From one of my favorite sites, Two Plaid Aprons, a vegetarian version of Unagi Don! Eel grilled with a sweet and savory sauce or “tare” is called unagi. Don is short for donburi, which refers to the bowl and rice that serves as the landing spot for toppings like unagi. Rice bowls, in my humble opinion, scream comfort food and this riff is no exception. If you are looking for some protein try a fam fav like Oyako Donburi, a Chicken and Egg Donburi.
Grilled and sauced unagi yields a smoky, savory-sweet, melt-in-your-mouth bite of deliciousness. Eggplant braised in the same fashion makes a great stand-in for the unagi. According to the hubster, the resident carnivore in my house, this will satisfy any meat-eater. The tare is made with soy sauce, Mirin (sweet sake), sake, and sugar; ingredients found in most Asian grocery stores. I like substituting dashi soy for the soy sauce which is a blend of soy sauce and fish stock that gives the eggplant a hint of brininess.
Anyway You Slice It
Leave the skin on the eggplant if you like. The other thing you can do is score the eggplant crosswise to mimic the striations on unagi. Fry the eggplant until nicely charred, lower the heat and pour in unagi sauce and green onions. Cover and let the eggplant braise for 5 minutes or until tender but not mushy. As the eggplant braises, it picks up the flavor of the sauce and becomes tender and soft like…eel. YUMMO.
Take the eggplant out and place it over your rice. Garnish with green onions and toasted sesame seeds. Serve immediately. OR, take it over the top with a runny, sunny-side-up egg. Enjoy!
2Japanese eggplant or Chinese eggplantwashed, sliced in half lengthwise and crosswise if they are long.
4cupscooked white riceFeel free to use whatever grain you like, brown rice, farley, quinoa (not my choice but hey)
Da Sauce
4tbspsake
4tbsp soy sauce regular or low sodiumor Dashi Soy
4tbspgranulated sugar
2tbspmirin
2stalksGreen onion, sliced
1/8tspdashi powder or granules optionaluse with low sodium soy sauce
Da Garnish
Toasted white sesame seed, sliced green onions
Instructions
Unagi sauce:
In a small bowl, mix together sake, soy sauce, sugar, mirin and dashi if using. If you use Soy Dashi, skip the powder. Set aside until needed.
Eggplant Prep
Cut off stem of the eggplant and peel the skin with a vegetable peeler, this is optional, if you like skin, save yourself a step. Cut the eggplant in half crosswise, then slice each half evenly lengthwise. Lightly score eggplant crosswise every 1/8-1/4 inch, don't cut thru! This makes it look more like unagi.
Cookin' It
In a 10-inch shallow pan over medium high heat, add a couple tablespoons of oil. Once the oil is hot, place eggplant flat side down and sear until golden brown, about 2 to 3 minutes. Flip eggplant and sear the other side for a minute or two until golden brown.
Stir the prepared unagi sauce and pour it into the pan. Reduce heat to medium/medium-low to keep the sauce at a simmer. Place a lid on the pan and cook eggplant slices for 5 minutes.
After 5 minutes, remove the lid and flip eggplant slices to their flat side. Add half of the sliced green onions to the sauce and continue simmering for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the eggplant slices are tender and the sauce is reduced to a thick glaze. Remove pan from heat.
To Serve:
Scoop a serving of hot rice into each bowl.
Place two slices of eggplant unagi flat side up on each bowl of rice. Garnish with the remaining green onion and sesame seeds. Bowl food is soul food!
Chamomile Tea Cake with Strawberry Icing (Slice of Tea Cake & A Cuppa Tea)
He needs to stop. I would like to dive into Eric Kim’s cookbook, Korean-American but have not been able to and it is all his FAULT. Yep, the blame lies squarely on his shoulders.
Eric is on staff at the NYT Cooking. I’m not sure what his obligation is to the venerable paper, a column every week, every couple of days. Don’t know. What I do know is he keeps coming up with tasty recipes for the NYT that prevent me from cracking open his book.
Sheesh
So I am asking Eric to please STOP, or at least, slow down with the content for NYT cooking so I can finally try the recipes in your beautiful book. I’ve only had time to read the stories, which I love, while making your recipes in the NYT.
I’m kidding of course (am I?). His recent contribution to NYT was a Chamomile Tea Cake with Strawberry Icing. It looked luscious and sounded delightful …so of course, I made it. His cookbook, Korean-American, will just have to wait a little longer. Although, in all fairness, many of the recipes printed in the NYT are also in his wonderful book.
But Not This Cake
I adore this cake and I wasn’t sure I was going to. First, I’ve never had a cup of Chamomile Tea in my life. I’m Asian…it’s Oolong, Jasmine, Roasted Barley, Green Tea…no herbal teas in my house. My only non-Asian Tea is Lipton”s Black Tea (I’m not even sure I would call it non-Asian, lol) and that’s to make Hong Kong-style Milk Tea. But the cake looked luscious, very maker-friendly and is an Eric creation, so my knee-jerk reaction after seeing the recipe was to pull out my loaf pan.
A Cup of Tea
This cake can be made by hand, yep, you don’t need to drag out that 50-pound mixer BUT I was lazy so I pulled mine out. This makes the cake incredibly easy to make. The key is to not overmix to avoid toughening the cake…this is the universal problem when using your mixer, too much muscle.
I bought a box of Chamomile teabags, and the first thing I did was make a cup of tea and try it. It was soothing, mild, and refreshing…in other words, perfect for this cake.
