Luscious Lemon Square

Betty Crocker newsletter has this recipe.

Ingredients

All-purpose flour - 1 cup
Butter - 1/2 cup, softened
Powdered sugar - 1/2 cup
Granulated sugar - 1 cup (This is too sweet for my taste, consider to reduce sugar next time)
Grated lemon peel - 2 tsp, use only the yellow part
Lemon juice - 2 TBSP
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Eggs - 2
Some powdered sugar for decoration

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. Mix flour, butter and powdered sugar. Press in ungreased square pan, 8x8x2 or 9x9x2 inches, building up 1/2-inch edges. I used a 7x11" rectangular pan. A smaller pan would work better to make thicker squares.

3. Bake crust 20 minutes.
4. Beat granulated sugar, lemon peel, lemon juice, baking powder, salt and eggs with electric mixer on high speed about 3 minutes or until light and fluffy. Pour over hot crust.

5. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until no indentation remains when touched lightly in center.

6. Cool; dust with powdered sugar. Cut into about squares.

Chocolate Oreo Parfait

My husband showed me an Instagram of an Oreo Parfait and challenged me to make it. So I did and he gobbled it up :-)

Ingredients:

【Eggless Chocolate Pudding】
Corn starch - 3 TBSP
Cocoa powder - 3 TBSP
Milk - 1.5 cups
Sugar - 2-3 TBSP
Salt - 1/8 tsp
Butter -1 TBSP
Pure vanilla extract - 1/2 tsp

【Cream】
cold heavy whipping cream - 1 cup
Pure vanilla extract - 1/2 teaspoon
Sugar - 1-2 TBSP or to taste
【Cookie】
Oreo cookies - 6 pieces to crush into crumbs, and 4 pieces for decorating

Steps:

Part A : Eggless Chocolate Pudding

1. Whisk together corn starch, cocoa, sugar and salt and stir the mix into 1/2 cup milk at room temperature making sure to avoid dry lumps from forming.
2.  Bring 1 cup milk to a boil in a thick bottomed saucepan.When the milk comes to a boil, reduce heat and stir in the cocoa milk. Let simmer stirring continuously until thick and creamy for about 10-12 mins. It is done when the saucepan bottom can be seen when scraped with a spoon. Remove from
heat and stir in the vanilla extract and butter until butter melts and blends in.

3. To avoid pudding skin from forming, cover with cling wrap on the surface of the pudding (not at the rim of the dish) and let it cool to room temperature. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or store up to 2 days.

Part B : Assembly

1. Place stainless steel mixing bowl and wire whisk in the freezer for about 15-30 minutes. Then place all the ingredients for cream in the cold bowl and beat just until stiff peaks form. If not using immediately, cover and refrigerate.  (I used cream left from cake yesterday).

2. Put Oreo cookies in a Ziploc bag and crush it with your fist or a rolling pin. 

3. In a glass, assemble the parfait by layer the chocolate pudding, whipped cream, and Oreo cookie crumbs. 

Chiffon Cake with Strawberries and Cream

I made a quarter sheet cake for company anniversary. Since I do not have a quarter sheet cake pan, I used a 1/2 sheet baking pan, and then cut the cake in half. I ended up using only 3 pieces, otherwise the cake will be too thick.

Ingredients:

【Cake】
Made two 1/2 sheet cake, for each:
Egg - 8 Large
Cake flour - 136g
Oil - 64g
Milk - 64g
Sugar - 96g for egg white
Sugar - 48g for egg yolk
【Berries】

2 pounds strawberries, hulled and halved or quartered (about 5 cups), plus more for decorating
1/4 cup granulated sugar (can be 1/2 cup if want sweeter)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Pinch of salt

【Cream】
cold heavy whipping cream - 8 cup
Pure vanilla extract - 4 teaspoon
Sugar - 1/2 - 1 cup or to taste

Steps:

1. Make two 1/2 sheet cake following steps in Chiffon cake. Then cut the 1/2 sheet cake in halves.

2. While cake is baking and cooling, combine strawberries, granulated sugar, lemon juice, and salt, and let sit, stirring occasionally, 1 hour. 

3. Place stainless steel mixing bowl and wire whisk in the freezer for about 15-30 minutes. Then place all the ingredients for cream in the cold bowl and beat just until stiff peaks form. If not using immediately, cover and refrigerate.

4. Put one layer of cake on cake board, spread with half the berries, and drizzle with juices. Spread the whipped cream over berries, then top with middle cake layer. Spread with remaining berries and whipped cream. Top with remaining cake layer. 

