Almond buns (small batch)...with an almond paste filling

Calling all almond lovers - this one's for us!

Soft almond buns/rolls - filled with almond paste, toasted slivered almonds & a little dark chocolate

Ever since I had that atypical craving for cinnamon rolls early last year and made some from scratch, I've been hooked!  I've made those chocolate and orange cinnamon rolls several times and now, I have some amazing almond buns (or call them "almond rolls" or "almond cinnamon rolls") to share with you! 

I've now discovered yet another great use for almond paste, and I'm so excited because I'll jump on any excuse to eat more almond paste and almond-based pastries!  The idea for these almond buns came from Sweet Paul's Eat and Make.  In the book, he has a recipe for almond buns that featured grated marzipan and slivered almonds as part of the filling.  That got my attention!

Main ingredients for filling: toasted slivered almonds, grated almond paste, and finely chopped chocolate

I took that amazing-sounding idea and adapted it to suit me.  I used the small batch cinnamon roll recipe I've been using, which makes 4 beautifully soft and pillowy rolls, and instead of marzipan, I used almond paste.  Marzipan is sweeter than almond paste.  I've never used marzipan for baking, and knowing what I do about almond paste (it is sweet enough for me), I was pretty confident it would work just as well - if not better - for this purpose.  I was intrigued at the idea of how the almond paste (or marzipan if you go that route) would melt into the dough while baking to create this gooey almond filling for the buns.  After eating it, I can tell you it is divine!    

I also added a bit of chocolate.  Honestly, I showed restraint here.  I added a mere 1/2 ounce of dark chocolate in total to these 4 rolls.  I wanted the look and taste of some chocolate without overpowering the almond flavor.  And almond is most definitely the headliner here.

To amp up the almond flavor even more, there are crunchy almonds in the form of toasted slivered almonds in the filling.  Other than that, I have a little bit of butter, sugar, and a touch of cinnamon to pull it all together.  It's hard to describe properly in words but...fresh from the oven, it's basically biting into a warm pillowy mound of gooey almond bun.  It's literally oozing with almond flavor and especially tasty with a drizzle or two of the super simple almond glaze I made for them.  

I tasted the buns without a glaze and they are good even without it because there's enough sweetness and moisture from the almond filling.  But in the end, I'm glad I whipped up a quick glaze.  I simply whisked some powdered sugar together with milk (or use almond milk if you have it) and a few drops of almond extract - heavenly!  I think I'll stick with the glaze going forward because it just makes for a more tactile, more memorable experience.  And if you're going to have a sweet bun or roll like this, you might as well go all out and fully immerse yourself in it!

Chinese almond cookies

Chinese New Year is just around the corner (starting on January 31st this year) and I actually have time to think about and anticipate it.  Growing up, Chinese New Year was a huge deal in Hong Kong, with a ton of preparations and many meals being cooked and eaten.  When we moved to New York (I was eight), Chinese New Year festivities scaled down a bit but it's still a big occasion to mark.  Truth be told, we enjoy Chinese New Year courtesy of our parents, who prepare the traditional foods and keep the customs alive for us.  Now that my son is getting older, I'm trying to be more mindful of those traditions.

Red is the traditional color of Chinese New Year (though I do have Valentine's Day on the brain, too)

With Chinese New Year on my mind, I made Chinese almond cookies.  I think the best way to describe them is they're slightly crisp almond-flavored butter cookies, with a sandy (almost cornmeal-like) texture to them.  And they're really more Chinese-American treats because while we certainly have Chinese desserts in the form of dessert soups, for instance, sweets as in cookies and such are not a huge part of Chinese culture.  The few cookies I did eat as a very young child were mainly those tins of Danish butter cookies and almond cookies. My favorite ones are actually the ones pictured below:

I have to mention them because they're really unusual cookies in that they're super crumbly and sandy - powdery on the surface, even - with full-on almond flavor and bites of almonds within. They're so fragile, the cookies - biscuits or "cake" as it's called on the tin - are individually wrapped and packed with bubble wrap inside the tin.  They're incredible, and while I love Italian-style soft and chewy almond paste cookies, these particular Chinese almond cookies above have a special place in my heart.

