Hi everyone! Happy Christmas to you all! Wish all have a wonderful festival time and play safe!
I have been so busy to experiment making Panettones since December, they are great to try out a few of the recipes. Most of them are dairy for my family to try. The result was not too bad, the latest one took me 4 days to finish (because the weather so cold), the taste was rich and the texture so spongy and moist. But the downside is: it took me so much time to look after it. I still desperately love to make a sourdough vegan Panettone for myself. I wish I had time to make it.
It is so much nice weather during the weekend, but a bit weird today, have a mixture of windy, grey, sunny, and suddenly strange with snowflakes as well. It’s the normal spring weather in England!
Just past the Easter weekend and Monday, lots of people showing their Easter baking on social media already. I think I’m a bit too behind in the race because I’m not well during the week. And I just struggle to manage my Easter carrot cupcakes for my family.
The texture of this cupcake is so light, moist, and also low fat, low sugar, will it healthier enough to suit your diet? If you can find the other one to beat it, please give me a message.
Have you see my cream cheese frosting, isn’t it looks gritty? Yes, it is my ‘antique’ blender, more than 20 years old. Wish I can get a high-speed blender, and I can make more smooth sauce later.
Substitute:
1/ Use the self-raising flour instead of the plain flour if you haven’t got it on hand, remember to skip the baking powder and the baking soda.
2/ I use the ripened banana to reduce the sugar content, so if you use the sugar-free applesauce, you may consider adding a couple of tbsp sugar.
3/ If you use the dairy-free yoghurt instead of the oil, need to use the sugar-free natural one, not the fruity or other flavour, they may contain lots of sugar.
1/2 cup Mashed banana (1 medium size), or use applesauce
1/3 cup Dairy-free yoghurt or neutral cooking oil, (I use yoghurt)
1/3 cup Coconut sugar + 2 tbsp Raw cane sugar
1/4 cup Dairy-free milk of your choice
1 Pack cup of grated carrots, about 2 medium size
A small handful of chopped walnuts
Vanilla extract (optional)
Vegan Cream cheese for frosting:
1/2 cup Cashew, soaked overnight
1 cup Dairy-free milk
2 tbsp Maple syrup or agave nectar
Pinch of sea salt
2 to 3 tbsp Tapioca starch, less for not too firm, I use 2 1/2 tbsp
Method:
Make the cream cheese the night before, keep it in the fridge to make it firmer: Add all the ingredients to a high-speed blender and blend for a few minutes. Cook in a small non-stick pan over low heat and stir constantly. When the mixture turns into a paste-like and begins to pull away from the side of the pan, turn off the heat and pour into a small bowl, place a cling film on top of the sauce surface to prevent it form a skin. Chill in the fridge overnight for a firm frosting.
To make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350F/175C, or 155C in a fan oven.
Sieve all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl, and stir to well combined.
In another bowl, mash up the banana if you use it, and add the yoghurt, sugar, and milk, whisk to make sure the sugar without any big lumps left behind. Add the grated carrots and vanilla.
Whisk to combine. Add these wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Don’t over-mix, some clumps are OK. Fold in the walnuts.
Pour the batter into the tins with cupcake liners. Bake on the middle shelf for around 14 to 16 minutes until all golden brown.
Leave all the cakes to cool down completely, around 3 hours or overnight before frosting.
Except summer is my favourite season in the year, spring is the second season I have longed for. After a long, wet, cold, and windy dark winter, especially the shorter daylight and not much sunshine, spring is landed to us finally.
I love to watch the spring bulbs quietly popping up the soil, then all the delicate trumpeted blooms golden daffodils gently nodding and smiling to you. A compact jewel-like display of crocus informal swathes throughout lawns, rockeries, and the border. Narcissus, they’re my beloved, scented flowers. Not to mention the tulips, hyacinth, and the bluebell, they all the most beautiful flowers in the spring.
Before the Easter, making the carrot cake and hot cross buns are my annual to-do-list on my note book. Maybe you have seen a few of my hot cross buns posts before.
