Category: Food
Taiwanese Pork Belly Rice Bowl (Lu Rou Fan-卤肉饭)- In Hog Heaven!

Taiwanese Pork Belly Rice Bowl (Lu Rou Fan-卤肉饭)- In Hog Heaven!

By | | Comments 0 Comment

Continuing my virtual traveling by cooking, I’m imagining myself in Taipei right now.  I have not been back to Taiwan in ages and yet I find myself thinking about Taipei and my visit so long ago.  Growing up in San Francisco the majority of Chinese are from Hong Kong and the Guangdong (Canton) region.  I was fortunate enough in college to spend a summer in Taipei (yes, on the Taiwan Love Boat Trip).  I sampled  Shao Lung Bao, Oyster Egg Omelets, Popcorn Chicken, Beef Noodle Soup, and Red Bean Shaved Ice while wandering around the night markets.  Everything was so delicious, different from Cantonese food, and yet familiar at the same time.

Bowl Food is Soul Food

If you have followed 3jamigos, you know I have an obsession with bowl food and eating with a spoon.  The Taiwanese dish Lu Rou Fan 滷肉飯 falls squarely in this category.  In fact, this iconic dish was the basis for Taiwanese Turkey Rice, a favorite bowl I posted around Thanksgiving.  Shreds of turkey garnished each bowl of Lu Rou Fan.  People liked the turkey garnish so much, it got its own gig, Turkey Rice, the spin-off.

Back to Lu Rou Fan.  Diced pork belly is braised in a soy sauce and sugar mixture seasoned with star anise, cinnamon, and aromatics like garlic, shallots, and ginger until it is melt-in-your-mouth tender.  To serve, place a generous scoop of the braised pork, half of a hardboiled egg, and greens on top of steamed rice.  Grab your spoon and dig in, bowl food is soul food.

After surveying different sites for Lu Rou Fan, my version is a mash-up of recipes I found.  The non-negotiables are pork, ginger, shallots, garlic, and a stock flavored with star anise, soy sauce, sugar, and rice wine.  Start with pork belly cut into approximately 1/3 inch slices then diced.  Thick slab pork belly can be found in most Asian grocery stores.  I also add ground pork to the diced pork belly for a saucier texture, like a ragu’.  Shiitake mushrooms are used to pump up the umami.  Dried shrimp is also a flavor booster (it’s optional; if you decide to use it, soak and finely mince it before adding).  I have mentioned my lack of affinity for star anise, so I use only one clove and add a cinnamon stick instead.  If you like star anise feel free to use two.  Last but not least…

Pull Out the Instant Pot!

The pressure cooker reduces the effort and time needed to make Lu Rou Fan, a win-win. Saute the pork, add the aromatics and liquid, and 30 minutes later, your Lu Rou Fan is ready for the finishing touches. How easy is that? Make this dish a day in advance to allow the flavors to meld and to chill the Lu Rou. Skim the solidified fat off before reheating and serving.

Finishing Touches

When the pressure cooker is done, release pressure and set the pot to saute’.  Bring the pork mixture to a boil, and reduce to the desired consistency OR if the sauce is not thick enough, add a cornstarch-water mixture to thicken. You want lots of sauce to drizzle on your rice so do not reduce too much.

The star of this dish is the succulent, saucy pork belly dancing on the main stage of rice but there are supporting actors.  Hard-boiled eggs often accompany Lu Rou Fan.  Boil, peel, and place eggs in the pork sauce after it has finished pressure cooking.  While the sauce thickens, the eggs will absorb the color and flavor of the pork.  The eggs will be hard-boiled, so for those who have come to love six-minute ramen eggs, this ain’t it.  Use soft-boiled instead of hard-boiled eggs to add to the sauce for a less-cooked egg.  Or cook six-minute eggs ramen style and use this in place of the hard-boiled eggs.  It’s your bowl of goodness, do what you want.  Serve with greens such as seasoned cucumbers, or steamed bok choy or broccoli.  Garnish with green onions and more fried shallots. YUMMY.

Print Pin

Taiwanese Pork Belly Rice (Lu Rou Fan)

Another Soul Food Bowl, made a little quicker in an Instant Pot. Braised pork belly seasoned with soy sauce, garlic, ginger, star anise and shallots. Delicious over rice or noodles. Comfort food.
Course Main Course, Meat
Cuisine Asian
Keyword Lu Rou Fan, Taiwanese Pork Belly Rice
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes

Equipment

  • Instant Pot

Ingredients

  • 1 lb skin-on pork belly diced into 1/3 inch pieces
  • 1/4 lb ground pork
  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil or shallot oil
  • 3 slices ginger
  • 2 tbsps shaoxing wine
  • 2 tbsps dark soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp regular soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup fried shallots or onions
  • 1 shallot, finely diced
  • 4 cloves garlic chopped (1.5 tbsp)
  • 1 star anise
  • 2-3 dried shiitake mushrooms soaked until mushrooms are softened, remove from water andnreserve soaking liquid, dice mushrooms
  • 1 tbsp dried shrimps chopped OPTIONAL
  • 1 stick cinnamon or 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 2 tbsp rock sugar or brown sugar (30gms rock sugar_
  • 2/3 cup hot water or reserved liquid from mushrooms
  • Soy sauce /salt to taste
  • fried shallots and green onions garnish
  • 2 eggs hardboiled or cooked Ramen style

Instructions

  • Turn on the "sauté" function of the pressure cooker, press "adjust" once to switch to "more" for browning.
  • Once the oil is hot, add pork belly and give it a stir so that it's not sticking to the bottom. Saute' just until pork belly starts to brown, add ground pork. Let pork cook until it loses its pinkness and the liquid evaporates.
  • Add ginger, shallot, garlic, saute briefly before adding soy sauces, Shaoxing wine, cinnamon, star anise, rock sugar, shiitake mushrooms, and fried shallots. Mix it well and add reserved mushroom liquid or hot water. Cover with the lid.
  • Turn on the "manual" function, set the timer to 25 minutes. Allow 10 minutes before release of pressure and opening. Skim off the fatty oil from the top.
  • If the sauce seems too thin, turn on the "sauté" function, and "adjust" to "more" to thicken and darken the pork belly. Saute to desired sauce thickness and color. Season with light soy sauce or salt to taste. Alternatively, taste sauce after opening the pot. If it has enough flavor but is thin, mix 1 tbsp cornstarch with 2 tbsp water. Add to mixture and bring to a boil to thicken sauce.
  • Ladle the braised pork over rice with some sauce. Top with an egg* and greens of choice. Garnish with green onions and more fried shallots.

