recipe:
6 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
1/8 cup black sesame seed paste
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 large egg
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup milk

For the crumble:
3/4 cup all purpose flour
4 tbsp (1/4 cup) butter, cold and cubed
3 tbsp powdered black sesame seeds
3 tablespoons granulated sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a muffin tin with 12 paper liners. Set aside.

2. For the crumble, mix the flour, butter, sesame seeds, and sugar together with a fork or pastry cutter till pea size crumbs form. Do not over mix. Cover and keep in the refrigerator till ready to use.

3. Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a bowl. Set aside.

4. In another bowl, cream the softened butter, black sesame seed paste, and brown sugar together until light and fluffy. Add in the egg and beat until well combined. Add in the vanilla extract and beat for another few seconds. 

5. Add the dry ingredients into the wet and mix together on low speed until just about combined. Slowly drizzle in the milk and continue to stir until the batter is uniform. Use an ice cream scoop to evenly distribute the batter into the muffin cups. Remove the crumble from the refrigerator and sprinkle evenly over each muffin. Make sure to press it down so it sticks to the batter.

6. Bake for 18-22 minutes.

STYLE
I wore denim overall shorts when I was 10 and was so excited to get an updated pair by Treasure & Bond. Luckily for you, they’re 40% off now here! Unluckily for me, they weren’t. But I love them and they were worth the purchase at full price. They make me feel rugged, yet girly and casual, yet trendy. They’re also super comfortable!

I paired the overalls with a Top Shop crop top which is a casual and playful way to make overalls a little more girly. You can also pair it with a loose tee or just a plain white tank top. There are so many options!

Thanks for reading and make sure to follow along on my food and fashion-filled adventures on Instagram at @stirandstyle and StirandStyle on Snapchat. Feel free to contact me or email me about any amazing muffin recipes or other ways to style overalls.