Chinese almond cookies are sandy in texture and essentially almond-flavored butter cookies

I know it's anti-climatic to say I'm not making those fragile cookies today.  I would love to know how they're made.  I've heard it involves shortening and clearly, there's some sort of mold involved.  In other words, not something easy to replicate at home so I think I'll have to settle for buying them. However, I'll still attempt to tip my hat to almond cookies and the crispy type typical of Asian cookies in the form of the Chinese-American ones I made.  They are likewise sandy and crisp in texture, with a buttery flavor accented with almonds from almond extract.

A little bit of egg wash on top gives the surface some splotchy touches of gold.  It's a familiar look for me when I think of cookies and buns from the Asian bakery - to me, that crusty golden top always signal a bit of crunch to come.  

Chocolate and almond paste babka

Is it odd to try to make something that you've never actually eaten before?  I know I find myself doing that sometimes, as in the case of this babka.

I'd say I barely knew what a babka was (my husband is the Seinfeld fan in the family so I didn't even have that reference) until a year or so ago when it seemed to pop up everywhere.  Serious Eats called it a "babka renaissance" and rightly so because you started seeing these loaves of twisted bread, often swirled generously with chocolate, seemingly everywhere.  

That was all well and good but I can't say I was much drawn to making or eating babka until very recently when I saw a recipe for a marzipan & chocolate babka from Sweet Paul.  Right away, I thought about my almond buns - a spin off of another recipe from Sweet Paul where I add grated almond paste and chocolate as a filling to the small-batch cinnamon roll dough I use (it's delicious!).  So my brain immediately went to a babka filled with grated almond paste and chocolate.  I prefer swapping almond paste for the sweeter marzipan.  There is just something about a recipe using almond paste that gets me running into the kitchen!  Even in July, approaching a busy holiday weekend...

So I experimented and thought I'd give this babka idea a try.  I started by learning a bit more about what a babka was and how it was supposed to taste and be.  Babka translates into "little grandmother" and is an Eastern European yeast bread-cake that's similar to brioche.  The bread is somewhat dense, itself slightly dry, that's often paired with a moist chocolate spread filling (though there are ones with other fillings like cinnamon, nuts, and fruit...plus now we have almond paste!).  The mix of sweet eggy bread with a chocolate filling is its very appeal.

My imprecise/untraditional loaf is a blend and adaptation of two recipes: Yotam Ottolenghi's recipe for making babka dough via Smitten Kitchen and the filling inspiration from Sweet Paul. The Sweet Paul recipe was almost too simple and I felt I needed to follow more precise instructions. What resulted was a sweet bread that was dense yet light, slightly dry yet moist. The almond paste adds extra chew and a great almond flavor and fragrance, which I love; my only regret was maybe not using a bit more of it!  

I think 3 oz. of dark chocolate is a fairly modest amount for the filling, and you could use more if you want to be more indulgent.  You often see far more intense chocolate swirls in a babka loaf.  They are also often brushed with a sugar syrup or topped with streusel.  I like that, at home, I can practice some relative restraint, and this was flavorful and moist enough for us.  When it comes to the chocolate, using a deep, flavorful one you enjoy (Scharffen Berger 62% in my case) will give you more mileage. 

It was fun making this babka!  Aside from needing to plan ahead and set time aside for an overnight rest, the yeast dough was surprisingly easy to handle and the steps were not difficult to tackle at all.  My family and I enjoyed having "babka for breakfast" and I still have a few slices tucked away in the freezer to enjoy another day.  All in all, it was a very rewarding baking experience.

Chocolate marzipan scone loaf

Watching traditional weekend morning cooking shows (i.e., old-school cooking shows with recipes, not reality or competition-based shows) is still one of the things I like to do.  Recently, I've been watching Molly Yeh's new show, Girl Meets Farm, and spotted a cool recipe I had to try.

It was her chocolate marzipan scone loaf, and I was captivated in more ways than one.  First of all, if there's one thing I really struggle with when it comes to making scones is...cutting and shaping them.  My dough is invariably too dry and it's a high-wire act trying to cut them into individual scones that don't fall apart.  Here was a chance to make scones in an easy loaf cake form!  Not only do I get to skip the shaping and cutting, the result promises to be more moist, and stay that way longer.  

Beyond being technically easy, the flavors drew me in as well.  Because if there's one type of pastry/dessert that I particularly favor, it's got to be ones that include things like chocolate and almond paste.  In this case, the loaf is studded with chunks of marzipan - the sweeter sibling to almond paste (I considered subbing it with almond paste but stuck with the recipe in the end) and bits of dark chocolate chips.  They provide tons of flavor and each bite of this scone loaf is like a treasure hunt for these generous bits.  

