This Sunday, i.e. tomorrow (Sep 6th), Chef Karen's Ham and Cheddar Cheese Muffin will make its debut!
In many delis, bakeries and coffee shops (Starbucks and others) across America, muffins are big! And they come in a huge array of colours, flavours and textures: choose from banana to blueberry, from chocolate chips to sunflower seeds to poppy seed. Savory muffins are increasingly popular and can be eaten for breakfast. Alternatively, they can be served for tea or as a simple meal with salad. Chef Karen created this very special Ham and Cheese Muffin for our readers.
Dear Annie and Club Members,
It was indeed a wonderful day at the Tapas tasting, but for me it is happiest to see Amy Doo so happy with the cake.
It has indeed been a very busy few days for me as, everything was quite last minute as we only got to know of Amy Doo's birthday last week, and then Annie and I had to come up with a design, I would have love to discuss more (you knowlar, me this Cake Craze Lady) but running out of time, we just had to make quick consultations and thanks to Catherine Doo, who we secretly went to. to get info on Amy's likes & dislikes. So we finally came up with the cake that we think that suits Amy's down-to-earth personality.
Dear Annie & Friends,
I was surfing the web the other day, and found a wagashi recipe in the following website: http://www.wretch.cc/blog/mitong/2289930
Intrigued by its pretty appearance, I made these beautiful golden pumpkin bun. Instead of using raisin, I used dried blueberry as the stem. You can check out the picture below. At first, I was thinking to make this for the next Cooking Club meeting. However, after tasting it, I found the bun too filling and a bit on the sweet side. It will take a lot of perfection before I can start serving it to friends.
This experience lit up my curiosity, and I have now started a quest to hunt down wagashi recipes. There is one website that shows how to make red bean paste using azuki beans (Japanese red beans), you can check it out here. http://www.wretch.cc/blog/rachel1688/3558377
This looks totally amazing to me.
Wagashi is really an art. I know it requires both diligent hands and creative mind, plus years of training to make these beautiful Japanese confectioneries. Hopefully, I can make some really tasty daifuku one day.
Cheers,
Ada
I went to the library this afternoon to try finding books on wagashi. I came across a Cantonese dim sum book, and it has this Pumpkin bun as well. The only difference is it uses 澄粉for the pastry. In addition, it shows the preparation of red bean paste as well. The steps are very similar as shown in the blog. It makes me wonder if this Golden Pumpkin bun is a Cantonese dim sum or a Japanese confectionery. 
Dear Annie & Friends,
After a whole week of baking and consuming bread plus other goodies from the baking class, I feel like having something healthier.
Just right after I baked the shortbread, I made a Blueberry Crumb Bar. This serves as a very handy snack, and I love the blueberry/lemon flavor.
I adopted this recipe from Smitten Kitchen, and made several changes. I would like to share this with you.
Crumbs:
140 grams brown sugar
2/3 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
6 oz cold butter
2/3 egg
a pinch of salt
Zest and juice of one lemon
Filling:
3 cups fresh blueberries (3 plastic boxes of blueberries from market)
4 tbsp brown sugar
3 teaspoons cornstarch
juice of one lemon
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 8×12 inch pan, and lined with parchment paper.
2. Crumbs: In a medium bowl, stir together sugar, flour, and baking powder. Mix in salt and lemon zest.
3. Wrap the cold butter between plastic, and hit it with a rolling pin until it is pliable. Break it into little pieces and add all of them into the flour mix in Step 2.
4. Rub in the butter, or you can use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter. Once the flour resembles coarse meal, add in the egg. Dough will be crumbly.
5. Pat half of dough into the prepared pan.
6. Prepare the filling in another bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently mix in the blueberries.
7. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust.
8. Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.
9. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown.
10. Cool completely before cutting into squares.
Hope you enjoy it!
Happy baking!
Ada
Basics (8)