Egg

  • Generally, eggs are hardboiled, peeled and added during cooking..which makes a very hard-boiled egg. I like ramen eggs or runny eggs
  • Boil eggs to just past soft boiled stage. See post for link to ramen eggs. Have eggs peeled and ready to go when pork is finished cooking. Add to pork and allow to sit in sauce until you are ready to serve. Cut eggs in half and place 1/2 in each bowl of rice.

Notes

Use skin-on pork belly as the skin becomes tender, juicy and flavorful after absorbing all the flavors from spices and soy sauce. 
Use leaner ground pork (e.g. pork shoulder) as a substitute if the pork belly is too fatty. But really, you don’t need a ton on your rice.  Reduce the cooking time accordingly.  
Mango Mochi Muffins Triple M Play

Mango Mochi Muffins Triple M Play

By | | Comments 1 comment

More Mochi Madness

One of the most popular posts on 3Jamigos is Muffin been the Mochi that Caught My Eye (Butter Mochi Muffins)  I stumbled upon the original recipe on Snixy Kitchen, a gorgeous site focused on gluten-free baking and cooking.  For good reason this recipe is popular, the muffins are chewy, dense, moist and delicious.  I decided I needed to expand my horizon and try different flavorings for the mochi muffins.  A quick search yielded an array of flavors folks have tried, ube, chocolate, and milk tea.

The Milk Tea Muffins from Match Berry Kitchen caught my eye.  I love Milk Tea, apparently, so do lots of people judging by the number of Boba places in the South Bay.  The proverbial Newton’s apple epiphany popped in my head, tea, mango, coconut, hmmm.  I thought Mango Sticky Rice, one of my favorite desserts, could I morph it into a mochi muffin?

Let’s Do This

I pulled out a box of Mango Tea I had bought in Seoul, freeze-dried mango chips from TJ’s, coconut milk and a box of Sweet Rice Flour.

The beauty of Mochi Muffins is they are REALLY easy to make.  A bowl, a spoon, or spatula, and you are in business.  You can crush the mango pieces with a rolling pin or drop it in a mini food processor or blender.  If you don’t have coconut milk you can use evaporated milk, or regular milk.  I like coconut milk, especially with mango.  I brewed a strong cup of mango tea, and combined it with coconut milk, butter, and egg.  By using mango tea, the flavor is very subtle, you could use mango juice or puree for a more pronounced flavor or fold in bits of fresh mango (baking time will be on the long side due to moisture from the fruit).  Add wet ingredients to the dry, stir a couple of times, done.  Literally, 5 minutes of prep and then into the oven.

The batter is pourable, use either a scoop or pour into buttered muffin tin cups.  Fill to within 1/8 inch from the top.  This will make approximately 8 muffins, not too many.  Garnish with coconut or with sesame seeds., both give an extra layer of texture. I used flaked coconut since I did not have shredded which I would have preferred.  Baking time is in the range of 32-35 minutes.  Shorter baking time insures a gooey, chewy texture while baking the muffins longer would make them cakier and less chewy.  Your choice.

Another gluten-free winner!

Print Pin

Mango Mochi Muffins

Course Breakfast, Dessert
Cuisine Asian-American
Keyword mango, Mochi, mochi muffin, muffin
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 cup of Mochiko sweet glutinous rice flour
  • 1/2 cup of golden cane sugar
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 2 tbsp ground freeze-dried mango
  • 2 tablespoons or 1/8 cup of unsalted butter and a bit extra for greasing the muffin pan
  • 3 Mango flavored teabags
  • ~ 1/2 cup of coconut milk reg or light
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 tablespoon of condensed milk
  • Muffin pan

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and grease the muffin pan with a little bit of melted butter
  • Steep tea bags in 1/2 cup of boiling water for 10 minutes then drain excess liquid from the tea bags and take them out
  • Add coconut milk until you have 3/4 cup of milk+tea.
  • Combine Mochiko, sugar, ground mango and baking powder in a large mixing bowl
  • In a separate bowl melt the unsalted butter then stir in the egg, condensed milk and coconut milk tea mixture, blend ingredients thoroughly.
  • Combine the dry and wet ingredients and whisk till the mixture has no lumps
  • Scoop or pour the mixture into the wells of the muffin pan
  • Bake in the oven for 32-35 minutes then remove and let cool for around 30 minutes before taking the muffins out of the pan

Notes

If you want the muffins to be sweeter, add more condensed milk
If you want the muffins to have a stronger tea taste, increase the number of tea bags for the steeping step
For a crispier bottom use a metal muffin pan or bake the muffins for longer
Mochi muffins are best stored at room temperature in an air-tight container or freeze and reheat.
For mango madness, add diced fresh mango to batter
Definitely try different flavors. For milk tea, use black tea bags, omit mango powder. There are an array of freeze-dried fruits available including raspberry, strawberry and blueberry.
Grilled Shrimp & Skirt Steak-Surf and Turf Time!

Grilled Shrimp & Skirt Steak-Surf and Turf Time!

By | | Comments 1 comment

The one consolation to the pandemic for us (which goes to show just how fortunate and entitled we are), my kids came home at various times for extended stays.  I’ll admit, having been empty-nesters for awhile, it took some adjusting but it was nice.  Despite finding ourselves falling back into the “parent-child” trap, conversations were much more introspective for all of us.

