Pineapple Buns The Bun Is Named Pineapple For Its Appearance Rather Than Taste

Every time I visit and browse Ann’s blog, Pigpig’s Corner, I’m attracted and amazed by her gorgeous, mouth-watering pictures. Not only does Ann have intriguing recipes, but also publish heaps of high quality of restaurant reviews written by the Wild Boar, her partner. When Ann asked me to guest post on her lovely blog, I was wondering what I could contribute more than she’s already had. Then came a suggestion from Ann, a challenge to me, to make a very popular snack in Hong Kong, Pineapple Buns (aka BoLuo Bao in Cantonese).

Thank you, Ann, for giving me this opportunity, but sorry for taking quite a long time to send my post in. The recipe I developed here, was adapted from the owner of a Hong Kong bakery shop, specialized in making and selling pineapple buns (refer to this video for original recipe in Chinese and the whole process). There are two important ingredients in the original recipe, lard for making the topping crispy, and ammonia powder for making crackling patterns on the crispy topping. As I don’t use lard in my home-cooking at all, I tweaked it and used butter only. Besides, how would I make Asian breads without tangzhong? Absolutely not. Many of my readers have already known that I’m addicted totangzhong breads because they are soft and fluffy, and can be kept for days. Since I tweaked the original recipe with butter and tangzhong, I have had three trials until I got it right and feel satisfied. In the end, the original recipe was totally unidentified with mine. Or to say, doing the same thing by taking different routes. If any of you would like the original recipe translated in English, feel free to email me.

Pineapple Buns with a stick slab of butter within (Bor Lor Yao) are also commonly consumed prior to attending weddings back in the day in Hong Kong if the guests know that there will be heavy alcohol consumption. The reason is that the butter will coat the stomach and delay the absorption of alcohol, and thus, delay the onset of alcohols effects. you have been to Chinatown and have tried authentic Cantonese dim sum, you will probably know pineapple buns (boroh bun). Regardless of its name, there is no pineapple in the bun—it’s a soft bun with a sweet and crusty topping, which is extremely tasty when it’s freshly baked. I love pineapple buns and that’s why I asked my contributor Siew Loon to share her pineapple buns recipe. If you love Asian-style pastry, buns, and bread, I am sure you will love this. Enjoy!

Over the last few months, the craze about Asian breads and pastry has prompted me to try baking these delicacies such as pineapple buns, Hokkaido milk loaf, Castella, and the list goes on. One of my favorites is pineapple buns (or called buo luo bao/ in Cantonese) which is a popular bun in Hong Kong. This is a MUST EAT on my list whenever I visit Hong Kong.

To make the "water roux starter", mix the water and the flour until well blended and lump free in a bowl. Place it on the gas stove and warm it up over the medium heat to reach 65C/150F for 2-3 minutes. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator. Let it stand at room temperature before using it.

To make the dough, add dough ingredients a mixing bowl. Mix with dough hook at slow speed for 1 minute. Change to the medium speed, and continue to mix on slow speed for 3 minutes on medium speed until a dough forms.

Add butter gradually and mix for approx. 5 minutes on medium speed until gluten is fully developed, i. e. elastic, smooth, non-sticky and leave from sides of mixing bowl.

Ferment the dough in a lightly greased plastic bag for 1 hour, Leave in a warm place until dough is double in volume.

Punch the dough down to release gases produced in the fermenting process. Divide dough into 5 portions and round up. Let them rest for 15 minutes at the room temperature.

To make the topping, whip the butter until soft and sift in the icing sugar and mix well. Add in the egg in 3 portions and stir until combined after each addition. Fold in the dried milk and half of bread flour. Mix with a plastic spatula. Gradually add in the rest of bread flour until the topping mixture has reach the softness like an eardrop. Divide the mixture into 5 portions.

Place the divided topping on the lightly floured working surface. Flatten the dough and put it on top of the topping, seal tightly.

