Hojicha and Matcha Mochi Mini Muffin 焙茶&抹茶麻糬迷你鬆餅

Recently one of my Hong Kong high school friends moved back to Vancouver from Hong Kong with her husband. We took watercolor class together and I invited her to my place for dinner few weeks ago. She is really talented with soap and candle making, and she also did lots of handmade cards when she was in Hong Kong. She brought her handmade candle and also a pack of Matcha powder when she came to my place. She told me that this Matcha Powder is good for baking. It's matcha flavor and color are still strong after baking. I can't wait to try this on my next baking project.

I decided to make some mochi mini muffin by using her Matcha Powder and some of my own leftover Hojicha powder. The flavor of Matcha bursts out and the color still stays bright green. I am happy with that. I packed some of them and gave them to her as a return gift. Hope she likes it 💖

Recipe adapted from One Happy Bite:

Ingredients (make 36 mini muffins)

• ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 (13.5 oz) can coconut milk
• ½ cup sweetened condensed milk
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 cups Mochiko sweet rice flour (If you want less chewy with more cake texture, you can substitute 1/8 cups Mochiko flour with cake flour)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 tbsp matcha powder (I use 1 tbsp matcha powder and 1 tbsp Hojicha powder to make two flavors)
• ¼ cup hot water (Divided 1/8 & 1/8 for 2 flavors)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Generously grease the muffin tin with butter or cooking spray.
2. Melt butter in a small pot over medium heat. Once butter is melted, turn the heat off. Add coconut milk and condensed milk, whisk until combined. Then add eggs, and whisk until well combined. Set the wet ingredients aside.
3. In a small bowl, mix matcha powder with hot water. (mix Hojicha powder with hot water). Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, prepare dry ingredients by combining sweet rice flour, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt together.
5. Slowly add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, whisking constantly until well combined. (Divide batter in half if making 2 flavors). Then add matcha mixture and mix until no lumps. (Add matcha mixture to half the batter and add Hojicha mixture to another half batter)
6. Fill muffin tins with batter up to just below the rim. Bang the muffin tin onto the counter a few times to get rid of air bubbles. 
7. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown.
8. Allow the muffins to cool completely before serving. The muffins get chewier as they get cooler.

Notes

Mochi muffins can be stored in an air tight container for up to 3 days. 

Honey Cheese Tofu Dessert 蜂蜜芝士豆腐

At a friend's wedding party, they hired a Japanese catering company (@Noah's Cafe) to provide their wedding banquet food catering service. Their food were so good. One of the appetizer they served was Cheese Tofu. I was in love of this appetizer and I started to look for recipe. Since it tastes both sweet and savory, I chose to make it as a dessert. Cheese Tofu alone tastes so good. The appetizer that we had was served with almond, crushed peanuts, maple syrup, honey and baguettes on side. Instead of Maple syrup, I chose to use Brown sugar + Honey, sprinkle some Kinako (Roasted Soybean powder), and add almond slices. This combination gave a hint of Japan flavor. But I also tried the Maple syrup + honey and it was good too. It has a lighter flavor than my Brown sugar version.   

Honey cheese tofu

Ingredients:

Cream cheese 奶油芝士108g Silken tofu 嫩豆腐 170g Milk/soy milk 牛奶/豆漿200ml Powder gelatin 魚膠粉 1.5 tsp茶匙 Honey 蜂蜜  6 tsp茶匙 Pinch of salt 鹽少許 Serving:

1st option: Brown sugar 黑糖1/2 tsp茶匙 + honey蜂蜜 1/2 tsp茶匙, Almond slices杏仁片, Kinako (1/4 tsp)

2nd option: Maple syrup楓糖漿 1/2 tsp茶匙 + honey蜂蜜 1/2 tsp茶匙, Almond Slices杏仁片, Crushed Peanuts花生碎

Directions: 1. Mix together honey and cheese 將蜂蜜和奶油芝士混合在一起 2. Strain tofu as many times as necessary to remove lumps 過濾豆腐 3. Add milk and gelatin to a pot on medium heat 將牛奶和魚膠粉加入鍋中，用中火煮 4. Stir immediately to avoid gelatin lumps 立即攪拌，以免出現膠塊 5. Just as the milk starts to boil, add in tofu 待牛奶開始沸騰時，加入豆腐 6. After stirring to a smooth consistency, add cheese and honey mixture 攪拌均勻後，加入奶油芝士和蜂蜜混合物 7. Stir until smooth, about 2 minutes, then remove from heat 攪拌至光滑，約 2 分鐘，然後離火 8. Pour into container 倒入容器中 9. Refrigerate until it reaches your desired consistency (3 hours for soft serve) 冷藏直到達到您想要的稠度（大約3小時）

Serving options:

I served it with Brown sugar + honey mix syrup + Kinako or Maple Syrup + Honey mix. Garnished with Almond slices and/or crushed peanuts.

Recipe adapted from: Cassie's Kitchen

Soft shell crab bun(Airfryer) 炸軟殼蟹包 (氣炸煱)

Today when I shopped at H-Mart. I found a box of soft shell crab for sell $39.99 per box. It has 6 crabs in a box. I originally want to deep fry them by using a electric deep fryer. But I want to try to use Air Fryer method first and it turns out not bad at all. I think I will also try traditional deep fryer next time. 

