Pie Crust Manju

Are those chocolate-filled biscuits? Nope--pie crust manju!

It's no secret that Japan is teeming with a scrumptious selection of sweet treats: Portuguese-inspired castella cakes, chocolate-stuffed butter biscuits stamped with Hello Kitty and other epically cute animals, and decorative blocks of jelly-like yokan, just to name a few.

But if there's one Japanese dessert you've got to try, it's Pie Crust Manju.

Imagine biting into a tender, buttery bun made of crisp, flaky pie crust. You then discover a generous dollop of sweet red bean paste, or an, cleverly hidden in the middle. Smooth, yet grainy, the an offers a gentle sweetness that marries perfectly with the slightly salty pastry shell. It's a modest, unassuming dessert. And it's something foodies and newbies will both like. After all, what can be so bad about pastry crust packed with sweet filling?

Traditionally speaking, manju is a small steamed cake filled with red bean paste, a cousin of another Japanese classic dessert, mochi. In Hawaii, they like to change it up a bit by baking manju and even making manju filled with sweet potato.

The recipe I used is from an old KTA supermarket ad that my grandma cut from the paper years ago. I used to love the Pie Crust Manju from the KTA bakery when I was growing up, so I thought it was only fitting to try their recipe. It doesn't produce exactly the same results, but gosh darn it, is it ever good. If you've ever made any kind of Asian dumpling or bun (manapua, siu mai, etc.), then you can definitely make this.

The one change I suggest is increasing the size of your dough balls. Although the recipe instructs you to make them golf ball-sized, I followed this step and ended up with a lot of extra dough. The manju then proceeded to crack open in the oven because there wasn't enough crust surrounding the an. Sad, but nonetheless tasty. I also omitted the egg wash at the end of the recipe just because I didn't have any eggs in the fridge. It's a skippable step, but the beaten egg will add a nice glossy sheen to the manju. Enjoy!


Pie Crust Manju

1 lb. (4 blocks) butter
1/2 C sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
5 C flour
3/4 C condensed milk
1 pkg. Shirakiku Brand Koshian or Tsubushian, 17.6 oz. (sweet red bean paste)
1 egg yolk (beaten)

Cream butter and sugar. Mix dry ingredients and add alternately with condensed milk. Shape dough into ball, size of golf balls. Then flatten and using a spoon fill with Koshian or Tsubushian. Cover completely and pinch underside to seal. Brush manju with beaten egg yolk. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees (preheated) for 30-40 minutes or until slightly brown. Let cool.
Will make approximately 18-20 pieces.

Chocolate Cake Batter Cocktail

Chocolate milk in a fun glass? Nope, it's a chocolate cake batter cocktail!

As a little one growing up in my mother's kitchen, I spent a good chunk of my childhood measuring flour and sugar, mixing dough with a wooden spoon, spilling flour and sugar, and generally getting in my mom's way. We would always use these yellow and green Tupperware measuring cups and this beautiful cream-colored ceramic mixing bowl with pink and blue trim, which was passed down from my great-grandmother.

Learning to bake in my mom's kitchen!

Like any kid, however, I knew the best part about baking was licking the spoon once our cakes and cookies were in the oven. (These were the days before we all bit our nails over salmonella poisoning possibilities.) Now, as an adult, I'm able to resist the temptation to eat cake batter right out of the bowl. But that doesn't stop me from enjoying a good chocolate cake batter cocktail.

That's right...I said chocolate cake batter cocktail. It's love at first sip. Taking my inspiration from the Cake Batter Martini at How Sweet It Is, I mixed together a lovely little concoction made of rum, creme de cacao, heavy whipping cream, Godiva chocolate liqueur, and--you guessed it--UV Cake vodka! Pour it all into a dainty martini glass rimmed with cream cheese frosting and nonpareils, and you've got the answer to all of your sinful cravings.


Now, I must warn you--as sweet and cutesy as this liquid indulgence seems, it packs a heavy punch. Slurping and chugging are not advised, and please enjoy in moderation. Feel free to mix and match your flavorings, too--spiced rum with buttercream frosting and chocolate sprinkles, for instance. Here's my recipe so you can try it out and decide what your tastebuds like best:

Chocolate Cake Batter Cocktail

1 oz. rum
1 1/2 oz. UV Cake vodka
1 1/2 oz. creme de cacao
1/2 oz. Godiva chocolate liqueur
1 oz. heavy whipping cream
Frosting of your choice
Rainbow sprinkles or nonpareils

Generously fill cocktail glass with ice. Pour ice into cocktail shaker. Dab frosting around rim of glass using a small spoon or spatula. Pour sprinkles onto a plate or shallow dish and press frosted glass rim into sprinkles. Gently press sprinkles with your finger to ensure they stick. Pour remaining ingredients into cocktail shaker and shake together until the outside of the shaker condenses. Strain into cocktail glass.

Neapolitan Ice Cream Cookies

Seeing as we're sitting on the cusp of autumn, I've begun thinking about transitions--shutting off our water sprinklers for the winter, replacing our cotton bedspread with our puffy down comforter, and tidily tucking away our tank tops and shorts until the sun peeks out of clouds again. It's the perfect time to segue from ice-cold ice cream to warm, home-baked ice cream cookies, like these delicious Neapolitan Ice Cream Cookies!

