Crescent Dinner Rolls

Crescent Dinner Rolls (aka Butterhorn Rolls, Sweet Dinner Rolls)

Crescent dinner rolls are a staple to an evening meal. The perfect appetizer and accompaniment to a meal, it is both sweet and light yet buttery and filling. I love making any type of pastry or bread from scratch, but it is definitely one of the more challenging types of food to make. Nevertheless, I love bread and decided to take on the task. It's similar to croissants except it does not have the flaky texture, which takes a lot longer to achieve. These dinner rolls are the next best thing to the Vienna-style pastry. You can eat them alone or dunk them in butter, which I highly recommend the latter. :)

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Crescent Dinner Rolls

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1/2 cup warm almond milk
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 3 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2.5 tsp active dry yeast
• extra melted butter for brushing

Directions:

1. Combine water and almond milk and microwave for 1 minute.
2. Add sugar and yeast to the liquid mixture above.
3. Add salt, butter, and egg.
4. Slowly add in flour.
5. Knead for 20 minutes. 
6. Let it rise for one hour. After one hour has passed, punch the dough for 3-5 minutes, and let it rise again for another hour.
7. Use the dough the divide them into a crescent shape. Brush the top with butter.
8. Let it rise for one hour.
9. Bake for 350F for 12 minutes, or until the top is brown.

Done!

Kale Smoothie with Yogurt and Almond Milk

Kale Smoothie with Yogurt and Almond Milk

Smoothies are one of my favorite - and quickest - ways of eating healthy. They only require a few ingredients, anything available in your fridge, and throwing them in a blender. Even better if you're using a portable blender so you can take your mug on the go! 

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Kale Smoothie with Yogurt and Almond Milk

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup kale
• 1/4 cup yogurt
• 1 cup almond milk

Directions:

1. Add kale, yogurt, and almond milk in a blender and blend away until smooth.

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Enjoy!

Hong Kong Pineapple Buns

Hong Kong Pineapple Buns

Pineapple buns, or bo lo bau, are one of my favorite Chinese pastries and may be the most well known bun in Chinese pastry cuisine. Characterized by a flaky, crunchy, yet sweet crust topping over a soft bread, it's a perfect snack that combines two delicious delights. Literally, a bun and a cookie combined!

Fun fact: It's called a pineapple bun because it resembles a pineapple, but there's actually no pineapple fruit or flavorings inside! 

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Hong Kong Pineapple Buns Recipe

Serving: 8 buns

Prep: 4 hours

Cook: 11 minutes

Total: 5 hours

Ingredients:

Dough:

• all-purpose flour, 240g
• butter, melted, 20g
• egg yolk, .67
• milk, warm, 100ml
• salt, 1/5 tsp
• sugar, 2.33 tsp (separated in 1.33 tsp and 1 tsp)
• honey, 2 tsp
• active dry yeast, 2/3 tsp

Crust Topping:

• sugar, 53.4g
• butter, room temp, 33.3g
• egg yolk, 1.33
• honey, 2 tsp
• all-purpose flour, 93.4g
• baking powder, 1.33 tsp
• milk, 1.33 tsp

Egg Wash:

• egg yolk, 1.33
• milk, 3.33 tsp

Directions:

Crust:

1. In a small bowl (#1), combine flour and baking powder.
2. In another bowl (#2), cream butter and sugar. Add egg yolks, milk, and honey.
3. Add bowl #1 to bowl #2.
4. Put dough in a plastic wrap in a "cigar-like shape" and refrigerate for 1-1.5 hour.
5. Cut into discs and apply the egg wash.
6. Make vertical and horizontal markings with a pastry scraper or a knife.

Dough:

1. Combine yeast, 1.33 tsp sugar, and milk in a small cup or bowl. Wait 15 minutes.
2. Add egg yolk and butter.
3. In another bowl, add flour, salt, and 1 tsp sugar. Mix. Add honey.
4. Knead for 20 minutes.
5. Let it rise for 1.5 hour in a butter-greased bowl.
6. After it has risen, punch out the air, knead, and let it rise for another 30 minutes.
7. Divide the dough in 8 balls on a cookie sheet.
8. Add crust and let it rise for 45 minutes.

After you apply the crust on top of the dough, bake for 350F for 11 minutes.

Done!

Strawberry Vanilla Pudding Pie

Strawberry Vanilla Pudding Pie

Walked down the baking aisle and decided to make pie! Who would've thought you could make quick and easy pie with instant vanilla pudding mix? It's actually pretty good and I couldn't help but go back for seconds and thirds. ;)

Ingredients:

• 1 packet of instant vanilla pudding & pie filling mix
• 2 1/2 cup 2% reduced fat milk (chilled)
• 9-inch rounded baking pan
• grounded graham crackers
• butter (melted)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven at 375F.
2. Combine graham crackers and melted butter. Press them onto a pie pan.
3. Bake the graham cracker crust pan at 375F for 7 minutes.
4. In a large mixing bowl, pour 2 1/2 cup milk and the pudding mix. Beat for 1 minute with a wire whisk.
5. Immediately pour into pie dish. 
6. Store in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Enjoy!

