Flaky Swirl Mooncakes 芋头酥

家里那一颗芋头放了很久，本想弄芋头饭的现在却弄了芋头酥, 这是为将来临的集会做测试烘焙。第一次弄芋头酥是在2011年。这次弄的芋头酥比起2011年，小有进步，我想在压平面团时得弄长一些那卷起时就会多几圈吧。包面皮的手法还得加强才好，那酥皮的层次才会均衡分明。

Carol的食谱，馅料有我喜欢的奶香，朋友试吃了以后提议下回加葱油我想那是很不错的建议。这芋头酥得小心轻放，那酥皮如一个不小心被压着就粹散了。在制作油皮面皮过程中，面皮是一直松软很好超做的。而油酥面皮是柔软有黏性的。我家大王说他喜欢这不是很甜的芋头酥月饼, 怎样都好吃下去还是会增胖的啦！

First time making this Flaky Swirl Mooncakes or Thousand Layer Yam Mooncakes was in 2011. If I compared this bake to the one 2011, I think I have some improvements in handling the flaky layering. But still, there is rooms to improve on getting more flaky layers by elongate the dough a bit while flattening and get more spiral during roll up the dough. 

The water dough was soft and pliable throughout the making process. The oil dough is soft and sticky. Both pastry dough has to be in same consistency of softness to minimize the leaking of oil dough into water dough while flattening process. 

One friend has suggested to add shallot oil in the yam filling after tasting the mooncake, I think it is a good idea to enhance the taste of yam filling. This pastry has to be handled with care, as it is fragile even to hold it with your finger tips, to place it in a cupcake linear is a good option.    

I'm referring to Carol's recipe book (Carol 不藏私料理厨房 page 154, 155, 156) and Honey Bee Sweets's blog for my Flaky Swirl Mooncakes, thank you Carol for sharing the wonderful recipe with us.

Note:
This mooncakes is not advice to keep more than 2 days, the flaky swirl will turn soft on the third day.

Ingredients:
water dough:
200g plain flour
15g sugar
70g ghee
105ml cold water

oil dough:
160g pastry flour
80g ghee
a few drops yam paste
a few drops food colouring (paste)

Filling:
500g yam 
80g fine sugar
30g butter
20g full cream milk powder

Method:

1. Prepare the filling: Peel off the skin of yam, cut the yam into small cubes. Steam the yam in steamer for 20 mins. When it is done, mash the yam with a fork. Add the sugar, butter and milk powder, mixed well. Set a side to cool. 

Divide the yam paste into 12 portions. Roll it into balls. (If you place it into fridge overnight, make sure to bring back to room temperature before use)

2. Prepare the water dough: Add all ingredients for water dough together, knead for a while (~5 mins) to form soft and pliable dough. Cover with plastic cling and let it rest in the fridge for ~30 mins. 

3. Prepare the oil dough: Add all ingredients for oil dough together, use the hand to form a rough dough. (Do not over knead the dough). Cover with plastic cling and let it rest in the fridge.

4. Assemble: Divide the water dough and oil dough into six portions respectively. Roll them into round balls. Take a water dough ball, flatten and wrap in oil dough. Flatten the dough ball with your palm and use the rolling pin to flatten the dough into long shape, roll up Swiss roll style. Let the dough rest for 10 mins. 

Flatten the rested dough into long shape again, roll up Swiss roll style. Let the dough rest for ~20 mins. Cut the dough into half. The cut side face upward and flatten the dough with palm. Flip the cut side downward and wrap in the yam paste filling. Bring the edge together and seal. Repeat for the remaining dough. 

5. Place the Mooncakes dough on lined baking tray and bake at 170C for 25~35 mins. or until the flaky swirl appears. 

Tang Yuan With Sweet Osmanthus (Black Sesame Filling) 桂花黑芝麻汤圆

Have you ever link eating Tang Yuan (a bouncy chewy glutinous rice balls dessert) to Japanese Zen 禅？I do. ^^

Tang Yuan is a bouncy chewy glutinous rice balls traditionally eaten during Yuan Xiao 元宵 and Chinese Winter Solstice Festival 冬至. It has the meaning of reunion. It is usually cook in a pot of boiling water, serve with sweet soup. My late grandma loves to cook the Tang Yuan without any filling in it. The last time I made my own Tang Yuan was in December 2013.

Recently we have a friend served us her homemade Tang Yuan, it was served with Sweet Osmanthus soup. I'm not sure was it because of the sweet osmanthus or may be the utensils we used, I associated eating the Tang Yuan with Japanese Zen. The soup is clean and pure and the osmanthus is so pretty, the chewy glutinous rice ball go well with the warm sweet osmanthus, yes, the sweetness of the soup is just right, not over dose by sugar. This dessert is very comforting!