Who wouldn't love a fresh batch of these colorful, yummy cookies, their three buttery layers dressed up with hints of chocolate and almond? Tender and chewy, Neapolitan Ice Cream Cookies are just what you need on those harsh winter days when you've got a sweet tooth, but it's just too darn cold for frozen treats. Plus, they're super easy--and fun!--to make. All you have to do is create a single cookie dough, split it in thirds, add the appropriate coloring, place the dough in nice, even layers, refrigerate, slice, and go! The dough can be made a day ahead and refrigerated until you're ready to bake. Kids of all ages are sure to "wow" at the tri-colored strata, making it an excellent choice for birthdays, holidays, or anydays!

Here's the link to the recipe, from Betty Shimabukuro's "By Request" column in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. I previously mentioned these cookies in my post about Italian Rainbow Cookies. Enjoy!

Zooper Cute Carousel Cake

Hey all! What's baking?

First of all, I apologize for the lack of updates--my summer has been crazy busy and chock-full of travel, work, and family events. Hopefully, this is the start of a more normal blogging routine.

Earlier this summer, we threw my adorable nephew a fantastic, fun-and-food-filled first birthday party. My in-laws prepared the majority of the main meal: cheesesteaks, hoagies, pizza, salad, etc. Luckily for me, I had the honor of baking the best little birthday boy ever his first little birthday cake ever!

I wanted my nephew's cake to be something cute, whimsical, and representative of all of the joys of turning one year old. After discovering these adorable cupcakes on my Betty Crocker recipe app, I knew exactly what I would bake: a giant carousel cake complete with rainbow sprinkles and adorable animal cracker figures!

My nephew celebrating with a slice of cake

I decided to wing it and recreate this edible merry-go-round on a larger scale using my favorite cake and frosting recipes, allowing for one white cake layer and one chocolate layer. However, any good cake and frosting combo will do (even store-bought or packaged mixes), so try this with strawberry, coconut, red velvet, or Funfetti cake and dress it up with chocolate or cream cheese frosting. The chocolate pudding layer can also be substituted with custard, extra frosting, or another pudding flavor.

 The sky truly is the limit with this super fun cake. I used plain Barnum's Animal Crackers for my creation, but it's more than OK to use iced animal crackers, animal-shaped cookie cut-outs, or even plastic animal figurines instead. Remember: carousels (and this cake) are meant to be fun and playful; let your creativity take over and shine.

Zooper Cute Carousel Cake 

Ingredients:

1 10-inch white cake

1 10-inch chocolate cake

1 3.75-oz. instant chocolate pudding

Frosting (any color)

1 2.125-oz. box animal crackers

Pretzel rods

1 C semisweet chocolate chips, melted

Multicolored sprinkles, jellybeans, chocolate-coated candies, or other decorative candies

Plastic drinking straws

10"x10" piece scrapbook paper

Place chocolate cake on cake tray or cake carrier. Prepare chocolate pudding according to package directions. Spread thin layer of pudding on top of chocolate cake (there will be extra pudding). Gently center white cake on top of pudding layer. Spread frosting over top and sides of entire cake. Gently shake sprinkles over top and sides.

That's the way the cake crumbles!

Open box of animal crackers and discard broken animal crackers. Arrange whole animal crackers on a clean baking tray face-down. Melt chocolate chips in microwave, about 1 minute. Working one at a time and using a small spoon, dab a small amount of melted chocolate onto the back of each animal cracker and immediately place a pretzel rod vertically onto the chocolate. Press gently to ensure pretzels stick firmly to chocolate. Let completely dry for 20-30 minutes.

Once animal figures are dry, arrange them in an evenly-spaced, circular pattern around the perimeter of the top cake layer. Animal faces should be facing the outside of the cake while the pretzel rods should be toward the center of the cake. Decorate with jellybeans, chocolate-coated candies, etc. as you wish.

Use a compass to draw as large a circle as possible on scrapbook paper. Cut out circle. Cut a slit into the middle of the circle. Fold paper into a cone/tent shape and tape together. Tape plastic straws to center and sides of paper tent. (These will be the "support beams" for the carousel tent.) Carefully place paper tent on top of cake, gently sticking straws deep enough into the cake so that the tent will not fall over.

Voila--you've got a zooper cute carousel cake!

My First Cake Sale!

I'm so excited, guys 'n' gals! I just sold my first pre-ordered, full-sized cake! It was a delectable devil's food cake with chocolate ganache and marshmallow cream filling for a woman who enjoyed my cupcake version of this sweet treat so much, she just had to have a larger version for her birthday.

 

I am very grateful for this opportunity to showcase my baking and get a little boost into the baking business. It makes me happy to know that my cake is being used for a special occasion and that in some small way, I may have brought a bit of joy to someone. Hopefully the cake was a hit and they'll be back for more! :)

Italian Rainbow Cookies

Hello fellow bakers and cakers!

