Taiyaki (Bunggeopang or "Fish Bread") Waffle type recipe

 Ingredients

• red bean paste for filling (or other fillings such as Nutella, cheese, etc.)
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup Mochiko flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 3/4 cups whole milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

• Combine all the dry ingredients and whisk them together in a bowl. Combine the milk, egg, and oil in a small bowl and whisk together. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and whisk together.
• Heat both sides of a taiyaki pan on medium heat, about one minute per side. Lower heat to medium-low. Open the mold and spray with cooking spray or brush on some vegetable oil.
• Fill one side of the mold about 1/3 full and add the filling.  Add more batter to cover the filling and close the mold. Cook each side for about 2.5 to 3 minutes, or until golden.
• When done cooking, remove the fish from the mold and let it cool before eating. Continue with the batter until finished.

Lemon Bars

 Ingredients

Crust:  1 cup softened butter, 1/2 cup sugar, 2 cups flour

Filling: juice from 2 lemon, 4 egg, 1.5 cups sugar, 1/4 cup flour

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350.

Blend crust ingredients together and press into an even layer in a 9 x 13 ungreased baking pan.  Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Mix filling ingredients and pour into the prepared crust.  Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Cut into squares.

English Trifle

The recipe has been specifically scaled to fit into the Party City large size plastic trifle bowl.  The custard is from Mary Berry's creme patissierie recipe.

Ingredients:

Cake:  1 box white cake mix, 3 egg whites, 1/2 cup oil

Fruit:  1 pound of fresh strawberries, 1 package of raspberries

Fruit Jam:  small jar of strawberry or raspberry seedless jam

Simple Syrup:  1/2 cup orange juice or water, 1/2 cup sugar OR you can use cream sherry

Custard:  4 egg yolks (use 3 from the cake above); 333 ml (1 1/3 cup plus 1 1/2 Tbsp) whole milk; 2 tsp vanilla; 50 g sugar; 13.3 g cornstarch; 16.7 g flour

Whipped Cream: 1 cup heavy whipping cream; 1 tsp powdered sugar

Instructions:  

Line a quarter size baking sheet with parchment.  Make the white cake mix according to the box directions and spread evenly onto the baking sheet.  Bake for 23 mins.  Leave uncovered on the countertop overnight so it will dry out a bit.

Combine the orange juice and sugar in a small saucepan and heat until the sugar dissolves into the liquid (it will turn from cloudy to clear).  Let it cool.

Heat the milk in a saucepan slowly to a boil.  Whisk the 4 egg yolks with the sugar in a large Pyrex bowl until pale, then add the cornstarch, vanilla, and flour and whisk in.  Add the hot milk to the bowl slowly in a thin steady stream while whisking. Pour the mixture back into the pot and heat on medium heat until it begins to boil.  Whisk it continuously.  Let it cook for 1 minute after it starts boiling, until it is smooth and thick.  Pour into a bowl and cover the surface with plastic film to prevent a skin from forming.  Cool in refrigerator.

Slice the strawberries and toss with a few tablespoons of the orange juice syrup.  Let the fruit sit in the syrup for a while.

Assembly – the order is:

1. Cake
2. Syrup
3. Jam
4. Fruit
5. Custard
6. Whipped Cream

Cut out two circles of the flat white cake.  Use a spatula to transfer a circle of cake into the trifle dish.  Add 3-4 tablespoons of  syrup to the cake, then spread on a thin layer of jam.

Whip the cream with the powdered sugar.

Add a layer of sliced fruit, then a layer of half of the custard, then a half of the whipped cream. Repeat with a layer of cake, syrup, jam, fruit, custard, and whipped cream.  Top with raspberries.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate before serving.

Baked Chinese Buns

I think this is a recipe given to my mother from one of her friends that used to run a restaurant that made these...

