Rum raisin cream cheese sandwich cookies

I think I am kind of alcoholic. I always choose rum raisin ice cream at the ice cream shop. I prefer whisky chocolate. I like to use wine or beer to cook meat.

I always keep stock of rum infused dried fruit (raisin and cranberry ) in a jar. I keep to refill dried fruit and rum after use it.

Combination of cream cheese icing with rum raisin between short bread cookies.
This is one of popular modern Japanese dessert recipe.

I made it one bite small size. I add less sugar in the filling. Because the raisin is quite sweet.
Cream melt in my mouth. Yummy cookies.

Rum raisin cream cheese sandwich cookies

Shortbread cookies

360 g Plain flour

90g White sugar

100g Butter(cold and cut into dice)

2 Eggs (beaten)

Cream cheese filling

50g Butter (soften)

200g Cream cheese (soften)

50g icing sugar

100g Rum infused dried fruit

Cookies
1. In the food processor, combine flour and sugar, add butter. Blitz it until all the butter blended with the dry ingredients.
2. Transfer it into a bowl.
Add the eggs, knead it until it becomes dough.
3. Wrap it with the plastic wrap. Place it into the fridge for 30 - 60 mins.
4. On the floured work bench, roll the dough out 5mm thick. Use your favorite cookie mold.
5. Preheat oven 180c.
Bake it 15 mins at 180c.
6. Cool it down.

Filling
1. In the stand mixer, cream butter until it becomes pale. Add cream cheese and icing sugar, cream it together.
2. Add rum raisin. Combine well with the spatula.

Once cookies get cool down, sandwich 1 table spoon of cream filling between 2 shortbread cookies.
Lightly press cookies until the filling reaches to the edge.
Put them into the airtight container, keep in the fridge.

Matcha green tea cookie

I am just come back from holiday in Japan. I visited my family with my 5 months daughter. I stayed in Japan for only 1 week. I had good time with my family.

I brought back ‘‘matcha‘‘ powder from Japan.

 

Matcha is kind of green tea, it is finely ground powder. We use it in traditional tea ceremony.  And nowadays,  we use it to flavor and dye foods such as ice cream, chocolate, cookies, buns .....any kind of  food.

It is easy to use in the baking stuff.  You need to shift it. It is crumbly like cocoa powder. 

Matcha cookie

100g unsalted butter (cold and cut into pieces)

200g  Plain flour

1 tsp baking soda

100g white sugar

2 tsp matcha powder

1 egg (beaten)

1.Shift match powder first.  In the food processor, combine plain flour and baking soda, sugar, matcha powder. Add cold pieces of butter, process until it becomes crumbly.
2. Transfer it into a bowl. Add beaten egg, make it until it becomes cookie dough. Knead it roughly.
3. Wrap it with the plastic wrap, place it into the fridge for 30 - 60 minutes.
4. Take it out from fridge.
Preheat oven at 180C. Put baking paper on the baking tray.
Roll the dough out 5mm thick. If it is too hard to roll out, leave it at room temperature for a while.
Use your favorite cookie mold to make the shape.

5. Bake it at 180C for 10 - 15 minutes until it becomes lightly brown.
6. Cool down on the wire rack.

Sesame Cracker

I enjoy wine and cheese combination on the weekend. Just having relax at home.

One day, I go to supermarket, I choose wine, cheese and crackers as usual. I was thinking which cracker shall I take. Plain or sesame or grain, thin or thick, expensive or cheap???????

Why not make homemade cracker by myself? I am a baker.

I never came up with idea making crackers. I cant believe it myself.

Anyway, I got flour, wholemeal, sesame and olive oil at home. It was simple ingredients and easy process.

I add honey as sweetness. Non sugar and butter, healthy choice.

 Sesame Cracker

(makes 50)

Plain flour 80g 

Wholemeal flour 120g 

Sesame seeds 3 table spoon

Olive oil 4 table spoon

Water 4 table spoon

Honey 1 table spool 

Salt pinch

Baking paper on the baking tray. 