This year, I like to give it a bit different from the past. I wish it will turn out the good sign, finger-cross! 🙂
First, I will make the water roux (湯種 Tangzhong) to the main dough to give the buns more moisture to keep for longer. Next, I will give up the flour paste for the traditional cross, and apply the custard sauce. How will it turn up? I quite like the yellowish colour of the custard and the texture of the buns turn out so fluffy. They disappear so quickly from my family. I think I will make another batch before Good Friday for my friends as well.
Extra: Some of the buns, I made some vegan custard to stuff in the middle of the buns.
Ingredient:
For the Water roux (湯種 Tangzhong): 1:5
30g Plain flour + 150g Water
Method: Stir the two ingredients in a small saucepan, cook on medium-low heat, stir constantly until thicken.
For the dough:
5g instant yeast
35g Raw sugar
120g Water
120g Water roux from above
350g Plain flour
80g/1/2 cup sultanas or mixed dried fruits
1 tsp Mixed spice
1/2 tsp Pink salt
1 tbsp Vegetable oil, optional
For the Cross:
3 tbsp Custard powder
1 tbsp Cornstarch
1 tsp Sugar
2 tbsp Water
For the sugar glazing:
2 tbsp Maple syrup + 1 tbsp water
Method:
For the dough: Click in the link here to find the post from 2018, check all the steps and detail there
For the custard cross paste: Mix all ingredients together and transfer to an icing bag.
Bake the preheat oven for 14 to 16 minutes until golden and brush with glazing.
Note: I used the bread machine to knead the dough, because it contains the water roux, the dough is a bit soft to handle by hands.
I wish I am not too late to put this post up for you all. Wish all of you have a happy and wonderful festival on this coming Thursday 1st Oct.
If you look at the topic, it sounds so complicated, but truly is so simple. These 3 mooncake filling has the same main ingredient: the split yellow peas 去皮绿豆. It is one of the most ordinary and easy to buy ingredient in Asian Chinese supermarket. Once you prepared the split yellow pea paste, then the following steps will be so easy!
The quantity of the plain snow-skin may have some left-over. Don’t worry, I sort out for you, here I like to give you a bonus recipe. That’s one more mooncake filling, is the pandan sweet potato filling. This one won’t use the split yellow peas, just the sweet potato. But give you a warm advise, try to get the white/yellow flesh sweet potato or the best is the purple sweet potato. Why? Because they contain less water. It’ll give you more easy to fry the sweet potato puree to form a paste like.
If you look at the snow-skin recipe, why they are just plain white without any colour? Yes, the recipe is just plain! But you can take some plain dough and add few pinches of cocoa powder, matcha powder, black sesame powder, or carrot powder, just play mix & match. Use your creative ability! If you have some new ideas, please let me know, thank you!
SO, let’s start and have fun!
For the Plain Snow-skin pastry:
2/3cup+2 tbsp Sweet glutinous rice flour 糯米粉
2/3cup+1 tbsp Glutinous rice flour 粘米粉
2 tbsp Wheat starch 澄粉
2/3cup Icing sugar
1cup+2 1/2 tbsp Dairy-free milk
2 tsp Vegetable oil
Method:
Mix the dairy-free milk with the vegetable oil together, add all the flour and starch, also the icing sugar, whisk without any lumps left. Pour through a sieve over a greased heatproof plate.
Put into a steamer over medium heat, steam about 25 minutes until cooked.
Use a spatula to fold the pastry dough until smooth. Leave in the room temperature to cool down.
Wrap in a piece of cling film, then chill in the fridge for at least half hour for easy to handle.
If you use the mooncake mould is 50g, divide the pastry dough into 20g each. Or if you use the mould is 75g, cut the dough into 35g each.
For the Split yellow peas filling: 绿豆蓉
150g Split yellow peas 去皮绿豆
120g Raw sugar, (I use coconut sugar)
200g Dairy-free Milk of your choice
2-3 tbsp Sweet glutinous rice flour
2 tbs Vegetable oil
Method:
Soak the dried peas in water for at least 3 hours, drained. Put in a steamer with water, cook over medium- high heat for half hour until soft.
