.Made in Guam. - Part Dos -

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Buenas Dias!

Hungry for more Guam goodies? Well, here's another local treat: Rosketti. Its a powdery cookie that's slightly sweet with a hint of anise, vanilla and lemon.

I made some today except mine had no anise (couldn't find any!). It worked out well without it though so I would just list it as optional.

Here's the recipe if you ever want to try it. It's really simple so I hope you will!

Rosketti

Ingredients:

(note: this recipe makes A LOT of cookies. I suggest cutting each ingredient in half. example: instead of 1 box of cornstarch, i used 1/2 of the box, and instead of 1 cup of sugar, i used 1/2 cup...etc. But unless you intend to make these for a large group/party, then follow as listed)

• 1 box of cornstarch
• 1 cup sugar
• 1  and 1/4 cups flour
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup (2 sticks) margarine (room temp)
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp lemon extract
• 1/4 tsp anise (optional)
• 1/2 cup milk (used only to moisten)

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sift cornstarch, sugar, flour, and baking powder together.

Add softened butter and mix well by hand.

Combine wet ingredients, except milk, and beat well.

Mix together with dry ingredients.

Add milk little by little to moisten dough. (You may not need to use the whole 1/2 cup. Dough should end up being a little bit sticky.)

Knead well until glossy.

Make 1 inch balls and press once with a fork or with your thumb. (you could use a cookie press to get more interesting shapes.)

Bake for 35 minutes or until slightly golden brown. Be sure to use the top or second to the top rack in your oven.

Cool cookies on sheet for 5 minutes then transfer to cooling rack for 20 to 30 minutes.

( adapted from a recipe by l. castro, e. borja & r. ada )

ready for the oven

ready to be eaten!

......

Adios & Happy Baking!

. Green Tea Cupcakes .

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 Dont pinch me,

I'm wearing green! Well, at least I baked something green. That counts,right?

For this St. Patrick's Day I decided to bake green tea cupcakes. I bet you're thinking "that's weird!" Or even "what the heck does green tea have to do with Ireland?!" Well, for one thing its GREEN and ..........um......actually that's about it --hahaha-- Yes, it IS wierd, but it's DELICIOUS!! Dont knock it till you try it and I've always wanted to try it!

I just used a standard vanilla cupcake recipe (which yields 24) and added about 3 tablespoons. Vanilla and green tea are a great combination. I used the one from this site. Plus I researched other green tea cupcake recipes and most of them are just based on vanilla cupcakes. The frosting is just regular vanilla cream cheese frosting but with 2 tablespoons of green tea powder added to it. Oh by the way, green tea powder can be found in asian food stores and it can be pretty pricey. Here's how it turned out:

{ Green Tea & Vanilla Cupcakes with Green Tea Cream Cheese Frosting }

mixing the vanilla cupcake batter..by hand. ugh.

after i added the green tea powder.

350 degrees & 20 minutes later...yumminess. these were just as delicious by themselves.

inside the cupcake, before i ate it. lol

frosted and topped with chopped nuts and fondant cherry blossoms. hmm maybe i should've put shamrocks... oh well .

.....

. Made in Guam .

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Hafa Adai!

It 's March! and you know what that means...its Chamorro Month! What is Chamorro you ask? Well, Chamorro or Chamoru is the language and culture practiced on the beautiful islands of Guam (where I'm from:) and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas. In this month, we celebrate this wonderful culture through cooking demonstrations/competitions, language and song festivals & weaving activities, just to name a few. 

Today, I just wanted to share a local favorite in this post. Its called coconut candy. Coconuts can be seen everywhere on Guam so naturally it's found in many of the local dishes. I will be sharing more local dessert recipes throughout the rest of the month and I invite you to try some out! 

{ Coconut Candy }

Ingredients:

• 3 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup milk or coconut milk 
• 3 cups shredded coconut (fresh works best but if you dont have access to a coconut and grater, then store bought should suffice:)

Preparation:

In a saucepan, boil sugar and milk over medium heat until it becomes a thin syrup (232 to 240 degrees on your candy thermometer).
Add coconut, stirring constantly to prevent burning. Color should be a nice golden brown.

Spread over a flat plate and let cool.

May be eaten warm or chilled.

 .....

Want to learn more about Chamorro Month and the Island of Guam?

Click here:{ http://blog.guamportal.com/ }

.the Land of the Rising Sun.

