Earl Grey-Sesame Duskull Tea-ramisu

I will be honest in that while I absolutely adore the Hoenn region, the Duskull line wasn’t something that I would say I particularly cared for. Of the various Ghost-types in Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire, I was more partial towards Sableye or Shedinja because of how unique each of them were. With Duskull, they are…

Fig-Prosciutto Flatbread

Whenever I think of figs in a savory dish, prosciutto and cheese immediately come to mind. I’m not one to shy away from a charcuterie board – honestly, one of my favorite combinations is a punchy cheese, a cold cut, and the fig jam. So in a lot of ways, this flatbread pays homage to…

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…

Sweet Peach Tea Affogato

This recipe is my homage to sweet peach tea, combined with one of my favorite ice creams in mascarpone sorbet. Back in college, I learned how to make mascarpone sorbet by combining mascarpone cheese and simple syrup, freezing that solid, blending it with my immersion blender(I was the weirdo who owned one in his dorm…

Everything Goes On: a plated dessert

This dessert was loosely inspired by my most recent trip to the Big Island, where my friends and I hiked through a dormant volcanic crater in Kilauea. At the bottom of the large crater, there was a surprising amount of plant life that was sprouting out of the black volcanic rock, and the visual contrast…

Artichoke-Roasted Garlic Dip with Artichoke-Rye Crackers

This recipe was my take on artichoke dip, but made with feta cheese, confit garlic, and meyer lemons to give it a more Mediterranean feel! Artichokes are an ingredient that I just love, because they play off of cheese well. That’s because they have this sweet aftertaste that works with the salinity in cheeses like…

Tonka Bean Tiramisu “Clouds”

Ever since I got these cute silicone cloud molds, I wanted to make some aesthetically pleasing mousse cakes with them! One idea is taking a classic Italian tiramisu, and literally setting it into cloud-like shapes just for a cozier feel. Italian tiramisu consists of a sponge, usually ladyfingers or savoiardi biscuits, dunking them in a…

Mexican Hot Chocolate Tiramisu

These tiramisu were made because I got a request to do a coffee-free tiramisu featuring chocolate and cinnamon in some form or capacity. With tiramisu, there are four core components. The sponge, usually ladyfingers or savioardi biscuits, a caffeinated soak that is usually spiked with rum or amoretto, a creamy mascarpone situation, and the cocoa…

Shiny Cottonee (Hojicha) Tea-ramisu

So I had already made a regular Cottonee tea-ramisu(tiramisu but using tea instead of coffee) before, but I figured, why not invert the matcha and hojicha in the recipe, and somehow we wound up with shiny Cottonee. Unlike normal Cottonee, which features a white body, orange eyes, and green leaves, a shiny Cottonee features a…

Cottonee Matcha Tea-ramisu

These tea-ramisu were the end result of me wanting to use these silicone cloud molds I purchased, and wanting to do something Pokemon-themed. So after thinking through what I could do, it just made sense to go the route of Cottonee. Cottonee, as the name may imply, is a cotton ball-themed Grass/Fairy type Pokemon. It…

Hidden Rose Apple Krempita

So I was fortunate enough to procure some hidden rose apples, and I just had to use them in a couple recipes while I had the chance! Hidden rose apples are usually available in a relatively short span between November and December, so I always feel a need to make a couple of recipes with…

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…

“Forest Floor” Mushroom Tart

This recipe was what I made for the 2023 LoveWorks dinner in Oklahoma City(thank you, Gabriel Lewis for the invite to cook once again!). Last year, I was lucky enough to get the dessert course, but this year, I wanted to be a little bolder, and venture back into savory. Truthfully, after Masterchef: Back to…

Pumpkin Toast with Koji Mascarpone

This is one of those rare instances where all of the ingredients for this recipe happened to be all there in my refrigerator already. I had leftover pumpkin from making a cake with it, I had bread from a failed milk bread sandwich attempt, and I had both heavy cream and koji as my usual…

Kir Royale Mousse Cake

Whenever I think of a fancy flavoring for a cake, I immediately go to kir royale. Mostly because of Patisserie Chantilly in Lomita, where they do a kir royale mousse. With this classic French cocktail, you have the rich fruity notes of black currant against the light, tart notes of the champagne. It is a…

Strawberry-Tonka-Mascarpone Sando’s

If you thought this recipe was going to be premade bread, premade mascarpone cheese, and fresh strawberries, you would be only 1/3 right there. I was inspired to do this from my trip to Japan(which honestly inspired a LOT of new recipes for me). I got some strawberry sando’s from Tokyo Station on my Shinkansen…

Banana-Mixed Grains Tart

This recipe came about because I had a ton of super ripe bananas I needed to get rid of, and I wanted to get rid of these bananas in a somewhat extravagant fashion. I say somewhat because this tart has a decent amount of bells and whistles to it. Namely in the little craquelin choquettes…

Banana Cream Puffs

These cute little puffs were my homage to banana cream pie, being comprised of a ripened banana custard, a mascarpone cream, and pate choux(cream puffs) with craquelin(thin sugar cookie). If anyone were to say that they love banana, these puffs are a great option, because that banana custard is natural banana flavor on steroids! What…

Raspberry Tea-ramisu Chiffon Sandwiches

Tiramisu is classically made with either ladyfingers or Savoiardi biscuits, soaked with coffee, layered with mascarpone cheese, and dusted with cocoa powder. It is such a classic Italian dessert, but I wanted to turn it on its head, and do a raspberry tea-ramisu. The logic here was two-fold: raspberries and coffee do not really go…

Apple brandy krempita

This dessert was an evolution of a previous post I made. Krempita is a Montenegrin dessert that consists of layers of phyllo dough and custard. It is similar to a napoleon, a mille feuille, or Greek galaktoboureko in that sense of being flaky pastry with a custard-y filling. This interpretation of it takes that Montenegrin…