Mini Matcha Mochi Doughnuts (gluten free) baked by my 8 yr old, Bib
Sprinkle with icing sugar to make it even better
See? I was detoxing today from a foodie-sinful weekend before Bib was pestering me to do some baking...
Have you wanted to teach your 8 year old fractions? but fractions are SO hard. Being the I'd-rather-be-baking sort of mommy, I figured a practical application to fractions would be baking doughnuts. Bib has been sort of driving me crazy with her obsession with the Kracie "Popin' Cookin'" candy kits lately.
I noticed her watching some Youtube videos in Japanese (no she doesn't understand Japanese!) where the people are "cooking" candies in these plastic molds and sometimes they even use a microwave. I think. I find the whole thing horrifying and gross. She makes these little Sushi candies and then eats them up right away. She says "mmmm" sometimes too.
I have never tried any of her "food" but I think this was the beginning of her showing me that she had a real passion for baking (yay?)
Bebe, my 11 yr old recently passed down her Easy Bake Oven to Bib and Bib has already made her own Video of how she made a Dango sundae (yes, she made it all by herself (twice!) and I definitely didn't help...and paid the price with the mess afterwards).
Getting ready with all the ingredients first. I used a recipe from an e-book I bought on my kindle. It's great as I adapted by adding matcha and I envision doing various other flavours soon.
Here's a picture of her Sundae with her hand-made dango. The only scary part was boiling the dango in hot water on the stove.
The best thing about mochi is it's gluten free! I decided to do things right. If she's going to bake, she's going to use a REAL oven...this ain't no Easy Bake Oven we're using today. Of course, she is obsessed with mochi too. We've recently been going to Vancouver Asian dessert places and trying all sorts of weird Asian sundaes. She acquired a taste for mochi and ice cream together so hey let's make that at home because it's crazy expensive in those over-priced Asian dessert places.
See that crazy dessert above (all gluten free btw) we've been eating in Asian restos in Vancouver? I'm going to make them myself this summer and save a ton of $$. Plus, it'll taste way better (I hope!) and I'll feel way less guilty about eating them because I can control the amount of sugar and the portion size.
The recipe includes: 2 eggs, 1/4 cup of honey (I used Manuka) and 2 tablespoons sugar (I used organic cane sugar)
Add the milk to the wet ingredients. I think I will modify this recipe by using coconut milk next time.
Bib loves sifting. This is her sifting the matcha and mochiko flour together over the wet ingredients. I had to tell her to slow down as a cloud of mochiko dust was enveloping her face. lol.
The groovy thing about mochi batter is you can not over-mix it. Bib can "mix mix mix!" all she wants!
After Bib was done mixing, I gave the batter a few more turns with the whisk for good measure and it was ready to go into the mini doughnut pan
Wait up! doh! I forgot to spray the doughnut pan. That lone doughnut is going to be a pain to remove. I used Coconut oil spray that I bought at Costco. It smells heavenly.
I gave the doughnut pan some quick raps on the counter-top to get all the air bubbles out and level the batter before popping it in the oven.
freshly baked out of the oven
The Mini Matcha Mochi Doughnuts are a type of wagashi, which is a Japanese sweet meant to be eaten with tea.
I'm enamoured by everything wagashi since visiting this groovy Japanese cafe in Portland, Oregon recently. I had the matcha tea set which was served in the style of a Japanese tea ceremony. The lady at the counter said "are you sure? the matcha is strong like espresso". I was sure and even make my own matcha but she must have thought I was a newb with my camera around my neck. lol.
The cafe is located literally across the street from the museum; thus the name "Behind the Museum Cafe". I am working on a gluten free matcha brownie recipe soon. Stay tuned...
This lone doughnut was the ornery one that I had forgot to spray. It was a pain to dislodge but I eventually pried it loose with a wooden skewer.
Mini Matcha Mochi Doughnuts (gluten free) adapted from Wagashi and More: a collection of Simple Japanese Dessert Recipes by Cooking Penguin (Kindle version) NB: these mini doughnuts are made in the style of "wagashi" which are tiny sweets served with unsweetened Japanese green tea. Usually you only have one (yah right!) and it's served with Matcha tea in the style of the Japanese Tea Ceremony. See that picture above of my matcha set? like that! These are in no way as sweet as a North American Doughnut. However, you can bling it up with a royal icing drizzle or toss icing sugar all over it if you're into that kind of thing. Makes 24 Baked Mini Doughnuts
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup honey (I used manuka honey)
2 tablespoon evaporated cane sugar
2/3 cup milk (or coconut milk)
1 1/2 cups mochiko
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons matcha
3 tablespoon butter, melted
coconut oil spray, for pan
powdered sugar, for dusting the baked doughnuts
Preheat oven to 350°F
In a bowl, whisk the eggs,melted butter, honey, sugar and milk until combined.
