Pistachio Apricot Brownies

Pistachio Apricot Brownies

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup butter
• 4 Tbsp milk
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1-1/3 cup flour
• 1/8 cup flattened barley (or oatmeal)...for a little added texture
  
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup pistachios
• 1/4 cup dried apricots, chopped to about 1/4" cubes
  

Preheat oven to 350 deg Fahrenheit. Grease and flour a 9×13-inch baking pan. I used a rectangular pyrex container that measures about 8" x 10."

In a large bowl, melt butter (I used a microwave for about 30 seconds) and then combine/mix with canola oil and cocoa powder.

Add milk and vanilla extract. In a medium sized bowl whisk together the eggs and the sugar. Slowly stir the chocolate mixture into the sugar mixture. Add the flour, barley, baking powder and salt. Stir to combine.

Fold in the pistachios and apricots, saving a small handful to chop up for topping the brownies. Pour the batter in the pan, sprinkle with remaining pistachios and/or apricots.

Bake for 18-24 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Cut into bars once it has cooled.

Enjoy with a fresh glass of milk...*gulp*...ah!

Pistachio Date Biscotti

My first baking project has inspired me to make another dessert: biscotti. Once again, I took a recipe (this time, from Donna Hay) and modified it. I added dates and pistachios. Since dates are pretty sweet, I decided to cut down on sugar again. So, here is the altered recipe:

Pistachio Date Biscotti

• 2 cups (organic) plain unbleached flour (organic)
• 1-1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 cup (organic) cane sugar
• 1/2 cup pistachios (unsalted & roasted)
• 1/2 cup dates (chopped)
• 3 eggs
• 2-1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325 deg Fahrenheit.

Chop dates, if needed, and mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Stir in 3 eggs and the vanilla extract.

After a little mixing, the dough may become a little tough to mix so transfer the ingredients onto a board to finish "kneading."

Once the dough appears smooth, divide the it into two. Form each piece into a log, flatten it (mine weren't flat enough), and place on the baking sheet. Bake for 35 minutes.

Allow to cool.

Cut the logs into 1/4" slices, thickness can be adjusted to your taste. (As you can see, I didn't flatten the "logs" enough so they are a bit round.)

Bake the slices for another 10-15 minutes or until they are crisp. Enjoy with coffee, tea, milk, hot chocolate or liqueur!

Sliced Ma La (麻辣) Pig Ears

I can't say the method used below is the authentic way to prepare this dish, but the outcome was successful. The ears were stewed for about 3 hours in:

• water
• dark soy sauce
• rock candy
• salt
• ginger
• garlic
• cinnamon
• star anise
• si chuan peppercorns
• ground white pepper

Sorry, I don't have the exact measurements of these ingredients because I mainly added the ingredients to taste.

After the pig ears are tender, I fished them out and cooled them in the refrigerator along with some of the stewing liquid (it solidifies into a gelatin-like texture).

Once fully cooled (when the stewing liquid is like jell-o), they are ready for slicing. If you have a mandolin, you could slice them all together, which would create a pretty cool effect (this can be achieved using a knife, but it's a little harder). However, I chose to slice them (try for 1/16"-1/8" thickness) one at a time, perpendicular to the cartilage, with a well sharpened knife. I added some thinly sliced green onions to the dish and finally mixed in the secret ingredient: Lao Gan Ma (老干妈) chili sauce:) This brand has a variety of products, so here is the one I used: 油辣椒.

Anyhow, I hope I have not thoroughly disgusted you with the idea of cooking and eating pig's ears, but they really are good (if you can put aside the notion of eating an usual pig's part). In the meantime, I will be home enjoying its spicy, crunchy and gelatinous savoriness:)

Green Tea Oatmeal Sugar Cookies

I have probably made cookies from scratch only once or twice in my life so I decided I would give it another try (I am glad I did). For my experiment, I took a sugar cookie recipe and modified it. I replaced some of the flour with oatmeal and green tea power. I also cut down on the sugar because most cookie recipes I have seen are too sweet for my taste. So without further ado, here is the recipe with photos of the process.

Green Tea Oatmeal Sugar Cookies

½ cup butter, room temperature
1 cup cane sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp green tea powder
½ cup oatmeal (I used plain instant oatmeal)
¾ tsp baking soda
¾ tsp salt
raisins for garnish

Preheat oven to 375ºF. In a large bowl, mix butter and sugar together. Beat in eggs and then vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix: flour, green tea powder, oatmeal, baking soda and salt. Add flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir until dry ingredients appear wet.

Prepare dough into 1 to 1½ inches balls and place onto baking sheet.
Press a raisin (or other dried fruits) on top. Leave about 2 inches between cookies. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until edges of the cookies are lightly browned.

Immediately after removal from the oven, sprinkle some cane sugar on top for a little sparkle (haha). Allow to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely and then store in an airtight container.

Makes about 18 cookies (about 2½ to 3 inch diameter)

yummm...

Whole wheat pork & veggies buns

We made buns from scratch and tried our best to document the process:

We used 1/2 organic white flour, 1/2 organic whole wheat flour (along with yeast, salt and sugar).

Here was the result after some warm water was added...

...then with some more mixing...

...then after the dough was left to rise for a couple of hours...

Now for the filling, we used the following (all finely minced): ground pork, ginger, garlic, mustard greens, celery...

...shitake mushrooms, scallions, and dried shrimp.

To the solid ingredients, we added: sesame oil, soy sauce, salt, sugar, fish sauce, and ground white pepper. So this is a photo of the finished filling.

As you can see, the first bun didn't turn out very well, but the rest started to look better:

We decided to steam half and try baking the other half. The buns for baking were flipped over for a more rounded look:

...And the steamed buns 20 minutes later:

...And the baked buns 20 minutes later:

Overall, the baked buns were a bit disappointing because the dough was not fluffy like the steamed ones. It had an interesting texture that reminded me of a different kind of Chinese baked pastry...but that was not the intention. They still tasted pretty good:)