Mix milk, sugar and rice flour together, add in the cooked peas and stir and fold until all well combined. Put into a food processor to blend into a smooth puree. Or press through a sieve or mesh if you haven’t got a food processor.
Add oil in a frying pan over medium heat, cook the pea puree for around 10 minutes first, then turn down the heat to medium-low, continue cook it and keep stirring and folding. Until the puree thicken and turn into a paste like dough. It should take 20 minutes or more, be patient!
Let it cool down completely and store in an air-tight container and chill in the fridge or keep in the freezer.
As the split yellow pea paste is cool completely, you can divide it into 3 portions. The first portion is add all the salted caramel sauce ingredients and mix to well combined. The second portion is add the vegan yeast flakes. The third portion is the oreo flavour, just remove the biscuit’s cream filling first and chop into small pieces, then add into the paste. That’s it, easy, haha!
For the salted caramel sauce:
2 tbsp maple syrup
2 tbsp coconut cream
1 tbsp dairy-free milk
Pinch sea salt
For the nutty cheese flavour:
3 tbsp Vegan yeast flakes
For the Oreo flavour:
2 pieces Oreo biscuits, filling removed
Here I give you a bonus one more extra filling recipe, a very tasty pandan flavour with the sweet potato. I tried it already, it is so good, but I use the orange flesh sweet potato. It’s water content more than the white or purple sweet potato. It should consume more time to fry it until a paste form, so has to be patient! Otherwise, use the white/yellow flesh or purples sweet potato will be easier to handle. It is my advise!
For the Pandan sweet potato flavour:(low-sugar, low-fat)
165g Steamed sweet potato, steamed
Few drops of Pandan extract
1 tbsp Coconut sugar
2-3 tbsp Sweet glutinous rice flour
1/2 tbsp Vegetable oil
Method:
Same as the way to fry the split yellow pea paste.
The method to assembly the mooncake, please check over here.
Note: The Pandan sweet potato filling recipe, please check here.
I bless all you guys are safe and healthy in this critical moment!
The past few months seems going so slow, I been through so stressed and panic since January. That’s why I haven’t put up any blog posts or news.
But I had many friends to support me luckily, and they tried to talk to me and I started to learn to release my negative emotion.
Ok, let’s talk about you all, how can you cope with this situation. I hope you can share it with me!
Today is Easter Friday, the weather is super sunny and warm, suppose everyone enjoys this bank holiday and goes outside to make the most. But we ought to stay at home for our own safety. So I decided to make my own hot-cross buns for my family.
This was from my 2018 recipe, once again it still so fluffy and soft. And the aroma was fulfilling my small kitchen when it came out from the oven.
Another Half-day Adventure in Amsterdam (Albert Cuyp Market)~Day 4
Being on a holiday, we loved to browse around the local market, remember our first day? We had visited the ‘floating’ market, Bloemenmarkt after we landed on Schiphol Airport.
The weather on the second day was not too bright, and the temperature was chilly. Then we decided to take a day to visit the beautiful Dutch windmill village, Zaanse Schans is on the banks of the Zaan river. We got the train tickets from Schiphol airport to Sloterdijk first then change to Zaandijk Zaanse Schans, it took about half an hour.
Probably it is the trip that I won’t forget in my life. It’s also a promise of fulfillment for me as well.
Thanks to my dear! Although I have been to Amsterdam a few times before, even so, it still another fresh story!
This time we plan to visit the world’s largest flower show, the tulips garden mainly.
Dreaming to see this largest flower garden park in the world, Keukenhof tulips garden near Lisse, The Netherland. Apparently, my dream is in front of me! I’m coming to see you!
Vegan Taro Paste Mooncake with Layers Flaky Pastry (酥皮千層芋泥月餅)
This is the most satisfied layers flaky pastry cake I ever made. Please look at the picture below.
Can you see the layers? I am so surprised after the pastry got cut out. It is the cake that I looking for. If you like to try it, check in the link here.
matchamochi 