1. In a bowl, combine all ingredients and mix it with your finger. It becomes dough.

2. Transfer the dough on the floured counter. Roll it out as thin as possible.

3.Transfer the dough on the baking tray.  Mark square with knife, but not cut through.

4. Prick each cracker with a folk. Preheat oven at 190℃.

5. Bake it at 190℃ for 13 minutes until it becomes golden color.

6. When it gets cool down, separate individual.

Black pepper cheese Rusk

I sometime have bread not fresh anymore. Because I bake bread again and again.
Today I made Rusk.

I have never seen Rusk in NZ. Rusk is twice-baked bread, crispy, sometime hard. It is similar with Biscotti. 

• In Japan, Rusk is ideal for present. It is sold in package one by one. There is lots of flavor. Sugar butter is one of typical flavor. Maple, cinnamon, green tea, vanilla, garlic, pepper...and so on. 

I made Rusk with my Spinach bread. 
There are important tips,

• Slice bread evenly
• it is baked in low temperature like drying out

If you bake too long, it would be burn and hard texture.

This is savory rusk, it could match with wine and beer. 

Black pepper rusk

Your choice of bread

Butter 100 g (Soften)

Black pepper 4 g 

Edam cheese 45 g (grated)

Salt pinch

1. Slice bread 1.5 cm thick each evenly. If you got big loaf, you can cut slices in to 4.

2. Soften and cream butter in the bowl, add grated Edam cheese, pepper and salt, then combine well.

3. Spread the butter mixture on the slice.

 4. Place them on the baking tray. Preheat oven at 140℃.
Bake them 140℃ for 60 - 80 minutes.

Beer Grissini with Sour cream onion dips

I was invited to my friend's birthday party. He is a home beer brewer. I expected lots of beer geek of his friends would come to his party. I made Grissini from beer yeast sourdough and sour cream onion dips.


Grissini tastes happy beer. I added extra beer yeast to make it strong taste. When I made sourdough starter, it smells beer... if I couldn't drink alcohol, I would be drunken with that smell.


I made them 40cm sticks!! They are loooong!! It was funny snack for the party. Everyone was surprised at looks and taste.
They taste, of course, BEER. Beer geeks were happy with beer yeast bread.


Sour cream onion dips, I stir - fried 2 onions gradually to make caramelized. Lots of onion, that is a real sour cream onion!!


I was happy with this bread. It was the perfect situation for my bread.


I had Grissini recipe here, but today, I add sour cream onion dips recipe here.

Grissini

Sourdough starter

50g White flour

50cc Water

1 tea spoon of beer yeast

(or pinch of dried yeast)

Final dough

90g White flour

60g Wholemeal flour

4g Salt

6g Sugar

80cc Water

Sour cream onion dips

250g Sour cream

2 Onions (sliced finely)

1 table spoon of cooking oil

Crushed Garlic

Salt

Pepper

1. Day 1
In a container, combine rye flour and water, beer yeast. Set it 6 - 10hours to ripen at the room temperature. When it start bubbling, place it into the fridge to rest.

2.  Final dough
In the mixer or bread machine, combine the final dough ingredients and sour dough starter. Mix it 15minutes till it becomes smooth and elastic.
3. Put it into the container, then proof it at warm place (30℃) till it becomes bigger size (about 6 hours).

4. Make sour cream dips.
In a sauce pan, Stir fry onion with cooking oil and low heat. Stir it frequently, cook for 30 minutes. Make it brown gradually.
Put onion onto a plate, cool it down.
Mix cooled onion and sour cream, then flavor with slat and pepper.

5. Pour the dough onto floured counter, then deflate it, knead briefly. Make it into a rough ball.
 Set the dough with cover for 15 minutes.

6. On a floured counter, spread the dough into rectangles 30 x 40cm with a rolling pin.

7.  With a pizza cutter or chef’s knife, cut it off.

8. Pick up each strip of dough at the ends and gently stretch it to the length of the baking sheet. All  grissini should just fit on a baking tray.

9. Line a baking sheet onto baking tray.

10.  Place it into warm place with spray water, rise them for 30 minutes.

11. Meanwhile preheat a oven at 190℃.

12. Spray water, and sprinkle sesame seeds.
Bake them at 180℃ for 20minutes or until well brown and crisp.

13. Cool them down onto a wire rack.

Dip and bite!!