Ingredients

• 1 lb high gluten flour (bread flour)
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 packet (2 1/2 tsp) dry yeast
• 1/2 cup sugar
• dash of salt
• 1 whole egg
• 3 oz butter

Instructions

1. Use small amount of milk to dissolve the yeast with sugar, salt, egg, milk, and mix well.
2. Sift flour into the ingredients, mix well and smooth until dough looks gooey. Then knead witb hands; throw the dough with force on the table or counter about 40 times.
3. Cover smoothed dough and let rest for about 10 mins
4. Soften butter and cut in small slices. Hand mix the butter into the dough until smooth.  Then slap the dough against the table 40 times.  Cover dough over 1 hour. Dough will rise double size.
5. Hand mix dough until smooth again then divide into 12-15 parts,  Smooth each part into a round ball,  Press round ball flat and add filling (char siu),  Pinch the dough closed on the bottom of the bun and place the closed end on a piece of parchment paper.
6. Let the buns rise at room temperature about 1 hour.
7. Preheat oven to 350 F
8. Brush room temperature liquid on buns
9. Bake 14-16 minutes or watch the color to golden brown
10. Bursh previous melted butter on buns to make them shiny

Variety filling:

• Coconut flakes, anko (red bean paste), mashed cooked taro.
• Coconut filling:
• 40 oz coconut flakes
• 2 oz sugar
• 2 oz soft butter
• 2 tsp Eagle Brand condensed milk
• 2 oz nonfat dry milk powder

Mix well and refrigerate to firm up.  Scoop into ball shape before filling buns.

Pineapple Cream Dessert

Ingredients

Crust

• 1 sleeve of graham crackers, crushed up in blender (can substitute almond flour )
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 1/3 cup powdered sugar or sweetener

Filling

• 8 oz cream cheese, softened at room temp
• 1 tub of whipped topping (can use lite)
• 1 14-16 oz can of crushed pineapple
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar or sweetener

Instructions

• Mix the graham cracker crumbs, melted butter and sugar until combined. Press into a layer on the bottom of a square pan.  Reserve about 1/4 cup for sprinkling on the top.
• Blend the cream cheese and sugar until creamy.
• Fold in the whipped topping and crushed pineapple.
• Add the cream cheese/pineapple mixture on top of the crust.  Sprinkle the reserved crumbs over the top.
• Chill for at least 4 hours before serving.

German Apple Pie

Ingredients:

• 1 Ready made pie shell (deep dish if frozen)
• 6 small-medium granny smith apples, peeled and sliced into 1/4 inch pieces
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions

• Preheat oven to 450.
• In large bowl, mix flour, sugar and ground cinnamon together. Sprinkle 3 tablespoons of this mixture onto the bottom of the prepared pie crust.
• Toss the apple slices in the remaining mixture, then layer them into the pie crust.
• Pour the cream over the apples in the pie crust.
• Bake at 450 for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 and bake for 60-70 additional minutes, until the apples are tender (test with sharp knife).
• Cool and serve with more whipped cream.  Store refrigerated.

Jello Pie

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup boiling water
• 1 pkg (3 oz) Jello or Sugar Free Jello
• ice cubes
• 1/2 cup cold water
• 1 8 oz tub Cool Whip, thawed
• 1 graham cracker pie crust

Instructions

• Stir boiling water into gelatin until dissolved. Add ice to cold water to make 1 cup. Add to gelatin; stir until slightly thickened. Remove any ice remaining.
• Whisk in Cool Whip until blended. Refrigerate 15-20 mins until mixture is thick and will mound. Spoon into crust.
• Chill until firm, 4 hours. 

Apple Crisp

This recipe is modified from Apple Crisp - Joy of Baking.com to produce more topping, which is the only part K is interested in eating. I keep telling her it wouldn't be apple crisp without the apples.