Score topping lightly in a checked pattern with a knife and let rest for 35-40 minutes. Brush on egg yolk and bake in a preheated 180C/350F oven for about 15 minutes.

As for using ammonia powder, it’s quite tricky. If used not enough, you’d be disappointed for no crackling patterns appear on the topping. If more than enough, your buns would smell weird (yes, like wee). Hope that I didn’t scare you off. If you don’t want to risk, or can’t find any ammonia powder, you can skip the ingredient, and use a knife to score the top pastry before transferring your buns in oven for baking. You’d get regular patterns, instead of getting irregular crackling that classic Hong Kong pineapple buns would have. Taste remains the same anyway. Hope you all like my sharing here.

It Is Said That Vanilla Is The Most Popular Flavor Of Ice Cream

Everyone should gave a great recipe for Vanilla Ice Cream in their repertoire. Here’s my favorite, which you can serve with anything, from a freshly-baked fruit pie, a warm berry crisp, or simply smothered with dark chocolate sauce or caramel sauce and toasted nuts.
　　
It’s said that vanilla is the most popular flavor of ice cream. But most people don’t know that vanilla is also the most labor-intensive of all crops. Because of that, vanilla beans and pure extract are costly. Thankfully, a little vanilla goes a long way. I use both a bean and vanilla extract in my ice cream since I find they’re slightly different flavors and each compliments the other.
　　
Harold McGee confirmed my suspicion by telling me that they’ve discovered that alcohol (which most vanilla extracts contain), even if cooked off, improves the way we sense the taste of things. Which he said confirmed what my taste buds were telling me.
　　
The three most common types of vanilla are Bourbon, Tahitian, and Mexican. Bourbon vanilla, from Madagascar has a bold, very-pronounced flavor. Tahitian is more floral, and bit more elusive. And real Mexican is strong, yet creamy-tasting, perhaps my favorite of them all. Don’t use the cheap Mexican knock-offs, since most contain coumarin, which is toxic and banned for food use in the United States. True Mexican vanilla should be similarly-priced to other vanillas and is worth every cent.
　　
Ingredients
　　
2 cups half-and-half
　　
1 cup whipping cream
　　
1 cup minus 2 tablespoons sugar
　　
2 tablespoons peach preserves (not jelly)
　　
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
　　
Directions
　　
Combine all ingredients (including the bean and its pulp) in a large saucepan and place over medium heat. Attach a frying or candy thermometer to inside of pan. (see note below) Stirring occasionally, bring the mixture to 170 degrees F. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Remove the hull of the vanilla bean, pour mixture into lidded container and refrigerate mixture overnight to mellow flavors and texture.
　　
Freeze mixture in ice cream freezer according to unit's instructions. The mixture will not freeze hard in the machine. Once the volume has increased by 1/2 to 3/4 times, and reached a soft serve consistency, spoon the mixture back into a lidded container and harden in the freezer at least 1 hour before serving.
　　
NOTE: If you do not have a thermometer, bring the mixture just barely to a simmer. As soon as you see a bubble hit the surface, remove it from the heat. Do not let it boil.

Friends To Enjoy The Fun Of Making Ice Cream

Will be known as the GOD of white sugar to the egg yolks in mixing whipped. Then after boiling the GOD fresh milk slowly into the mixture of sugar and egg yolk GOD, stir in the modulation symmetry to move to another container slowly with of heating to keep the temperature at 70 ~ 75 ℃, stirring constantly , then stop heating until the temperature gradually decreased the value must be consistency, and then use the breakdown of the sieve (gauze or a clean GOD) filters, filter liquid cooling and then add cream and edible herb flavors, equipment installed another clean GOD container within the freeze (the volume ratio would have to add 30 to 50 percent). By of GOD milk frozen ice cream for immediate consumption. Add processes and materials, made of three colors and nuts ice cream.

