Steamed Bao- Siopao Hot Buns

My family loves to eat steamed buns and I too love to eat them. So when I see people making ground pork steamed buns I thought I should try.  Saw a video on YouTube calling it siopao and not sure what it means so googled it and it means hot buns. Just learned a different name for buns.😁

So I followed the recipe but add a bit of hoisin sauce, red fermented tofu and sesame oil to give it a bit more flavor since it was pretty sweet. Then I followed recipe for dough. Omg...it was so wet I had to add more than a cup or 2 of flour to fix it. Guess sometime you can't follow recipe exactly especially if it's in cups and not grams. Since flour weight can be different so your cup of flour might not be same as my cup of flour. I'm still glad the end result is well. Happy to try something new. And with all the extra dough, I made some Vietnamese hollow donuts.😋

Mooncakes

Couldn't wait until mid Autumn...I feel like I'm either too early or too late. This year I'm definitely too early.😆 Coconut and mung bean durian mooncakes😋 so satisfying 🥰

Pineapple Tarts

I bought a large pineapple which looks fine from the outside but inside was already soft from freezing temperature. Sometimes store keeps the unripe pineapple in a cold refrigerator which can demage the fruit. I did a taste test and still taste fine except texture is too soft for eating fresh. So instead of trashing it, I blended it up to make pineapple paste. Using same recipe as my previous posts and baking at 355F for 15 minutes then cool 10-15 minutes and bake again for another 12-15 minutes. Very happy with the taste.😋

Biscoff Speculoos Cake

Today is my son 9th birthday.  He is growing too fast almost as tall and big as me. Took this opportunity to bake a biscoff speculoos cake.  I baked two type of cakes, sponge and another from original recipe to compare the cakes. We all agree the sponge cake is softer and more preferred as it will still stay soft even after refrigerate.

Recipe inspired from livforcake. I made an 8 inch cake so used 6 egg sponge recipe which gives 2 layers plus also baked original livforcake recipe which gives another layer cake. Sponge cake recipe from jeannietay vanilla chocolate sponge. Just reduce sugar and omit chocolate powder. I steam bake cakes for 40-45 mins instead of water bath.

Homemade Boba Tea

Made boba with kids today. I really miss drinking boba tea! So excited to finally drinking this brown sugar boba...so good!😋

Recipe for boba from👉 Cookingtree

Happy Mother's Day

Today I made a lychee rose cake to celebrate Mother's Day with my family. Happy Mother's Day to all moms!

Mixed Nuts Mooncakes

Last Mid-Autumn Festival I made a few different varieties mooncakes.  I was too busy making other mooncakes last minute, I didn't have time to try the mixed nuts one. So this was on my to do list for a few months now and I finally baked some lady night! The suggestion is to wait 2-3 days for skin to soften first.  I don't think I have the patience to wait that long so I cutted one up to eat for breakfast....lol😆 The taste is better than store bought so I'm sastify. 😋

 

I used 👉nofrillsrecipes recipe with some adjustments since I didn't have everything on the list. Also my dough was super hard so I needed to add more syrup, oil and lye water. I think if you use recipe then depending on the thickness of your golden syrup you might need to reduce the flour. Then after adding all the extra liquid my dough became super soft. So then I needed to add more flour to balance it out. Lucky in the end everything turns out fine. With adding all the extra ingredients I have enough dough for all the fillings. 

I didn't have pork floss so added in one chinese suasage, candied orange, candied lime and candied ginger to replace candied tangerine. First steam chinese sausage for 5 minutes then pan fry a little to crisp up the skin a bit before dicing. I also reduced fried glutinous rice to 100g. I used 1 tbsp XO since no brandy and add in 2 more tbsp water. Sugar also reduced to 30g. 

The mold is 100g so I measured fillings to 70g and dough to be 35g. 30g dough is too thin so 35g is perfect. Can even go 40g if like eating dough.

I lightly mist the cakes before baking st 355F for 15 minutes.  Then take cakes out to cool for 15-30 minutes.  Eggwash (1/2 egg+ 1 tsp milk) strained then lightly brush on top of cakes. Bake in 375F for 12 minutes. 