For the bun, I purchased it from Freshco Freezer section. It comes with 10 per bag and each bag $5.xx. You just need to take out the bun and steam it for a few minutes. They are ready to serve! 

Please view my YouTube demonstration on how to make Soft Shell Crab Bun with AirFryer!! Enjoy! 

巴斯克焦香芝士蛋糕 (氣炸鍋) Basque Burnt Cheesecake (Air fryer)

Last week when we had Bubble Tea at our friend's Boba Boy Kerrisdale store, I saw Castella Cheesecake is selling Basque Cheesecake (6") for $15. I like their cheese tart, and I think their cheesecake should be good too. And of course, it is not bad. I like the caramel taste from the burnt cake top. And cheesecake is creamy and moist. And then I think I can make a cheaper cake than Castella. And I have all the ingredients at home. So I decided to make my own. And my hubby and daughter love it and it is very easy to make. 

This recipe is Airfryer method. I chose to use Airfryer is because the weather is hot in Vancouver to stay in kitchen with oven is on. Airfryer releases less heat than a traditional oven.  And I am glad that to say my cost is no more than $6❤❤. Please watch the video below that I made for this recipe post!  

STEP BY STEP VIDEO (from Ahmami Cafe)  

Recipe from: Kpo Kia Mama

INGREDIENTS ( for a 6-inch round pan)

• 250g cream cheese (room temperature)

• 80g sugar

• 1 egg yolk (room temperature)

• 2 full eggs (room temperature)

• 0.5g teaspoon of vanilla extract (optional)

• 170g whipping cream

• 6g cake flour

DIRECTIONS

Preheat Airfryer at 200 degree for 10 minutes

1. After the cream cheese is softened at room temperature, then stir to smooth

2. Slowly add the sugar in a few batches, stir to smooth until the mixture does not feel the sugar particles

3. Add the yolk and mix well

4. Add whole eggs and mix well

5. Add vanilla extract, whipping cream, and mix well

6. Sift in cake flour into the mixture through the sieve and mix well

7. Place the baking paper on the 6-inch round pan, pour the batter and poke off large bubbles on the surface

8. Bake batter 180 degree for 20-25 minutes (can adjust accordingly to the preferred burnt level of the cake, and the model of the airfryer)

材料 (六吋蛋糕模)

• 奶油乳酪250g (室温)

• 细砂糖80g

• 蛋黄1个 (室温)

• 全蛋2个 (室温)

• 香草精0.5g（可以不加）

• 鲜奶油170g

• 蛋糕/低筋面粉 6g

作法

先预热气炸锅于200度 10分钟

1. 奶油乳酪先室温软化后，搅拌棒打到滑顺 2. 细砂糖分批加入，打到滑顺，感觉不到砂糖颗粒 3. 加入蛋黄，搅拌均匀 4. 加入全蛋，搅拌均匀 5. 加入香草精、鲜奶油，搅拌均匀 6. 低筋面粉过筛加入，搅拌均匀 7. 蛋糕模铺上烘焙纸，把面糊倒入，把表面大气泡用掉 8.烤180度 20-25分钟 (依个人想要的焦度和气炸锅款式调整)

Salted Egg Yolk Ice cream 咸蛋黃雪糕 (No Churn Version)

Sound weird ehh?? Yes it is the first impression that I first tried the Salted Egg Yolk Ice Cream Bar recently. I will say it is similar to Ice-Cream with Salted Caramel. If you like sweet with a hint of savoury taste, you will love this dessert for sure. And if you love salted egg yolk, you will definitely need to try this. 

This recipe is a no churn version. So don't worry if you don't have a ice-cream machine. 

(Made 1L ice-cream)

Ingredients

Salted Egg Yolk mixture

5 Cooked Salted Egg Yolk (steamed/ baked/ microwaved)

170ml Full cream Milk

1/2 Can (150ml) Sweetened Condensed Milk

1/4 teaspoon Salt

Whipping Cream Mixture

550 ml Heavy Whipping Cream

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 can (150ml) Sweetened Condensed Milk 

(You can reduce this if you want a less sweet)

Instructions

Salted Egg Yolk Mixture

Blend the Cooked Salted egg yolk (reserve some to sprinkle over the ice cream mixture before freezing) with milk and salt in a blender until smooth.

In a large mixing bowl, combined the blended salted egg mixture and sweetened condensed milk

Set aside

Whipping the cream Mixture

In a separate mixing bowl/ stand mixer, whip the cold heavy whipping cream until it reaches soft peak under high speed.

Add condensed milk and vanilla extract and mix well

Pour whipping cream mixture to freezable container.

Pour in the Salted Egg Yolk Mixture into whipping cream mixture. Use a spoon to swirl the egg yolk mixture unevenly in the whipping cream mixture. 

Sprinkle any remaining salted egg yolk crumbles.

Freeze for 6 hours or until the mixture become firmer.

Steam fresh salted egg yolk before use

Recipe adapted from : http://eckitchensg.com/2016/08/no-churn-salted-egg-yolk-ice-cream/