Surf and Turf

Dinner the night before the last J moved back to the City was a family favorite we haven’t done in quite awhile, a variation of Surf and Turf.  Grilled Rosemary Garlic Shrimp and Hoisin BBQ Skirt Steak.  Both are simple to make and delicious.

So the surf and turf started with skirt steak grilled on the bbq.  It’s so stupid easy I’ll just include the recipe here.  It is a one to one mixture of Hoisin Sauce and your favorite barbecue sauce.  Slather it all over the meat and allow to marinade for a couple of hours. That’s it.  You can pump it up with minced garlic and a bit of soy sauce if you like. Throw it on the barbie and grill to medium rare, done.  You could use Flat Iron, or Flank Steak (texture is pretty different though). Be forewarned, skirt steak is no longer an “economical” cut, yikes!

Shrimp Primer

In Asian cookery, leaving the shrimp shells on when cooking is a given.  My dad always told me to buy shrimp with the shells on, they taste fresher and more flavorful.  The shells seem to absorb the seasonings.  The way to eat them is to suck all the flavor off the shell-on shrimp and then peel the shrimp and eat it.  With deep-fried shrimp, you can actually eat the shells, it’s crispy, crunchy and delicious.  A favorite dish my dad would make, don’t chuckle, Ketchup Shrimp.  It’s roots are Cantonese. Shell on shrimp are stir-fried with aromatics like ginger and garlic and finished with Ketchup.  The flavor profile is sweet, salty, a hint of tart and it is quick and easy. I can remember happily munching on the shells, yums.  I bet these could be thrown on the grill too.

This grilled shrimp recipe is from Epicurious by way of the sadly defunct Gourmet magazine.  It’s been a favorite in our house for a long time, I think it will become a favorite in yours too.  

I deveined and removed the legs from the shrimp, leaving the shell and tail intact. The garlic is chopped and mashed with coarse salt and added to olive oil along with minced rosemary.  Please try to use fresh rosemary, its so fragrant or substitute fresh herb of choice like oregano, thyme, lemon zest and smoked paprika.

Allow the shrimp to marinade for 4-6 hours.  The beauty of this dish, you can make it year-around!  In the summer, throw it on the barbecue.  In the winter, like NOW, I use a stove top pan and grill 3-4 minutes a side until the shrimp turns color.  Serve with lemon wedges.  Good and easy.

Print Pin

GRILLED ROSEMARY GARLIC SHRIMP

Delicious and easy recipe for grilled shrimp
Course Appetizer
Cuisine American
Keyword garlic, Grilled shrimp, rosemary
Prep Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup finely chopped garlic mashed to a paste with 1 teaspoon coarse salt
  • 2 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary leaves plus sprigs for garnish
  • 16 shrimp about 10-16 per pound jumbo or large
  • lemon wedges as an accompaniment
  • 3 tbsp olive oil plus oil for brushing shrimp

Instructions

  • In a large bowl stir together garlic, minced rosemary, and 3 tablespoons oil and add shrimp. Marinate shrimp, covered and chilled, at least 4 hours.
  • To grill, thread 4 shrimp on each skewer and brush with additional oil. Grill shrimp on an oiled rack, set about 5 inches over glowing coals, 3 to 4 minutes on each side, or until just cooked through.
  • Alternatively, grill in a hot well-season ridged grill pan, covered, over moderately high heat 3 to 4 minutes on each side, or until cooked through.
  • Garnish shrimp with rosemary sprigs and serve with lemon wedges.

Notes

If grilling outdoors, thread shrimp on skewers. The original recipe calls for putting shrimp on skewers, that's too much work for me!
Substitute herbs- use oregano or thyme, smoked paprika, 
For an Asian flavor profile mince garlic and ginger and add basil or cilantro.

Enjoy!
Red Cooked Pork 红烧猪肉, Sweet Relief

Red Cooked Pork 红烧猪肉, Sweet Relief

By | | Comments 2 comments

This post has been sitting on the back burner for a while, the majority of the time because I kept tinkering with the recipe.  The other reason for its relegation, Jamie and I have been on a tear baking cookies and desserts for the holidays.  It was time to circle back to this post-take a breather from all things sweet.  So here it is, a post on one of my favorite dishes, Red Cooked Pork

I grew up eating Chinese food 5-6 days a week.  Every meal more often than not featured pork.  Ground pork was steamed into a delicious patty with salted egg or simmered in soups.  Slices of pork were stir-fried with greens or with tofu and brown bean sauce for a quick meal.  Every Chinatown deli strategically displays a whole pig, slow-roasted to perfection, it’s amazing-crunchy, crackly skin and succulent, juicy, tender meat enticing shoppers into the store.  It goes toe to toe with any southern barbecued pork.  I make my own Crispy Roasted Pork, it’s not hard and not to worry, you don’t have to roast an entire pig! Yes, pork is king in Chinese cuisine.

Why pork?

The pragmatic, economical choice.  Pigs eat almost anything and don’t require grazing land, important in an agrarian society like China.  Pork can be steamed, boiled, baked, braised, fried, roasted-probably the only thing we don’t do is make it into ice cream-not surprising for lactose intolerant Asians.  Almost every part of the pig is used or consumed.  Ears, feet, snout, are pickled, braised, or fried.  The fat is turned into lard, the blood is congealed and eaten…you get the picture.

And the obvious answer, it’s DELICIOUS.

I am hooked on Chinese Red Cooked Pork which uses pork belly.  Now, don’t go Ewww, what do you think bacon is?  Yep, thin slices of pork belly given a nifty name so jillions of people will eat it.  Asian dishes often use pork belly in uncut slabs, in thick slices, cubed or diced.  Red Cooked Pork is a classic dish, every Sichuan family passes down grandma’s recipe for Red Cooked Pork or 红烧猪肉.  My go-to recipe comes from a favorite cookbook, A Common Table.

The easiest place to find pork belly is at your local Asian markets.  In particular, Chinese markets carry ALL things pork.  The pork belly is butchered into thick slabs-with or without skin, or into thin, medium, thick, or super thick slices.  Korean markets also offer a variety of pork belly cuts to grill, stir-fry, or braise.