Sift mochiko with baking powder and matcha powder over the wet ingredients. Whisk well to combine.
Spray your mini doughnut pan with coconut oil spray (or Pam)
Pour the batter into a piping bag with a large tip (or a ziploc bag with the corner snipped off). I used my Tovolo pancake pen batter dispenser (see picture above).
Rap the pan on the countertop to get rid of air bubbles and smooth out the tops of the mini doughnuts.
Bake for 10-15 minutes until done. Let cool and use a wooden skewer to remove from pan.
Forgive me for I have sinned: I ate this voodoo doughnut. But when in Portland, one must indulge. I love it when the red jelly oozes out of the centre of the chocolate frosting covered long-john. fab.
Oh yah. Summer. It's been a while since I've posted what with life, teaching and mentoring. I am taking this summer off and really trying to de-stress. So what's new? I've purchased a new Fuji X100S camera. It's retro cool. All the pics here were taken with it. I haven't figured out how to use it yet...but that'll come with time and practice.
Portland Creme doughnut from downtown Voodoo Doughnuts
So this is a post about all the groovy foodie things I've experienced so far in July. geez. The month's only half over. Highlights for me are cycling to the various local markets in Vancouver. We've hit about 4 of them so far and I've fallen hard for the vendors' amazing produce and tasty tiny strawberries!
My fave: the Gaybar! it's filled with pastry cream and topped with rainbow fruit loops
not my fave: I don't like soggy cereal on my doughnuts apparently. This is Captain my Captain (crunch--not)
Also, we visited my fave U.S. city...Portland, Oregon a week ago. We stayed at the Embassy Suites hotel in downtown Portland again because I just love the Art Deco building and the Happy Hour every day (along with the comp cooked to order breakfasts!) As well, they are a mere 2 blocks' walk from Voodoo Doughnuts! and the Saturday Market! yikes! so much coolness--of course I had to indulge. Yes, I know...gluten. I did my best to be GF for as long as possible. I waited until the end of the trip to eat half a doughnut and see how my stomach took it (and in case I doubled-up in pain in the beginning of the trip...not a good thing). It went relatively well; I ate the other half and brought the box up to Vancouver.
Maple Bacon: another fave. You can't go wrong with bacon.
Yes, good things DO come in pink boxes. I'm wondering why we don't use pink boxes in Vancouver, Canada?
But, what was better than Voodoo Doughnuts this time? well, we were wandering around Portland's Chinatown and came across this tea house called Red Robe Tea House & Cafe. It was the cleanest and coolest place I experienced in this slice of the city. Inside, there's dark wood and tea ceremony paraphernalia everywhere! I was in heaven. Of course, they have bubble teas too (which my kids ordered). I ordered a 2006 Pu Erh. I don't know my Chinese teas too well but I know that good Pu Erhs are better aged...the older the better. I also know that Pu Erh suits my constitution because some old Chinese guy told me so when I visited a tea shoppe in Vancouver's Chinatown. I used to drink tons of green tea and it was too "cooling" since I'm hypothyroid and have Hashimoto's. So he suggested Pu Erh (Bo Lay in Cantonese). I haven't gone back to green tea much since then and have since learned of its benefits: weight loss, vitamins B1, B2, C and E, potassium, magnesium, zinc which I need apparently because of my Hashi's, and a bunch o' others which I think you can google later (anti-oxidants, digestion, lowering cholesterol, lowering blood pressure, increasing metabolism, "blood cleansing"?) if you want! All I know from growing up is that my parents always drunk it...it was the default Chinese tea in the pantry. My father always told me as I recall...that if you eat a lot of greasy food (i.e. dimsum or a huge bag o chips) you've got to accompany it with a huge pot of Pu Erh (Bo Lay) to counteract the grease. It works. Trust me. You'll feel better. Steep it dark. Real dark.
Chinese Tea Ceremony with 2006 Pu Erh Tea at Red Robe Tea House and Cafe in Chinatown, Portland, Oregon.