How to make ice cream cute ice cream acridine (Figure) -452 647 003, how to make ice cream, fresh milk in the pot and boil, cooled, slowly pour in the mixture of sugar and egg yolk GOD, the mixing of symmetry, then add the aluminum pan using micro- The fire is slowly heated, the temperature is kept at 70 ℃ ~ 75 ℃ with constant stirring. Temperature gradually decreased after the ceasefire must be consistency to the breakdown of the sieve (or gauze with a clean GOD) in the filtrate by adding the amount of GOD cream and edible flavors, and then into the clean GOD container for freeze branding.

Tip: Although this ice cream is very easy to do, but still can not neglect stirring frequently, GOD work yo! Forget to stir GOD consequences of ice cream nuggets residue, taste is not very good. So it is best weekend GOD morning, this afternoon will be able to eat a slippery and tender GOD ice cream. Whipped cream with milk, have been the cream cheese and yogurt, very strong GOD the various types of fruit-flavored yogurt with your favorite GOD. Instead of other fruits, diced strawberries.

Prepare Yummy Treacle Tart Recipe And Boast To Your Friends

If you are a big fan of Harry Potter, then you must be knowing that treacle tart is his favorite dessert. This dessert has been mentioned as the most favorite dessert of this fictional character and he smells the wonderful aroma of this dessert when is in the presence of the most powerful love potion, Amortentia. Treacle tart, is basically a part of English cuisine and is very famous in UK and other European countries. Treacle tart is a filling of fruit made from golden syrup which is a by-product obtained during sugar refining. Lemon zest, eggs, cream and butter are other ingredients of treacle tart. Given below is an easy treacle tart recipe for you.

Recipe for Treacle Tart

Ingredients

• Golden syrup - 16 ounces
• White breadcrumbs - 3 ounces
• Butter (melted) - 2 ounces
• Ground ginger - ½ teaspoon
• Egg yolks - 3 large
• Double cream - 3 fluid ounces
• Black treacle - ½ teaspoon
• Unsalted butter (softened to room temperature) - ½ cup
• Caster sugar - 6 tablespoons
• Large egg - 1
• Plain flour - 1 cup
• Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

Procedure

To make this treacle tart, first combine sugar and butter in a food processor and blend them until they are just combined. Then, add egg to this mixture and blend for 30 seconds. Add flour to this mixture and whiz to form a dough. Make sure you do not whiz for much time, else the dough will become too tough. You can add small amount of cold water if you feel the dough is too dry. Knead the dough properly and prepare flat disc like shape on a floured surface. Further, wrap this dough into a plastic wrap and refrigerate it for half an hour. Your pastry for the treacle tart is ready.

Now, remove the pastry from the refrigerator and roll it out on a flat surface which is lightly floured. Spread the pastry to form a thickness of a 3 mm. Place this rolled out pastry on a round shaped shallow tart tin that has a removable base. While lining the pastry on the tart tin, leave a bit excess pastry around the edges. Place the tart tin in the refrigerator for half an hour and leave it to set. Then, preheat the oven to 374 degree Fahrenheit. Take a pastry case and line it with baking paper and bake it in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Remove it from the oven and cut off the excess pastry and level it with rim of the tart tin. Then, lower the temperature of the oven to 284 degree Fahrenheit.

To prepare the filling, pour water in a pot and bring it to boil. Then, remove the pot from heat and place the golden syrup bottle in this hot water for few minutes. Meanwhile, take a large bowl and combine lemon zest, ground ginger and breadcrumbs in it. Mix the ingredients and make a well at the center of the mixture. Then, pour in the warm golden syrup, butter, egg yolks, treacle, lemon juice and cream, in the well. Combine all the ingredients properly and pour this filling on the pastry case. Bake this assembly in the preheated oven for 40 minutes. Leave the treacle tart to cool and serve it with cream.

So, what are you waiting for? Rush to your kitchen, prepare this yummy treacle tart, and boast to your friends that you can prepare Harry Potter's favorite dessert.