Today I can't resist the desire to eat that Zen's style Tang Yuan again. First time for me to make the Tang Yuan with filling, I search the Internet and come across China Sichuan Food's Tang Yuan, I modified the water contents in the recipe and used cook dough method to make the bouncy chewy Tang Yuan. If you prefer the filling to be more liquefied you have to add more butter in the filling, the black sesame filling will burst in one bite. ^o^ I have certain expectation on the filing, I don't like it to be too runny, when we finished eating the Tang Yuan I want my sweet osmanthus soup to be clear and not fill with bits of black sesame filling.

To get a successful bouncy rice balls, is important to gradually add water into flour as much as it can absorb, knead properly, the dough should be wet, smooth and not sticky. After cooking the glutinous rice balls in boiling water, make sure you scoop out the glutinous rice balls and let it sit in a bowl of room temperature water before serving. Freeze the Tang Yuan dough balls if you are not going to consume it immediately. 

Recipe by Awayofmind Bakery House
yield: 47 pieces
Ingredients:
Black Sesame Filling:
250g toasted black sesame powder
180g fine sugar
200g butter, melted (add more so the black sesame and sugar mixture can form a rough dough)

Glutinous Rice Balls:
500g glutinous rice flour
2 tbsp sugar
~420ml water (200ml hot water, 220ml room temperature water gradually add) 

Soup:
warm water
Sweet Osmanthus syrup

Method:

1. Prepare the filling: Mix the filling ingredients together, mixed well. Divide into the portion you desire and chill in the fridge before use.

2. Prepare the tang yuan: in a mixing bowl, add half of the glutinous rice flour (250g) and sugar. Add in 200ml of hot water, use a chopstick to stir it together, then use the hands to knead the dough until it comes together. Add the remaining flour (250g), gradually add the room temperature water, continue to knead the dough. You will notice the flour will absorb all the water, knead the dough until it is smooth. The dough should feel wet and smooth with hands.

3. Boil water in a medium size soup pot, prepare a bowl of drinking water (room temperature) place beside. 

4. Roll the dough into log and divide it into smaller balls. Roll it between palm to make it round, make an indention on the ball, fill it with a small ball of black sesame paste. Wrap up the edge of the dough and seal, roll it between palm again to make round ball. Repeat until all dough is used.

5. Drop the balls into the boiling water pot in (3), when the Tang Yuan float on the surface, it means it is cooked, keep it in the boiling water for another 1/2 mins. Scoop the Tang Yuan out from the boiling water and place it in the bowl of drinking water. Let it be there until serving.

6. Serving: Scoop out three pieces of Tang Yuan to a serving bowl, place 80ml warm water in the bowl with a teaspoon of sweet osmanthus syrup.

Cranberry Cream Cheese Bread 蔓越梅阿扁面包

A few days ago, I brought home two yummy cranberry cream cheese flat buns after I attended Asian Coffee Morning. It was a beautiful bun baked by a friend, her beautiful bakes really inspired me to continue my baking journey which nowadays most of the time I find it lack of motivation to do so. My son love the cranberry cream cheese bread, he asked for more after taking two! As I have three tubs of Philadelphia Cream Cheese sitting in my fridge, I decided to put them into good use.

When searching on the filling, I find there are two types of filling recipe, one is cream cheese with condensed milk the other one is cream cheese with icing sugar, I used the later. With water roux in the bun, it produces a fluffy soft bread texture.  Huh... I forgot to flatten the bun a bit after shaping, and thought I could press down the bun with a tray on top before baking, I think I pressed it too hard. It was a mistake that cause some buns to have hairline cracks on the edge of the bun after baked.

Thanks Cook With No Books for the beautiful recipe!

近来的我在烘焙这方面都是懒散的，孩子每一天的课程都是排得满满的，一有空摊我就想在沙发上磕睡一下。好不容易在朋友那找回烘焙灵感，看她完成每一个漂亮的成品让我手瘾大起，这是real world 的Bake-Along。 那天从集会带回倆个朋友弄的蔓越梅阿扁面包，我家孩子吃下倆个还嫌不够，今天就开工弄了十二个，这应该够吃了吧？ ^^ 

日子里能有闲情游博客真的真的太棒了。。。是的今天新的钟点拥人开始上班，她迟到了一个小时，来了五个小时才只弄好楼上。。。我都一一忍下了，有钟点帮忙得感激才好还得提醒自己别随便炒了人家咯！

Recipe adapted from Cook With No Books with minor changes
Ingredients:

Water Roux:
30g bread flour
150ml water

Bread dough:
300g bread flour
100g plain flour
80g sugar
20g milk powder
1 tbsp instant dried yeast
1/4 tsp fine salt
1 egg 
50g dried cranberries, soaked in hot water for 10 mins then drained
150ml cold water (add in gradually)
60g cold butter, cubes (I used 50g)
some extra bread flour for dusting the dough and hands if the dough is too sticky 

Filling:
260g cream cheese, room temperature (I used 300g)
60g icing sugar

Method:
1. Prepare water roux: Mix bread flour with water in a small saucepan, heat up under medium heat to 65C, keep stirring until the mixture thicken. Cover and set aside.