It is posted at Yeastspotting.

Pork Buns - Butaman -

Butaman is a Japanese style pork bun.
This is filled with cooked ground pork and chopped vegetables, and similar to Chinese pork buns (baozi).

 They are steamed and often sold as street food in winter in Japan.They are available at convenience stores, where they are kept hot.

The dough is made from mixture of plain flour and high grade flour, proofed by yeast and baking powder.
To make pork filling, you need soy sauce and miso, sesame oil. They are available at the supermarkets or Asian market.

After steaming up, the dough will be soft tender bread, and when you break a bun open, steam will come out with the aroma of seasoned pork.

Pork Buns (make 10)
Dough
250g Plain flour
50g High grade flour
20g Sugar
3g Salt
5g Baking powder
5g Active dried yeast
10g Shortenings or vegetable oil
180cc Water

Pork filling
150g Ground pork
1/4 Onion (chopped)
100g Cabbage(chopped)
1 clove of ginger
2 clove of garlic
1 table spoon of sugar
2 table spoon of soy sauce
1 table spoon of sesame oil
1 table spoon of miso
1 table spoon of potato starch

1. Make the dough.
 Place flour, milk,water, yeast, sugar and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix for about 7 minutes. Add oil and mix for another 6minutes till it becomes elastic. Transfer the dough to a covered container and ferment at warm room temperature (about 27℃) for 1 hour.

2. Meanwhile, Make the pork filling.
In a sauce pan, stir fry onion and cabbage till they are slightly cooked. Transfer them into plate to cool them down.

3. In a large bowl, put the ground pork, stir fried vegetables and all seasonings. Mix the ingredients together until well incorporated and the meat becomes sticky.
Divide into 10 pieces, and make them balls.

4. Pour the dough onto the floured counter, then deflate it, knead it briefly. Divide it into 10 pieces, and make them rough balls. Set them 15 minutes with cover.

5. Assemble the buns.
 Take a ball of dough and flatten it between your hands. Then, use a rolling pin, roll the dough out into a 10cm circle.(A)

Place pork ball in the center of the dough(B) and wrap it by bringing the dough up around the meat to the top, forming little pleats with the excess tough, then slightly twisting the dough to close it, then pinching it firmly to join it. Put the bun on a small square of parchment or wax paper. Repeat the process with the rest of the dough and meat.

How to wrap the pork buns.

6. Put the bun on a small square of parchment or wax paper. Rest them for 20 minutes.

7. Meanwhile, prepare steamer. Boil the water with steamer until it starts steaming. Wrap the steamer lid with a towel to avoid dropping water.

8. Place the buns on their squares of parchment/wax paper in the steamer and cover. Steam for 15 minutes on high heat. Remove from the heat and serve.

It is placed at YeastSpotting.

Chocolate chip Melon Pan -part 2-

Before I added Melon pan recipe last year. When I made it and put the photo on facebook, some people asked me the recipe. So it is the story to start my recipe blog. 
I am sure Melon pan is an acceptable Japanese pastry all over the world. In Japan, we have some flavors of Melon pan....Plain, chocolate chip, maple syrup, green tea, strawberry and so on.

Today, I made plain and chocolate chip Melon pan.
Melon pan doesn't taste melon, unless added melon extract. But it is called Melon, because of shapes.
The soft and milky dough is covered with sweet cookie crust with sprinkled sugar. It is perfect for tea and breakfast.

 I rewrote the recipe and put the process photo. I made the cookie dough a day before. It need to rest in the fridge for 3 hours or over night.
If you want to make plain Melon pan, take out chocolate chips. I wrote chocolate version, here.

Melon Pan (make 12)
Cookie crust
60g Unsalted Butter (soften)
80g Sugar
1 (60g) Egg (beaten)
205g Flour (sifted)
70g Chocolate chips

Dough
300g High grade flour
5g Instant Yeast
20g Sugar
5g Salt
90cc Milk (lake warm)
100cc Water(lake warm)
15g Unsalted Butter (melted)

1. Make cookie crust.
Cream butter and add sugar, whip them till whiten. Add egg, and combine well. Add sifted flour, combine with spatula. Knead it lightly on the counter. Combine chocolate chips, knead it briefly till chocolate chips are just evenly incorporated into the dough. Wrap it with plastic wrap and place it into the fridge for 3 hours or over night.