Chamomile Tea swimming in a butter bath, the life. The tea is infused in every step of this cake, the butter, and the milk, so the flavor of the tea really shines. I might try it with different teas in the future, like Jasmine, my favorite.
Back to Cake by the Machine. The butter will solidify a bit as it sits with the tea. Beat the butter, sugar, and salt until light and creamy, about 1 minute on medium speed. It will be light in color and fuller in volume, add your eggs one at a time. The eggs should be at room temperature which helps minimize curdling or breaking of the batter when liquid is added to your fat mixture.
Creamed butter and sugar
Deb Tip-when adding zest to a recipe. I reserve a couple of tablespoons of sugar from the recipe and run that with the zest in a mini-food processor, then add it back to the original sugar. No big pieces of zest and the citrus flavor is well distributed. That’s just me though.
You can add your zest, baking powder, and vanilla as listed in the recipe. The recipe calls for adding vanilla, and leavening agent into the creamed mixture before adding the flour. This works since you haven’t added the flour yet, no worries about overmixing and developing gluten.
Flour Power
First, add half the flour, mix on medium just until the flour disappears, then add the milk, mixing just to incorporate. Finally, add the remaining flour and mix at medium speed. Mix until you don’t see any streaks of flour, it should look cohesive. Avoid overbeating which can lead to a tough cake (gluten development) did I already mention that, lol.
The Icing On the Cake
The icing is key. It adds a bit of sweetness and a textural complement to the cake. I saw a few complaints that the cake was overly sweet. I didn’t think so although I did use freeze-dried raspberries instead of strawberries which have a bit more tartness. The raspberries made a vibrant garnet-hued icing that was very eye-catching.
The weight to volume of freeze-dried fruit was off, possibly due to humidity. I used the half-cup volume measurement, you can adjust the taste and color to your liking.
From Eric KIm, tea cake flavored with Chamomile Tea that is as delicious as it is easy to make!
Course Cake, Dessert
Cuisine American, Asian-American
Keyword chamomile tea, ERic KIm, Strawberry, tea cake
Prep Time 1 hourhour25 minutesminutes
Cook Time 50 minutesminutes
Equipment
1 9x5 loaf pan
Ingredients
Nonstick cooking sprayTo prep loaf pan
Steep 2 Tea Blends: butter + tea and milk + tea and set aside
2tablespoons(6 grams) chamomile tea, divided in half approximately 4 to 6 tea bags, crushed fine if coarse
1⁄2 cup(115 grams) unsalted butter
1cup(240 milliliters) whole milk
Cream Tea + Butter Mixture
1cup(200 grams) granulated sugar
2large eggs
Add to Creamed Tea-Butter Mixture
1tbsplemon zest (original recipe calls for zest of 1 large lemon)You can increase or decrease zest to your taste or use combination of orange and lemon zest 1.5 teaspoons of each. Keep the lemon, yiu will use the juice in the icing
1⁄2 teaspoon Morton's coarse kosher saltor increase to 3/4 tsp if using Diamond Kosher Salt
1teaspoonpure vanilla extract
2teaspoonsbaking powder
1 1⁄2 cups(192 grams) all-purpose flour
Icing
2tbspLemon juice from zested lemon
1cup(124 grams) confectioners’ sugar
1⁄2 cup(8 grams) freeze-dried strawberries
Instructions
In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat (or microwave until melted). Add 1 tablespoon chamomile to a large mixing bowl. Pour the hot melted butter over the chamomile and stir. Set aside to steep and cool completely, about 1 hour.
Use the same saucepan (without washing it out) to bring the milk to a simmer over medium-high heat, keeping watch so it doesn’t boil over. Remove from the heat, and stir the remaining 1 tablespoon chamomile into the hot milk. Set aside to cool
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with the nonstick cooking spray and line with parchment paper so the long sides of the pan have a couple of inches of overhang to make lifting the finished cake out easier.
Add the sugar and salt to the bowl with the butter, and whisk until smooth and thick, about 1 minute. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, vigorously whisking to combine after each addition. Zest the lemon into the bowl; add the baking powder and vanilla, and whisk until incorporated. Add the flour and stream in the milk mixture while whisking continuously until no streaks of flour remain.
Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and bake until a skewer or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean (a few crumbs are OK, but you should see no wet batter), 40 to 45 minutes. Cool in the pan on a rack for 30 minutes.
While the cake cools, make the icing: Into a medium bowl, squeeze 2 tablespoons juice from the zested lemon, then add the confectioners’ sugar. Place the dehydrated strawberries in a fine-mesh sieve set over the bowl and, using your fingers, crush the brittle berries and press the red-pink powder through the sieve and into the sugar. (The more you do this, the redder your icing will be.) Whisk until smooth.
If needed, run a knife along the edges of the cake to release it from the pan. Holding the 2 sides of overhanging parchment, lift the cake out and place it on a plate, cake stand or cutting board. Discard the parchment. Pour the icing over the cake, using a spoon to push the icing to the edges of the cake to encourage the icing to drip down the sides dramatically. Cool the cake completely and let the icing set.
My weekly trip to the farmer’s market starts with lining up at the P&K Strawberry stand 30 minutes before the market even opens. Yep, the strawberries from this family farm in Moss Landing are THAT good. Even though they are freakin’ delicious out of hand, I love trying recipes that highlight the ruby-colored gems.
This Strawberry Crumb Cake from Cambrea Bakes landed on my “Definitely making this” list the first time I saw it. Three delectable layers, starting with a finely crumbed cake reminiscent of buttery pound cake topped with a layer of berries, bound by a squeeze of lemon juice, and a bit of flour and sugar. The cake is then finished with a generous, buttery crumb topping. It’s gorgeous and yummy.