I could be wrong but there really isn’t a Cantonese version of Red Cooked Pork.  Versions of red-cooked pork can be found in  Sichuan,  Shanghai, and Hunan where Chairman Mao’s Red Cooked Pork with chili peppers and aromatics is iconic.

The Tinkering Begins

If I am making Red Cooked Pork for buns (bao) to be eaten like a sandwich, I use the wide thick slices.  For rice bowls and noodle bowls, I like cubed or diced pork belly.  Either way, the KEY is long, slow cooking.  You can’t cut corners or the meat will not be meltingly tender.  Keep vigil over the braising liquid, adding water if needed.  There is a point where the meat will seem tender but dry and paradoxically you need to cook it longer to breakdown the fibers so the meat gives up and becomes this oozy delicious bite. That is pork-fection.

I’m not a big star anise fan, so I only use 1-star anise and add a cinnamon stick in place of additional star anise.  Feel free to play with the amounts.  The recipe calls for granulated or raw sugar, I prefer rock sugar.  I searched for an equivalence and all I found is a one-inch piece of rock sugar is approximately 1 tablespoon of sugar.  Crushed into smaller pieces, that 1 inch chunk was about 1.5 tablespoons of rock sugar.

Caramelize the pork in the sugar water mixture.  Add aromatics, soy sauces, water, and braise for 1.5 to 2 hours until pork is tender.

Serve over rice and with greens such as poached lettuce or bok choy.

Red Cooked Pork Belly, Sesame Slaw, and Gochujang Mayo for my Asian version of a BLT Burger.  How did I not win our annual burger cook-off?

Print Pin
5 from 1 vote

Red Cooked Pork adapted from A Common Table

Iconic Chinese Dish, Red Cooked Pork is pork belly slowly braised in soy sauce, sugar and aromatics until meltingly tender. Delicious over rice or in bao.
Course Main Course
Cuisine Asian
Keyword braised, Chinese, easy recipe, Pork Belly, red cook pork
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 3 hours

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds pork belly or pork shoulder cut in 3/4- to 1-inch (2- to 2.5-cm) chunks
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar substitute rock sugar 3 tablespoons (50-75 gms) or to taste
  • 2 tbsp water to caramelize sugar
  • 2-3 cups water for braising liquid
  • 3 to 4 scallions cut on the diagonal into 2-inch (5-cm) lengths (about 1/4 cup sliced)
  • 3 to 4 garlic cloves smashed, or 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 1 inch piece ginger root sliced into 6 to 8 circles
  • 1 whole star anise 0-3 pods, your choice
  • 1 stick cinnamon
  • 1/3 cup Shaoxing rice wine dry sherry, or sake
  • 3 tablespoons light or thin regular soy sauce 生抽, NOT low sodium
  • 3 to 4 teaspoons dark soy sauce 老抽

Instructions

  • Bring a large pot of water to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the pork and gently boil for about 10 minutes, skimming off any scum as it forms on top of the water. Drain the pork and rinse to remove any remaining scum.
  • In a large wok or cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat, combine the sugar and 2 tablespoons water and stir until it dissolves. Tilt the wok or skillet to swirl the mixture, without stirring, just until it bubbles and begins to turn slightly darker in certain spots, 4 to 5 minutes. Be sure to watch it carefully so that the sugar doesn’t burn as the sugar can turn from brown to black in seconds.
  • Add the pork and cook it with the caramelized sugar, stirring frequently, until the pork is browned and smells fragrant, about 4 minutes.
  • Add the scallions, garlic, ginger, star anise and cinnamon, toss for 1 to 2 minutes to give the aromatics a quick cook. Add the rice wine, both soy sauces, and enough water to cover the pork, about 2 to 3 cups. Stir to combine and then cover and ever-so-gently simmer the pork over low heat until tender for approximately 2 hours. Stir every 15 to 20 minutes to prevent scorching and to make sure there is still enough liquid. Add water if the level gets too low.
  • Once the pork is tender, take a look at the cooking liquid. If you prefer a thicker sauce, transfer the pork to a plate, return the heat to medium-high, and simmer, uncovered, until the sauce reduces to the desired consistency, 10 to 15 minutes. Be careful not to reduce the sauce too far as you’re going to want enough sauce to go over the pork and rice. Taste the sauce and, if desired, adjust with more soy sauce or sugar. Spoon the pork and sauce over rice.
  • Serve over rice. Place pork on top of rice and drizzle a small bit of sauce over the cubes.

Pork Buns

  • Cut pork belly into 1-4 to 1/2-inch thick slices approximately 2-2.5 inches in width instead of cubes. Proceed with braising instructions.
  • Serve sliced pork with steamed Chinese buns. Garnish with green onions and cilantro.
Grocery Store Cookies! Sprinkle a Little Holiday Cheer

Grocery Store Cookies! Sprinkle a Little Holiday Cheer

By | | Comments 1 comment

My favorite holiday cookie of the season is Eric Kim’s  (check out his site, wonderful essays,  beautiful writing) Lofthouse Style Grocery Store Cookie.  It’s surprising since I am not a fan of those ubiquitous cookies with the toothachingly sweet, artificial tasting frosting and eye-popping sprinkles.  But his homemade rendition looked so appealing, I had to try them.

Eric’s homage to the grocery store cookies is part of NYTcooking’s week-long video series on Holiday Cookies.  He takes the concept of the grocery store cookie and creates a small-batch, no preservatives, all-butter, cream cheese, tender cakey-cookie topped with a sweet, slightly tart raspberry buttercream.  The only resemblance to the supermarket cookie is the sprinkles on top!

These cookies are simply DIVINE

The directions are straight forward and if your ingredients are at room temperature, a bowl and a wooden spoon are all you need to make these cookies. How easy is that?  But you can be lazy like me and use your stand mixer, especially for the frosting.

