Caneles

I have not make these French caneles for a while so making them again today. I should have double my recipe because all these were gone before my post. These are crispy chewy outside and soft custardy on the inside. These taste like egg tart, flan, custard, and creme brulee! I will definitely double the recipe next time. I used silicone molds for these so they are not uniform in color. If you can get copper or steel molds even better!

Recipe adapted from Bruno Albouze
12 large or 18 medium

Ingredients

2 cup whole milk (500 ml)

3 tbsp unsalted butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 egg yolks

1 whole egg

1 cup sugar

120 g all purpose flour

3 tbsp cornstarch

1.5 tbsp Grand Marnier

soften butter to brush inside silicone molds

Instructions

1. Place milk and butter in pot and bring to boil.

2. While milk is cooking.  In a bowl whisk together yolks, whole egg, sugar, vanilla, flour and cornstarch.

3. Once milk boiled, add a small amount into egg mixture. Only a little at a time to prevent cooking egg. Gradually add in all the milk while stirring to combine everything together.

4. Add in the Grand Marnier. Let batter cool, cover and refrigerate overnight. Best 24-48 hrs. But if you can't wait then at least 1-2 hrs.(highly recommend overnight)

5. 30 mins before baking, take batter out to let it come to room temperature. Stir and strain with a fine mesh.

6. Brush soften butter to silicone molds. Refrigerate the molds 10 minutes to harden butter.

7. Preheat oven 465F.

8. Place silicone molds on a baking tray. Stir the batter and fill a little above 3/4 of mold but not full.

9. Bake at 465F for 10 mins. Then reduce to 365F for 1 hour. These temperatures are for silicone molds. Baking time will be less for copper and steel molds.

10. Remove caneles from molds and let it cool completely before serving. Caneles get the crispy caramelized exterior once cooled. 

Enjoy!

Cendol- Che Banh Lot #2

I have always make cendol using rice flour for a more soft silky chewy texture. Recently tried different way by using only mung bean starch. It is more on crunchy and chewy side. Pretty good when adding in other ingredients such as jelly, mung bean paste, ruby chestnuts...etc.

Recipe from thewonglist. Visit website for more detail picture instructions.

Ingredients:

30 pandan leaves (used only 5+ add 1/2 tsp pandan paste)
100 gm mung bean starch
1/2 tsp alkaline water
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp sugar
650 ml water

Method:

1. Blend pandan leaves with 650 ml water. Strain over fine mesh strainer and use only 625 ml water.

2. Place pandan water in a pot, add in mung bean starch, alkaline water, salt, sugar, and pandan paste. Stir well and let it sit for about 30 minutes.

3. Place pot on stove and cook mixture until translucent green. Stirring the whole time to prevent burning.

4. Prepare ice water bath. Once mixture is cooked then use a potato ricer to push it thru into water bath.

5.  Serve cendol with coconut milk and sugar syrup over crushed ice.


Coconut milk:

1 can 14oz coconut milk + 2 tbsp sugar +1/4 c water +1/4 tsp salt
Bring to simmer boil. Cool

Sugar syrup: half the recipe if not eating too sweet. This amount of sugar is for double the recipe.⬆️

250 gram palm sugar + 1 slap brown candy sugar + 2 cup water (can use 1 cup for thicker syrup)

Cook sugar syrup for 10 minutes until all sugar dissolved. Cool

Alkaline water

Simple Ma Po Tofu

Not much time to cook dinner? Here is a simple dish.

Ingredients

1 pk 15 oz. silken tofu
1 cup minced pork
2-3 tbsp hot bean sauce
1 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp light soy
1 tsp sugar
1 cup water
3-4 cloves garlic
2 tsp oil
1 tsp cornstarch +2 tbsp water
3 scallions chopped

Method
1. Heat wok. Add oil. Once oil hot, add in garlic. Stir until golden.

2. Add in ground pork. Stir until almost cook. Add in bean sauce, light soy sauce, sugar, oyster sauce. Stir until combine. Taste

3. Add in water. Bring to boil. Add in cubed tofu. Cover for few minutes (3-5 mins) to cook tofu. Open and gently stir. Cover for another 2 minutes.

4. Mix cornstarch with water.  Stir into tofu and stir while pouring to prevent lumps.  Add in scallions, stir. Remove to dish.