2. Prepare the bread dough: Combine all the dry ingredients into the mixing bowl, add the water roux and egg. Knead the dough using KitchenAid speed 1 and gradually add the cold water while kneading. Switch the KA speed to 4 and let the bread dough knead until it form smooth dough, add in the butter cubes, let the KA continue to knead until the dough form elastic film. Add in the cranberries, knead in the cranberries to the dough.

3. Let the dough proof to double its size, about 40 mins, depends on how hot is your kitchen. 
4. Whisk the cream cheese together with sugar in a bowl, set aside to chill in the freezer.
5. Transfer the proof dough to a floured worktop, punch down the air and divide the dough into 12 portions. Rest the dough for 10 mins. (If the wet dough is too sticky, dust the dough and your hands with some bread flour)
6. Flatten the bread dough, spoon a tbsp of cream cheese into the middle of the dough, wrap up the dough by gather the edge and pinch the dough to seal. Dust both side of the dough with bread flour, use the hands to flatten the dough a bit. Place the bread dough on a lined baking tray, leave enough space in between each dough. Let it proof for 30 mins.

7. Lay a piece of parchment paper over the bread dough. Weigh down the dough with another baking tray over it. 

8. Bake at preheat oven at 210C for 12 mins.

*Can chill the bun in the freezer, reheat 30 seconds in the microwave will still produces soft fluffy bun. 

Castella Cake 蜂蜜长崎蛋糕

Castella Cake is here again! :) Thanks to my friend who lend her wooden cake mold to me. I tried out a new recipe using the wooden cake mold ...three attempts totally with one unsuccessful attempt, one dry cake and one consider a good texture cake. All these attempts were using same recipe with whole egg, not the egg separation method that I tried on my previous bakes on Jul 2013, and Mar 2012. 

Verdict is I prefer the cake texture using egg separation method, as it produces dense, soft chewy and fine texture compared to whole egg method. 

Out of my three attempts on whole egg method, two of the attempt I used water steam bath underneath the cake, the cake turned out moist and chewy and not dry as the one baked without water steam bath. So, I have to record down this point to keep myself remember. 

This Castella Cake is with only four ingredients, egg, sugar, honey and bread flour. But I think I prefer the one with maltose sugar and milk in it, as it produces smoother and finer cake texture. 

Recipe adapted from JustOneCookBook
Ingredients:
6 eggs, at room temperature
218g sugar
200g bread flour, 
5 tbsp Black Forest Honey
2.5 tbsp warm water
1 tbsp Black Forest Honey
1/2 tbsp warm water

Method:
1. Preheat the oven at 160C with a tray of water underneath the rack.
2. Place all six eggs in the mixing bowl, whisk for a min then add sugar and whisk the eggs for 5 mins using KitchenAid speed 10 until the egg volume becomes four times its original size.
3. The egg mixture should have achieve its ribbon stage.
4. Mix the 5 tbsp honey with 2.5 tbsp warm water in a small bowl, stir well the mixture. 
5. Pour the honey mixture into the (1) and whisk with speed 2 for 30 seconds.

6. Add the sifted flour to the egg mixture in three batches. Add the first batch, whisk the egg mixture using speed 1 for 15 seconds, then add second batch of flour, whisk for another 15 seconds then final batch of flour, whisk for 30 seconds. 

7. Pour the cake batter slowly into the lined cake mold, knock the cake mold on the kitchen worktop a few times to release the trap bubbles and use a skewer to draw the zig-zag on the cake batter.

8. Bake the cake for 35~40 mins.

9. Mix 1 tbsp honey with 1/2 tbsp warm water in a small bowl, brush the mixture on top of the cake surface after the cake is out from the oven, remove the cake from the wooden mold when it cool down a bit and wrap it with parchment paper and plastic cling and store overnight in the fridge before consume. 

Yakitori Chicken

Today a tiring day, finally able to sit down and enjoy my own time. Going through the photos backlog and decided to post Yakitori.