5. Crumb coat the cake with cream, and then refrigerate cake for 1 hour.

6. Frost the cake with another layer of cream, add borders and decoration.

Egg Yolk Honey Cookie

What to do with the egg yolk left from Macaron recipe? I like to make Crème Brûlée. This time I tried this egg yolk cookie. It does not taste like the egg yolk cookie I had when I was kid, more like a butter cookie. These tiny cookies are pretty good as snack.

Ingredients:

Egg yolk - 3
Cake flour - 180g
Butter - 80g at room temperature
Sugar - 30g
Honey - 50g
Salt - a pinch

Steps:

1. Preheat over to 340F.
2. Use stand mixer to beat butter and sugar together; then add egg yolk one at a time; then add salt.

3. Add honey and cake flour to the egg yolk mixture. Use spatula to mix them well.

4. Use a circle tip, pipe the barter onto baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Then put in oven to bake for 15 minutes, or until the cookies are browned.

French Macaron with Egg Custard Filling

Part 1: Egg Custard

Ingredients:

Egg yolk - 1

Milk - 3 TBSP

Sugar - 2 TBSP

Milk powder - 1 TBSP

Cake four - 2 tsp

Butter - 1 TBSP

I used 3 egg yolks left from macaron shells, therefore times 3 for all ingredients. 

Steps:

1. In a microwaveable mixing bowl, whisk together egg yolk, sugar and milk. Then mix in milk powder, and flour, finally add butter.

2. Put bowl in microwave oven,  heat 30 seconds, then take out to mix. Continue for 15 second a time until barter looks cooked.

3. When barter is cool down, wrap in a shrink wrap to knead evenly.

Part 2: Macaron Shells

This follow the same ingredients and steps as in the Rose Raspberry French Macaron, except that I did not add any food color.

Part 3: Assemble

Put the egg custard filling in a piping bag and pipe on half of the shells, then sandwich them.

Dorayaki - Japanese Pancake with Red Bean Paste (铜锣烧)

Doraemon is one of my favorite cartoon character. His favorite snack is Dorayaki, which is my favorite too.

Ingredients: 

To make 10-12

Egg - 2

Sugar - 55g

Honey - 45g

Cake flour - 140g

Milk powder - 15g

Baking powder - 3/4tsp

Baking soda - 1/8 tsp

Salt - 1/4 tsp

Water - 70g

Mirin sauce (sweet Japanese cooking rice seasoning) - 10g

Red bean paste - use off the shelf one, or homemade Red bean paste 

Steps:

1. Put egg, sugar, and honey in stand mixer, beat at high speed until the barter is light, and stiffer. You should be able to mark "8".

2. Mix the dry ingredients - cake flour, milk powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together, and use a sieve to sift them. Put the sifted dry mixture in the egg barter.

3. Add water and mirin to the barter and mix well.

4. Under low hear, preheat a flat fry pan without oil, then pour in 1 TBSP of barter,  when there is small bubbles forming on the pancake, flip it and fry the other side.

5. When pancakes are cool down, sandwich some red bean paste between two pancakes, and then wrap it with shrink wrap. 

6. Put the Dorayaki in fridge overnight and ready to munch.

Black Sesame Sticky Rice Cake Roll(黑芝麻年糕)

Sticky rice cake(年糕) is one of the Chinese traditional food to celebrate Chinese New Year. It is is a homophone for "a more prosperous year (年高)". Most sticky rice cakes are steamed and take hours. Using microwave, this is probably the quickest way to make sticky rice cake.

Ingredients:

Glutinous rice flour - 1 and 1/4 cup
Rice flour - 3/4 cup
Sugar - 1/2 -2/3 cup
Water - 1 cup
Oil - 1 and 1/2 TBSP
Black sesame - 1/4 cup  OR Black sesame powder

Steps:

1. Roast the black sesame in hot frying pan. Then grind with a spice grinder.

2. Put sesame powder in a microwaveable bowl. Whisk in glutinous rice flour, rice flour, and sugar. Then add water and oil. Stir until smooth.

2. Microwave the barter on high for 2 minutes, take out and stir. Microwave again for a minute and stir. Repeat until the dough turns transparent and fully cooked

3. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside for 15 minutes. 

4. On a clean surface, place a large piece of plastic wrap and transfer cooked dough on one end. Lift the other half of wrap to cover the dough and knead it. Open the wrap, fold the dough, then cover with the wrap and knead again. Repeat a few more times until the dough is smooth and well mixed.

4. Divide the dough in half. Cover each piece with plastic wrap and shape into a log. Rewrap the logs and place in the fridge for 2-4 hours.

5. Remove the plastic wrap and cut into 1-cm thick slices before serving.