Though hand mixing the dough is very doable, if time is short, go ahead and bust out your Kitchen Aid mixer.  Combine cake flour and baking powder in a small bowl and set aside.  Cream butter, cream cheese, salt, and sugar at medium speed until fluffy.  Add the eggs and vanilla extract (yes, 1 tablespoon) and beat mixture on medium for approximately 1 minute to aerate and incorporate sugar.  Reduce mixer speed to stir or low setting and add flour mixture.  Mix just until flour is incorporated.  The dough will be very very soft. Toss the bowl into the fridge for 15 minutes to chill the dough so it is easier to scoop.

Use a two-tablespoon ice cream scoop to measure out the dough.  Scoop all of the dough and place it on a pan that will fit in your freezer.  Place the pan in the freezer to chill the dough (min 10-15 minutes).  Do not skip this step, makes the dough much easier to work with, keeps it from spreading, and gives the flavors time to meld.

Frosting Goodness

While the dough is in the freezer, make the frosting.  Freeze-dried fruit is the magic that provides both color and flavor to the frosting- it is this tweak that provides the spark in this cookie.  The recipe calls for raspberry but strawberry, blueberry or mango freeze-dried fruit would work. I like raspberry not just for flavor but for color, it gives the frosting a hot pink happy glow.  Freeze-dried fruit can be found at Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, and Target.  Grind the fruit into a powder in a mini food processor or place in a Ziploc bag and use a rolling pin to pulverize it.  Sift to strain the seeds out of powder.  The frosting is sweet, tart, and fruity, just delightful.

Combine the softened butter, fruit, vanilla, salt, and sugar in a mixing bowl.  Blend on low speed until the ingredients are mixed together then increase the speed to high and beat until light and fluffy, a couple of minutes, and about double in volume.  Set aside.

Take the cookies out of the freezer and roll them into balls (eminently doable thanks to freezing). Place each ball on a parchment-lined cookie sheet 2-3 inches apart.  If the dough gets too soft or sticky to work with,  return it to the freezer.  Flatten each to approximately two inches in diameter and one-inch thickness.  Bake 13 to 15 minutes or just until the edge starts to color, don’t over bake.  You will be rewarded with a tender, buttery, light cakey-cookie with a wonderful vanilla punch.

The Finale:  Cookie + Hot Pink Frosting x Sprinkles = Happy

Swirl a generous amount of the frosting on each cookie and then SPRINKLE-FY each one.  These cookies are so indescribably good, put them on your BAKE THESE COOKIES list now. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the 2020 Holiday Cookie Box!

Print Pin

Eric Kim's Grocery Store Cookie

Remember Lofthouse Cookies from the Supermarkets? Every little league game, school bake sale featured those sprinkle adorned, frosting laden, cakey cookies in the plastic trays. Imagine a homemade, luscious, delicious, version.
Course cookies
Cuisine American
Keyword Grocery Store Cookie, Lofthouse Cookie, sprinkles, Supermarket
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes

Equipment

  • Small sheet pan that will fit in your freezer I have a side by side so sadly a regular-sized cookie sheet will not fit
  • Cookie sheets
  • 2 Tablespoon Ice cream scoop #40 the size of the scoop will be on it somewhere! Sometimes on the handle or the rim of the scoop, even on the little thing-a-ma-jigger that pushes the dough out of the scoop

Ingredients

Cookie

Da Dry Stuff- Combine in small bowl and set aside

  • 2 ¼ cups cake flour (285 grams)
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder

Da Wet Stuff

  • ½ cup unsalted butter (115 grams) 1 stick, at room temperature
  • 3 ounces cream cheese (85 grams) at room temperature
  • 1 cup granulated sugar (200 grams)
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt
  • 2 large eggs at room temperature
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Frosting

  • 1 cup freeze-dried raspberries (30 grams) finely ground in a food processor or spice grinder
  • 1 cup unsalted butter (225 grams) 2 sticks, at room temperature
  • 2 cups confectioners’ sugar (245 grams)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Pinch of kosher salt

Da Bling

  • Multi-colored Sprinkles Happy dust!

Instructions

  • Make the cookies: In a large bowl, using a spoon, cream the butter, cream cheese, sugar and salt until smooth and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla extract, and whisk to incorporate some air and to dissolve the sugar crystals, about 1 minute. Stir in the flour and baking powder until just incorporated.
  • Heat oven to 350 degrees and line two rimmed sheet pans with parchment paper. Using two spoons or a cookie scooper, plop out 2-tablespoon/50-gram rounds spaced a couple of inches apart. (You should get about 7 to 8 cookies per sheet pan.) Place the sheet pans in the freezer for 15 to 20 minutes until the dough is no longer sticky and easier to handle.
  • While the dough chills, make the frosting: In a fine-mesh sieve set over a medium bowl, sift the ground raspberries, using a spoon to help pass them through, until most of the ruby-red powder is in the bowl and most of the seeds are left behind in the sieve. (Discard the seeds.)
  • To the bowl, add the 1 cup butter, confectioners’ sugar, vanilla extract and salt and, with an electric hand mixer, mix on low speed until the butter absorbs the sugar. Then, turn the speed up to high and beat until the frosting doubles in size, about 2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula to ensure all the ingredients are incorporated. Transfer the frosting to a small container, cover tightly, and set aside. (You should have about 2 cups of frosting.)
  • Remove the sheet pans from the freezer. Roll the chilled dough into even balls and flatten them slightly with your fingers so they’re about 2 inches wide and 1 inch high. Bake the cookies for 13 to 15 minutes, rotating the pans and switching racks halfway through, or until they no longer look wet on top, are still light in color and spring back to the touch. They will puff up and crack slightly. Let cool completely on the sheet pan. (They will continue to cook as they sit.)
  • Using a butter knife or offset spatula, frost each cooled cookie with the raspberry frosting and adorn with the sprinkles.
Pineapple Pockets to the Rescue-Pining for a Cookie

Pineapple Pockets to the Rescue-Pining for a Cookie

By | | Comments 1 comment

There are a couple of baking books that are my go-tos for cookies, especially during the holidays, like Rose Levy Berenbaum’s Christmas Cookies, Alice Medrich’s Cookies and Brownies and Flo Bracker’s Sweet Miniatures.  I find myself reaching for Sweet Miniatures when I want an elegant, fancy cookie. Yes it will probably require a bit more effort than drop cookies, but it’s Christmas, when else are you going to pull out all the stops?