Preparing Perfect Meringues By Yourself Easily

Meringues are among the ideal options for desserts. These sweat treats are very easy to make and can be used in combination with various other ingredients to create great desserts. Meringues can be of different types, like, Italian, Swiss, French, etc. You may prepare the one you like, if you know the right methods. Here are some tips that will help you in making regular meringues at home.

Tips for Making Meringues

Before starting with the actual recipes for making meringues, there are some basic factors that you have to keep in kind. The following are some guidelines that will help in making proper meringues.

One of the important factors is that avoid humid and rainy days for making meringues. This is because, moisture will spoil its crispiness, as sugar absorbs moisture from the air. Even the utensils you use for mixing the ingredients must be completely dry and free of grease. Avoid plastic ones as they have the tendency to retain grease. You may go for utensils made of copper, stainless steel or glass. The eggs you use for making meringues must be fresh as this reduces the chances of breaking the yolks, while removing the whites. Fresh egg whites can also be whisked better. Make sure to bring the egg whites to room temperature, before whisking them.

Easy Way to Make Meringues

• In order to prepare thirty pieces of meringues, you require four egg whites, a cup of caster sugar and a pinch of salt. You may also replace salt with cream of tartar. Make sure that the egg whites are of room temperature with no trace of yolks. If they are just taken out of the refrigerator, wait for at least thirty minutes, before starting whisking them.
• Preheat the oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Beat the egg whites with an electric beater (with the whisk attachment) on medium speed. High speed is not recommended at the initial stage, as this will negatively affect the foam formation.
• As the egg whites turn bubbly, add a pinch of salt or caster sugar into it and continue whisking. This ingredient is optional. It is used for stiffening the foam, before sugar is added to it.
• As soon as the egg whites form soft peaks, add sugar in small batches (teaspoonfuls), without stopping whisking. In general, a single egg white used for making meringue requires ¼ cup or 50 grams of granulated sugar (or fine sugar). After adding the last batch of sugar, whisk for another two minutes.
• Once the sugar gets dissolved completely and the mixture forms stiff and glossy, you can stop whisking. You may rub a small amount of the mixture in between the thumb and forefinger tips to check whether the sugar is dissolved completely.
• Now take out the whisk from the egg white-sugar mixture. If the whisk leaves stiff peaks of foam, it is perfect. Don't whisk further, as it will spoil the consistency of the foam.
• The next step is to drop a teaspoonful of this mixture on baking trays lined with baking paper. Make sure that the meringues are at least an inch apart from one another.
• Before placing the meringues inside the oven, reduce the temperature of the oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the meringues inside the oven and leave them for around ninety minutes. Switch off the oven, but, don't take them out. Instead, let the meringues cool inside the oven itself.
• As you take them out, the meringues will be light and crispy with an off white shade. Place them on a wire rack for further cooling, before storing them in an air tight container. You can store them for around a week.

The above said is the easy recipe for making meringues at home. There are other variations of meringues and if you are interested in making them at home, gather such recipes too. On that note, take a look at this meringue cookie recipe. Some people may find it difficult to make meringues, when they try it for the first time. But, don't lose heart. Try again and you will be successful in making perfect meringues. Good luck.

Popular Mexican Dessert Recipes That Kids Love

Think Mexican and color and adventure is all that comes to one's mind. It is the same variety and color that is the essence of Mexican food. Mexicans make generous use of the various spices that are native to their land and add a variety of flavors to their dishes. However, it is not just the main course, but their desserts are just as tantalizing. It is the flavor, taste and the exotic look that has made Mexican cuisine popular all over the world. And kids just love the mouth-watering Mexican desserts. Here are some popular recipes of Mexican desserts for kids that are enjoyed by adults as well.

Easy Mexican Desserts for Kids

Flan
Here is one of the simplest traditional Mexican desserts. This recipe will take around 20 minutes to prepare the ingredients and about an hour to cook the dessert.

