These little pearls were inspired by a recent trip to Hawaii(yes, I have been to Oahu 4 times in the past 3 years, I am addicted. Well, that and I have a bunch of friends who live there – shout out to Ann and Lauren – so Waikiki along with Austin have been two places…
Tag: pastry
Crab and Chili Crisp Bagels
These bagels were a complete and utter brain child. I heard about Montreal style bagels – bagels that are boiled with a little bit of honey and have a soft, chewy crust – and wanted to make my own! However, a bagel on its own, while tasty, can be a little one-note, and I wanted…
Matcha Latte Cheesecake
I had an abundance of leftover matcha shortbread from a previous recipe, and while snacking on those is nice, I wanted to challenge myself to make another recipe entirely using the shortbread crumbs as a crust! I figured, why not blitz the shortbread into a fine crumb, then fold melted matcha white chocolate through that,…
Cajeta-Duvalin Layer Cake
This recipe was meant to be a celebration of my friend, Frances. Frances, or as I lovingly call her, Francois, is a longtime friend of mine, dating back to when we worked together at the Portofino Hotel and Marina in Redondo Beach in 2018. We were in the same department, and we were basically partners…
Peach-Osmanthus-Ginger Entremet
Hilariously enough, the three main ingredients in this entremet(French set mousse cake) form the acronym P.O.G., which is also used in Hawaiian cuisine to reference passionfruit-orange-guava juice. In this case, this P.O.G. refers to peach, osmanthus, and ginger, which happen to be three of my mom’s favorite ingredients. Growing up, we had a white peach…
Cajeta Banoffee Pie
Banoffee pie is a British dessert consisting of a buttery shortbread crust that is smeared with dulce de leche, slices of fresh banana, cream, and chocolate. It kind of reminds me of Million Dollar Shortbread, if you have ever had that before, but with bananas. Which is to say that it is delicious. For my…
Plated Yogurt-Semolina Olive Oil Cakes
I always have this craving for semolina-olive oil cake. Olive oil cake has this rich, dense crumb, while semolina gives it an almost corn-like flavor that is mild and pleasant. I came up with this dessert because I bought a gigantic 3 pound tub of yogurt, and while I love yogurt(nowhere as much as Terry…
Pomelo-Sesame-Blueberry Entremet
A while ago, I went to Tokyo for fun – we only had two full days in the city since flying to and from took a day each way, but we made the most of our two days, seeing Shinjuku, Shibuya, Tokyo Skytree, several Pokemon Centers, Harajuku(my personal favorite), and we also visited Teamlab Planets….
Brown Butter Toffee Chip Cookies
I occasionally love to dabble and adjust my cookie recipe, because I love how tweaking an ingredient or a technique in the recipe can result in dramatically different kinds of cookies. In the case of these cookies, I was trying to go with this super toasty, brown butter-forward cookie studded with chocolate, cacao nibs, and…
Miso-Milk Tea Chip Cookies
These cookies are on the verge of being an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink scenario – there is assam tea powder, miso paste, brown butter, and about four kinds of chocolate. As I was making these cookies, I started out with making a giant vat of brown butter, threw some miso into that, and as I was whipping that…
Mango Sunshine Petit Gateau
A while back, my mom gifted me with a mango, which is a fruit I admittedly don’t eat that often – I usually have bad luck with mangos, since most of the time, the ones I pick out are too unripe and sour, and I usually want super ripe ones for the kinds of desserts…
Black Sesame-Blueberry Swirled Baked Cheesecake
So I made the (can be seen as some as a) mistake of purchasing a Costco container of blueberries, and the consequence of doing that is now I have more blueberries than I know what to do with. I personally have always loved blueberry compote or jam on top of a baked cheesecake, so my…
Lilikoi Chantilly Cake
Contrary to what you may think, “chantilly” is a term for two different pastry components. The classic French version is just a sweetened whipped cream. However, in Hawaii, it means something a bit different. I was surprised a few years ago when I was in Oahu with my friend Lauren that she introduced me to…
Blue Yuzu-Elderflower Haupia Pie
A long time ago, I made a haupia pie that was a gorgeous blue color. It was a bit whimsical, with a purple ube crust, a blue haupia(thickened Hawaiian coconut pudding) filling, and these pretty spheres of haupia that were scattered across the top. I wanted to create that, but pairing the coconut with a…
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…
Freddy's Harajuku 