Beach Ball Cookie

These were the egg free sugar cookie with the egg free royal icing for end of school party.

Also made some life savers.

The key to the beach ball is to use the same cookie cutter (2.5") make indentation on the cookie dough before baking it. This provides a guideline for icing.

Wuhan Fried Donut (武汉面窝)

Wuhan Fried Donut is a traditional local breakfast pastry that you would see at street vendors everywhere. Here 10,000 km away, it becomes a luxury item that hard to find. This is my friend Hanbin's recipe. It is pretty easy, but it is time consuming and oily to make this.

Ingredients

Rice - 4 cup

Soy bean - 1 cup
Green onion - chopped, 3 TBSP or more

Ginger root - chopped, 1 TBSP

Salt - 3 tsp or to taste

Sesame (optional)- for sprinkle
Makes about 40 donuts

Steps

1. Soak rice and soy bean overnight. Drain the water. Then add water to just cover the rice and beans.

2. Using Vitamix, blend the rice and soy bean together. Add salt, green onion, sesame and ginger to the rice milk to taste. The rice milk should be waffle consistency and ready to pour.

3. Let the rice milk rest for 10 minutes.

4. Heat up a pot of oil, and dip the donut mold in hot oil to warm up first.

5. sprinkle some sesame in the mold , pour some rice milk in, then sprinkle some sesame on top. Fry until the top turns golden, then take the donut off the mold and fry the other side until it is golden also.

6. Place donuts on paper towel to remove excessive oil. Serve warm.

Banana Oatmeal Cookie

This is the Moist and Chewy Banana Oatmeal Cookie recipe with less sugar. It yields 36-48 cookies depends on the size. It is not that sweet, and I can have them for breakfast - Oatmeal on the go.

Ingredients

Unsalted butter - 3/4 cup, softened
Brown sugar - 1 cup, packed
Sugar - 1/2 cup ( I skipped this)
Egg  - 1 (replace with 1/4 cup apple sauce for egg-free)
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
Bananas - 3 mashed
All purpose flour - 3 cups
Cinnamon- 1.5 tsp
Baking soda - 1 tsp
Ground cloves - 1/4 tsp
Cornstarch - 2 tsp
Old fashioned oats - 3 cups
Salt - a pinch

Steps

1. Mix together butter, brown sugar, sugar, egg, vanilla extract and mashed bananas until well combined.
2. Add flour, cinnamon, baking soda, cloves and cornstarch and mix until combined.
3. Stir in oats.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
5. Spoon tablespoons of dough onto a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Flatten dough a little bit, into thick discs.

6. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until edges just start to golden.

7. Remove from oven and cool on cookie sheet for 3-4 minutes, then move to cooling rack to finish cooling.

Fluffy Vegan Banana Muffins

I adopted the fluffy Vegan Banana Muffins with less sugar. This recipe yield about 36 mini muffins or 16 regular muffins.

Ingredients

Ripe banana - 3, mashed
All-purpose flour -1 3/4 cups
Baking powder - 1 TBSP
Cinnamon - 1 tsp
Nutmeg - 1 tsp
pinch salt, optional and to taste
Granulated sugar - 1/2 cup (original recipe 1.25 cup)
Oil - 1/2 cup (melted coconut oil, canola or vegetable oil)
Milk - 1/2 cup (coconut, almond, soy, or rice)
Light brown sugar, packed - 1/2 cup (original recipe 1/4 cup)
Vanilla extract - 1 TBSP

For dipping, mix about 1 TBSP cinnamon and 1/3 cup sugar

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray non-stick muffin pans with cooking spray, or grease and flour the pans.

2. In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients -  flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt.

3. In a large bowl, mash the bananas; then add sugar, oil, milk, brown sugar, vanilla. Whisk to combine.

4. Pour wet mixture over the dry, stirring until just incorporated. Don’t overmix or muffins will be tough. Batter is quite thick and if yours seems too thick, add a splash of milk to thin it.

5. Using a cooking oil sprayed tablespoon measure for a mini muffin pan or a sprayed one-quarter cup measure for a regular sized pan. Fill the cavities between 2/3 and 3/4 full; don’t exceed 3/4 full.
6. Bake until done, about 9-10 minutes for mini muffin, and 15 minute for regular size. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter. Tops will be domed, springy to the touch, and will be on the paler side rather than golden.

7. Allow muffins to cool in pan for about 10 minutes before carefully turning out onto wire racks to cool completely.

8. If desired, after they’re cool enough to handle, stir together about 1/3 cup granulated sugar and 1 tablespoon cinnamon, and dip the tops (or entire muffin) into it.

9. Muffins will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 5 days or can be frozen for up to 3 months. They get softer and the flavor intensifies on the second and third day.

Salt Roasted Almond

Ingredients

Raw Almonds - 2 Cups
Hot water - 2 tsp
Sea Salt - 1 tsp
Olive oil - 2 tsp
Additional sea salt for final sprinkling

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 375°F
2. Dissolve salt in hot water and then toss in the almonds.
3. Pour on a baking sheet large enough to hold the almonds in single layer.
4. Roast for 15-20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes until the insides are golden brown.
5. Remove from oven and pour into a mixing bowl. While still warm, toss with olive oil and more sea salt.
6. Wait till the almonds cool down before serving.