Butterfly Pea Coconut Water Konnyaku Jelly

Today I'm testing out the blue butterfly pea powder I bought awhile back. I only used 1/4 tsp of the blue pea powder and it is already so dark!😪 I will definitely need to use less next time for a lighter blue.

I wanted to use fresh young coconut but coconut not so good here so I bought frozen. Making jelly with coconut water is really refreshing and delicious. 😋😋😋

Ingredients:

1200ml coconut water
1 pk konnyaku jelly powder 10g
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp or less butterfly pea powder
2 tbsp water

1. Mix jelly powder with sugar.
2. Bring coconut to boil.
3. Stir in jelly powder. Taste. Add in more sugar if not sweet enough. Let boil about 3-5 minutes.
4. Dissolve butterfly pea powder with water.
5. Remove some clear jelly to mold. Then add in the butterfly pea water to mix.
6. Pour into molds.  Konnyaku jelly harden quickly so need to be fast when pour into molds.
7. Cool and refrigerate.  Serve cold

Wife Biscuits/Lao Po Bing

Today I am baking one of my love, wife biscuits, lao po bing. This is a Chinese pastry with a combination of crispy flaky crust and sweet chewy filling. There are a few stories about this pastry so I'm not sure which is real except this pastry is for the "wife".🤣 The husband bought it for the wife? Made it for the wife? Or the wife made it?🤔🤣🤣

I am trying out a new recipe I found on YouTube again speaking in Mandarin but lucky there is subtitles. 😅

I think I did pretty good as the pastry is very flaky and yummy. I love candied winter melon in the biscuit so I added extra!😋 I will definitely use this recipe again and add in more fillings next time!

Makes 15-16 biscuits
Recipe by Chef Zhu Limi Foodvideo

Water Dough:

200g all purpose flour
10g maltose
60g lard
110g hot water (used boiling hot)

Use flour make a well, place lard and maltose in center. Slowly add in the hot water and knead together.  Hot water helps melt maltose and lard into flour. Use rub and pull method to make dough elastic. Throw dough on counter a couple times to help develop gluten. Cover let it rest

Oil Dough:

120g all purpose flour
60g lard

Use hand knead flour and lard into dough.

Filling:

80g fried glutinous rice flour gaofun
30g sugar
110g water
13g lard (can sub with 1 tbsp vegetable oil)
85g candied winter melon chopped (or 100g)
30g sesame seeds (lightly roast)
15g desiccated coconut

Heat a pan. Add in water, sugar and oil. Turn on low once it boiled. Add in flour and mix well with the water. (Add in little more water if too dry) Then add in sesame, coconut and chopped candied melon. Mix well. Leave to cool and divide into 15-16 about 20g each.

Method:

Use water dough and wrap the oil dough. Flatten. Roll it thin and evenly into a rectangular shape about 11x20 inches. Then roll it up from long side to the other end. By rolling it will give layers for crust. (See video)

Flatten each piece and wrap in filling. Then use rolling pin to flatten into round shape biscuit.

Brush with egg wash (1 egg beaten+1 tsp milk). Use sharp knife to cut 2-3 lines in center all the way through. Sprinkle sesame seeds.

Bake in preheated oven at 390F or 200C for about 20 minutes until golden.

Let cool before serving. Extremely crispy crumbly when hot!

Ham and Cheese Buns

No more bread for breakfast so here is my late night baking for kids. Ham and cheese buns. Didn't really know how to roll these so they can look pretty and not melting all over.  Lucky these shredded cheddar and monterey jack cheese not melting everywhere. The cheese also gives the chewy melting texture which is delicious! 🤗

Dough recipe from thewoksoflife

Custard Pudding with Cream Cheesecake

Thank you to the persons who shared this video of custard pudding with JCC. Even though I couldn't  read Chinese, I was able to google translate.🤣  The custard part is silky while cream cheesecake is creamy! Love it so much, I've made it three times. I made them in 4 and 6 oz cups. I feel so guilty after eating 6 oz cup so back to 4 oz...lol😋😋😋

 4 oz cups

 Fill batter almost to top as cake will shrink after cooling

Cake shrunk after cooling. Cover and refrigerate

 6 oz cup

Recipe from icook.tw Do visit the site for more detail.  I google translated the recipe ⬇️**(Since I didn't want a bitter taste for caramel, I just use 3/4 cup sugar plus 6 tbsp water cook until desire color) (I also include my notes ⬇️)

