Food Minia

Earlier last year I discovered a new kind of steamed bun, the liu sha bao .  I think translated directly it means "quicksand bun" but it's actually a lot better tasting that it sounds.  Inside is a molten filling made of salted egg yolk custard, and I could probably eat 5 of them in a row.  I tried making some a few weeks ago, but the result was just okay and not really worth all the work when I can just get the perfected bun at dim sum. Because of that experiment I still had 3 cooked salted duck eggs sitting in my fridge, though, so I figured I'd try to make an ice cream out of them.  I followed the template of Jeni's Salty Vanilla Frozen Custard , but I replaced 3 of the raw egg yolks with 3 cooked salted duck egg yolks, which you can find in the egg section of a Chinese grocery store.  I reduced the salt a little because the egg yolks were already salted and added a little bit of turmeric to increase the yellow coloring of the ice cream.  It still comes ...

Last year I had the smart idea to try making a matcha babka wreath with milk bread dough.  In my head it would be pretty, and green-tinged, and perfect for the holidays.  In reality, it was dense, ugly, and I ended up throwing it out. This year I decided to follow this tried-and-true recipe for chocolate babka from Smitten Kitchen .  The only change I made to the ingredients is that I used the zest from a whole orange instead of half an orange, and the smells that came out of my oven were glorious.  I also tried shaping it using what I remembered from the pictures in the Baking Breads cookbook. Since the recipe makes two loaves, I decided to give one of the loaves the "pull-apart swirly bread" treatment.  If you'd like to try it, roll out a quarter of the dough (half a loaf) into a rectangle about 10" wide and as long as you can get it.  Spread with 1/4 of the filling and roll it up along the long edge.  Seal the seam and place in the freezer for 15 mi...

Yalda, the ancient Persian festival of winter solstice is celebrated on the eve of the longest night of the year which also marks the beginning of the winter season in the northern hemisphere. Shab-e yalda (yalda night) festival dates back several thousands of years ago to the birth of Mithra, the light of the world and the god of justice and victory. It's a wonderful night when family and

When I first saw NYT Food's Instagram post featuring a cranberry curd tart I knew I needed to make it if only because of how gorgeous it was.  But each time I made it I couldn't figure out how to photograph it so that the picture would do it justice.  Which meant I just kept making it over and over again.  Awful, I know.  Then this last time I got a pomegranate in my Boston Organics delivery and decided to try sprinkling some on top of the tart for some contrast, and it finally looked as good as it tasted!  They also give the tart a little crunch and freshness to cut all the richness. For the crust, instead of the using the hazelnut crust in the original recipe, I used Smitten Kitchen's " great unshrinkable sweet tart shell " because hazelnuts are expensive and it's pretty much a no-fail recipe.  To save time and effort, I usually end up just pressing the dough into the tart pan right after making it (starting with the edges), docking it, and then freezing...

Sometimes you get an idea in your head that you just need to make a reality.  This was one of those times.  I already had alphabet cookie cutters from another project  and a good slab pie recipe .  I didn't have any leaf cookie cutters, but those were easy enough to freehand cut out of the dough. For the filling I used up fruits that had been accumulating from my Boston Organics deliveries and ended up using 3 pears, 2 apples, and 4 oz. of cranberries, which I think ended up being about 5-6 cups of chopped fruit.  I liked how the cranberries added a little tartness and color to the otherwise simply sweet filling.  (If you want to add more than 4 oz. of cranberries, I would also up the amount of sugar to account for the additional tartness.) I cheated a little and didn't make a bottom crust, but in the end I think that was a good call because it saved a lot of time and aggravation and really, no one likes the soggy bottom crust right?  That meant I coul...