Keys to Success
The crumb topping is classic flour, butter, and sugar. Combine the ingredients until it looks like a mish-mash of clumps, spread it on a small plate, and put it in the freezer for 10-15 minutes or however long it takes to assemble the remaining ingredients. Chilling the crumb topping ensures it won’t melt during baking so you end up with a nice crunchy, buttery top. If you are nuts about nuts, throw a handful of chopped pecans or walnuts into the crumb.
Dice the berries and add the sugar and flour. Use fresh berries, not frozen, which have too much liquid. I added blueberries to the mix just for a little color pop and because I had some. My tweak would be to add a little more fruit (I love berries), I would scale up to 2 cups of fruit, I’ll let you know how it goes, it may throw off baking time and cake. *Instead of adding more fresh strawberries add 1-2 tablespoons of strawberry jam to bump up the berry flavor.
Sift together the dry ingredients for the cake and set aside. Sifting allows for an even distribution of the baking powder and salt in the flour. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. This adds air that contributes to the rise and tenderness of the cake.
Bring eggs to room temperature before using. This helps prevent the batter from breaking (where your batter looks curdled and lumpy) when you add eggs or a liquid to the creamed mixture. A trick to help prevent this is to add the eggs slowly (roughly an egg at a time) and mix until each egg is absorbed into the batter before adding more.
No Curdle Zone
When it starts to look like it is curdling (usually when adding the last egg), add a couple of tablespoons of your flour mixture with the remaining egg mixture. The flour is the mediator preventing the break. That little bit helps keep your batter smooth without making the cake tough.
Add remaining flour in two parts alternating with the room temp buttermilk. The batter will be thick, not pourable. Use an offset spatula to spread it evenly in a prepared pan. Layer the berries and then crumb topping. I like putting the topping in the freezer and then chipping it into pieces to scatter on the fruit.
Crumb Fans Rejoice 😋
Finally, bake the cake. The first time I made this cake, it was a wee bit overbaked. I didn’t trust my thermometer. How goofy is that? My advice, invest in a good thermometer. Cakes should be about 205+/- 5 degrees with an instant thermometer. If you don’t have a thermometer, use a bamboo skewer or toothpick over a metal cake tester. (Nothing sticks to a metal pick unless it is super underbaked). With fruit and crumb impeding the tester, it’s just hard to get an accurate read.
That rosy pink layer of fruit on top of the buttery yellow cake, this cake is a beauty. Bake it, bake it now.
Delicious Crumb cake with a fine crumb and a layer of fresh berries with a buttery, crunchy crumble topping from Cambrea Bakes.
Course Breakfast, Cake, Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword crumb cake, strawberries
Prep Time 20 minutesminutes
Cook Time 55 minutesminutes
Ingredients
Crumb Topping
6tbspunsalted butter, melted
3/4cup+ 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2cupgranulated sugar
1/4cuplight brown sugar
Strawberry Field Forever
1 1/2cupschopped fresh strawberriesor a mix of blueberries and strawberries
1tbspgranulated sugar
3tbspall-purpose flour
1/2lemon juiced
Da Cake
1 1/2cups+ 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1tspbaking powder
1tspkosher salt1/2 tsp sea salt
1cupunsalted butter at room temperature
1cupgranulated sugar
3large whole eggs at room temperaturewhisked together
1tspvanilla extractoverflowing, you can never have enough vanilla!
1/4cupbuttermilk room temperature
Instructions
Butter or lightly spray with cooking spray a square 8x8 baking pan. L ine it with parchment paper on all sides. Preheat the oven to 350 F/180 C.
The Crumb
In a medium bowl, mix together the melted butter, flour, sugar, and brown sugar until crumbly. Spread on a plate and place in freezer for 10-15 minutes or for as long as it takes to make the strawberries and cake.
Da Strawberries
In a medium bowl, combine the chopped strawberries, sugar, flour, and lemon juice until combined. Set aside.
Da Cake
Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.
Using a mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes on medium to medium-high speed.
Scrape down the bowl. Slowly add in the whisked eggs and vanilla, mixing very well after each addition. Do not do this too quickly or the mixture will curdle.
Add half of the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until almost combined. Add buttermilk and mix until combined, add remainder of the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined. The batter will be quite thick.
Using an offset spatula, spread the batter evenly into the prepared baking pan, then spread the strawberries evenly over the top. Break up the crumbs and sprinkle for an even layer over the strawberries.
Bake for 55-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. The berry layer may make it difficult to test leaving residual moisture on tester, try not to overbake.
Cool cake for 20 minutes on a wire cooling rack, then remove from the pan and cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.
As a kid, I spent a lot of time running the streets of Chinatown in San Francisco. After school, I headed to Chinatown to attend Hip Wo Chinese School, which conveniently was housed in the same church our family attended. I’d love to tell you I was a stellar student and fluent in both Cantonese and English but that would be a lie. The highlights of Chinese School were recess, calligraphy (a lot like painting), and stopping at the little grocery store right next to the church at the end of the day. We would grab a Carnation cup of ice cream with the little wooden paddle-spoon, or a cup of noodles (this was before instant noodles, so the shopkeeper made catsup noodles, delish, trust me) to hold us until we got home.
Candyland
More often than not, we bought candy from the array right by the register. I fancy myself a candy aficionado thanks to Chinese School. My favorites included Ice Cubes, Flickers, Charleston Chews, Big Hunks, Watermelon Stixs, and Milk Duds. If you recognize all these you’re a genius or just old like me. I also loved their Asian candies. Sugus, the precursors to Starburst, Haw Flakes (a sweet-sour plum wafer), and White Rabbit Candy. White Rabbit is kinda like taffy. It tastes like sweetened milk. They’re hard when you first pop one in your mouth but soften as you chew on it. Kinda like a Big Hunk or Look bar.
