Make Your Own Taiyaki!!!

Taiyaki is a sweet delectable Japanese street dessert that not only tastes good, but also looks cute and delicious! And in today's blog entry you will learn how to make your own taiyaki in a couple of easy steps.

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cup Flour
• 1/2 cup Sugar
• 2 tsp. Baking Powder
• 2 1/2 Tbs. Cornstarch
• 3 Tbs. Water
• 3 Large Eggs, room temperature
• 2 Tbs. Honey (optional)
• 1 1/2 Cup Anko (red bean paste), room temperature
  
  Tools needed
• Whisk
• Bowl
• Taiyaki mold
  
• Stove

Directions!

Sift Flour, Baking Powder, and Cornstarch together then set them aside.

Beat the Eggs with Honey and Sugar till frothy and add it to the Flour mixture, then add water. Continue to whip until the texture is smooth.

Start pre heating the taiyaki mold and make sure that there is some oil on the surface so the bread doesn't stick to the pan. Pour in a small amount of batter to the preheated pan and then add a tablespoon of anko. Then add more batter to fill in the rest of the mold. Close and latch the pan.

Turn the heat to medium low and cook for about 30 seconds then turn the pan over. Heat it evenly for a minute and turn again and then repeat again. You will know when it's done when you can open the mold with ease and the color of the breading is golden brown, which is about 4 minutes. 

And now you know how to make your own delicious taiyaki for your friends and family, or even yourself!

Patbingsoo AKA Korean shaved Ice

Shaved Ice is more of an asian dessert as it is not too common in America, but nonetheless its an amazing way to refresh yourself and cool off. There are a couple different styles of shaved ice but the one we are going to focus on today is the korean take on this chilly treat.
There are so many ways to make patbingsoo but there are a couple core ingredients all across the board that gives it such a unique taste.

Key Indgredients
Red Beans
If you couldnt tell from the picture already, patbingsoo is slathered with sweetened red beans. The red beans give a nice rounded taste of sweet and savory and adds a nice thick texture to the soft and flaky ice.

Fruit
As with almost every dessert, fruit complements the dessert with both sweet and sour. Most commonly used fruits are strawberries, kiwiis, bannanas, and watermelon. Another important thing about the fruit is that it also adds to the visual appeal to patbingsu from all the tropical colors


Misutgaru
Misutgaru, a powder mixture of roasted rice nuts and beans, is actually one of the more hidden ingredients in patbingsoo as only a dash of it is used, but it changes the flavor so much. You can the taste the underlying nutty taste in patbingsoo if you pay attention enough.


 Rice Cake
This ingredient is more for texture than taste as it is really chewy and when combined with fruit and redbean, brings about a nice savory taste to the whole dessert. They are perfectly sized as they are just tiny nuggets of soft chewy ricecakes.


All of these ingredients combined make patbingsoo a cool refreshing dessert that has a variety of tastes and textures that everyone is sure to enjoy. You can usually find places to eat patbingsoo at your local korean bakery which are few and far in between, but if you do find a place you are in luck!

I SCREAM for Ice Cream!

Diddy Riese

Many of you are probably wondering.. What is Diddy Riese? Well, it is a little shop to stop by and grab a selection of a dessert you would like QUICKLY.
Most of us are really impatient when it comes to getting our food, but do not worry, because Diddy Riese serves with speed. 

What do they sell?

What they are primarily known for are for their cookies and ice cream. As show below:

This is only a small portion of the cookies that they sell. Upon entering the store, you can choose from a variety of flavors including chocolate chip, white chocolate chip, peanut butter, and the list goes on!

The best thing about this place is the price. One cookie is 35 cents and 3 cookies are $1.00. 

Here's the catch. The one thing that most of my friends come here is because of the ice cream sandwiches. 

This picture does not do it justice, but these ice cream sandwiches are simply $1.75. You can grab a delicious dessert for such a cheap price. 

This is the site for the many choices Diddy Riese gives to build your own ice cream sandwich.

http://www.diddyriese.com/sandwichbuilder.php.

All in all, for a cost efficient dessert, Diddy Riese is definitely a place you should stop by. Simply, you can say it is nothing short of amazing. 

Frostbites.

