Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies

I followed this recipe and used beet root powder instead of food color. The cookies were not as red as I expected. For a truly "red" velvet cookies, maybe this need more beet root powder or some food color. This definitely need some more experiments.

Ingredients

All purpose flout - 3 cups

Cocoa powder - 1/2 cup

Baking soda - 2 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Unsalted butter - 1 cup, softened to room temperature
light or dark brown sugar - 1 and 1/2 cups, packed

Granulated sugar - 1/2 cup 
Egg - 2 large, at room temperature ( used egg replacer)
Milk or buttermilk - 2 TBSP

Pure vanilla extract - 4 tsp
Beet powder - 3 TBSP
Semi-sweet chocolate chips - 2 cups, plus a few extra for after baking

Yield about 40 cookies

Steps

1. Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, beet powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.
2. Using a handheld or stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on high speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl as needed. Beat in the brown sugar and granulated sugar until combined and creamy, about 1 minute. Beat in the egg, milk, and vanilla extract, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Once mixed, add the food coloring and beat until combined. Turn the mixer off and pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Turn the mixer on low and slowly beat until a very soft dough is formed. On low speed, beat in the chocolate chips. The dough will be sticky.

3. Cover and chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours (and up to 3 days). If chilling for longer than a few hours, allow dough to sit at room temperature for at least 15 minutes before rolling and baking because the dough will be quite hard.
4. Preheat oven to 350°F. 

5. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Scoop 1.5 Tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball. Place 9 balls onto each baking sheet. Bake each batch for 13 minutes. The cookies may have only spread slightly, that’s ok. Simply press down on the warm cookies to slightly flatten, which helps form crinkles. If desired for looks, stick a few chocolate chips into the tops of the warm cookies.

6. Cool cookies on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week. You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. (See step 3.) Baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months. Unbaked cookie dough balls freeze well for up to 3 months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. Click here for my tips and tricks on freezing cookie dough.

Roblox Avatar Cake

 For a Roblox fan's birthday with his own avatar. It is 1/4 sheet chocolate cake with swiss meringue buttercream. 

Mugwort Sticky Rice Ball (Green Rice Ball, 青团)

This is a traditional food to be consumed around Qingming festival, also known as Chinese Ancestors' Day. The rice ball is tinted green by mugwort. Mugwort is a flowering plant native to northern Europe, Asia, and parts of North America. The sage-colored plant is thought to prevent or treat health conditions like anxiety, digestion problems. The green color and refreshing taste is perfect to celebrate spring time.

Ingredients

Wheat starch (澄粉)- 90g

Boiling water - 150g

Glutinous rice flour (糯米粉) - 300g

Sugar - 45g

Oil - 15g, traditionally used lard

Mugwort Paste (艾草泥) - 270g

Red bean paste - 500g

Steps

1. I picked some Mugwort on a hike, only kept the young leaves, no stems. I collected about 75g worth. 

2.  Add washed Mugwort in a pot of boiling water, add 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp salt, and cook for about 3 min; then soak in cold water for about 5 minutes; after rinse a few times, blend the grass into paste using Vitamix. Add some water if needed. I ended up with about 270g of green paste. 

3. In a small bowl, add 150g boiling water into 90g of wheat starch, mix until paste turns half translucent. Cover and set aside. 

4. In another mixing bowl, mix glutinous rice water with sugar and oil, add green paste, and mix with a chopstick. Finally add the half cooked wheat starch, and knead into a dough. Cover and set aside to rest.

5. Portion the red bean paste into 28g each, and dough into 45g each. Make the rice ball by wrapping filling inside the dough. Steam on high heat for about 10 minutes. 

6. Coat the rice balls with olive oil while they are hot. You can wrap each ball with shrink wrap and it will keep fresh for 3 days in room temperature. Or you can freeze them for up to 1 month.

Lemon Raspberry Cake

This is adapted from Sally's lemon blueberry layer cake. I used the recipe to make three 6" cakes, and only used two layers for the tiger cake. 