I haven’t had a White Rabbit in YEARS. But, they have been showing up in the new crop of Asian bakeries in the Bay Area. These inventive bakeries and pop-ups like Grand Opening(From the folks at Mr. Jiu’s), Sunday Bakeshop, Breadbelly, Pineapple King Bakery and Spoons Patisserie are fusing French techniques and Asian ingredients (and visa-versa) to create some delightful sweets and pastries. Char Siu Bao? Nah, gimme a BBQ Pork Danish, how about an Ube Snickerdoodle or Matcha custard-filled Puff? Genius. Instead of strawberry, try passionfruit. Black sesame seeds instead of poppy seeds, why not? Then there is Third Culture Bakerywhich popularized sweet rice or mochi desserts. A little gooey, a lot delish, and gluten-free!
CCC with a Twist
Luckily, White Rabbit Chocolate Chip Cookies from Beyond the Noms, popped up on my feed, bingo (was it luck or an algorithm that reads my mind?). I knew I had to try it. Essentially it is a chocolate chip cookie with an Asian twist. Cream butter with sugars until light and fluffy, one to two minutes and the egg and vanilla, beat again. Add flour mixture and stir just until the flour is mixed in. Add the stars of the show, the chocolate, and White Rabbit pieces ( you could substitute white chocolate if you can’t find the White Rabbit candy). Done. I like to chill my dough before baking. Allows flavors to blend and helps with spreading.
They’re delicious. A combination of the milky, vanilla candy, and dark chocolate chunks in a buttery, crispy-edged, tender cookie. Just out of the oven the White Rabbit candy is gooey, chewy, and sticky-soft. As the cookie cools, it does become denser, just like a Big Hunk. If you grew up eating White Rabbit morsels or any of the taffy-like candy bars, you are going to love these cookies. They will stick to your teeth (ahh transparency). Buy a bag when you are going to make these cookies, the fresher the bag the better for softness. White Rabbit Candy can be found in Asian Grocery Stores, especially Chinese ones.
Beat until lightStir in chocolate and candy pieces just until incorporated. Don’t overmix.Use a #40 ice cream scoop to create dough balls. I plopped one chocolate chunk and one piece of White Rabbit on each ball,Delicious candy cookies with an Asian twist! If the White Rabbit seems a bit hard in cookies that are cold, try warming the cookie up a little which will soften the candy again.
Asian Twist to Chocolate Chip Cookies, added White Rabbit Candy to cookies!
Course Dessert
Cuisine Asian-American
Keyword beyondthenoms, chocolate chip cookies, cookies, White Rabbit Candy
Prep Time 10 minutesminutes
Cook Time 12 minutesminutes
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
1 1/2cupsall purpose flour
3/4teaspoonbaking soda
1/4teaspoonsalt
Ingredients to Cream
1/2cupunsalted butter softened
1/2cupbrown sugar packedlight or dark
1/4cupsugar
1egg
1teaspoonvanilla extract
Additions
1cupchocolate chunkschips are also fine
15-20white rabbit candies choppedI used ~15 pieces, tap to cut and it will break easily into pieces. Don't try to saw through them. Leave the rice paper wrapper on, its edible and will dissolve.
Maldon sea salt flakes optional
Instructions
Sift flour, baking soda and salt together in a small bowl. Set aside.
In a stand mixer on medium speed, beat butter, sugar, and brown sugar for 2 minutes. The mixture will lighten in color.
Add egg and vanilla and mix on medium speed for 1-2 minutes, until it looks like a buttercream. Scrap down the sides of the bowl occasionally.
Add flour mixture and stir (low speed on mixer) until just combined.
Stir in chocolate chunks and white rabbit candies.
Scoop approximately 2 tbsp. of cookie dough and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Leave roughly 1.5-2 inches between cookies. Optional: stick additional chocolate and candy pieces in each dough ball. Refrigerate for approximately one hour.
Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Bake the cookies for 12-15 minutes until the edges are golden brown and the center has lost that wet sheen look. I like baking one sheet at a time. If you bake multiple sheets, be sure to switch places and rotate sheets midway through baking.
The White Rabbit Candy will soften and melt at times creating a not-quite-round cookie. The candy melts and creates crispy edges. While the cookies are still warm just out of the oven you could take a glass and place it over each cookie and swirl thus smooshing the cookie into a round shape OR you could embrace the not-round look and enjoy the sweet crispy edges that look like lava flow off an island.
Transfer to a cooling rack and top with Maldon sea salt flakes if desired. Serve warm.
Notes
I use a #0 scoop which is just a little less than an ounce, approximately 1.6 tablespoons. You could use #30 which is just over 2 T.Calories: 224kcal Carbohydrates: 29g Protein: 2g Fat: 11g
Scrambled Eggs and Beef over Rice (The Slippery Slope of Waat Dan Fan)
Waat Dan Fan (滑蛋飯) is one of my absolute all-time favorite down-home Cantonese dishes. The literal translation is Slippery Egg Rice. This version includes beef so it’s called Waat Dan Gnow Yuk Fan (滑蛋牛肉飯). Although it comes together quickly, it can be a little tricky to get the texture of the eggs right. Don’t let that put you off though, it is well worth it. It may take a couple of tries, as it did with me, but the return is HUGE. You will be rewarded with a homey, satisfying, tasty dish of stir-fried beef nestled in a pool of silky, scrambled-swirled eggs flavored with scallions and ginger. Soooooo good! 真好吃!
