I usually refrain from making puff pastry from scratch frequently, because it is such a time-consuming process. Chilling, resting, and rolling a butter-laden dough pretty much summarizes how you make puff pastry. Because you have to rest and chill the dough between rolling it out, it takes at least 90 minutes to make a laminated…
Category: Tarts and pies
Anything that has a buttery crust, be it homemade phyllo or pate sucre, to name a few examples.
Chocolate-Pumpkin Cheesecake Brulee
Way back when I first started as a baker, one dessert concept I had was a baked chocolate-pumpkin cheesecake cupcake, inspired by the Halloween colors of black and orange. While Halloween obviously is over(how we’re already in November, I really don’t know), I still wanted to make a pretty little pumpkin-chocolate cheesecake number, just in…
Kimchi’s Cajeta Pumpkin Pie
Before anyone asks, no this recipe does not have kimchi in it. Kimchi is the name of my friend Brenda’s maltese. He is an adorable little pupper and is generally well behaved. Except when I brought this cajeta pumpkin pie for our annual Friendsgiving, and Kimchi decided to help himself to 40% of the pie….
Pink Peach Mille Feuille
I just had to make some fun pink peach desserts whenever white peach season rolls around. It’s so fun to take the peach peels, turn those into a simple syrup, and then simmering white peaches in those until they take on the pink color from the syrup itself. They are such a pretty garnish, and…
Aomori Apple Tartlets
Whenever I think of Aomori(which is in northern Japan), I think about the apples. Aomori apples are notorious for having a sweet, perfume-y smell, and a soft, juicy texture. So like the best version of a Fuji apple. I got super lucky that my local Japanese grocery store was carrying these, so I figured, why…
Yujacha-Blueberry Crostata
I love a good crostata. An open-faced tart made from buttery pastry, stuffed with baked fruit is always a good time in my book. Since blueberries are still in season, I figured, why not use those, and pair them with my good friend, yujacha. Yujacha is a Korean citron(or yuzu) marmalade, made with the citrus…
Japanese Apple Pies
These Japanese apple pies were inspired by me perusing through multiple Japanese bakery tour videos on Youtube, and seeing these adorable little scalloped half moon-shaped hand pies. In Japan, apple pies are popularly made with puff pastry, and can range from either a traditional pie shape to the more portable hand pies. So I figured,…
Blackberry-Yuzu Drifloon Pies
Drifloon is one of the cutest Pokemon out there, being a ghostly purple balloon with a yellow cross shape(I’m assuming that the balloon was popped and patched up), and a little wispy cloud on top of its head. I still have memories of playing Pokemon Pearl and finding them in the Valley Windworks on a…
Blueberry-Sweet Corn Basque Cheesecake
I wanted to make a corn dessert of some kind, just to embrace the seasonality of corn. Corn is just naturally so much sweeter and juicier during the summer, and it makes for some really great desserts because of that. I wanted to make a basque cheesecake, pureeing sweet corn into it, and just to…
White Nectarine-Blackberry Pie Top
This pie top was directly inspired from when I saw Christina Tosi post this shortbread disk that was topped with jam and crumble on Instagram, and it looked delicious. So to do something similar to that, because once a Milkbar member, always a Milkbar member I made a variation on that, but with a shortbread…
Purple Sweet Potato Tart
When I was making this dessert, I was reminiscing of a time before the pandemic, when there was a popular dessert chain in L.A. called Cafe Bora. They were best known for serving these aesthetically pleasing purple sweet potato desserts that were dusted in vibrant lilac purple sweet potato powder, and they were all the…
Tofu-Nutella Silk Pie
One of my absolute favorite components to make is my chocolate tofu mousse. I’ve been making for it years, since it’s so simple – literally just equal parts melted chocolate mixed with pureed silken tofu, and salt just to bring out the chocolate flavor a bit more. And yes, it is the same chocolate-tofu mousse…
Milky Oolong-Strawberry Tarts
I have become fully obsessed with milky oolong, which is an alkalized oolong tea that tastes like those creamy milk nougats you might find in Asian grocery stores. I find that milky oolong is the perfect ingredient to pair with strawberries, as one is sweet and buttery, and the other is tangy and tart. I…
Haricot Vert and Feta Pita
I had purchased green beans(or haricot vert) on a whim and was trying to figure out a way to use the last few up in a fun and creative way. That was literally how this recipe came about. When I think about haricot vert, I distinctly enjoy their snappy texture, when blanched and shocked properly,…
Baked Berry Ripple Cheesecake
Growing up, my mom only ever made two different kinds of Western desserts for us: white cake or baked cheesecake. I still remember as a really young kid, seeing her use our electric hand mixer to whip the cream cheese mixture(the literal only time she would ever use that thing), she would crush the graham…
Brown Butter Cereal Milk Egg Tarts
There are many interpretations on an egg tart. The most popular is probably the pasteis de nata, which are the Portuegese ones, featuring a thick, rich custard that is broiled on top for a creme brulee-like topping. I personally grew up on Hong Kong style egg tarts, which were a favorite of mine whenever we…
Oreo Tofu-Chocolate Pie
This chocolate pie was essentially my attempt at doing a chocolate pie, but completely featuring a chocolate crust. I used Oreos(which are surprisingly completely vegan) to make a very straightforward no-bake Oreo crust, and then used my favorite tofu-chocolate mousse recipe to make the filling. For those who aren’t aware, if you blend silken tofu…
Gjetost Caramel Apple Pie
While I have made gjetost apple pies in the past, the filling for this particular pie was the result of me trying to macerate the apples in caramel. With baking with fruit, there is the moisture factor that can cause a recipe to either work, or taste soggy, dense, and raw. Apple pie can be…
Gjetost-Azuki Basque Cheesecakes
Sometimes when you have accidents, you just have to pivot. That, or dump your mistakes into a parchment-lined springform pan, throw them into a burning hot oven, and throw a hail, Mary. This recipe was that. Originally, these were going to be cheese tarts, stuffed with a gjetost(caramelized cheese) and azuki filling, but I overfolded…
“Box of Chocolates” Tartlets
When I think of Valentine’s, the first three things that I associate the holidays with are pink-colored things, red-colored things, and chocolate. While let’s be real here, chocolate on Valentine’s Day is just a marketing ploy for candy companies to sell more chocolate, it is still fun to see all of the heart shaped chocolates,…
Freddy's Harajuku 