The service was so friendly and helpful and the waitress I think was the owner's daughter. She was a cutie and very helpful with informing me about what to order. The young lady's parents entertained my kids by showing them what the Chinese tea ceremony "tea pets" could do. My kids wanted a little Yixing clay piggy but alas, I didn't buy it. I should have. One of the piggies squirted water when you poured hot water over it! that was so cute. The resin figurines changed colour when you pour hot water over them.
tea pets: some are made of Yixing Clay (highly prized "purple clay" from China) and others made of resin
pouring hot water on the Yixing clay and resin "tea pets"
I'm hooked: fantastic tea that gives over a dozen or more infusions served in a tiny tea cup and with all the tea paraphernalia.
You know me, as soon as the chinese tea ceremony started, I knew I wouldn't leave the shoppe without some sort of tea ceremony paraphernalia. I purchased a few things I'll post about later. heehee. btw, I already have a collection of a few Yixing teapots that are a few decades old. As the pots age, they take on the flavour of the tea leaves that you've chosen to use in the pots.
Yixing teapot: one mini "purple" clay teapot is used to steep only one variety of tea. Good reason to have several different teapots! They're so cute
In case you didn't know, a Chinese tea ceremony isn't anything like a Japanese tea ceremony where everything has to be precise and seems quite formal. A Chinese tea ceremony in fact is more relaxing (you don't have to worry about the details as much) and can be just as zen-like.
I found not too many good videos on youtube showing the Chinese tea ceremony. Too many of them are Chinesey---i.e. I have no idea how to translate as I don't speak/understand Chinese. Some of the videos are shot by tourists; thus the multiple flashes and also there's an air of the performance for the tourist, which to me is kind of meh. So far, the best take on the tea ceremony I've appreciated aesthetically is this one:
Maybe I like this video simply because I'm addicted to the music, which I happened to go and purchase almost immediately for my ios devices: the Green Tara Mantra. I now have 3 versions of the mantra! I sit out on my deck with my tea ceremony stuff and my buddha statue and loop the 3 songs. It's so relaxing for me anyways...perhaps my neighbours aren't so happy about me blasting yoga music in my backyard :p
My daughter's fave is called "Mantra of Joy" by Xu Qing-Yuan (which is the one being played in the background in the youtube video I posted). I also have "Green Tara Mantra" from Surya and "Mantra of the Green Tara" from Imee Ooi. Sing with me if you've got the ear-worm now: Om Tara Tuttare Ture Soha... (repeat that 108 times now!) My 6 year old loves the song because she's memorized the words pretty easily.
By the way, if you're wanting some Chinese tea ceremony stuff and you're in Vancouver, I suggest you go visit The Chinese Tea Shop in Chinatown, Vancouver. I purchased quality Pu Erh there and they also have the Yixing teapots and stuff too. I posted about my previous purchase here.
fresh organic Kale...you know what I'm gonna do to you
Another highlight of my summer thus far: dehydrated kale chips. Yah. I know, you've already had it and think it's great too! However, I had completely forgotten that I had a dehydration feature on my Wolf oven. I had been baking them at 350 degrees F...which sometimes imparted a burnt flavour to some of the tinier leaves. Now, I bake at 140 degrees F and they're perfectly dry in a couple of hours. I like them dehydrated more than baked. Even the kiddies love 'em and they DON'T EAT VEGGIES! lol! they think they taste like chips! *doing the happy dance*!
wash and spin you dry
I think it's important to buy organic kale if you're going to bother dehydrating kale. I also bought a bag of nutritional yeast and like to toss that in with the oil to create a slurry and then massage the leaves with the mixture. I find that this more evenly distributes the flavouring on the kale rather than drizzling on the leaves and sprinkling the dry ingredients later.
Mix a couple of tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil with garlic powder, nutritional yeast and salt and pepper to taste. Massage the flavour paste into the leaves and spread on parchment lined sheets
For me, one bunch of kale (a huge bunch!) makes 3 sheets of dehydrated kale. They shrink down considerably after dehydration and don't last long in the house. The kids inhale the chips like they're junk food.
Dehydrate at 140 degees F for a couple of hours. I use my Wolf Oven (which incidentally has the ability to go down to 85 degrees F if need be). I stuck a wooden spoon in the door to keep the door ajar and waited until the leaves were shatteringly crispy.
These were shatteringly crispy good.
The nutritional yeast gives it a kind of cheesy flavour. The garlic powder is a must. You can add a myriad of other seasonings but I like it simple.
July has been mighty fine thus far. I'm hoping you're having a good one. Since the doughnut incident, I've eaten GF clean since. However, in the summer I also dabble in the Paleo lifestyle. I can't go long without sugar though of course, so I do Paleo part-time but I've been back on the Fitocracy bandwagon almost every day since summer started. Love that site. great people. Love my kettlebells too.
More exciting foodie experiences are coming up so stay tuned!