Don’t Slip Up on the Mise on Place
Everyone thinks stir-frying is quick and easy, although the cooking portion is quick, it’s the prep that takes time. Everything has to be ready for the stir-frying to look effortless. This dish is no egg-ception.
Slice and marinate your beef and put it in a bowl to the side. Note, the oil in the marinade goes in last AFTER the beef has sat for 15-20 minutes and absorbed the marinade.
Crack your eggs into a bowl and whisk them with a pinch of salt. Set it near the beef and close to the stove.
Slice your green onions and set them aside.
Have your 1/2 cup of stock to which you have added the sugar and salt along with the slurry of cornstarch and water ready.
Place the prepped ingredients next to the stove.
You’ll thank me
This is a classic Cantonese dish, the epitome of soul food. I love serving it in a bowl with a spoon. Looking for a vegetarian rift? Try Tomato & Egg Rice. Enjoy!
4ouncesFlank steak, flat iron or sirloin, thinly sliced
2largeeggscan use extra large or jumbo
1/2cupwater or chicken stock (low sodium)
2tbspsliced green onions
1/4tspsalt
1/4tspsugar
peanut oil
1tspcornstarch + 3 tbsp waterMIx in a small bowl and set aside
Mainade for Beef
1tbspsoy sauce
1/2tbspoyster sauce
1-2slicesfresh ginger, julienned
1tbspsugar
dash of white pepper
1tbspShaoxing wine
1tspcornstarch
1tbsppeanut or vegetable oil
3tbspwater
Serve over hot rice or rice noodles
2-3cupsof steamed white rice
Instructions
Slice the beef to 0.2 mm thick, add the marinade ingredients except for the oil, marinade for 20 minutes. As the beef sits it will absorb alot of the water. Add oil after the beef has sat. Set aside.
In a small bowl, beat eggs with a pinch of salt. Set aside.
Heat oil in a pan over medium-high heat, add beef, stir-fry until it is no longer pink. Remove the beef and set aside. If beef has a lot of liquid, pour it into a strainer placed over a bowl to drain.
Pour the broth or water into the pan used to stir-fry the beef, add salt and sugar, and bring it to a boil.
Add the cornstarch water mix, and bring to a boil again. The mixture will thicken to a thin sauce consistency. Lower the heat to medium-low.
Pour the eggs into the sauce in a stream moving around the pan. Let it set a bit and then stir gently to allow eggs to continue to cook and set a bit more. It will still be very loose and the stock slurry will still be visible.
Add the beef and sliced scallions and cook for 30 seconds to one minute, stirring gently to blend the sauce and eggs. The mixture will be saucy.
Spoon cooked hot rice into shallow bowls large enough to hold 1-2 cups of rice. Pour the beef and egg mixture over the rice. Garnish with additional sliced scallions and cilantro. Serve immediately.
The flavor of the day is toasted black sesame seeds. They’re delicious-earthy, nutty, and bolder than white sesame seeds. They add texture, color, and zing to cookies, cakes, and just about anything. During the holidays I made black sesame shortbread, a tasty rift on shortbread. So, when Black Sesame Chocolate Chip Cookies from Cooking Therapyskittered across my feed, “so making these” was imprinted on my brain.
A couple of “what if I add this or change that” moments resulted in a few tweaks to the cookie as I was trying them. This is the latest version of Black Sesame Chocolate Chunk Cookies.
The Process
I tried both commercially bought Sesame Seed Powder (they do the grinding for you) and grinding my own sesame seeds after toasting. Most recipes call for seeds that you measure out and then grind to a powder. The dilemma is how much powder is equivalent to whole sesame seeds. I weighed half cup of seeds and then half a cup of powder. Powder weighed 40gms, 1/2 cup of seeds weighed 60gms. Hmmm, for some reason I thought powder being more compact, would weigh more for an equivalent volume. Guess not, bottom line, go by equivalent weights you can’t go wrong BUT that’s 30% more powder or a cup and a half of powder to 1 cup of seeds. My head is about to explode. Think I’ll just use equivalent volumes.
The first tweak was adding toasted sesame oil, I didn’t notice a significant flavor difference. Maybe I should have added more. If you have made Jesse Szewczk’s Toasted Sesame cookies (phenomenal cookie), or Sarah Kieffer’s Sesame Cookie, both use sesame oil to pump up the flavor.
Tahini Paste was the next tweak. In place of the sesame oil, I added 1 tablespoon of Tahini Paste. In a stringent scientific experiment, my test cohort (co-workers, lol) concluded the they could taste the sesame flavor in these.
Looking for a flatter, less cakey cookie, I weighed the amount of flour and stopped at 250gms. This is where I tell you, implore you, to get a SCALE…
And an ice cream scoop!
A Google search led me to a blog called Crazy for Crustwhich had an entire section on how to tell when you cookies are done. There is nothing I like more than baking nerds! For instance, the tendency for me is to bake just a little too long. Her invaluable tip-when the glossy sheen or wet look is gone and the edges are golden brown, your cookies are done is now my mantra for drop cookies.
Out of the Oven
Cookies continue to “bake” for about 20 minutes after removing them from the oven. A “just right baked” cookie will fall as it cools creating those lovely crevices. If you prefer cripsy, round cookies, continue to bake for a couple of minutes, or if you like raw cookie dough take the cookies out a little earlier. Your choice, me? I’m like Goldilocks, I want it just right.