Recipe:

Caramel liquid
120 g sugar
60 g hot water

Pudding solution
4 (200 g) Whole egg (large)
70 g Fine granulated sugar *(reduced to 50g)
80 g Cold boiled water
200 g milk
5 g Vanilla extract
5 g rum (optional)

Cheese yolk paste
125 g Cream cheese
25 g heavy cream
100 g milk
20 g cake flour *(used 25g)
2 yolk
1 Whole egg
*1 tsp vanilla

Meringue
2 egg white
40 g Fine granulated sugar *(reduced to 30g)
2 g Lemon juice or *(1/8tsp cream of tarter)

Method:
1. Caramel solution: Put the sugar into the pot, stir it to a coking color, pour in hot water, and cook over low heat until thick.     *(Can use 3/4 cup sugar + 6 tbsp water cook until caramelized.)

2. Take a container with a diameter of 6 cm, pour the caramel liquid into the container and let it cool for later use. *(I used 10- 4oz jars, a little over 1 tbsp caramel for each jar.)

Pudding solution:

3. Put four whole eggs into a bowl and add sugar, water, milk, vanilla extract and rum.

4. Stir the pudding solution evenly, and repeat this action about three times to make the pudding taste more detailed. Then strain pudding solution is poured into a container for about 1/2 cup, left to stand or placed in the refrigerator for storage. *(Using 4 oz cup, I pour in about 1/4 cup of pudding solution to each jar)

**(Preheat oven to 355F at this point. Boil water to use later. Also prepare baking tray with a towel to use for water bath)

Cheese egg yolk paste:

5. Heat the cream cheese to a smoothness with over hot water, add whipped cream, and mix well with milk.

6. Whisk in egg yolk, and whole eggs evenly. Sifted in cake flour. (Please do not stir too much to avoid gluten). Whisk until smooth. Remove from hot water. *(Need to continuously whisk when adding in yolks to prevent cooking eggs. Leave to cool while preparing meringue)

Meringue
7. Whisk egg white to coarse foam, then pour the lemon juice, and add the granulated sugar in three portions . Continue to soft peak

8. Now fold meringue to cheese yolk paste.

9. Now pour cheese cake batter on top of pudding solution. Tap to remove air bubbles. Pour hot water to tray.

10.  Bake at 335F middle rack for 10 minutes. Lower temperature 302F for 30 minutes. *(If using larger molds, will need more baking time. The above time is good for 4 oz)

11. Remove from oven let cool, cover then refrigerate.

12. *Run a knife around the edge then flip on plate.(Somehow inverting on plate tastes better...lol😋)

Barbecue Pork Ribs- Char Xiu

Today dinner is pretty tasty with barbecue char siu ribs, fried fish cakes, and garlic bok choy tips. Since the char siu is so tasty, I'm going to share the recipe with you.😄

This recipe is adapted from Nongy S.

Ingredients

4 lb spareribs or use sparerib tips even better (the soft meat part without bone)

Marinate:

4 tbsp oyster sauce
4 tbsp hoisin sauce
6 tbsp brown sugar (can reduce to 4tbsp for less sweet)
4 tbsp rice wine vinegar
4 tbsp soy sauce
4 tbsp honey
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp white pepper
2 tsp sesame oil
2 tbsp preserved red bean curd
4 tbsp of the preserved red bean liquid
1/4-1/2tsp salt (no more or be salty)
 2 tbsp chopped garlic and ginger slivers for meat marinate

Mix all marinate ingredients together and divide into half. Half use to marinate meat, half for glaze.

Add 2 tbsp chopped garlic and ginger slivers to meat marinate.
Place the ribs in a large zip bag and squeeze out all air.
Marinate 24 hours in the fridge.

On day of baking, cook the glaze in a sauce pan until slightly thicken about (2mins). Taste glaze. If need sweeter then add in more sugar and honey. Let cool.

Preheat oven 375F. Place meat (ugly side up) on rack with a tray and aluminum underneath to catch sauces. Use middle level in oven.

Bake for 60 minutes if meat is thick. 40-50 minutes if meat is thinner. Basting meat with glaze every 15-20 minutes. After blasting twice on one side then flip. Baste, bake and baste. After baking time is up then turn on broil for minute. Only for 1-2 minutes to get the char look. Watch closely!

