Sucky Sweet Life

Chinese green bean soup is my favorite sweet soup. It is refreshing either eat it in cold or warm. We usually eat this in summer time as it "cools" you down. Ingredients: Green beans 1 cup Water 9 cups White sugars 3~4 Tbsp Step 1: Wash the green beans and add water Step 2: Add 1.5 cups of water in outer pot (about 40 min). Once done, steam it for 20 minutes. Then, add sugars.

Chinese bun - Mantou (馒头) is my husband's favorite. I used to buy frozen one but my daycare teacher told me it is tastier to make it at home. Ingredients: All purpose flour 300g Dry yeast 6g Baking powder 6g Sugar 30g Salt 1g Water (warm) 160cc Oil (I use coconut oil) 15ml Step 1 - Mix all the ingredients. I usually place sugar and dry yeast side by side and pour water towards sugar. Then, I will add the flour and the rest of the ingredients. Since I'm lazy, I usually let my bread machine do the kneading work. Step 2 -  Wait until it rises to double. Once done, roll it to a rectangle sheet and roll it back. Step 3 - Cut the edge first, then cut it into 8 pieces.  Step 4 - Place it into a steamer. Boil the steamer for 1 minutes and close it. Let it rise for the second time (about 30 minutes). Step 5 - Steam it in high heat for 15 minutes. Don't open the lid immediately afterwards. Let it cool down otherwise it b

Sun Cake is Taiwanese traditional sweets - sugar syrup inside layered pastry.Whenever I go back to Taiwan, I will get a box of this thing. Although it's not as flaky as the one sold in the store, homemade sun cake is pretty tasty too. Preparation takes a long time but it is not that difficult to make! Step 0 - Prepare all the ingredients. Ingredients for skin (油皮): Mix them all lightly and rest for 15 minutes. Once done, kneel it again to make it a ball about 15g each (12).  All purpose flour (filter) 190g Powered sugar (filter) 20g Water 85g Oil (I use coconut oil) 30g Unsalted butter 45g     Ingredients for inner skin (油酥): Mix them all and make it a ball about 15g each (12). Cake flour 100g Unsalted butter 75g    Ingredients for inner sweets (内陷): Mix them all and refrigerate it until it becomes firm. Then, make it a ball about 15g each (12). Powered sugar 80g Cake flour 30g Powered milk 20g Salt 1/4 tsp Molten sugar (or caramel or me

Have you had a Japanese traditional sweets Dorayaki ? People from western Japan call it Mikasa as well. I usually add red bean paste and mochi inside Dorayaki. This is my kids' favorite. I will introduce you how to make your own red bean paste / mochi in another time. Ingredients for Dorayaki shell  (Makes about 8) Egg 3 Cane sugar 150g Honey 1 tbsp Mirin 1 tbsp Baking powder 1tsp + Water 50cc ... (A) Cake flour 180g Water 50cc ... (B) Step 1 - Prepare all the ingredients Step 2 - Whip egg and sugar until it falls like a ribbon shape and the trace disappears Step 3 - Add below into the mix in the order Add honey and Mirin and mix Add solution A and mix Step 4 - Add the cake flour using spatula. When you mix. mix it like by cutting Step 5 - Refrigerate it for 30 minutes Step 6 - Take it out from the refrigerator. Add water (B) and mix it well. Step 7 - Fry it in non-stick pan in low heat. I usually use ladle and drop the mix from a hig

My kids love croissant. French croissant is very buttery and flaky. I love them too. However, the good ones will cost me several bucks per croissant if I buy it from a French bakery in the U.S. Last year, I decided to make them myself. I tried many recipes. This one is not as complicated and it tastes good. Warning - it is tasty but it doesn't taste like the ones from the bakery. Kitchenware you will need : Baking pan Parchment sheet Plastic wrap Rolling pin Ingredients you will need : Bread flour 300 g Sugar 30 g Salt 4 g Dry active yeast 7 g Egg (beaten) 1 Milk (warm) 150 ml Butter (chop into small cubic pieces) 30 g Butter for filling 1 stick or 115 g Step 1: Add ingredients #1 to #7 into a bowl. Put #8 (a stick of butter) between two plastic wrap.  Tip : Put sugar and yeast side by side and add milk (pour it on sugar side). Then, add bread flour, salt, egg and butter. Step 2: Mix the ingredients in the bowl by hand (about few minutes). Cover the bowl

One of my favorite classic snacks by Lotte is "Choco Pie" Chocolate Cream Sandwich. There's cream between two soft sponge cake dipped in chocolate. It's sweeter than usual Japanese chocolate snacks. I've tried tried many kind of "Choco Pie" (like this one ) but I like the Japanese kind the best. How to describe this... ? It's like eating your favorite snacks in another country. Something is slightly different! (Have you tried Lay's potato chips? Cola cola? It tastes slightly different!) My little girl likes "Choco Pie" too. Yummy! Now, I also want to introduce a similar snack  Havanna Alfajores  from Argentina. This snack is the same concept and has caramel inside ("dolce de leche"). It is super duper sweet. I got this pictured alfajores from a colleague last year. Mini size is my favorite because I can never finish the regular size by myself. Make sure to eat with unsweetened black tea or coffee!