Ingredients

Filling

• 6 medium Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced into 1 inch pieces
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• Juice of 1/2 lemon, about 2 Tbsp

Topping

• 2/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg (optional)
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (don't use quick cooking kind)
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, or substitute 1/4 cup more rolled oats
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter or spray an 8 or 9 inch baking pan with cooking spray. You can also make 8 ramekins.
• In a food processor, blend all the topping ingredients until the mixture is crumbly and there are no more big chunks of butter visible. You can do this by hand or with a pastry blender.
• In a large bowl, toss the apple pieces with the lemon juice and sugar until they are mixed well. Transfer apples to the prepared baking dish. Spread the topping over the apples.
• Bake for 30 to 40 minutes (20-25 minutes for individual ramekins) until filling is bubbly and the topping is golden brown. Remove and cool on a rack for at least 30 minutes before serving. Store cooled apple crisp covered in the refrigerator.

Chocolate Fudge

Reprinted from Chocolate & Vanilla cookbook by Gale Gand

Never tried to make fudge before - the whole candy thermometer/soft-ball stage thing was intimidating.  But the kids wanted to make fudge so I used this simple recipe (without the walnuts).  Turned out pretty good.

Ingredients

• 4 oz chopped unsweetened chocolate
• 1¼ cups milk
• 3 cups sugar
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• ½ cup chopped walnuts, toasted (optional)

Instructions

• Grease a 9-inch square baking pan and set aside.
• In a medium saucepan, stir the chocolate and milk over low heat until the chocolate is melted.  Add the sugar, corn syrup, and salt, hook a candy thermometer onto the pot, and cook the misture to the soft-ball stage (235°F). Add the butter, then scrape the mixture into the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment*.
• Beat on medium speed until the mixture begins to lighten in color, 3 to 6 minutes, adding the vanilla in the first minute.  Add the nuts and continue beating on low speed until the fudge loses its gloss and thickens, 2 to 3 minutes.
• Pour into the prepared pan, spreading it out evenly, preferable with an offset spatula.  Let cool completely before cutting into 1-inch squares.  The recipes says makes 80 pieces, but who actually cuts pieces that small for fudge?

*I did not have a "paddle attachment" but just a regular hand mixer.  It turned out fine.

Alternative recipe ingredients:

• 1/4 lb. unsweetened chocolate
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 3/4 cup half and half
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 1/2 Tbsp corn syrup
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Follow same instructions as above.

Red Bean Mochi (Daifuku)

Making mochi was intimidating at first, but with the help of Cooking with Dog on YouTube, it was actually pretty easy and fast. With a mimimal amount of pantry ingredients I can make a quick treat.

Pink Mochi!

Since attempting this first mochi, I've since tried several variations, like:

Mochi covered strawberries (Ichigo Daifuku)
Chocolate (or cocoa) mochi
Mochi ice cream
Chocolate Mochi with Nutella Filling

The Guy, who refuses to eat many other sweets, actually likes gooey chocolate mochi. He describes the texture as "flabby". According to him, chocolate, what's not to like?

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup glutinous rice flour
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 100 ml water
• 1 drop food coloring, optional. Try pink or green.

Instructions:

• Start a few inches of water boiling in a steamer. Wrap a towel around the lid of the steamer pot.
• Stir up the rice flour, sugar and water in a bowl; mix in food coloring if using. The mixture should be like a thick glue consistency.
• Transfer mixture into a heatproof bowl, oiled or sprayed with cooking spray. Place in steamer. Cover with wrapped lid.
• Steam for 15 minutes, or until the mixture turns from opaque to translucent.
• Transfer mochi dough to a pan dusted with potato starch or tapioca starch.
• Immediately cut mochi into 6 equal pieces.
• Using your hands dusted with starch, form warm mochi dough into flat round discs. Add a spoonful of red bean paste in the center and work the dough around it, pinching until the red bean paste is fully enclosed.
• Brush off excess starch. Serve mochi fresh (within a day or so). Store tightly wrapped in plastic.

Watch the oddball combination of poodle, Japanese narrator, cook, and Chopin Minute Waltz in the background? So silly, yet so entertaining.