Coconut Buns/Cocktail Buns

This is by far my most favorite soft buns to buy from the Chinese Bakery. I will always get a few to last me for a week. I am a fan of coconut and anything with coconut in it I will eat it. The coconut bun or cocktail buns (gai mei pau) is very popular in Hong Kong. It is a soft sweet bun and with rich buttery coconut filling in it. You can read the history of the cocktail bun here .

I did it slightly different. Instead of having the coconut filling on the inside I like the filling to be exposed on the outside. I just love the look of the tiny sparkles of coconut after baking it. They look so pretty. As for the dough it is just regular sweet bread dough and it is not as soft the next day like the tangzhong method dough but you can just warm it up in the microwave for 15 seconds and they will be soft again and taste just like freshly baked right out of the oven.

Baked Buffalo Wings with Blue Cheese Dipping Sauce

These easy to make hot wings are crispy without being fried. With the sports season around now they are great for snacking while watching the game. All it takes is just 10 minutes to prepare, an hour to marinate and then stick it in the oven for an hour and it is done. I like it spicier so I added a bit more hot sauce to it but you can adjust the amount to your liking.

Ingredients:

10 chicken wings
Some celery sticks

Fresh Fig Yogurt Cake

This season my fig tree didn’t produce too many fruits and the squirrels got some of it too but it is still enough for me to eat it fresh and reserved some to make this cake. This moist cake is studded with fresh figs. The flavor and texture is similar to a pound cake: buttery, vanilla scented, and just a little dense. The plain yogurt adds a subtle tang to it and it is great to have it with a cup of strong coffee.

Sweet Blueberry Focaccia

When I was in Vancouver I tried out blueberry focaccia from one of the famous bakery and they were really good. They made it into small individual serving size but they were not cheap though. A piece with tax cost around $4.00. This bakery is also famous for their grape focaccia. Since it is summer and there are plenty of blueberries around I thought tried to replica this at home. Can you imagine the smell in the house when I was baking this?

Man, it turns out so good if I should say so myself. The focaccia was soft on the inside and with the crunchy sweet sugary topping, I was hooked. I gave a few away and my friends love it too. I am planning to bake this again but it will be with grapes. I think this would be perfect to serve for brunch, cocktail party with some cheese and wine or like me enjoyed it for breakfast with my morning coffee.

Spaghetti and Meatball Sauce

I made this a couple of month ago. I don’t prepare dish like this often but if I do I will usually make a large batch of it and freeze some of it up. This way I can just warm it up and have it with spaghetti or make it into meatball sub. Instead of just ground beef I added some ground turkey to it too. It turns out really nice. Mmmm feeling like having this today. Maybe I should thaw out some and have it for dinner tonight.

Traditional Cantonese Mooncakes

Is Mid Autumn Festival again and every year the festival is celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month according to the Chinese calendar. This year Mid-Autumn festival falls on September 8th. I am feeling really homesick especially during the traditional festival where my family will get together to have dinner. Our family groups are getting smaller as most of my nieces are away from home either working or studying overseas. Anyway my heart will always be with my family even though we are thousands of miles apart.

I actually have no intention of making these mooncakes but after looking at the prices of mooncakes sold here I just can’t bring myself to buy any. The cheapest box of 4 pieces cost over $20.00 and they are mostly from China. The one from Hong Kong cost over $40.00 a box. I can’t bring myself to pay this kind of money for it. So I decided to make some myself this year.

Oven Baked Jelly Donuts

This is by far one of the best baked donuts I ever made. They came out so light and fluffy. I know some of you might not believe me but just look at the last pictures. That’s the look of the texture inside the donut. They were light and airy. This dough is a bit stickier which is what makes them so light and also I let it proof the second time for over 2 hours. I shape, cover them and went for my zumba and baked them only when I got home. I tweak this recipe from the previous recipe and I like this better. I understand these may not be for everyone but it is perfect just for me to get over my donut craving. I filled the donuts with homemade jam but you can fill it with lemon curd, custard or even melted chocolate.