I adored how this scone-bread baked up...its rustic top with craters of marzipan and specks of chocolate chips on display.  A sprinkle of sanding sugar gives it extra crunch and sweetness.  And true to promise, the scone loaf stayed moist for a few days.  We enjoyed it for breakfast and it's just a fantastic treat for lovers of almond and chocolate baked goods.

I have baked my fair share of almond and/or chocolate treat (from buns/rolls to scones and babka, to name a few) and they rarely disappoint.  This one didn't either! 

Matcha-almond roll cake with red bean cream filling

This is the dessert I served during last weekend's pasta night, a matcha-almond roll cake with a sweet red bean cream filling.  My sister loves green tea desserts and my husband has been a big fan of this cake so I thought I'd whip up another version of it again.

So I'm once again circling back to the matcha-almond sponge (it's that good).  I made the layer cake twice and each time, I was thinking it would be interesting to try and turn it into a roll cake.  The soft, spongy, and super-moist texture of the cake makes me think of roulades and I just had to give it a try.  

Instead of a chocolate cream filling, I went with the Asian theme and made a sweet red bean filling.  The combination of green tea with sweetened red beans (azuki) is very common and popular in Asian desserts (from ice cream to red bean paste fillings for buns and cakes, which I adore).  You can simply buy prepared sweetened red beans like I did and fold it into some freshly whipped cream.

Need I mention that I'd never made a roll cake before?  It's probably pretty obvious. And should I also say that this might not have been the best first-time experiment since this particular cake is likely more fragile (almond meal adds a great taste and texture but it makes the cake all the more moist) than your typical roll cake recipe? 

Excuses aside, I think I had acceptable success with turning this cake into a rolled one.  Ironically, despite all my worries about how thin and fragile the cake is and how it might stick to the towel, my "downfall" was actually not positioning the cake onto the towel properly so that I had to double fold the towel at the top before the first fold, which resulted in the towel "cutting" into the cake and breaking it in one section. There was some sticking but that was manageable.  If only I had placed the cake in the right position at the top of the tea towel!  But hey, 'don't let perfection be the enemy of the good', right?  I seem to tell myself that a lot.

And when all's said and done (as well as filled and rolled), I think things worked out just fine.  The cake plates were wiped clean and we had a great time over dinner.  I think dessert just round out a meal and gives it the perfect little sweet finale.  

Peanut butter cinnamon rolls

Time for the first post of the year...how exciting!  In 2016, I hope to continue to do what I've been doing here - trying recipes that appeal to me and hopefully discovering some new family favorites in the process.  At this point, we pretty much know what we like so the same themes will generally prevail...in other words, there will be lots of chocolate and I'll be keeping an eye out for simple yet scrumptious recipes.  For the most part, the blog's focus will stay on the sweet side of happenings in my kitchen. While I actually cook more than I bake in "real" life, this blog is mostly my little sweet retreat and I think having a little something sweet really makes life better.

One thing I love to eat and talk about, besides chocolate, is breakfast!  Weekend morning breakfasts are a highlight of the week.  Not only do we share something tasty to eat, we chat and linger around the table.  It's an awesome way to start the day and connect with each other.

Every so often, we have cinnamon rolls.  Since I started making them in 2014 based on a small-batch recipe from Oh, Ladycakes, it's been a favorite.  I even have a little cinnamon roll dance I like to do because I'm silly like that sometimes.  I've made several versions (including some must-try almond buns) and this time, let's welcome peanut butter!

I love peanut butter on an English muffin or toast in the morning so a cinnamon roll spin has been on my mind for some time.  What could be easier than just grabbing some peanut butter and slathering it onto the dough for an easy and deliciously satisfying filling!  You end up with ultra tender, soft, squishy rolls (trademarks of this cinnamon roll dough), filled with creamy and crunchy peanut butter (I used both) in each bite.  If you like peanut butter, it's a no-brainer.