Use chocolate chunks, pastilles, or break up chocolate bars/slabs into pieces. Much more visually interesting than chips. to go the extra mile, reserve some of the chocolate pieces and place 1 or 2 on each formed cookie dough ball before baking.
Cookie Monster Would Approve
Less flour, Tahini paste and Fleur de Sel to finish the cookies, resulted in a tender, gooey, chocolatey, sesame-y cookie with a bit of crunch from the sesame seeds. Put this on your bucket list.
½cupblack sesame seeds, powderedI measured toasted black sesame seeds, 1/2 cup = 60gms. I used black sesame seed powder 40gm which measured 1/2 cup in volume. See notes.
Combine flour, sesame powder and baking soda in a medium bowl. Mix until combined and set aside.
Brown butter in a small sauce pan. Heat butter over medium high heat until the butter melts and then lower it to low. Cook the butter until golden brown and small brown solids start to appear. Remove from the heat and set aside.
Combine granulated sugar and light brown sugar in a large bowl. Add the brown butter. Whisk with a stand mixer or hand mixer until just combined.
Add the eggs and whisk until a smooth creamy mixture forms. Add the salt, vanilla extract, and sesame oil or Tahini paste and mix until just combined.
Add the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix with a spatula/wooden spoon until just combined.
Add chocolate chunks and mix until just combined.
Let the cookies rest in the fridge for 20 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Use a 2 tablespoon (medium-sized) cookie scoop to scoop cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheet 2 inches apart.
Bake for 10-12 minutes until the edges are light brown.
Rest for 10 minutes on the baking sheets and then another 10 minutes on a cooling rack before serving.
Notes
So, I have commercially available toasted black sesame powder and I have toasted black sesame seeds. I decided to try both to see how much it impacted the texture of the cookies. I weighed the toasted sesame seeds and whirled them in a grinder. I stopped at a pretty finely textured powder. If you go too far you will end up with a paste. There wasn’t a significant difference in texture between the two. The sesame does give the cookie a rougher texture, similar to adding a bit of cornmeal, but subtler.The self-ground sesame seeds to powder cookies seem to have a touch more flavor but I did also switch out the sesame oil for Tahini paste, so it remains to be seen if the seeds were the difference. I just failed my science class, lol.
I have been looking for a dessert/cookie recipe using Ube for a while when I came across a recipe for Butter and Ube Bibingka/Mochi on Mark Hella Cooks. I adapted his Bibingka/Mochi and made muffins, delicious and gorgeous. Just a bit of ube extract gave the batter a vibrant purple that is so whimsical and appealing.
Did I Get Ahead of Myself?
Are you asking what the heck is Ube? It just dawned on me this is not your dash to the corner store item. First, ube is similar to a sweet potato BUT it’s PURPLE, so swag, purple food. It is used in a lot of Asian desserts, particularly Filipino ones. It is mild-flavored, kinda nutty, kinda vanilla-y. Aside from fresh purple yams (hard to find), it comes as a powder, jam, and extract. On a recent visit to the Asian Art Museum in the City, I inhaled a delicious Ube Snickerdoodle from Sunday@ the Museum, cafe. Ever since I have been perusing the internet for ube cookie recipes. No cookie yet but luckily I found Mark Hella Cooks Ube Mochi recipe. It is easy, delicious, and eye candy worthy. I made muffins so everyone could have their own little dessert with crispy edges, yum.
Ube-by, Baby, Making Cookies For A Cause
I wanted to include the muffins in my little box of cookies for Ukraine. The world is upside down right now and I just can’t sit on the sidelines and watch. So I do what I can by fighting the things I hate with the things I love. I baked cookies for donations to World Central Kitchen and Sunflower of Peace. My tiny part. #BakersAgainstRacism, #BakersforUkraine
I put together individual boxes of cookies, a first for me, to share with friends and co-workers. Everyone was so generous, it reminded me that most folks are decent, kind, and caring. How is it that just a few are actually responsible for so much hate and suffering in the world? Most folks just want to live their lives and be happy.
Each box included tried & true cookies, comfort cookies, my family favorites. Here are the Cookies for Ukraine Box.
Italian Jam Crostata with homemade berry jam, a buttery shortbread-like crust topped with your choice of jam, crumble and almonds.
Not Your Mama’s Rice Krispy Treatythis is what you get when you double the butter and brown it and then finish it with dark chocolate sprinkles, Demerara Sugar and Maldon Salt. Even more SNAP, CRACKLE and POP.
Purple Yam All In My Brain
Rounding out the cookie box, are these incredibly easy and delicious Ube Butter Mochi Muffins. Mochi has become my best friend when I need a gluten-free treat. Made with glutinous sweet rice flour, the texture is chewy, a bit dense in a good way, and totally addicting. If you have tried Third Culture Bakery or Mochi Donuts, or Manju, you will love these. If you like to start with the classic butter mochi muffin try this one. It is by far the most popular recipe on 3Jamigos.
The muffins can be made in one bowl, that’s how easy they are. The method in the recipe below is from Mark Hella Cooks. Alternatively, place coconut milk and butter in a microwavable bowl and nuke for 1 minute. Add evaporated milk, vanilla extract and eggs. Mix well. Combine mochiko flour and baking powder then add to milk mixture. Whisk until smooth. Proceed with the recipe at step 3 as written.
Once you have drizzled the ube batter into the muffin tins, be careful not to shake the tin which would cause the batters to blend too much, You want to retain the marbling.
Butter or spray the muffin tin with PAM REALLY well, it determines the rise and the shape of the top of the muffin.