Banana Bread

Banana Bread

Everyone loves banana bread. It's the staple homemade bread found in many kitchens. It's quite easy to make compared to other types of bread because it has no leavening. All you need are a few bananas in addition to the ingredients for a simple quick-bread recipe. To make the most of this recipe, I recommend three or four bananas that are very ripe. The more ripe, the better. You want them to be almost completely black and mushy when touched (but not runny). This helps your bread have a strong banana flavor and a moist texture. Also, I used shortening in this recipe because I didn't have any butter, but I recommend butter for a richer taste. If you are aiming for extra moistness, read my tips section below. Enjoy. :)


Ingredients:

• 1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 eggs
• 2 ripe bananas (aged for at least 2 weeks) (using 3-4 bananas is recommended for added moistness!)
• 1/4 cup shortening, with 1/2 tbsp water (or 1/4 cup butter)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup vanilla almond milk

Directions:

1. Combine wet ingredients (eggs, shortening, water, bananas, vanilla extract).
2. Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, brown sugar, white sugar, cinnamon).
3. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
4. Bake for 350F for 20 minutes.
5. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and lower the temperature to 300F. Continue to bake for 25-30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Done!

Tips:

• For extra moistness, add more ripe bananas, sour cream, yogurt, or olive oil. Also, lower the temperature, increase the baking time, and put aluminum foil in early.
• Don't over-mix the batter or it'll become dry.
• Age the bananas longer for extra banana-y flavor! :)

Bread Baking

Cinnamon Rolls

Cinnamon Rolls Recipe

Lately, I've been turning my attention towards dough making! I want to learn how to make more bread and pastries, and being able to master the dough is crucial. The bread of any pastry can make or break it. I found a cinnamon roll recipe from silk.com, which this recipe is based upon. I did change a few things from the original recipe, by replacing the butter with shortening and water, and lowering the amount of white sugar. Also, the portions here are much smaller because I made mini cinnamon rolls. They might not look very small in the photo, but they're literally bite-sized! In the past 2 weeks, I've made 5 batches of cinnamon rolls. These turned out super moist and tasty!

Serving Size: 12 mini cinnamon rolls

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 12 min

Total Time: 2-2.5 hours

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup vanilla almond milk
• 2 tbsp shortening
• .75 tsp water
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1.5 tbsp white ultra fine sugar
• .75 tsp active dry yeast
• .125 tsp baking powder
• .125 tsp baking soda
• .125 tsp salt
• cinnamon
• brown sugar
• confectioner's sugar (optional, for the icing)
• milk (optional, for the icing)

Directions:

1. Microwave shortening, water, and almond milk for 1:30 minutes.
2. While it is microwaving, combine flour, sugar, and yeast in a medium sized mixing bowl. 
3. Once the wet ingredients are heated, slowly pour it in the dry ingredients while stirring.
4. Mix the ingredients until it forms a circular dough.
5. Knead for 8 minutes.
6. Grease the bowl and cover. Wait an hour to let it rise.
7. Add baking soda, baking powder, and salt to the mixture and mix well.
8. Roll out the dough in a rectangular shape and rub shortening, cinnamon, and brown sugar on top of it.
9. Roll dough to a cigar shape.
10. Cut into pieces with a knife or pastry cutter. (For mini cinnamon rolls, cut into 12 mini pieces.)
11. Let the rolls rise for 30 minutes.
12. Bake for 300F for 12 minutes. 
13. To prepare the (optional) icing glaze, combine confectioner's sugar and milk until it forms a thick liquid paste. Pour over the rolls.

Done!

Tips & Tricks:

• Make sure the shortening, water, and milk mixture isn't too hot! 
• Slowly pour the wet to the dry ingredients. If it's too hot and you pour it all at once, it will start to curdle and will take more time to form your dough.
• If it's hard to cut the rolls, freeze the rolled dough for 30 minutes before trying again.
• Also, it's much easier to cut the rolls if there are more layers within the cinnamon rolls.

Green Tea Macarons

Green Tea Macarons

Macarons are known to be one of the most difficult cookies to make. Not only are the ingredients difficult (and quite pricey) to find, but they are extremely finicky to bake. I recommend reading and watching as many how-to-make-macaron videos and articles you can find. One of the most helpful youtube videos are from chef Byron Talbott's, where this recipe is derived from.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium-large egg (room temp)
• 55g flaxmeal (or almond meal)
• 65g powdered sugar
• 20g baker's ultrafine white sugar
• matcha green tea powder
  
  
  

Directions:

1. Combine flaxmeal and powdered sugar in a medium sized mixing bowl through a sifter.
2. Mix the above with a wooden spoon.
3. In a separate mixing bowl, add egg whites and mix well for about 4 minutes. 
4. Add baker's sugar gradually and continue to mix for an additional 4 minutes. 
5. After the meringue forms stiff peaks, combine it with the previous bowl and mix well. 
6. Add matcha green tea powder.
7. Mix for 50-60 strokes with a rubber spatula.
8. Using a pastry bag, put the batter inside and make 1.5 inch shaped macarons on a baking tray. 
9. Tap tray and leave out for 30 minutes.
10. Bake for 10-11 minutes at a 300F degrees oven.

Done!

Tips:

-Do not substitute all-purpose flour into this recipe. If you must substitute, like I have, use a nutty grounded flour. Using all-purpose flour will result in regular sugar cookies, both in taste and texture. They won't have the macaron feet and will be completely flat. Another example besides flaxmeal is pistachio flour.

Seaweed Udon in Shrimp Soup Base

Seaweed Udon in Shrimp Soup Base

I love cooking meals that are simple and easy. Because who has time to cook fancy meals on a daily basis? This recipe is only two ingredients, and the total cost for the ingredients is roughly $1 or less!

Ingredients:

• 1 packet of Myojo shrimp flavored udon
• 1 packet of GimMe organic roasted teriyaki seaweed

Directions:

1. Boil water in a medium saucepan and add a pinch of salt
2. Once boiled, add udon and stir until the noodles are no longer bunched together.
3. Cook for 2-3 minutes.
4. Turn off stove.
5. Add soup base and mix well.
6. Pour udon and soup in a bowl and add seaweed.

Done!