Enjoy with rice😋

Egg Drop Lychee Rose Jelly

Happy Valentine's Day!!! Will you be my Valentine's if I give you my egg drop lychee rose heart jelly?😍

This jelly is very refreshing and we totally love the taste, smell, chewy texture and look. I've eaten egg drop soup but never in jelly. 🤣Glad I tried it out as this is good and pretty.

Recipe inspired by Ann Low from Anncoo Journal. Here is Ann's original recipe (click). Since it was a last minute, I just used what I have at home.

Lychee Rose Layer

Ingredients:

7 g konnyaku jelly powder
110-120 g sugar
800  ml water
1/2 tsp lychee flavor paste
1-2 drops rose flavor coloring
1 egg white

Method
1. Mix jelly powder and sugar together.
2. Boil 800 ml water.
3. Stir in jelly/ sugar mixture. Stir until all dissolve. Let it boil on medium heat for few minutes (about 4-5 minutes). (Test for sweetness. If need more add at this point)
4. Add in lychee paste and rose color.
5. Lightly whisk egg white. Try not to get it foamy. Avoid using egg foam. Slowly  drizzle egg white in pot. Can use a spoon. Stir the jelly in one direction. Off heat and pour in prepared molds right away.
6. Let cool. Konnyuku jelly set pretty quick.

Coconut Milk Layer

Ingredients:

3 g konnyaku jelly powder
1/4 cup sugar
200 ml coconut milk (can use regular milk)
75 ml water

Method:

1. Mix jelly powder with sugar.
2. Mix coconut milk and water. Bring to boil.
3. Stir in jelly mixture. Continue to stir until all dissolve. Cook for another minute on medium heat.
4. Quickly pour on top of cooled lychee layers
5. Let cool. Refrigerate until cold.

Custard Pudding Cake and Flan

I decided to make some flan since my milk is expiring. Then I saw a post on custard pudding cake, which look very delicious. I decided to continue making flan but add cake batter to half of my flan to test it out. Both turned out delicious. I didn't add any oil to cake batter and with the long baking time it was a bit dry. However, when invert cake on a plate, the cake will absorb the syrup turning it soft. My daughter says she loves it!

Will definitely need look for other cake batter for a softer cake. This way I don't need to invert cake to eat...lol😉

 

Recipe for Flan inspired by Whilethekidssleepingblog
Need 12- 4 oz jars or ramekins

Caramel Syrup:
3/4 cup sugar
6 tbsp water

Boil sugar and water until caramelized to desire color. Darker will leave a more bitter taste. Do not pour right away as hot caramel can break the glass. Swirl until bubbles subsided before adding 1 tbsp caramel to each jar. Need to work quickly to prevent thicken.

Flan Mixture:
2 1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
3 whole eggs
3 yolks
1 tsp vanilla

1. Boil milk until side just start bubbling. Turn off heat.
2. Gently stir eggs, yolk, sugar and vanilla together.
3. While stirring slowly add in the warm milk.
4. Strain mixture 2 times.
5. Use 1/3 cup and fill flan mix for six jars.  Use 1/4 cup for the other six jar where we'll add cake batter to.

Cake Batter inspired by HidaMari Cooking

1 large egg
25 g sugar
25 g cake flour

Whisk egg and sugar until thick where you can see traces of ribbons. Gently fold in sifted flour until combine. Using a piping bag, pipe batter in the 1/4 cup jars.


Preheat oven 320 F. Place all jars in a tray and fill with hot water. Bake for 20 minutes then lower to 302F bake for about 20 minutes.
Let cool and refrigerate for few hours.

Che Banh Lot (Cendol) with Ruby Chestnuts and JCC

Desserts tonight is cendol and Japanese Cotton Cheesecake. Have not make these for a while so testing recipes again. Cheesecake was exploding with cracks but still tall soft and tasty. I ate desserts before dinner as I couldn't wait...lol😋😋😋

Recipe for Cendol using microwave click here
Recipe for JCC from Craftpassion click here

Cendol Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup+ 1tbsp rice flour
2 tbsp mung bean starch (can use tapioca starch)
3 3/4 cup red limestone water or white limestone water
1/4 tsp salt
1-2 tsp pandan paste


1 can coconut milk + 2 tbsp sugar +1/4 tsp salt

Syrup: half the recipe if not eating too sweet. This amount of sugar is for double the recipe.⬆️
250 gram palm sugar + 1 slap brown candy sugar + 2 cup water

1 potato ricer (or anything with holes)
a big bowl of ice water

Method:

Red limestone water- 2 tbsp red limestone mix with 8 cups water. Stir well and let lime crystals sink to the bottom at least over 1 hr. Just use the clear top water. Better to strain over paper towel. (Note: Add more water to the lime crystals after each use and you can use it again and again.)