4tablespoonsbutter (2 ounces) (salted is fine)melted
1cupsugarbaker’s/caster sugar preferable
2large eggs@ room temperature
1/2teaspoonvanilla extract
1teaspoonube extractAvailable at Asian Stores, online McCormick's
8ouncesmochiko rice flour (1/2 box) 230gms
1teaspoonbaking powder
6ouncesevaporated milkSub whole milk
7ouncesfull fat coconut milk(Arroy-D or Chakot)
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees (non-convection), and generously grease a standard 12-cup muffin tin with butter.
In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter and sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and continue to mix until combined. Add the rice flour and baking powder and stir until combined. It might look a little lumpy, it's okay. Stir in the evaporated milk and the coconut milk. Continue whisking until smooth*
Remove 3/4 cup of the batter and place in a small bowl. Add the ube extract and mix together.
The batter will be pretty runny. Using a large ice cream scoop the remaining batter into each muffin tin. It should fill the entire tin, each cup filled approximately 3/4 full. Gently drizzle ube batter onto each muffin tin. A squeeze bottle with a large opening will work otherwise use a teaspoon. The batter will sink so there is no reason to swirl it. I drizzle in a spiral pattern with a healthy glob in the center.
Carefully place the muffin pan in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes.
Anzac-ly The Delicious Biscuit (Cookie) I Was Looking For
Marching orders in hand, I gathered the ingredients to make Anzac Biscuits. Think Oatmeal Cookie meets Oatcake or Granola Bar…you end up with a biscuit (cookie) that is buttery, sweet-salty, chewy-crispy (are these oxymorons?), and EXTREMELY delicious.
A Brief History On Anzac Biscuits
These tasty biscuits (cookies) can be traced back to World War One and the Australian-New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC). As the story goes, moms and wives sent these biscuits to their soldiers fighting, both as a morale booster and reprieve from the dreary military rations. Made simply of flour, coconut, oatmeal, Golden Syrup, butter, they were easy to make and tasty. The end product was a caramel-ly sturdy biscuit that traveled well and lasted a long time. A welcomed treat from home.
Simplicity At Its Finest
Put this biscuit recipe in your incredibly easy with huge returns file. Very easy and perfect for little hands helping in the kitchen. Stir the dry ingredients together in a big bowl (kids love doing this), melt butter with the Golden Syrup on the stove (you do this), add the baking soda mixture to the butter (once again, your job) and add to dry ingredients (kids love to stir and make a mess). Scoop, bake, and eat! Easy-peasy.
Tweaks
The recipe is from Dorie Greenspan’s (Goddess of Baking) book, Dorie’s Cookies.
I used a one-eighth cup to portion the dough (could not find my scoop of this size 🤔) which produced cookies a little over 2 inches in diameter. Use either a #24 or #30 ice cream scoop for bigger biscuits, I would. They’re that good.
Press the dough into a puck-like disc on the baking sheet. Gives the biscuits a running start to a nice even shape.
If I had baked these cookies for 17-18 minutes, as directed, I’d have lumps of coal for all those naughty kids at Christmas. The first batch baked for 14 minutes at 325 degrees, which produced deep golden brown cookies with dark edges. The second batch baked at 320 degrees for 13 minutes. The biscuits were deep brown, carrot cake color without the dark edges. If you like a chewier, lighter-colored cookie, reduce the baking time, personally not recommended. If you make larger cookies, adjust baking times accordingly.
Subbing honey or corn syrup for Lyle’s Golden Syrup can be done in a pinch. But if you can, please try to use Lyle’s Golden Syrup. It is made from sugar cane and has a nuanced caramel flavor you won’t get with honey or corn syrup. Lots of larger grocery stores carry Lyle’s or you can order it on Big Bad Amazon. Don’t confuse their Dessert Syrup for the Original Cane Syrup, that’s like Log Cabin to real Maple Syrup.
These biscuits are incredibly tasty and easy to make, put them on your “biscuit” bucket list.
P.S.
Not all these biscuits came out perfectly round as pictured, lol. As soon as they came out of the oven, I placed a glass over the not-so-round ones and swirled it in a circular motion thereby jostling the cookies into perfect rounds. Tricks of the trade, babee.
Iconic Austrailian-New Zealand Biscuit (cookie) created during WW1, recipe adapted from Dorie's Cookies
Course biscuits, cookies
Cuisine Australian
Keyword Anzac Biscuits, Anzacs, Dorie Greenspan, Lyle's Golden Syrup
Prep Time 10 minutesminutes
Cook Time 15 minutesminutes
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
1cupAP flour136 grams
1cupold-fashioned rolled oats80 grams
3/4cupsweetened shredded coconut90 grams
1/2cupgranulated sugar100 grams
1/4cuplight brown sugar or additional granulated sugar50gms * Not in Dorie's recipe! Add if using unsweetened coconut, omit if you like,
Wet Ingredients
1/2teaspoonkosher saltUse 1/4 teaspoon if using salted butter, Dorie's recipe uses sea salt, I thought it was a touch salty.
1/2cupunsalted butter1 stick
2tablespoonsLyle's Golden Syrup
Leavening Ingredients
1tablespoonboiling water
1/2teaspoonbaking soda
Instructions
In a large bowl, combine flour, oats, coconut, sugars, and salt and set aside.
In a small saucepan over low heat melt the butter with the Golden Syrup and remove from heat.
Combine the boiling water and baking soda in a small bowl to dissolve the baking soda.
Pour the water and baking soda into the butter mixture and stir to combine.
Pour the butter mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until thoroughly combined.