After negotiating for an extended amount of time, we decided to go munch on some desserts after eating dinner. We drove there, expecting ice cream tasting like Baskin Robbins (not that Baskin Robbins is bad in any way), but as we approached the cashier, we were mesmerized by the amount of flavors that were displayed. 

Enough about how we got there, this to your left is the menu. It is simple and helps customers decide what they want (helping those who are quite indecisive). According to the cashier and yelp reviews, and every other advertisement, the sorbet cream is the most popular item, so it had to be tasted. 

                                   

And that my friend, is a picture of a sorbet cream. It is a combination of layering the fresh-made Italian ice with frozen custard. It may sound unpleasant, but it is one of the greatest desserts I have tasted in my life. So this is basically how this works: There are 12 flavors of Italian ice to choose from, ranging from flavors like strawberry to pineapple to cherry, etc. There are also two types of custard: vanilla or chocolate. By choosing your favorite flavors, you will have something like the picture above. To give you another image to how this may taste, it will taste like a creamsicle. Weird right? Wrong. It is delicious, so next time your friends can't decide where to go after dinner, make sure to stop by Frostbites. 

Furikake Chex Mix

One of my all time favorite desserts is Chex Mix, but with a Japanese kick to it.  This dessert can work well as an all day type of dessert to always please your tastebuds, and always leaving them wanting more.  This dessert, Furikake Chex Mix, is simple to make and easy to eat.
Furikake Chex Mix is basically Kellogs Crispix Cereal coated with sweet syrup allowing the Furikake (small flakes of seaweed and sesame seeds) to cling on to top the sweet dessert with an extra kick.

 Ingredients:

-1/4 cup butter

-1/4 cup light corn syrup
-1/4 cup sugar
-1 tablespoons soy sauce
-1/4 cup vegetable oil
-1 (13 ounce) box Kellogs Crispix Cereal
-1/2 (2 ounce) bottle nori goma Furikake     (can get at Japanese Market)

Baking Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Heat butter, corn syrup, sugar, soy sauce, and vegetable oil until sugar is dissolved and mixture is well blended.
3. Pour syrup mixture as evenly as you can over the cereal. It might seem insufficient initially but keep stirring until every cereal is filled with syrup. Be careful when stirring to make sure you don't crush the cereal. Then, sprinkle as much Furikake as you want over the mix . 
4. Spread in a shallow roasting pan and bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.
5. Cool for about 30 minutes – 1 hour and store in an air tight container until ready to serve.
6. Eat up!

Furikake Chex Mix is one of my childhood favorite desserts, that always brings back memories.  Just thinking about it makes my mouth water.  I always love walking into my grandma's house and smelling the heated, sweet, corn syrup fill the house.  I hope you guys can try making this easy dessert and taste the amazing sweet, crunchy, and salty goodness.  

Lava Cake

Molten chocolate cake, popularly known as lava cake, is a classic French dessert that literally melts in your mouth! This unique dessert consists of an outer shell that is similar to chocolate cake and a center filled with melted chocolate that oozes out when the delicate enclosure is broken. After trying it for the first time this weekend, I decided to blog about it and share one of the simplest way to create this dessert at home.

The preparation time for the dessert is about 15 minutes and the cooking time is 10 minutes. These ingredients listed yield about 4 servings.

Ingredients

6 oz. Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate (or use your favorite 70% dark chocolate bar)

6 oz. Butter (diced, room temperature)

3 Eggs

1/2 cup Granulated Sugar

1/3 cup Flour

Butter for Ramekins

How to Make It:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F

2. Melt chocolate on low flame in a double boiler or in bowl the microwave

3. Add in diced butter and stir until it all melts

4. In another bowl, beat eggs and sugar, until it starts to whiten

5. Stir in melted chocolate, then add the flour

6. Butter 4 individual ramekins (butter the bottoms first, then the sides, wiping from the bottom up to the top. This helps the chocolate rise even more)

7. Pour in chocolate batter

8. Cook for about 10 minutes (cook longer if you prefer a less liquid center)

9. Tip ramekins upside down onto dessert plates and serve

After your chocolate lava cake is cooked to your preference, you can serve it with Crème Anglaise (English Cream), Coulis aux Framboises (Raspberry Sauce), or a pinch of powdered sugar on top.