Pineapple Cakes from Taiwan inspired me to make the Pineapple Pockets from Sweet Miniatures.  Taiwanese Pineapple Cakes are little bite-sized squares of pineapple jam cloaked in a sweet, buttery pastry crust.  I’m obsessed with these little cake-like cookies.  My introduction to these treats came years ago when a friend returning from a trip to Taipei brought back Te Chia Pineapple Cakes. It was love at first bite.  The sweetness from the pineapple offset by the buttery shortbread crust…needless to say, I was smitten.  I casually mention pineapple cakes to every friend that goes back to Taiwan while giving them my best wistful look.

While these Pineapple Pockets are more complicated than your average drop cookie, the resemblance to Taiwanese Pineapple Cakes put these on my must-bake holiday cookie list. The process begins with  making a caramelized pineapple jam then a pastry dough. The dough is rolled and cut into circles, dotted with the jam, and then shaped into cones.  Labor-intensive, but in the end, you are rewarded with a meltingly tender cookie highlighted by the dollop of golden, caramelized pineapple preserves. They are absolutely delicious and well worth the effort.  But most importantly, they are delicious enough to satisfy my Pineapple Cake craving. Now I don’t have to wait for friends to take pity on me and bring them back from Taiwan!

The jam is made first and set aside to cool. I added 1/2 tsp of vanilla to the jam and a pinch of salt to enhance the flavor.   Make the dough, chill it, then roll it into a circle. The dough should be about 1/8-3/16 inch thickness. Use a 2 inch round cutter for the circles.  Your best friend is your refrigerator.  If the dough gets soft or sticky during the process, put it back in the fridge to chill. This will make it easier to handle.

Position the jam off-center.  Using a butter knife or thin blade spatula, flip the edge closest to you over the jam.  Angle your spatula on the opposite side and flip towards you, overlapping with the first.

Ta-da, ready to bake!  Sprinkle powdered sugar on the finished cookies for a festive look.  In a pinch, you could use jarred preserves, make sure whatever you use is not too runny or thin.

Print Pin

Pineapple Pockets

Flo Bracker's delicious Pineapple Pockets. Caramelized Pineapple Jam encased in a buttery, tender pastry and shaped into a cone.
Course cookies
Cuisine American
Keyword cookies, flo bracker, holiday cookies, Pineapple cakes, Pineapple Pockets
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 14 minutes

Ingredients

Dough

  • 6 ounces unsalted butter, room temp 1-1/2 sticks
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar 50gms
  • 1/2 cup unsifted powdered sugar 50gms
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1-2/3 cup unsifted all-purpose flour 235gms

Pineapple Filling

  • 2 tbsp water
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar 65gms
  • 8-ounce can crushed pineapple in natural juice
  • 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter

Instructions

  • In bowl of mixer, cream butter at medium low speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Beat in sugars at medium speed until creamy. Add egg yolks, one at a time, then vanilla, beating until well combined and slightly fluffy. Scrape down the sides of bowl. Lower mixer speed, and gradually add flour and mix just until it is combined.
  • Gather dough into a disc and chill 15-30 minutes. Divide dough in half and on parchment or wax paper, roll each piece into a circle. approximately 11 inches in diameter and 1/8 inch thick. Transfer to a baking sheet, cover top with parchment and refrigerate until firm about 2 hours.

Pineapple filling

  • In a medium saucepan, combine water and sugar over low heat. Swirl occasionally and wash down any sugar crystals that form on the side with a brush dipped in cold water to dissolve them. Increase heat to medium-high and cook without stirring until sugar thickens and turns amber in color about 8 minutes. Take it off the heat and add crushed pineapple and juice all at once. Careful as mixture will bubble up. Stir to combine and return the pan to stove and cook over med-high heat until mixture is golden and syrupy. Remove from stove and stir in butter. Place in bowl and set it aside to cool.

Putting It All Together

  • Preheat oven to 325
  • Remove one piece of dough, peel off parchment. Put parchment back on dough and flip dough over and peel off bottom parchment.
  • Use a 2 inch round cookie cutter cut out circles and place on lined baking sheets. Place 1/2 teaspoon of cooled jam off-centered on circle. Fold over one edge of dough over jam, then overlap the opposite edge at an angle to form a cone. See pics.
  • Bake one sheet at a time, for 12-14 minutes until edges ar light golden.
  • Remove from oven and place on wire rack to cool for 5 minutes. Lift cookies off and place directly on cooling rack.
  • Sprinkle with powdered sugar. optional)
  • Store at room temp for up to 10 days.

The 2020 Holiday Cookie Tin
Jest Jammin’ (Christmas Cookies)

Jest Jammin’ (Christmas Cookies)

By | | Comments 0 Comment

I remarked to hubby the other day, “I ‘ve been pretty bad about baking holiday treats the last few years, huh”.  It was a rhetorical question as I pulled out more than a few jars of expired jams.  I love filled cookies-Thumbprints, Linzer bars, Raspberry Oaties so I have a penchant for stocking up on “stuff” like preserves, sprinkles, holiday cupcake liners…in preparation for the holiday season.

Somehow I curtailed my cookie baking tradition a “few” years ago.  Homemade granola and Candied Spiced Pecans were so much easier.  I finally resurrected the cookie baking last year.  I eased my way back with an assortment of slice and bake cookies (check out my index for slice and bakes!) but this year, as I guiltily tossed several jars of raspberry preserves, I exclaimed…

JAM IT, I’m baking filled cookies this year!

So without further ado, here is the line-up for this year’s holiday cookie jam-stravaganza.