Use a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop to mold each cookie by gently packing dough into ice cream scoop and then turning out onto cookie sheet or form 1 1/2-inch balls of the dough with spoons)
Place cookies 1-2 inches apart on baking sheet. Bake for 17-18 minutes* or until deep golden brown (the color of carrot cake). Makes 16-18 cookies.*Read my post regarding baking times!
Notes
These cookies should be a nice rich deep brown. Meant to be a little dense and crispy as they historically needed to travel well. For a chewier cookie, a little less baking time will do the trick, if that is what you like. It won't have as much of that nice caramel flavor you get from browning but still tasty!
Let me rundown the reasons you should make this Apple Crumb Cake…
The original recipe is from Smitten Kitchen, and well, duh, of course, I’m going to make it.
Recommended by Ipso-Fatto, one of my favorite blogs. Her recommendations are SPOT ON. I put any recipe with her ringing endorsement on my bake it, bake it now list.
Apples and a boatload of crumb topping. What’s Not to Love?
Finally, an excuse to buy yet another baking pan, because everyone knows you absolutely need a 12×5.5 biscotti pan, LOL.
How do you like them apples…in a cake, please
It never ceases to amaze me just how many variety of apples are now available. I snagged a bag of Crimson Crisp apples, along with Pink Ladies, and Jonagolds at the Farmer’s Market. Back in the day, Red Delicious was the Big Kahuna, the only Kahuna (totally dating myself). Crimson Crisp are sweet, with just a hint of tartness, an all-around apple good for snacking or baking. Or, feel free to use any apple you like as long as it will hold its shape after baking.
The original recipe calls for 1/2-inch thick slices randomly placed on the batter. But, I chose to cut my apples in approximately 1/4 to 3/8-inch slices and form two rows of overlapping slices. Do not cut the apples any thinner as the apple flavor and texture will be lost under the crumbs. If you use all sweet apples like Golden Delicious, be generous with the lemon juice.
BaBaBaBaBap…Cake On the Bottom
The cake layer is reminiscent of a fine crumb, not quite as dense as pound cake, snack cake A nice foil for the apples and the topping. The batter is very thick, not really pourable. Scoop it into your pan and use an offset spatula to spread it evenly in the pan. I used my nifty new biscotti pan (12×5.5 inches) which is equivalent to the called for 8×8 baking pan. The salt and baking powder are sprinkled on the butter, sugar, egg mixture, and blended before adding the flour. Not sure why, my best guess is to make sure the baking powder and salt are evenly distributed in the batter.
How the Cake Crumb-les
Starting with melted butter makes the crumb topping effortless. I left the crumb in random small pieces which resulted in a pebbly finish which I love. Squeeze the crumbs together for bigger clumps of topping. Add nuts, if you like, I tossed in half a cup of chopped pecans for texture and flavor. It is ALOT of crumble so if that’s not your thang, leave some out.
This is a delicious snack cake that highlights both apples and crumb topping. Put it on your bucket bake list!
From Smitten Kitchen, a delicious snacking cake topped with apples and a generous layer of crumb topping.
Course Cake
Cuisine American
Keyword apple, crumb cake
Prep Time 20 minutesminutes
Cook Time 55 minutesminutes
Ingredients
The Apples
1poundapples, 3 medium or 2 large,peeled, cored, cut into 1/4 -1/2-inch wedges
Juice of half a lemon
1teaspoonground cinnamon
1tablespoongranulated sugar
The Crumbs
1/2cupunsalted butter, melted4 ounces or 115 grams
1/3cuplight or dark brown sugar65 grams
1/3cupgranulated sugar65 grams
1teaspoonground cinnamon
1/4teaspoonkosher salt
1 1/3cupsall-purpose flour175 grams
1/2cupcoarsely chopped nuts, any kindoptional
The Cake
6tablespoonsunsalted butter, softened85 grams
1/2cupgranulated sugar100 grams
1large eggroom temperature
1/3cupsour cream80 grams
1teaspoonvanilla extract
1cupall-purpose flour130 grams
1 1/4teaspoonbaking powder
3/4teaspoonkosher salt
Powdered sugarfor dusting
Instructions
Heat oven: To 325°F (165°C). Lightly coat an 8-inch square or 9-inch cake pan with butter or nonstick spray and line with parchment paper that hangs over the long sides. Makes it easy to remove the cake after baking.
Slice apples into 1/4 min to 3/8 inch thick slices. Toss apples with lemon juice. Mix cinnamon and sugar together and then add to apples. Mix thoroughly and set aside.
Make crumbs: Whisk melted butter, sugars, cinnamon, and salt together until evenly mixed. Add flour and mix until it disappears. Add nuts if using. Set aside.
Beat butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg, sour cream, and vanilla and beat until combined. Sprinkle surface of batter with baking powder and salt, beat well to combine. Add flour and mix only until it disappears. The batter will be very thick and not really pourable.
Scrape batter into prepared cake pan and smooth it flat. Arrange apples on cake, slightly overlapped. Resist the urge to pile all the apples on, single layer of overlapping apples is good. If you pile extra apples on, the cake may not bake evenly. Pour any cinnamon-apple juices from bottom of bowl over apples. Sprinkle crumbs over apple slices. For bigger crumbs, squeeze the crumbs into small fistfuls and break these up into a couple bigger chunks over the cake.
Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted into the apples doesn’t hit any crisp spots and comes out fairly clean, about 50 to 55 minutes.
Cool to room temperature, if you can bear it, before cutting into squares or wedges. Dust generously with powdered sugar.
Cake keeps at room temperature loosely covered in an airtight container for 3 days or in the fridge.