1. Mix rice flour, mung bean starch, 3 3/4 cup red limestone water, salt, and pandan paste. Mix well.

2. Cook on stove with medium high heat and continuously stir to prevent burning on bottom.  Best to use nonstick pot.  Turn heat on low medium once batter thicken. Continue cooking, stirring until batter is cooked, smooth and shiny.  Better to over cook than under cook. If under cook, cendol will break easily. You can test if ready or not by doing drop test. Drop a piece of cendol in cold water. The cendol should be smooth and chewy. If break easily then cook longer. 

3. Have a large bowl of ice and add in some cold water. Now quickly pour the rice mixture in the ricer and press lightly to desire length. The cendol should fall freely in the water when you press it. Continue until all mixture is gone. Add more ice if water is warm. The cold water is very important for the hot mixture to harden. Drain the cendol out of the ice water and serve with syrup, ice, and coconut milk. (Note: must work quick before the mixture gets harden. Once harden it, your cendol will not come out smooth. Pressing harder will give fatter cendol)

4. Cook the coconut milk mixture. *optional on cornstarch. 

5. Boil the palm sugar, rock sugar, and water until slightly thicken.

6. Put some cendol in a cup. Add in 2-3 tbsp syrup, ice, and coconut milk. Serve cold.


Note: You can serve this with red bean, mung bean paste , grass jelly, or ruby chestnuts.

Ruby Chestnuts Recipe:

5-6 chestnuts diced
1/2 cup tapioca starch
2-3 drop red food coloring

1.  Soak diced chestnuts with red food coloring. Use only few drops of water to mix. Leave for few minutes then drain off any water.
2.  Coat chestnuts with tapioca starch.
3.  Boil a pot of water. Add coated chestnuts in when water on rolling boiling. Cook until chestnuts float and transparent. Remove and rinse in cold water.
***Optional:  If not all chestnut coated, then mix few drop of red to the cooked chestnuts and then coat with more tapioca starch and boil in boiling water again. Second coating will leave better result.😉

Pandan Madeleine ( Banh Con So La Dua)

Turning French madeleine to Asian by adding pandan and coconut milk.🤣 This time I want a more gentle cookie so I reduced baking powder and temperature.
Testing to see how I should add pandan. Tried one by blending pandan leaves with melted butter another just by pandan paste. Asked family and they couldn't tell the difference. So to make it easy, just use pandan paste...haha. However, I do like the pandan leaves better as the color and smell is nicer.

Below show pictures of both natural and paste. See which one you like better.😉

 Pandan leaves

 Pandan paste

Recipe adapted from Brunoskitchen

Ingredients for 12 cookies

2 large eggs

1/4 cup +1 tbsp granulated sugar (already reduced)

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

2 tbsp coconut cream

1/2 tsp vanilla

3/4 tsp pandan paste or 1/2 tsp for lighter color

If you want natural do this instead of paste:

***optional: (4 pandan leaves chopped blended with melted butter, strained, mix in coconut cream +1/4 tsp paste)

Method:

1. Sift flour, baking powder and salt.

2. Whisk eggs and sugar until combine. Add in vanilla and pandan paste.

3. Whisk in sifted flour mix. Batter should be sticky at this point. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hr or overnight.

4. Using some soften butter and coat Madeleine pan for 10 mins. Refrigerate pan.

5. Preheat over at 350F.

6. Melt butter in microwave at 30, 20 second until melted. Leave to cool/warm before adding to dough. Use a spatula to mix butter and dough until combine.***

7. Use a small cookie scoop or 1 tablespoon to scoop batter on center of well and do not touch it. Batter will distribute evenly during baking. 

8. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Do not over bake or your cookies will be hard! (Mine was a bit big as didn't want to waste batter so baked 10 mins...🤣)

9. Leave cookies in tin for 2-3 minutes before turning to cool.

Enjoy!

*Best eaten same day or microwave 5-10 seconds to soften.

Blended pandan leaves with melted butter