Hot Dog Buns

I have not go out for a while now so need to bake or do something for breakfast or snacks. The kids always ask or telling me they're hungry when they just ate 2 hours ago.🤦‍♀️ Still have some hot dog left with no bun so I baked hot dog buns and experiment with some cheese, scallions, mayonnaise and ketchup on two buns. Wow...they were so good hot out of the oven!😋

Dough can use 👉 thewoksoflife recipe. I used mozzarella cheese.

Custard Cream Potato Buns

I feel I have too many hearts! I want to make potato buns since it looks so soft but then I also want to try custard cream buns because my kids probably prefer a bun with filling. So I ended up doing both. Using the recipe for potato bun and just add in custard fillings.

I'm using two recipes from Apron. 👉 custard and potato bread. Can make dough first and while it's proofing then make custard cream. When cream is ready fill in a pastry bag and set aside.

After dough doubled.  Knead to release air bubbles and divide dough into 8 about 62 grams each. Roll into flat circles then use a circle object to indent middle of circle.  I used about 1/2 egg white with 1-2 tsp water as eggwash to brush dough.  Then fill custard into dough. Proof again until double. Mine took about 35-40 minutes. 

Bake in middle rack at 350F for 17 minutes until golden.

Ham Corn and Cheese Buns

I have a pack of ham left but no more bread to eat with it. So decided to make these ham corn and cheese buns. They are so very delicious and smell great with the scallions. I used mozzarella cheese for a chewy texture. I made both ham corn and hot dog buns using thewoksoflife dough recipe.

Dough recipe from 👉thewoksoflife.  Followed recipe and used almost 1/2 cup sugar since I like my bread a little sweet plus adding additional flour balanced it out. I needed to add more flour as dough was a bit wet. So if you're making this...save some liquid to add slowly at the end to prevent dough too wet. This dough can make 9-10 ham corn plus 5 hot dog buns. Divided dough to 75 grams each.

If you only want to make 8 buns then try this recipe from 👉 ochikeron. Video is great to watch on how to roll the dough and ham. 

Mix corns with mayonnaise more or less to your like. I used 3/4 (15.25oz can) of corns and about 4 tbsp mayonnaise.  Can mix in scallions or just top it.

I also used 2 slices of ham since my ham were pretty thin and we love ham.😆

Tips: Best to use silicone mat to prevent burning on bottom of bread. Also, I find it better to use 2nd rack in oven instead of 3rd for a browner top. It'll take longer to get the golden color if at middle oven. Of course all depends on how big and type of oven. I baked middle rack at 395F for 10 minutes but still not golden so placed on 2nd rack for another 5-9 minutes.

-Happy baking

Lychee Rose Chiffon Cake

My sister came back to visit and request I bake chiffon cake as she likes all chiffon.  I didn't want to do pandan as we eat that too often. So I made a lychee rose chiffon and decorated with lychee flavor cream and pink is the rose flavor. Inside filling also have shredded lychees. Simple decoration as we were in a rush...😁

Recipe adapted from JeannieTay limoncello chiffon. I replaced the limoncello liqueur with water and used 3/4 tsp lychee paste to batter. Also added a big drop of rose flavor for a light pink color of cake. Batter was divided into two 6" round pans. 

I added lychee paste for whipped cream and some rose flavor border cream. Inside cake is filled with lychee whipped cream and canned lychees. 

Sticky Sweet Vinegar Pork Ribs

Tonight I made sweet vinegar ribs and it was pretty delicious. I'm trying to eat less rice but the taste is just so good with rice!

Recipe from Dingoozatfood. I followed the recipe and added a couple small rock sugar. 

Coconut Pandan Castella Cake

I have not bake a cake for a while and really craving for some. Baked this cake to sastify my craving.  It's a bit ugly but taste good. I added young coconut strings macapuno to the top of the cake. I think this topping is nice for chiffon cake as well.

Recipe is from 8days. I added 1 tsp pandan paste to the batter for the fragrance.  Need to bake for 1 hr 30 minutes since it was a pan in pan method with steam bake.