Ingredients

Cake

Unsalted butter - 1 cup, softened to room temperature
Granulated sugar - 1 and 1/4 cups
Light brown sugar - 1/2 cup, packed
Eggs - 4 large at room temperature (used egg replacer)
Pure vanilla extract - 1TBSP

All-purpose flour - 3 cups, sifted
Baking powder - 1 TBSP
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Buttermilk - 1 cup
Lemon zest - 2 TBSP
Fresh lemon juice - 1/2 cup

Berries - 1 and 1/2 cups, coated with 1 TBSP all-purpose flour
Cream Cheese Frosting
Cream cheese - 8 ounces block, softened to room temperature*

Unsalted butter - 1/2 cup, softened to room temperature

Confectioners’ sugar - 3 and 1/2 cups
Heavy cream - 1 – 2 TBSP
Pure vanilla extract - 1 tsp
pinch salt

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease three 6" cake pans,  line bottom with parchment paper, then grease the parchment paper. Parchment paper helps the cakes seamlessly release from the pans.
2. Using stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on high until creamy – about 1 minute. Add granulated and brown sugars and beat on medium-high speed until creamed, about 2-3 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until everything is completely combined, about 2 full minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Beat on low speed for 5 seconds, then beat in the milk, lemon zest, and lemon juice *just* until combined. 

4. Toss the berries with 1 Tablespoon of flour and gently fold into the batter. Batter is extremely thick. Do not over-mix. Over-mixing will lead to a tough, dense textured crumb.

5. Spoon batter evenly into prepared cake pans. Bake for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely in the pan before assembling and frosting.

6. To make the frosting, using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat cream cheese and butter together on medium speed until no lumps remain, about 3 full minutes. Add confectioners’ sugar, 1 Tablespoon cream, vanilla extract, and salt with the mixer running on low. Increase to high speed and beat for 3 minutes. Add 1 more Tablespoon of cream to thin out, if desired.
7. Assemble and frost: First, using a large serrated knife, trim the tops off the cake layers to create a flat surface. Place 1 layer on your cake stand. Evenly cover the top with cream cheese frosting. Top with 2nd layer, more frosting, then the third layer. Top with frosting and spread around the sides. The recipe doesn’t make a ton of frosting, just enough for a light frost. Top with blueberries or lemon garnish if desired. Refrigerate for at least 45 minutes before cutting or else the cake may fall apart as you cut.
Cover leftover cake tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Note: The batter makes a perfect sheet cake! Simply spread into a 12×17 inch half sheet/jelly roll pan and bake for about 20 minutes or until cooked through. It also fits nicely into a 9×13 inch cake pan. Bake for about 40-45 minutes or until cooked through.

Oven Baked Bacon

Easy way to make straight bacon stripes. 

Steps

1. Preheat your oven to 400F.

2. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Lay the bacon slices on the baking sheet.

3. Cook the bacon for 18-20 minutes or until it’s as crispy as you’d like. Remove the bacon from the oven and transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.

Layered Matcha and Red Bean Rice Cake(抹茶红豆年糕)

A pretty rice cake for Chinese New Year, following a YouTube video. 

Ingredients

Glutinous rice flour - 750g

Rice flour - 75g

Butter - 37g 

Sugar - 225g

Sweeten red bean (蜜红豆) - 150g

Matcha powder - 1.5 TBSP

Water - 300ml+375ml+ 270-300ml

Steps

1. In a sauce pot, add 300ml water, sugar and butter, heat up until the sugar is melt.

2. In a mixing bowl, mix the glutinous rice flour and rice flour, pour in the hot sugar water. Stir.

3. Mix in 375ml cold water

4. Prepare another 270-300ml cold water, slowly add in batches until the batter is well mixed and can flow freely.

5. Let the mixture rest for 30 minutes.

6. Preheat oven to 375F

7. Grease a 9"x13" glass baking dish with cooking spray

8. Pour out 2/3 batter to mix in matcha powder and mix well. 

 

9. Pour half of the Matcha batter in the baking dish. Bang the pan a few times to remove air bubbles. Water bath bake at 375F to 12-15 min. Cover the top of pan with aluminum foil during bake.

10. Pour more than half of the white batter in the pan. Use spatula to smooth the surface. Spread the red bean in, then add the remaining white batter. Use spatula to smooth. Water bath Bake 375F to 12-15 min

11. Pour the remaining Matcha batter in the pan. Use spatula to smooth the surface. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and then water bath bake 375F for 45 min-1 hour.

12. Let the cake cool completely and then slice and serve. Can keep it refrigerated until ready to serve.

Plum Blossom Cake

 For Mom's 84th Birthday!