Ingredients
Sweetened condensed milk, 14 oz.
Evaporated milk, 26 oz.
Sugar, 1½ cups
Large eggs, 6
Vanilla, 1 teaspoon
Preparation
Heat a flan pan over medium heat and add 1 cup of sugar to it. Stir the sugar continuously as it heats over medium flame. Do this till the sugar crystals become brown (caramelized). Keep a couple of ramekins ready. As soon as the sugar gets caramelized, put 2-3 spoons of it in each pan. Tilt the pans so that sugar swirls and spreads all over, even to the sides. Blend all the eggs in a blender. Add the sweetened, condensed milk and the evaporated milk to it. Turn on the blender again. Now add the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar and vanilla to the blender and mix the ingredients well. Pour this custard in the ramekins. In case the caramel hardens by the time the custard mix is ready to be added, heat the ramekins once more.

Fill a large baking dish with hot water that reaches up to 1-2 inches. Place the ramekins in this bowl. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Now place the baking dish in the oven and bake the custard mix for 45 minutes. After 45 minutes, put a knife through the center of the baked custard. If the knife comes out easily without getting stuck, then it means that you have baked the custard just fine! Take the baking dish out of the oven and let it cool. Then refrigerate the ramekins for 1 hour. Invert the ramekins over onto serving plates. Your tasty flan with the caramel sauce flowing over it is ready to be served.

Arroz Con Leche (Mexican Rice Pudding)
With Mexican rice pudding you will definitely score big with kids. Not only because it tastes great, but also because the dessert recipe is so simple that even kids can easily learn to make this.

Ingredients
Rice, 1 cup
Whole milk, 1 quart
Sweetened, condensed milk
Sugar, ½ cup
Vanilla, 2 teaspoons
Cinnamon stick, 1
Grated nutmeg (fresh), ¼ teaspoon
Salt, ¼ teaspoon
Preparation
Take a medium-sized pan and heat milk over medium flame. Add cinnamon stick and grated nutmeg and bring the milk to a boil. Now add rice to the milk and simmer it for about half an hour till the rice grains become soft. Stir the mixture occasionally so that the rice grains do not stick together. Remove cinnamon stick and add condensed milk, sugar and salt. Simmer the mixture further till more of the liquid evaporates and the preparation has gained a pudding like consistency. Add vanilla now. Mix it well and let the mixture cool. Cover the surface of the pan with a plastic wrap so that a thick crust does not form on top of the pudding. Now refrigerate the pudding for 4-5 hours and serve cold. More on rice pudding recipe.

How to Make Colorful French Macarons

You don’t have to be a pastry chef to know how to make French macarons. These colorful, almond-soft-airy French cookies are so tasty, popular and has become an American’s new found obsession. It can be intimidating to attempt to bake them but seriously, you don’t have to be a pastry chef. Since we are such macaron fanatics, we decided to make some in our test kitchen. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to make Chocolate French Macarons with Chocolate Mocha Ganache Filling. Get Recipe here.

That is generally how I order macaroons in a bakery: "Macaroons, one of each please." I love them, and now I can wield my knowledge of how to make them with reckless abandon.These are French macaroons flavored with vanilla and apricot jam, but you can make them any flavor, color them, or fill them with anything you like. I think the traditional filling is buttercream, but I'm not sure. Any French people out there, please comment and let me know!

Macaroons:
250g TPT = almond powder and icing sugar-sifted
100g sugar
100g egg white
25g sugar
add color as desired

Filling:
200g pistachio paste or other flavoring
200g butter cream
Amounts of flavors, pastes etc. will vary with personal taste

Preparation:
To make the macaroons, sieve the sugar and the TPT very fine. Put aside.

Now whisk the egg white together with the second part of sugar at middle speed.

Gradually whisk the egg white mixture to become very stiff, if cooking the sugar for the meringue cook . 

Follow the standard procedure for making a cooked meringue adding color in the end.