If you just can't get enough pumpkin flavor. These mini rolls are a yummy treat  with your morning coffee. Not really a recipe so mush as a few  simple instructions.   You need a tube of crescent rolls, pumpkin  butter, brown sugar, and pumpkin spice or  cinnamon. I found the pumpkin butter at Trader Joe's.   Unroll the dough and press the seams together. Spread evenly with pumpkin butter. Sprinkle  evenly with brown sugar and pumpkin spice.  You really don't need to measure  anything. Just eyeball it.  Cut into rounds. Dental floss works great for this.  Be sure it's unscented, of course. Put into a greases pie dish .  Bake until golden. Glaze with frosting if desired.  Mini Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls   1 tube crescent rolls ¼ C pumpkin butter 3 T brown sugar  1 t pumpkin spice or cinnamon ~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. 2. Unroll dough into one large rectangle,  pressing  seams to...

I've been wanting to make an American flag cake for the 4th of July and had pinned several possible versions including this one from Food52 and this ice cream cake version from the Food Network .  But the problem with those round layer cakes though is that I only had one round cake pan and no way to transport the finished product.  I wasn't too keen on having to pull out my piping bag to make Ina Garten's (or as Brit + Co called it, Taylor Swift's) version either, so when I came across Smitten Kitchen's version from four years ago, I was truly smitten.  Not only was it a single layer rectangular cake, but all you needed was some powdered sugar to make the "stars" and stripes! In her post, she includes a recipe for the cake and frosting, but I cheated by making the cake with a box mix and using store bought frosting.  After baking the cake, allow it to cool completely before frosting.  If it's domed on top, you can level it with a serrated knife or j...

I first had this cake at my friend Evie's Epiphany Party last year, and it was truly an epiphany.  I never knew homemade cake could taste so good--so buttery and moist and bursting with blueberries!  I e-mailed Evie immediately after the party to ask for her friend's recipe, and it turns out it's from a bed & breakfast in Maine. The first time I made this cake I made it in a pie pan (because I didn't have a 9" pan) and used frozen wild blueberries.  It was quite tasty but not as pretty so I dusted it with powdered sugar as instructed in the original recipe.  When I made it this time I used a 10" springform pan and fresh blueberries, and it looked nice enough to forgo the powdered sugar dusting. Don't worry if you think the cake batter to fruit ratio is off.  You will be spooning a lot of blueberries on top of the batter, but while the cake bakes in the oven the blueberries sink while the cake rises so it's perfect by the end. Maine Blueberry Gatea...

A truffle is a soft sweet, made with a chocolate mixture, and added flavours, often served as dessert; (not to be confused of course, with the expensive fungus delicacy, of the same name which is used in cooking.) Chin-chin is a popular snack in Nigeria, made by deep frying a sweetened dough mixture. As part of my journey discovering new ways of serving Nigerian food, I have done a few things with chin-chin such as adding to desserts as a base or just to add  some texture crunch... Chin chin could be quite versatile depending on how imaginative you are in the kitchen. ( Check out all of my chin chin recipes here .) So my newest creation, Chin Chin Truffles are so easy to make and are delicious to eat. They come in handy to serve to guests in combination with other sweets like coconut candy. Check out how to make some below. What you need Good quality chin chin extra crunchy. You can buy some in the store or make some (recipe here) Condensed milk White milk chocolate What to do Plac...

Pancakes A  pancake , also known as a  hotcake  or  flapjack  is a thin, flat, round cake prepared from a batter  and cooked on a hot griddle  or frying pan . In Britain it is made without a raising agent , and is similar to a frensh crepe .  In America, a raising agent is used (typically baking powder ). The American pancake is similar to a Scottish pancake  or drop scone . The Ancient Greeks  made pancakes called τηγανίτης ( tēganitēs ), the  word indicates from τάγηνον ( tagēnon ), meaning "frying pan".  The earliest  references on  tagenias  are in the works of the 5th century BC Greek  poets .  Tagenites were made with wheat flour, olive oil, honey and curdled milk, and were served for breakfast.    The  word  Pancake  appears in English in the 1400s. I like to call these rather a British recipe as i n Britain and the Commonwealth, they are associated with Shrove Tuesday , ...