Since I was a little kid delighting in bowls of Neapolitan ice cream in front of the TV, I've carried on a love affair with multicolored, layered desserts. Whether it's a refreshing yogurt parfait, a pretty diamond-shaped Girls Day mochi, or my mom's famous fruit trifle, I've always been enamored by the dainty, whimsical presentation of layered sweets.

And that is exactly why I have been dreaming of Italian Rainbow Cookies for months. These flashy petite treats contain all the goodness of almonds, dark chocolate, and fruit preserves baked into seven adorable layers, that, when stacked together, resemble the Italian flag. This unique combination of main ingredients makes for a complex and sophisticated cookie with a distinctly European flavor. It's the type of thing you can picture your archetypal Italian-American grandmother baking with love for family get-togethers.

So how did I sink my sweet tooth into this fanciful, half-cookie, half-cake, you ask? It all started when I was talking to my mom about the different desserts we bake fresh at T.O.P.S, and she suggested creating a "signature" dessert for which our restaurant could become known. Before I could say "Jumping Jellybeans!" Mom was mailing me all manner of sweet inspiration, both from local newspaper clippings and her own recipe collection.

One recipe for Neapolitan Refrigerator Cookies, cut from Betty Shimabukuro's "By Request" column in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, stood out in particular. Although this recipe was for a tri-colored slice-and-bake cookie, the column also mentioned a more elaborate, almond-fruit preserve cookie enrobed in melted chocolate.The idea stuck in my mind.

A few weeks later, I stumbled upon the lovely Italian Rainbow Cookie Cake on one of my new favorite blogs, Always Order Dessert. I was intrigued to learn that the blog's author, Alejandra Ramos, got her foot in the door of the baking business by selling dozens of these extraordinary cakes. My curiosity was piqued; this kind of stuff just had to be good.

I finally realized Fate was bringing me together with these awe-inspiring cookies when I re-opened my May 2011 issue of Bon Appetit ("The Italy Issue") and found yet another recipe for them! You can find their recipe for Italian Rainbow Cookies, which I ultimately used, here.

To tell you the truth, I was nervous about baking Rainbow Cookies. With all of the beautiful examples that had come before me, I had a lot to live up to. In between all of the mixing, melting, freezing, stacking, pressing, and my lone 9"x13" pan, I was also looking at an all-day baking project. And most of all, Steve, my primary taste tester, isn't much of a marzipan or almond extract person, so I wasn't sure he'd go wild for them. In the end, however, the cookies baked up splendidly and I had a blast! The cookies were dense and moist, with a slightly spongy texture and nice, even layers. Although I don't see myself making these glittery little gems on a regular basis, they might reappear in my kitchen over the holidays. As they say in the cooking world, it was love at first bite.

Boozey Baking: Kahlua-Vodka Cake (Black Russian Cake)

I have been in one big baking frenzy as of late, and it all began with one of the sweetest introductions I've ever had: someone recommended that Steve and I try the delectable new UV Cake. Manufactured by Minneapolis' own Phillips Distilling Company, UV Cake is a brand new white cake-flavored vodka that is as sensational as it is "sinsational." It smells just like a sweet piece of birthday treat--and tastes even better. As soon as I took a sip, I knew I had to bake with it.

UV Cake Vodka on the left and Kahlua on the right

Now here was the problem: being neither a connoisseur of premium liquors nor a heavy drinker, I'd never before done any boozey baking! My recipe collection was bare!

After receiving encouragement from my hubby and my friend Alysha over at loVeLySh, I started searching for a good vodka cake recipe online. There were recipes for White Russian Cakes and Harvey Wallbanger Cakes; there were recipes for fruit-flavored vodkas and for mixing vodka with chocolate chips. But my baking instincts said to keep looking, to find the perfect mix of ingredients that would place the UV Cake on center stage without masking the vodka's innate yumminess. That's when I found this outstanding little number from cdkitchen.com. Bellissimo!

This cake truly made me happy while I was baking it. (And no, it's not because I was drinking and baking!) It was so easy to prepare, I had little to no interruptions, and the ingredients were all close at hand. Besides, there's something simply wonderful about a heated glaze or frosting--like a rich, silky ganache for cupcake dipping or a mudslide of molten sugar cascading over a pan of crumbly cake doughnuts--that you simply don't achieve by beating powdered sugar and butter together for cold, fluffy cake topping.

The delicious

As the contents of my icing pot cooked and caramelized, their scrumptious scent wafted into the air, conjuring fond memories of old-time candy shops in places like Stillwater and Des Moines, watching mustachioed candymakers prepare belts of taffy and knock apart slabs of peanut brittle. I closed my eyes, placed a tiny sample of the icing on my tongue, and immediately tasted a harmonius blend of buttery toffee and spiked sugar that just blew me away.

The final verdict? Outstanding! While this cake may be a little strong for children and non-drinkers, it is beautifully soft, spongy, and a nice accompaniment to coffee or tea. Just as the cake and icing go together remarkably, so do the Kahlua and UV Cake (although any good vodka should do the trick). About a week later, the cake has kept surprisingly well in the fridge, so best of all, I can continue to share it with family and friends around me.