Hidden Rose Apple-Ruby Chocolate Eclairs

These Hidden Rose apple eclairs were the result of me buying way too many Hidden Rose apples, and needing a way to conveniently use them up. Hidden Rose apples are apples with naturally pink-colored flesh(not to be confused with the Pink Lady apples, which have a pink peel, but a regular yellow-white interior). They are…

Nian Gao Basque Cheesecake

To celebrate Lunar New Year, I wanted to do a dessert that was inspired by nian gao, which are these brown sugar-infused glutinous rice cakes. I grew up eating nian gao, and admittedly as a child, I thought they contained fish. Mostly because the texture, being so dense and chewy, made it seem like these…

Fruity Pebble Baked Tofu Doughnuts

I love doing baking tofu doughnuts. Not only is it a great way to use up any leftover silken tofu, but the actual doughnuts themselves have this soft, chewy texture and are the furthest thing from dry! I wanted to showcase a fun flavor combination, since I was playing around with ruby chocolate and Fruity…

Charsiu Milk Buns

Charsiu is comfort. Back when I was a child, I was an EXTREMELY picky eater. All the caps were needed there to emphasize how I basically wouldn’t eat seafood, certain kinds of fruits(pineapples, mangoes, and blueberries) and vegetables(bitter melon understandably, lettuce, gourds of any kind, and squash), and randomly coconut flakes(but I would still eat…

Mango Pudding with Coconut Sago

Now I would be a flat-out liar if I said I grew up loving mango pudding. Truthfully, I couldn’t even eat a mango when I was a child, until the age of 15. It was a textural thing. The first time I ate a mango, that I can remember, I was 4 years old, and…

Black Sesame Hotcakes

I have been on a real hotcake kick lately. Hotcakes are pancakes, but fatter and thicker. They are very popular in Japan, and are often ordered at cafes! When I was in Kyoto, I was able to get some at the hotel we were staying at, and they were super fluffy and tender. So I…

Cacio e Pepe Scones

Cacio e pepe is an Italian term that refers to “cheese and pepper”. Usually, it is the name of a pasta dish, consisting of long noodles cooked in an emulsion of cheese, water, olive oil, and pepper. And it is a simple yet delicious combination, and a go-to that I often find myself ordering when…

Graham Central Station Roll Cake

Whenever I would go to Handel’s Ice Cream, one of their flavors that I would get was Graham Central Station. Graham cracker ice cream with graham cracker bits and chocolate chunks. So like a reconfigured S’more, without the marshmallow. And trust me when I say this, I love S’mores. Back in high school, one way…

Persimmon-Osmanthus-Sesame Gateau

This is definitely one of those recipes where if you do not have patience, it will not come together. Some of my recipes employ processes that may take hours, even days to do. That applies in this case too. For starters, let’s talk about persimmon. Persimmon is an autumnal to winter fruit that comes in…

Cannoli Cupcakes

These cannoli cupcakes were my solution to buying far more ricotta than I needed. I purchased a tub of ricotta cheese with the intention of making pasta with it. But I ended up needing way less ricotta than what the commercially sold tubs provided, so I had to think about other things I could do…

Chocolate-stuffed Yellow Cupcakes with Cookie Butter Frosting

The thing about yellow cake with chocolate frosting is that it is a really nostalgic, Americana type of dessert. I personally don’t eat yellow cake that frequently, but it has been requested a lot from me, and I enjoy the challenge of making it! The thing about yellow cake is that it contains a lot…

Yujacha Malvapoeding

I haven’t made nor eaten malvapoeding in probably 5 years now(the last time was at Sqirl in Silverlake, and after all of the scandals about that restaurant and their health practices and ownership, I think I’m good there), so I figured now is the time to bring it back into my recipe roll. Malvapoeding, pronounced…

Chocolate “Birthday” Cake

Originally this was supposed to be a birthday cake order for a client, but they cancelled after I already baked the cake, stacked it up, and was about to decorate it. My client wanted a cake large enough to feed a family of 10-12(which is honestly way beyond the usual portions I serve, since I…

French Vanilla Entremet

I came up with this recipe because I was drinking coffee on day, and added French vanilla creamer to it. And then it dawned on me, what exactly made this creamer French vanilla-flavored as opposed to just vanilla? After looking at several articles online, the general idea was that French vanilla refers to the French…

Pear-Honey-Gingerbread Entremet

One of my favorite things my mom would make for me when I was sick is pears steamed with ginger and honey. The juicy steamed pears would be fork-tender, while being aromatic with both the fragrant honey and the warming slices of ginger. I still remember when I had COVID(not fun times at all), and…

Coconut-Caramel-Chocolate “Levain” Cookies

My sister loves the coconut delight Girls Scout cookies(formerly called Samoas before that was deemed a problematic name). When I went to the newly opened Levain bakery location in West Hollywood, we basically got one of every cookie on their menu(mostly to justify the 1 hour/30 mile drive to there). One of those cookies was…

Starry Night Lilikoi Cookies

These cookies were the brain child of me being on a cute, linzer sandwich cookie-type of kick, and me having passionfruit puree to play around with. I thought from a visual standpoint, how cute would it be to make these cookies look like a starry night’s sky? And voila, that’s how we ended up here…

Oreo Langue de Chaats

Now I have been on a langue de chaat fix ever since I came back from Japan. I love how thin and light those tuile-like biscuits are(they are so feather-like that I almost don’t feel guilty eating 20 of them in one sitting), while the creamy filling is just melts on your tongue, and with…

Silken tofu with crab dashi

I have been wanting to do a dish like this after I ate this amazing snow crab hot pot in Osaka, at the iconic Kani Doraku restaurant(it’s known for having a giant crab statue hanging from the front of the building, and as the decor suggests, having an all-crab menu!). The vegetables and tofu, stewing…

Peanut Butter and Oreo Tartufo

Tartufo reminds me of when my friend, Amanda, and I went to Babbo Pizzeria and Enoteca(rest in peace) back in Boston. It was on the dessert menu, and we had 0 regrets in ordering it. Tartufo is an Italian dessert, translating to “truffle”. But in this case, it refers to a ball of ice cream,…