Ever since Universal Studios opened Super Nintendo World, I have been obsessed with buying a Yoshi headband. To elaborate, Universal sold these cute Mario character headbands, with a mini doll of the character placed on the headband in a way where it looked like the character was laying on your head. I personally find Mario and Luigi to be a little creepy looking, while I didn’t want Princess Peach doing that to my head, so Yoshi was kind of the default choice for me. We tried looking for Yoshi headbands in all of the Nintendo stores, but they were nowhere to be found. I even found a Boo headband(which was still cute, just not Yoshi), but for some reason, Yoshi headbands did not seem to exist. Or at least not in stock. Unfortunately, Yoshi headbands were sold out and on back order for about a year. Yes, a freaking year. I saw people trying to scalp these headbands on the Internet, but I did not want to be upsold one on the principal that I wanted to buy one either in Super Nintendo World in Universal Studios or in the boardwalk store. So about a year later, when my friend from season 10, Shari, came to visit LA with her husband and kids, we all went to Universal Studios, where I finally was able to buy myself a Yoshi headband! That is all to say that with Yoshi fresh in my mind, I wanted to make a Yoshi-themed dessert! The idea of doing an outright Yoshi sounded a bit daunting – the shape of Yoshi’s head, specifically its snout, would make it hard to balance. However, Yoshi’s do lay these cute spotted eggs, and I figured that would be cute and simple enough to execute! While these were cute, the Yoshi eggs were a highly technical process that required a combination of patience and temperature control.

The components for these eggs included a Hong Kong almond mousse, a matcha-almond shortbread, a matcha truffle center, a clear glaze, and matcha gelee in two ways: spots on the egg, and strands to resemble a nest. For starters, let’s talk Hong Kong almond. Hong Kong almond powder, also called Chinese almond powder, is made with apricot kernels. The kernel of an apricot pit resembles an almond, but is fairly bitter and floral. If you have ever had Chinese almond pudding, or consumed amaretto, or even almond extract, this powder has a very similar flavor profile to that. I find it to be warming and fragrant, and it pairs pleasantly well with matcha, which has a more cooling effect. I used the almond powder in both my mousse as the main flavor component there, as well as in the shortbread cookie base. With my matcha powder, I used a ceremonial matcha, which has a brighter green color and a distinct bitter note as well. You might be thinking, since the almond powder is bitter and floral, and the matcha is bitter and floral, that they may clash. However, the almond powder veers more nutty, while the matcha veers more grassy, so they do stand out amongst each other. And for the bitterness, sugar and dairy are an immediate solve for that. I personally feel like bitter ingredients work beautifully in dessert. Case in point: chocolate. Cocoa is bitter on its own, but it tastes delicious with sugar and dairy. I’m applying that same principal here with the matcha and the HK almond powder.

For the components, we have the HK almond mousse, a matcha truffle core, the matcha-almond shortbread, the clear glaze, and the green gelee. The first two things I would advise you work on in this recipe are the matcha truffle core, and the matcha gelee. The core needs to be frozen solid before you can press it into the mousse, otherwise you will have a sticky mess. The gelee needs a little time to set, but the more pressing part is that before you pipe the mousse into the silicone molds, you need the gelee cut out in spots and ready to line the inside of that mold before the mousse is piped in. That is how you achieve a smooth-surfaced egg, with the spots not just jutting out of the mousse clumsily. The mousse, I froze it for 4 hours, but honestly, the longer you freeze it, the better. The silicone egg molds I used were a touch tricky to unmold the mousses from, but the more frozen-solid the mousse, the easier to handle it. The clear glaze is used to help give the egg a shiny finish, as unglazed mousse can look matte, like a stuffed animal, and I am trying to make my Yoshi eggs look like an actual egg. I recommend keeping the mousse eggs frozen solid before you glaze them, since the glaze, while warm, may cause the bottom of the mousses to get soft and runny. To sort of rectify that, I used my remaining gelee to make these strands that resemble grass or a nest to wrap around the bottoms, just to cover up some of those flaws. Overall, I really love how these Yoshi eggs turned out. Ironically, they took way less time to make than my wait for the Yoshi headband, and they really captured this sort of childhood nostalgia for me – I closely associate Mario games with my trips back to Taiwan as a kid, where we would play them on those long plane flights to and from. Hopefully, this dessert will spark some memories, old or new, for those of you brave enough to try making them!

