Freddy's Harajuku

Trio of Milkbread Shio Pan

So I had zero clue what shio pan was until the beginning of 2024 when I saw someone make shio pan and referring to them as “salt bread”. This whole time, I just thought that they were chubby croissants, and as someone who has studied Japanese for 5 years and lived in and visited the…

Vegan and Gluten-free Chocolate-Kumquat Cupcakes

I was lucky enough to receive a bunch of fresh kumquats from a dear friend, Celina, and I wanted to do something fun with them. I love pairing kumquats with chocolate, and it just made sense to go that route. It has been a minute since I made a cupcake, and I wanted to make…

Kecap Manis-Leche Flan Cookies

Kecap manis(pronounced keh-chahp mah-nee), is a sweet Indonesian soy sauce, made by boiling brown sugar with soy sauce, resulting in an ingredient that basically tastes like molasses. Typically it is used in nasi goreng(Indo fried rice), but based on the sweetness levels, it totally can be used in desserts. I was fortunate enough to be…

Matcha-misu

This matcha-misu(a take on Italian tiramisu, but using matcha green tea instead of coffee), came about because I had a surplus of matcha powder. I love matcha, but somehow I found myself with a ton of matcha powder because of friends continuously gifting it to me. Since I did not want to let the matcha…

Citrus Tart with Baked Rose Meringues

This citrus tart is my take on a lemon meringue pie, but with a few twists. Obviously the term “citrus” would imply that I am using more than just lemon, which is true: my friend Karen was gracious enough to gift me with lemons and limes that she grew herself, so I wanted to use…

Carrot Financier with Whipped Tonka Bean Goat Cheese and Raisin Gelee

Carrot cake is comfort. Not only because it contains carrots, so I feel like I am being healthy and eating a vegetable when it is saturated with sugar, and not even just because the spices bring out nostalgia, but also because, and this might be a little petty, an ex of mine is allergic to…

Yuzu Langue de Chat(Shiroi Koibito Cookies)

I love langue de chat. They’re probably better known as the shiroi koibito cookies(think like a square shaped Milano with a large chunk of white chocolate filling in them), since those are probably the most popularly served iteration of them. Think thin, buttery cookies with a melt in the mouth texture. They are surprisingly easy…

Basil-Meyer Lemon Cake

I love pairing basil with lemon. There is something about how aromatic, perfume-y, and floral basil is, and that against something acidic and tart like citrus that is super refreshing. I was watching the most recent season of Masterchef(which by the way, is a lot easier to watch when you yourself are not a contestant),…

Stuffed German Chocolate Cookies

So these cookies are like the German chocolate cake-flavored cousin to the cranberry bliss bar snowballs I made a while ago. I just fell in love with the idea of making a super soft cream cheese cookie dough, stuffing it with a gooey filling, and rolling the whole thing in coconut to the point where…

Imqaret-Sesame Cookies

I haven’t made imqarets since 2020, but I happened to have a surplus of dates(the dried fruit, not the Tinder kind), and I wanted to use them up! Imqarets are a Maltese biscuit, which can be either baked or fried, that is stuffed with a date mixture that is seasoned with orange blossom water. They…

Cereal Milk Dreamsicle Funfetti Cake

This cake was the result of me craving Fruity Pebbles, and trying to figure out a more technical, gourmet way to consume them. There is just something about Fruity Pebbles, probably the artificial citric acid taste and the crunchy texture, that I just crave from time to time. And no, this is not a sponsored…

Hidden Rose Apple Cheesecake Dorayaki

It has been a minute since I made dorayaki, but since I procured some hidden rose apples(very seasonal apple with naturally pink flesh), I wanted to do some desserts that utilize it, while also revisiting some old desserts that I have not made in a minute. Hidden rose apples are only available 2-4 weeks in…

Sakura Mochi Anmitsu Sundae

Anmitsu is one of my dad’s favorite desserts. It is a Japanese dessert, translating to “sweet bean paste with syrup”, essentially. Amnitsu is usually eaten with red bean paste, which is a very common component/ingredient in Japanese desserts, and either a dark or light sugar syrup. There is also typically fruit, mochi/dango, clear cubes of…

Gluten-Free Chocolate Peanut Fondants

These fondants came about because I got a request to make “Reese’s Cup Bread”. Apparently there was a TikTok trend of someone making essentially banana bread, but using Reese’s Cups instead. Now, I love chocolate and peanut butter as much as someone who loves chocolate can love them together, but I do not really have…

Injeolmi-Dulcey Shortbreads

Whenever I think of injeolmi, I think of my dear friend, Ellie. Ellie and I were classmates since elementary school, all the way through high school, and we went to college at Boston College and Boston University respectively(meaning that we would see each other often during our formative adult years). She is one of the…

Mini Croissant Cereal

Back in 2020, one of my pandemic hobbies was perfecting croissants. Fun fact, I used Buttermilk Pantry’s recipe to learn how to make them. Admittedly, it’s been four years since I last made croissants, since it took over a month for me to successfully make a batch, and I found out that using that Kerrygold…

Miso-Hojicha Royal Icing Shortbreads

I am forever grateful to the pandemic in that I was able to come up with several recipes that I would not have had the time to do if I was busy with my regular day to day. While yes, times were tough, uncertain, and difficult, I can look back at those moments in my…

Peanut-Crunch Oat Cookies

These cookies were inspired by a combination of junk food, overpriced movie theater concessions, and oats(just to make me feel less guilty about the fact that I used literal chocolate bars to make these). I feel that with oatmeal raisin cookies, the part that upsets me is biting into one, and being met with a…

Cheesy Scallion Hotteok

Hotteok is a Korean pancake, usually filled with brown sugar and walnuts, and pan-fried on both sides until golden brown. The yeast-leavened dough used to make it almost borders on a batter, because of how wet, loose, and kind of sticky it is. The reason why that consistency is optimal, however, is that when fried,…

Matcha-Hong Kong Almond “Yoshi Eggs”

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…