Cranberry Cherry Ribbon Cookies– Sweet-tart cranberry cherry jam sandwiched between buttery shortbread.  I hope Nancy Baggett doesn’t mind, I construct these cookies differently than in her All American Cookie Book- this one is for you, Joe B. (Recipe link soon!)

Raspberry Cheesecake Thumbprints– Good, but I’d make my Thumbprints instead if you like walnuts, or Emeril’s Thumbprints that have a hint of citrus. Yummers.

Dorie’s Jammers – filled with recently bought jams (strawberry, peach and cherry) from Sunblest Orchards. Dorie, my baking hero.

Pineapple Pockets – Flo Bracker’s Sweet Miniatures.  Buttery, melt-in-your-mouth cookie with a little scoop of caramelized pineapple jam.  Mele Kalikimaka!

Not jam-filled but a holiday imperative I make these

Eric Kim’s Grocery Store Cookie– These cookies make me happy!  I don’t even like the supermarket ones, but these?  Make them now, you’ll thank me.   A soft, tender cake-like vanilla cookie with hot pink raspberry frosting-SO DELICIOUS. Here is his video on making these little smiles. Recipe with my notes posted thru link.  Shhh, don’t tell NYT cooking.  I subscribe-it’s all good.

Traditional Scottish Shortbread-because it’s my favorite and if I’m making cookies, I’m making these.  Looks are deceiving, they are scrumptious.

Pecan Tartlets-not a jam but it is a filled cookie and oh so good. Hubby would disavow me if I didn’t make them.

Yes, this is my holiday cookie run-down.  Any of these would make an awesome sweet treat to ring in the New Year, kick 2020 to the curb and usher in 2021.  But don’t just bake them during the holidays, make them for Ground Hog Day, Valentine’s Day, MY birthday, YOUR birthday, because it’s Tuesday. Anytime you want to make someone smile.  Jamie made Sally’s Baking Addiction Best Sugar Cookies for the delicious beauties below!

Or For A Great Cause!

Happy Holidays
Peanut Butter Miso Cookies -Kool, Bake Me Some of that Funky Stuff

Peanut Butter Miso Cookies -Kool, Bake Me Some of that Funky Stuff

By | | Comments 0 Comment

Always on the lookout for cookies with a twist, I came across these cookies in New York Times Cooking.  There I was nonchalantly scrolling through my feed when it popped up on my screen PEANUT BUTTER MISO COOKIES.  Say what?  Miso?  In a cookie?  Like a lot of folks, I have had Miso Soup, but in a cookie? I was intrigued.

This is essentially a  peanut butter cookie that sneaks in miso paste to add umami. It will have your cookie tasters guessing…what’s that yummy salty, edgy flavor? A cookie with a twist, something different but familiar.

Miso Primer

Before getting to the recipe, let’s talk about Miso.  Miso is made from soybean that has been fermented with Koji, (the fungus Aspergillus oryzae).  It is a cornerstone of Japanese cuisine.  It adds a salty, earthy flavor to soups, marinades, and salad dressings.  There is white miso or Shiro Miso, red miso or Aka Miso and mixed miso or Awase Miso (red and white).  White miso is mild and sweet while red miso is aged longer and develops a much saltier, earthy taste, and is darker in color.  Awase. Miso is a blend of both red and white miso.  Shiro Miso is the most popular, so if you had to pick just one, this is the way to go. Try Hikari White Organic Miso which can be found in most Japanese stores.  Miso Honey Ribs, and Japanese Cha Siu from No Recipes both use white miso and are really delicious.

These cookies follow the standard cookie-making process.  Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add white miso and peanut butter and cream mixture again, add egg and vanilla and stir in flour.  Pop the dough into the fridge to chill for about 15 minutes.  The dough will firm up and be easier to handle.  Use a 2 tablespoon ice cream scoop (#30-#36) to scoop out portions of dough, and hand shape to form a nice smooth ball.  Roll cookies in Demerara sugar or raw sugar which provides a nice crunch.  Place on a baking sheet.

The KEY to this recipe, let the cookie dough rest.  Put it in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours to allow the miso to mellow.  The longer you let it rest the mellower the miso gets.
A great addition to these cookies would be white chocolate chips to compliment the miso or butterscotch chips.

Pan Rapping

A trick from Sarabeth’s baking book.  When the edges of the cookies are just beginning to set and the centers puff up, reach in the oven, lift the cookie sheet up, and rap or drop it on the rack.  This will cause the cookies to deflate and create those characteristic cracks.  Bake until the edges are set.  Yes, the precursor to pan banging cookies.

The sweet, salty, earthy flavor of these cookies pairs well with a nice cup of tea.  The edge is crispy, the center is chewy and every bite has a nice crunch from the sugar.  It’s different, it’s delicious, and a great addition to any holiday box of treats.

Print Pin

Peanut Butter Miso Cookies

A sweet, salty, earthy, crispy-edged, cookie with a chewy center and a miso twist. Delicious!
Course cookies
Cuisine American, Asian-American
Keyword Peanut Butter Miso Cookie
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour 225 grams
  • ¾ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ½  cup unsalted butter (1 stick), at room temperature 115 grams
  • 1 cup light brown sugar 220 grams
  • ½ cup granulated sugar 100 grams
  • ⅓ cup white miso paste 80 milliliters
  • ¼ chunky peanut butter 60 milliliters
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
  • ½ cup 105 grams Demerara sugar, plus more as needed
  • 2/3 cup white chocolate chips or butterscotch chips optional