2. Make the dough.
In the mixer or bread machine, combine the final dough ingredients. Mix it 13 minutes.

3. Put it into the container, then proof it at warp place (35℃) till it becomes double size (about 1-1.5 hours).

4.Meanwhile, divide Cookie Crust dough into 12 pieces(35- 40g), and shape into a ball. Make them 5cm round shape. See the photo below, make it like UFO.

5.  Pour the dough onto floured counter, then deflate it, knead briefly. Divide it into 12pieces (40- 45g) and preshape it, let rest, covered, for 20 minutes.

6. I put how to wrap it, here.

Shape them into final balls (A).
Cover and wrap the ball with cookie crust dough(B).
Press the dough with your thumb and wrap with your other fingers. You don't need to cover the bottom. (C)
Score with the scraper if you want.

7. Dip them into sugar for decoration.

8. Place them at warm place (40℃) for 30 minutes. And preheat oven at 200℃.

9. Bake them at 200℃ for 11～15 minutes.

10. Cool them down.

I posted it to Yeastspotting.

Pumpkin Anpan (pumpkin filling bun)

Anpan is a Japanese sweet bun most commonly filled with red beans paste, anko. Anpan can also be prepared with other fillings, sweet potato, chest nuts, pumpkin, and so on.

I think some of people haven't tried Anko (red beans paste). Actually, they are Azuki beans. You can get them at Asian market or big super market.
And it takes time to make paste. I tell you how to make it easily. The day before, you need to soak the beans, then boil them till become soft. Add sugar and stir it till it become paste. Cool it down before fill into the dough.

But Pumpkin Ann (filling) is much easier than red bean paste. It is also quite popular in Japan.

I put some pumpkin paste in the dough. It makes soft and moist, yellow color. The liquid on the dough, you might need more or less. It depends on mushed pumpkin is how much water including.  Sweet dough and light sweet pumpkin filling. Don't you think the shape look pretty? I hope you can understand my explanation of shaping! They are nice for tea.

Pumpkin Anpan (make 10 buns)
Pumpkin Ann (filling)
300g Pumpkin (without seeds, peel)
80g Sugar (less or more)
20g Butter

Dough
120g Pumpkin (mushed)
300g High grade flour
30g sugar
5g Salt
100cc Milk
40cc Water (if you need)
5g Instant Yeast
20g Unsalted Butter
(For decoration, you need egg wash and pumpkin seeds. )
1. At first, make pumpkin filling.  Steam up the pumpkin till it becomes soft. While it is hot, mush them. Add sugar and butter, them combine well. If it is too soft for filling, put on the low heat and stir. Or if it is quite hard for filling, add milk.
Cool it down before use.

2. Place flour, milk,water,  yeast, sugar, salt and pumpkin in the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix for about 7 minutes. Add butter and mix for another 6minutes. The dough becomes very soft and extensible, elastic. It can be stretched a paper thin“windowpane” .

3. Transfer the dough to a covered container and ferment at warm room temperature (about 27℃) for 1.5 - 2 hours.

4. Pour the dough onto the floured counter, then deflate it, knead it briefly. Divide it into 10 pieces(65g), and make them rough balls. Set them 15 minutes with cover.

5. Final shape.

①Press the dough and make it round. Put the pumpkin filling in the center.
②③Use thumb and forefinger of right and left to wrap it.
④Seal it tightly.

①Put it upside down. Sealing goes to the bottom.
②press the dough gently with your thumb. (I used a spice bottle cap)
③Cut the dough with scissors like the photo.

6. Place them into the warm place(35℃) for 45 - 50 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven at 200 ℃。Before bake, apply egg wash.
7. Bake them at 190℃ for 12 - 15 minutes till it becomes golden brown.

8. Cool them down.

Round shape