One of my family favourite on-the-go snack is Yakitori the Japanese grilled chicken. We ate a lot of it when we were in Singapore. Never cross my mine to make one myself until I saw Nami of Just One Cookbook Yakitori video. It looks easy and simple and I just went on to try it out. 

All these photos here were from my first attempt, the second attempt was for a friend birthday. I would say that the taste of my second attempt was better because I marinated the chicken, also I added a bit of sake, dark soy sauce and oyster sauce into the sauce to enhance its taste, yes, I prefer stronger taste. Trust me, a little golden brown on the meat will make it more appetizing. 

10 mins of broiling time will give you a perfect tender Yakitori, however it also depends on the size of your chicken chunk. 

Recipe adapted from Just one Cookbook with changes in the method.

(Yield 20 skewers)
Ingredients:
20 bamboo skewers soak in water for 30 mins.
20 pieces of chicken drumsticks, debone and cut the meat into two for each of them. (if using chicken tights will be better)
9 scallions
some vegetable oil

Source:
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup mirin
1/4 cup water
2 tsp brown sugar
1/4 cup sake
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce

Method:

1. Prepare sauce: Add all the sauce ingredients in a saucepan and add green part of the scallion, bring to boil. Lower the heat to low and allow it to simmer until the liquid reduced by half. Leave to cool in room temperature.

2. Use 1/3 of the sauce to marinate the chicken pieces for at least two hours. (I placed it in fridge overnight) Reserve 1/3 of the sauce for coating while broil, and another 1/3 of the sauce for final coating.

3. Place two chicken pieces into one skewer, in between can add desire vegetables like green or red capsicum, repeat until all skewers used.

4. Preheat the oven to 230C with grill function, arrange the chicken skewers on the wire rack with a tray below to catch the dripping sauce. Broil the chicken for 6 mins, bring out the chicken skewer and brush with some sauce. Bring the Yakitori back to oven and continue broil it for 4 mins. Transfer to serving plate and brush the remaining 1/3 sauce with a clean brush. Serve warm. 

Bacon Parmesan Gougeres

五月，好多朋友将离开卡达尔的月份，说不伤感是假的。 夏炎的空气有时闷热得让人抓慌，菜埔里的菜啊，水果啊，都死轿轿了！日子回到原来的厨房，关在有空调的屋里，心是平静的。我爱我的厨房！那天看到 Fine Cooking 的 Bacon Parmesan Gougeres 就动工了，好一道不用酵母的面包。成品是偏咸带奶酪香有咬劲的软面包，实合加入孩子的午餐合里，当然也是很好的早餐。除了好吃之外，这面包加分在。。。速战速决！

This May a few of my friends are leaving Qatar for good. The sun physically burn the leaves of my Australia Avocado, the plant which took me eight weeks to care from seed, root and sprout! Now, I only hope it can survive the summer. My days back to the kitchen with air-conditioning 24 hours blasting, temperature in the house is cool and my heart is calm.  

Saw the Fine Cooking introduces this Bacon Parmesan Gougeres, I swing into action to make this yeast-less bread. The end result is a soft savoury bread with cheesy aroma. Is a good choice for kid's lunch box, of course is a healthy breakfast too. Besides the taste, I like this bread because of its short making time. 

Recipe from Fine Cooking
Yield: 13 pieces

Ingredients:
4 slices of Bacon or you may used sliced ham 
1/2 cup whole milk
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp salt (to taste, can reduce to 1/2 tsp)
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp sugar
1/8 tsp cayenne (omitted)
1 1/4 cups bread flour, sifted
3 large eggs
1 1/4 cups grated Parmesan cheese

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 210C. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. Cook the bacon in a frying pan over medium low heat until crisp. Transfer to a kitchen paper, chop or cut into small when it is cool down completely.

3. In a small saucepan, bring milk, 1/2 cup of water, the butter and the reserved bacon fat to a simmer over medium heat. Keep stirring with spatula to prevent burn at the bottom of pan.

4. Stir in the salt, onion powder, sugar. Add the flour, and using a wooden spoon, stir very quickly in one direction. The flour will absorb the liquid and form a dough. Continue stirring to cook the flour until the dough pulls away from the sides of the saucepan, continue to stir for another one or two mins.

5. Transfer the dough to the electric mixer bowl. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing on medium speed until each is incorporated into the dough, which will change from shiny to sticky as the eggs are worked in. On low speed, stir in one cup of Parmesan cheese and the bacon until just combined.

6. Using a small ice cream scoop, scoop the dough onto the baking sheets. Top the gougeres with the remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan. Bake for ~ 20 mins or until it is puffed and golden. Serve warm.