Makes 8 “Yoshi Eggs”:
For the matcha truffle core:
1/4 tsp gelatin powder + 1 tbsp cold water
1oz heavy cream
1oz whole milk
a pinch of salt
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 tsp ceremonial matcha powder
2oz white chocolate

In a pot, heat up the gelatin, cream, milk, salt, and butter on low heat. Once the gelatin and butter are dissolved into the milk and cream, pour that into a heatproof bowl with the other ingredients. Allow that to sit at room temperature for 1 minute before stirring until everything is melted together. Pour the matcha truffle filling into 1-inch silicone half sphere molds, filling 16 of them completely. Freeze the truffles for at least 2 hours, or until sold. Press two half-spheres together to form a full sphere.

For the matcha gelee:
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp granulated sugar
a pinch of salt
1 tbsp agar
1 tbsp ceremonial matcha powder

In a pot, heat up the water, sugar, salt, and agar on low heat until the agar, sugar, and salt were fully dissolved into the water. Take the pot off heat and stir in the matcha powder. Line a 8-inch by 6-inch flat-bottomed tupperware with a thin layer of cooking spray. Pour the gelee mixture into the tupperware and refrigerate until set, about 10 minutes. Cut out 1/2-inch and 3/4-inch circles from the gelee. With the remaining gelee, add another 2 tbsp of water to a pot, place into that the gelee, and heat on low until everything is melted together. Re-pour into the tupperware and re-set it in the refrigerator. Cut the gelee into thin strips to use for garnish.

For the Hong Kong almond blanc manger:
1/2 cup water
3 tbsp Hong Kong almond powder
1 tbsp gelatin powder + 2 tbsp cold water
1/4 cup granulated sugar
a pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups heavy cream, whipped to stiff peaks

In a blender, puree the water and almond powder until fully combined. Pass through a sieve to remove any lumps. Heat up the almond water with gelatin, sugar, and salt until everything is dissolved together. Pour the almond mixture into a bowl and allow that to cool down to room temperature. Once the almond mixture is no longer warm to the touch, fold into that the whipped cream. Transfer the blanc manger mixture into a piping bag.

For initial assembly:
Press into the sides of 8 silicone egg molds three thin disks of the matcha gelee – I did two 3/4-inch disks and one 1/2-inch disk per egg. Pipe into the molds the almond mousse. Press into the center the matcha truffle, leveling off the tops with more mousse to make sure that each mold is fully stuffed with mousse. Freeze solid, at least 4 hours, before attempting to unmold. Keep the mousses in the freezer until time to glaze.

For the HK almond-matcha sable:
3/4 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 tbsp Hong Kong almond powder
3 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tbsp ceremonial matcha powder
6 tbsp unsalted butter
a pinch of salt
1 egg yolk

In a food processor, blend the flour, almond powder, sugar, matcha powder, butter, and salt together until a crumbly, coarse powder forms. Pulse into that the egg yolk, pulsing until everything mixes together into a dough. Refrigerate the dough for 20 minutes. Then roll out the dough on a floured surface to about 1/8-inch thickness. Cut out 3-inch disks. Place onto a lined sheet tray, keeping the disks 2 inches apart, and bake at 350 degrees F for 12 minutes. Let the sables cool before attempting to use.

For the clear glaze:
1/2 cup water, in two parts
1 tbsp gelatin powder + 2 tbsp cold water
1 tbsp granulated sugar
a pinch of salt

In a pot, heat up half of the water, the gelatin, sugar, and salt. Once the gelatin, sugar, and salt are dissolved into the water, take the pot off heat and stir in the rest of the water. Let the liquid come down to 85 degrees F.

On an icing rack, pour the clear glaze onto the still frozen-solid mousse eggs. Let the excess drip off before transferring the eggs to the sable. Garnish the sides of the eggs with the matcha gelee to finish.