Freddy's Harajuku

“Tea and Mooncake”: a plated dish

I’ve been trying on and off to make this recipe for years now, but until recently, I had zero clue to where to buy quail. That is until I finally came across a meat market that sold almost every conceivable protein imaginable, including quail, and I could finally revisit this concept! The idea was to…

Persimmon Sticky Toffee Pudding

These sticky toffee puddings are the love child of two Chinese ingredients(Chinese almond powder and persimmons) and a classic British dessert. Whenever the fall/winter rolls around, persimmons are abundant. And trust me when I say this, but having Chinese/Taiwanese family friends, I find myself rolling in persimmons every fall because I always know someone that…

Financier Crumb Cakes

I came up with this recipe namely because I was craving financier, but I was also craving coffee cake. Coffee, or crumb, cake consists of this dense, rich cake that is usually made with sour cream, and lightly spiced with nutmeg and cinnamon. It has streusel bits baked throughout it, which adds a pleasant crunch…

Maple-Pecan Cookies

These maple-pecan cookies were the result of me wanting something pecan pie-adjacent, and not wanting to outright bake a pecan pie or eat pecan pie filling. That and I was craving maple-flavored cookies. I have been making tons of brown butter-baked goods, and maple is just something that fits perfectly with that flavor profile. I…

Miso-Black Pepper Corn Muffins

These miso-black pepper corn muffins were my way of turning my miso-black pepper corn cookies into a corn muffin type of thing. The corn muffins are the Claim Jumper were a huge childhood hit for my family, and I wanted to find a way to create my own version of those, since Claim Jumper is…

Tres Leches Cake with Whipped Condensed Milk

This cake was actually a cake order for one of my repeat customers who have been ordering cakes from me sine the pandemic! For the sake of confidentiality, I won’t outright say who they are, but I have made so many cakes for them already, and am grateful as always whenever they reach out for…

Cinnamon-Apple Crumble Muffins

One of my favorite things to make with apples is this Italian yogurt-apple cake, featuring brown butter, yogurt, and grated apples to create this super tender cake crumb. That cake was inspired by an old episode of Top Chef, where it was referenced by a chef who substituted the apple for radish and made this…

Mortadella and Pistachio Pizza

This recipe was originally going to be a revisitation of my old squash blossom and burrata pizza I did years ago. Except that I could not find squash blossoms anywhere, and so I had to pivot. I wanted to try out a fun recipe using my sourdough starter, and making this airy, high-hydration, pizza dough…

Sourdough Smash Burgers

Now I get it. When you think a recipe by Fred, you would never think hamburger. The last time I ever made a burger was probably in college, where I made the patties too thick and almost unhinged my jaw attempting to bite into one. But I have learned a few tricks since then, namely…

Quahog Clam Onigiri

A long, long time ago, I was watching a Japan travel video, where someone purchased these red clam onigiri(rice balls), stored in the clam shells, and enjoyed them on a coastal train ride. Now, I would have totally linked the video, but it was years ago and I honestly could not find it anywhere. But…

Azuki-Cream Cheese Galette de Rois

It has been a while since I last attempted a galette de rois, and unlike the last time, where I had to fast track making one to get something posted in time for Epiphany, this time, I was able to get a little more prep done. A galette de rois is a French cake, made…

Maple-Vietnamese Cinnamon Rolls

These cinnamon rolls were a random brain child when I was trying to think of fun things I could do with maple syrup and Vietnamese cinnamon. When life gives you cinnamon, making a cinnamon roll is kind of a no-brainer. However, I did not want to just do a plain cinnamon roll. So that was…

Tonka Bean and Yuzu Paris Brest

I made this dessert for my friends’ highbrow-lowbrow caviar night. We sometimes do this thing where we buy caviar to be bougie, and pair it with fancy things(like champagne and charcuterie) or less fancy things(like chips and fried chicken). In my case, I wanted to go the fancy route, since I am a bougie bitch…

Red Velvet Cake with Cheesecake Brulee

This red velvet cake combines together a few fun desserts, being obviously red velvet cake, but also cheesecake, and creme brulee. I have been obsessed with doing these baked cheesecakes with bruleed sugar tops – these kinds of cheesecakes are similar to a basque cheesecake, but instead of the top being burnt, it is a…

Vegan German Chocolate Cake

German chocolate cake reminds me of two things. The first is back in 2018, when I worked at a hotel in Inglewood, and I had a boss who threw a giant stink because I was not bringing desserts into the office frequently(because every time I would, nobody would eat them so it was a giant…

Chocolate Mont Blanc Chiffon Sandwiches

My favorite after school snack my mom would get for me was the mont blanc from JJ Bakery in Torrance. Their mont blanc consisted of a fluffy chocolate sponge cake with chestnuts and chantilly cream in the middle, and a generous piping of the creamy chestnut puree on top. It was soft, light, nutty, and…

Sourdough Sata Andagi(Okinawan Brown Sugar Doughnuts)

The first time I had sata andagi was in 2023 when my family and I were visiting Japan. We went to a local bakery in Kyoto, and they were selling these cute, rectangular, crackle-surfaced brown sugar doughnuts. I was a bit taken aback from the texture at first – I was expecting something more like…

Chocolate-Tonka Shortbreads

These shortbreads are meant to be decadence incarnate. I really wanted to celebrate chocolate in its darkest and richest flavors, and what pairs better with cocoa than butter and sugar? So with that logic in mind, I decided to make these buttery shortbread cookies, flavored with black cacao, and studded with chocolate throughout. One of…

Mini Levain-style Cookies

On and off for the past year, I have been trying to perfect a mini version of those gigantic Levain cookies. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, Levain(which is a French culinary term for sourdough starter) is a bakery originally from New York that specializes in these tall, chunky cookies that are crispy…

Gjetost Corn Cookies

Corn cookies have been an ongoing love affair for me circa 2016, when I first made them after watching Christina Tosi make them on Mind of a Chef. They have really evolved over the years, and this is basically corn cookie version 8 or so. What makes these corn cookies unique is my usage of…