Porto's Famous Cheese Roll

Have a sweet tooth?  This delicious snack sized dessert will always satisfy your tastebuds.  You can eat these as a morning breakfast to start your day off well or you can eat these as a dessert whenever you please.  This famous dessert is known as the cheese roll sold from Portos Bakery and Cafe.  It consists of sweet bread with cream cheese filling.

Portos is located in Burbank, Downey, and Glendale. 

Portos Famous Cheese Roll

These cheese rolls are filled with rich, savory flavor that make you mistaken them for being worth at least a couple bucks.  However, one roll just costs simply $0.70.  They are made daily, so once your cravings kick in, just walk into the store and they are already waiting for you.  







Portos' cheese rolls are definitely worth trying, they are highly recommended from all of the friends and family that I know that go to Portos Bakery and Cafe.  These cheese rolls are literally fought over at my family's house.  The box would have a dozen rolls, and in about a minute, only the box would be left.  
I promise you, once you try the cheese roll you will be wanting more.  

Best Macaroons

Located in the Los Angeles area, we are blessed with countless choices to choose from when it comes to food, drink, or dessert venues. However, when it comes down to the specific dessert of macaroons, there are few choices that are worth the trip.

One of my favorite places is 'Lette Macarons. Located in Old Pasadena, this small shop is the best place to visit after a long day of shopping and admiring the aesthetic culture the city has to offer. Parking is easy, considering the fact that it is in Old Town. They offer a wide range of macaroon flavors that come in a variety of different color.  Personally, my favorites are the salted caramel and pistachio.
http://www.lettemacarons.com/

Another worthy candidate is Bottega Louie. Located in central Los Angeles, this place is always teeming with people. The venue is divided into two sections, a restaurant and a marketplace. The marketplace consists of various pastries and its famous macaroons. Similar to 'Lette Macarons, Bottega Louie offers many flavors at a fairly reasonable price of about $2 a piece. Larger orders are also available for gifts and such. My favorite here would be the Matcha Green Tea.

http://www.bottegalouie.com

Both of these places unquestionably serve some of the best macaroons out there. Try both out and decide which is better!

This weekend, my older sister decided to host a small and intimate gathering consisting of her friends and our family. As our topic of this blog is desserts, I decided to share what one of the desserts she made for the event. Oreo truffles.

So these little suckers are so full of flavor it's almost impossible to just eat one. They tend to be rather rich though, so make sure you have a glass of milk ready. Surprisingly they were super easy to make. She got the recipe from this cookbook she bought from Costco. The cookbook is called In the Kitchen the Costco Way. That little cookbook is filled with all kinds of goodies that use Costco products.

Ingredients:

1 18-ounce package of Oreo cookies, finely crushed and divided

8 ounces of Philadelphia cream cheese, softened

2 8-ounce packages of semisweet baking chocolate, melted

Preparation:

1. Line a baking sheet with waxed paper
2. Mix 3 cups of the cookie crumbs and the cream cheese until it's well blended
3. Shape the mixture into 42 one-inch balls
4. Dip the balls in the melted chocolate and place on the baking sheet
5. Sprinkle with the remaining cookie crumbs.
6. Refrigerate for 1 hour, or until firm.

It makes about 42 wonderful little bite size truffles. It's super easy to make, but you have to be willing to get your hands dirty. Buy the Costco cookbook for more goodies because everything that we've made so far from that book, not just desserts, has been amazing and full of flavor!

Until next time!

Om Nom Nom...Cream Puffs!!!

Have you ever closed your eyes and thought "wow" after eating a dessert?

The five people in this group have, and this was how we chose our topic. During the next eight weeks, we will be exploring different types of desserts and blogging about our food adventures.

Since this is week 1, and the first blog, I guess I will start with one of my favorite desserts.

Beard Papa's cream puff.

For those who don't know, Beard Papa's is a Japanese bakery that started in Osaka, Japan. This bakery is famous worldwide for their delicious cream puffs. They offer all kinds of different flavors that will bring joy to your taste buds. The classic vanilla flavor is one of my personal favorites. Each cream puff has a flaky crust and a light, fluffy cream filling. It is the perfect combination of flavors that will make you ask for seconds. 

Find a Beard Papa's near you and order a cream puff!

http://muginohointl.com/