Because of apple picking, I had a plethora of apples that I needed to get rid of. I had to think of creative ways to use them, beyond just making a cake, or cookies, or pie, and that was when I thought about crepes. I remember the first time making a crepe, and how therapeutic…
Tag: hojicha
Milk Tea Hot Chocolate
I have been making this miso-hojicha milk tea in a variety of desserts, on and off, for 2 years now. Needless to say, I have been trying to make miso-hojicha sugar happen with as much vigor as Gretchen Wieners from Mean Girls has with the word “fetch”. Also, side note, but did anyone else not…
Hojicha lava bundt cakes
During the pandemic, one of my absolute favorite “inventions” was this roasted miso and hojicha sugar, made by toasting sencha green tea leaves and miso paste in the oven, then blitzing them with sugar to form a fine powder. That powder is delicious as a coating for a doughnut(which is what it was originally intended…
Hojicha-red bean-mochi madeleines
I made these madeleines half because I wanted to test out a few hojicha recipes, and half because I also made red bean paste using a pressure cooker, and I had to use it somehow! What I love about madeleines are that they are super customizable – since they are these cute, seashell-like cookie-cakes, they…
Lil Peep Egg Tarts
While I do not celebrate Easter in the religious sense, I can still appreciate the fact that the holiday is closely associated with rabbits and eggs. Those are cute things to make desserts from, and the latter if what inspired this dessert! Well, that and marshmallow peeps. Fun fact: I was originally going to do…
Milk tea cream puffs
These cream puffs were the result of me craving milk tea in dessert form, but not wanting to do another panna cotta or ice cream. So instead, my mind went to pate choux, or cream puffs. Since I make hojicha(toasted sencha or Japanese green tea) sugar quite regularly, I knew I could use that to…
Milk tea apple tart
For me, apple pie brings back fond memories…of making a fool of myself on national television. Besides the fact that apple tarte tatin lives rent free in my head and nightmares, I do love the idea of roasted apples and a buttery pastry, regardless of if those things are directly related to one of the…
Gooey butter mochi cake with hojicha sugar
So this recipe was a hybrid between St. Louis gooey butter cake and Hawaiian butter mochi. For context, a gooey butter cake is either a yeasted cake or a yellow cake that has a TON of butter in it, and is baked with a cream cheese topping that is similar to a cheesecake. Between the…
“Feathered Apple”: a plated dessert
I created this dessert from just several techniques that I fell in love with, and wanting to compose those techniques into a cohesive dessert. Homemade phyllo is always something I love to do, while the usage of Almond Inspiration was just to add a pleasant nuttiness. I wanted to use hojicha as well, since it…
Miso hojicha cookies with milk tea jam
I feel like one thing that I came come to love making during quarantine and social distancing is miso-hojicha sugar. It is honestly like a miracle ingredient, just because it is sweet, salty, creamy, toasty and smoky. Honestly, it’s a perfect ingredient to use in many desserts, and I used them in these cookies just…
Time: a plated dessert
When I was listening to Utada Hikaru’s song “Time”, I was thinking about what kinds of desserts could accompany that soulful, slow, jazzy tune. I thought about coffee, cafes, and other things pertaining to that, and from there, my mind went to hojicha. Hojicha is a toasted Japanese green tea, with this nutty, earthy flavor…
Find my heaven: a plated dessert
I really wanted to try branching out and doing new things this year, be it with techniques or plating. The dessert itself is inspired by me just trying to find my happy place in the kitchen, and obviously, that’s through baking and cooking with Asian-fusion influences. So I went with a hojicha panna cotta with…
Freddy's Harajuku 