Instructions

  • In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda and baking powder, and whisk until incorporated. Set aside.
  • In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix butter, light brown sugar and granulated sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
  • Add miso and peanut butter to the mixing bowl, and continue to mix at medium speed, about 1 minute. Scrape down sides of the bowl to make sure all of the ingredients are evenly incorporated, and mix a bit more if needed. Add egg and vanilla extract, and mix until just combined.
  • Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the mixing bowl, and mix on low speed until flour mixture is incorporated. Repeat with remaining flour mixture in two batches until all of it is incorporated.
  • Place 1/2 cup Demerara sugar into a small bowl. Scoop out a ball of dough (about 50 grams per cookie-use a 2 T ice cream scoop), and roll each portion between your hands until it is nice and round. (If the dough is too soft to roll, you can pop the mixing bowl in the refrigerator for 5 to 10 minutes to firm the dough up slightly.) Roll the piece of dough into the bowl of Demerara sugar and turn to coat. Transfer each ball to a parchment-lined baking sheet, arranging them about 3 inches apart. Repeat with all of the dough.
  • Refrigerate for 2 hours and up to overnight. (Even 15 minutes of refrigerator time will help the dough firm up, and the flavors meld. The longer the dough is refrigerated, the more mellow the flavors will be.)
  • When ready to bake, heat oven to 350 degrees. Bake cookies for about 15 minutes, until crisp at the edges and slightly puffed in the middle. They should still be a bit underdone in the center. Pull out the baking sheet and hit it against a counter. Place back into the oven to finish for about 3 to 4 minutes. When cookies are firm at the edges and slightly puffed in the center, pull them out and again hit the baking sheet against the counter. The cookies should appear flat and crinkly at the center.
  • Let the cookies cool on a baking sheet for a few minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. Store fully cooled cookies in an airtight container; they should retain their chewy texture for a few days.
The Trifecta Cookie-Neopolitan Cookie

The Trifecta Cookie-Neopolitan Cookie

By | | Comments 2 comments

As a kid, I  loved Neopolitan Ice Cream Sandwiches.  I mean who didn’t?  It was like getting three different flavors of ice cream all at once AND a chocolate cookie.  Dessert Jackpot.  I would eat my ice cream sandwich slowly, savoring every bite. By the last bite, rivulets of ice cream would be running down my hand and arm.    A favorite childhood treat…

…that went long forgotten until I came across the Neopolitan Cookie in Sarah Kiefer’s 100 Cookies book.  Her Neopolitan Cookies shot to the top of the Gotta Make It Bucket List as soon as I saw them.

A while back we made Irvin Lin’s  Strawberry and Cream Cookies, from Marbled, Swirled, and Layered.  They were delicious, but a lot of work including melting chocolate and making two different doughs, hai-yah.  The beauty of Sarah Kiefer’s Neopolitan Cookies is it’s not that much more effort for a showstopper cookie.  These cookies start with just one dough, a sugar cookie dough.  It is then divided into thirds, freeze-dried strawberry powder is added to one portion and cocoa powder to another.  Boom, done.  It is helpful to have a scale to divide the dough into thirds.  I love my scale.

You can find freeze-dried berries at Trader Joe’s, feel free to use raspberry instead of strawberry.  Dutch-process cocoa created a rich chocolate color that looked just like the Neopolitan chocolate.  The cocoa powder did make the chocolate dough a bit crumbly, which we fixed by adding a touch of water (up to a tablespoon max, add a teaspoon at a time),  use just enough to bring the dough together. Try not to overwork your dough.

To shape the cookies, portion out each dough with an ice cream scoop (we used a #70 which is 2.75 teaspoons), then gently smoosh the three balls of dough together and roll into one round ball keeping the colors separate.

If you are a Star Trek fan, don’t these remind you of Tribbles?

Roll the balls in sanding sugar to give it a nice festive look.  Sarah suggests sprinkles that match each color of dough.  It’s your choice.  These cookies spread quite a bit so don’t crowd them on the baking sheet.  Don’t overbake, you want a cookie with crispy edges but a chewy center.  These are smashing to look at, delicious, and worth the extra step.

Print Pin

Neopolitan Cookies

Remember Neopolitan Ice Cream Sandwiches? Here it is in a delicious cookie.
Course cookies
Cuisine American
Keyword cookies, Neopolitan Cookies, Sarah Kiefer
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 11 minutes

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients:

  • 2 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon [364 g] all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt

Wet Ingredients:

  • 1 cup [2 sticks | 227 g] unsalted butter room temperature
  • 1 3/4 cup [350 g] granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg plus 1 large yolk
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Flavorings:

  • 1/2 cup [8 g] freeze-dried strawberries substitute raspberries
  • 2 or 3 drops red food coloring optional
  • 2 tablespoons Dutch-process cocoa powder or Cocoa Noir (black cocoa)

Options:

  • Sprinkles, sanding sugar or granulated sugar for rolling

Instructions

  • Adjust an oven rack to the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350F [180C]. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
  • In a bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
  • Pulverize the berries into a powder with a rolling pin or in a food processor
  • Using a stand mixer, beat butter on medium speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Add sugar and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add egg, egg yolk, and vanilla, and beat on medium speed until combined. Add the flour mixture and beat on low speed until just combined.
  • Take the dough out and divide into three equal portions, I use a scale. Put one-third of the dough back into the mixer and add the powdered strawberries/raspberries and food coloring, if using. Mix on low speed until totally combined, then remove the dough and wipe out the bowl.
  • Add another third of dough to the mixer. Add the cocoa powder and mix on low speed until totally combined. If it is too crumbly add a teaspoon of water to bring it together. Try taking it out of the mixer and kneading it a little.
  • Use a #70 ice cream scoop to form balls of each of the three doughs or pinch a small portion (about 1/2 oz [15 g]) of each, and press them gently together, so they adhere to each other, but colors remain distinct. Shape each into a ball, then roll the ball into sprinkles or granulated sugar. Place 6 or 7 cookies on each sheet pan.
  • Bake the cookies one pan at a time, rotating halfway through baking. Bake until the sides are set and the cookies are puffed, 10 to 11 minutes. Rap the cookies on the rack as you pull them out so they deflate. This will improve the crackle appearance. If the cookies are baked too long they will have fewer cracks.
  • Transfer the sheet pan to a wire rack and let the cookies cool for 5 to 10 minutes on the pan, then remove them and let them cool completely on the wire rack.
  • Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.