I realized some time ago that you have to splurge and go for a glaze on your cinnamon rolls in most cases.  Even just a little bit enhances the overall experience, adding an extra layer of sweetness, flavor, and a general feeling of indulgence that makes it feel all the more fulfilling.  Considering there's just 1 tablespoon of butter and 4 teaspoons of sugar used to make this small-batch of 4 rolls, I think a little glaze is completely reasonable.  So I whipped up a simple peanut butter glaze and I am wholeheartedly glad I did.

Incidentally, I paired my peanut butter cinnamon roll with some Hong Kong style milk tea.  I made an easy knock-off version, simply using strong black tea (steeping at least 2 English breakfast teabags for 2 cups of boiling water), sweetening it lightly with sugar, and stirring in evaporated milk until a creamy color emerges.

I had leftover evaporated milk in the fridge after making a batch of Cantonese egg tarts for my in-laws over the holiday break and this tea was a great use of it.  If only I had thought to serve the egg tarts with the milk tea!  

Tale of two popsicles

We recently returned from a busy, fun-filled vacation in California!  It was great but this East Coast girl is also happy to plant her two feet back home. We started our trip in San Diego, picked up our rental car and eventually drove our way through to San Francisco - and many places in between.  It was really nice to visit the other side of the country and watch our 8-year old experience it for the first time. Now, after the theme parks (Legoland, Disneyland, Sea World, oh my!), fast food (In-N-Out Burger for one) and ice cream (Ghirardelli ice cream shop - we love you!) consumption, I can tell you that we've been settling back to normal life and eating our weight in vegetables and fruit to balance out all that vacation excess.

The last two of my posts were scheduled before I left and these popsicles were actually the last sweet things I made before our trip.  While I've been cooking up a storm the minute we got home (don't you miss home-cooked meals after traveling?), I'm taking a short hiatus from baking - at least when it comes to dessert - while we work on eating those veggies. In the meantime, I'd love to share this little popsicle "story" with you.  I decided to make them because summer is flying by and before we know it, it'll be too cold to truly enjoy popsicles.  Since I'd only made a batch of fudge pops this season, I wanted to put my popsicle molds to more use before it was too late. So here's what I did...

Vietnamese Coffee Popsicle

First up - something for coffee lovers! I was never much of a coffee drinker at all until I had a child and then, well, everything changed. This is a Vietnamese Coffee Popsicle. It's made with just 2 ingredients: super strong coffee (or espresso) and sweetened condensed milk.

I made it with double-strength coffee (brewed using 4 tablespoons of coffee grinds per cup). I like using a combination of dark French roast and Columbian coffee.  I'm no coffee expert whatsoever but it's a mixture I've tried in the past and liked over using all dark roast.  Since we like Vietnamese coffee ice cream, I figured I'd try the popsicle version. 

It is so easy to make!  Simply stir sweetened condensed milk into the freshly brewed coffee and pour the mixture into your molds.  And the result is just like having a frozen form of the strong, sweet coffee drink!

Red Bean Popsicles

Next up, we have Red Bean Popsicles!  If you're Asian, chances are you're more than familiar with red bean desserts, made with Azuki or Asian red beans. They are typically cooked down into a paste and sweetened, then used in a wide variety of desserts. One of my favorite childhood treats growing up in Hong Kong was red bean pudding cakes, which I tried my hand at making last year!

These red beans are featured in a whole host of Asian desserts.  It's found in simple red bean dessert soups, could be made into gelatin-like cakes, or stuffed into buns and breads.  It might also be used as a filling in cakes, and layered with ice and condensed milk into what we simply call, red bean ice. I absolutely love all these uses for red bean paste.  Name one red bean dessert and you'll likely find me oohing and aahing about how it was my favorite growing up! You see...I do have a passion for something other than chocolate!

And red bean popsicles were indeed one of those beloved treats I had as a child. I've devoured many in my day and it was cool to learn how to make them myself.  You can start with azuki beans and make your own red bean paste (here's a recipe posted by Amy that shows you exactly how it's done) but for speed and convenience, I went with the shortcut and bought cooked, sweetened red bean paste (it comes in cans and is available at most Asian markets).  This recipe will require the blender but there's actually no cooking involved if you go the store-bought red bean route.

Mixed with milk (you could certainly try coconut milk or almond milk) and some cream, it is a luscious, delicious treat that's filled with sweet red bean flavor. I adore it and it was fun making another childhood treat in my own kitchen. (And if you've never had one of these, consider picking up a box from the freezer aisle of the Asian market and give them a try! : )