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Japan is a beautiful country, rich in culture, history, wonderful people and unique & delicious food. My family and I had the pleasure of visiting Japan in April of 2000 & in December of 2008 and we've been longing to go back since. In light of the recent events, I thought I'd dedicated a post Japan and showcase some traditional (and some non-traditional) dessert recipes.

 

{ Ichigo Daifuku (Strawberry Mochi) }

Ichigo Daifuku are Japanese sweet cakes with strawberry and anko fillings. Aren't they pretty?

Ingredients:

• 1 cup shiratama-ko (rice flour)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup water

      *For filling

• 1/3 cup water & 1/2 cup sugar & 1/4 cup dried anko powder or 1/2 cup premade anko (sweet red bean paste)
• 6 strawberries
• *katakuriko potato starch for dusting

Preparation:

Heat 1/3 cup of water and 1/2 cup of sugar in a pan.

Add 1/4 cup of anko powder in the pan and stir well. Set aside.

Wash strawberries and remove the calyxes.

Wrap a strawberry with about a spoonful of anko and rounds to make a ball. Make 6 balls.

Put 2/3 cup of water and 1/4 cup of sugar in a heat-resistant bowl and mix well.

Add shiratama-ko flour in the bowl and mix well.

Put the bowl in microwave and heat the dough for two minutes.

Stir the dough. Heat the dough in microwave until the dough inflates. Stir the mochi quickly.

Dust a flat pan with some katakuri-ko starch. Also, dust hands with some katakuri-ko.

Remove the hot mochi from the bowl to the pan by hands.

Dust hands with more katakuri-ko starch and divide the mochi into 6 pieces by hands.

---The mochi is hot and sticky, so be careful not to burn your hands.---

Make 6 flat and round mochi.

Put a piece of strawberry and anko filling on a mochi piece and wrap it by stretching mochi. Round the daifuku.

Repeat the process to make more daifuku cakes.
*Makes 6 daifuku cakes.

{recipe borrowed from here}

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{ Dorayaki (Mini Pancakes filled with Bean Paste) }

Children of all ages love these sweet pancake sandwiches filled with sweet bean paste.

The name comes from the Japanese word for gong, which they resemble.

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs, beaten
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp light corn syrup
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2/3 cup water
• oil
• 1 cup bean paste

Preparation:

 Beat the eggs, sugar and corn syrup until it turns almost white.
Cut the baking powder into the flour and stir in the flour gradually. Add the water as needed, until you have a smooth batter.
Heat a griddle and wipe with a paper towel dipped in oil.
Pour one tablespoon of batter at a time, carefully and slowly, so that you have mini pancakes about 3 inches in diameter.
Turn the pancakes only once, and cook them until they are golden in color. Let cool.
Assemble the dorayaki by filling the centers with room temperature bean paste, taking care to have the golden brown smooth sides facing outwards.
Put a heaping teaspoon of paste in the center of one pancake. Spread the paste out, so that it is thick in the middle and thin at the sides.
Cover with another pancake. They should look like pillows instead of ice cream sandwiches.
Dorayaki are delicious hot, but they are usually eaten at room temperature with tea.
They can be wrapped in wax paper to preserve their moisture.
Makes 6


{ recipe borrowed from here}

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{ Japanese Cheesecake }

This cheesecake is proclaimed to be cottony-soft. mmmm...

Ingredients:

• 140g/5 oz. fine granulated sugar
• 6 egg whites
• 6 egg yolks
• 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
• 50g/2 oz. butter
• 250g/9 oz. cream cheese
• 100 ml/3 fluid oz. fresh milk
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• 60g/2 oz. cake flour /superfine flour
• 20g/1 oz. cornflour (cornstarch)
• 1/4 tsp. salt

Preparation:

Melt cream cheese, butter and milk over a double boiler.
Cool the mixture.
Fold in the flour, the cornflour, egg yolks, lemon juice and mix well.
Whisk egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy.
Add in the sugar and whisk until soft peaks form.
Add the cheese mixture to the egg white mixture and mix well.
Pour into a 8-inch round cake pan (Lightly grease and line the bottom and sides of the pan with greaseproof baking paper or parchment paper).
Bake cheesecake in a water bath for 1 hours 10 minutes or until set and golden brown at 160 degrees C (325 degrees F).
Makes 1 (8-inch) cheesecake, 12 servings.

{ recipe borrowed from here }

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I hope you will try some! I'd love to hear how your baking/cooking experience went.

You could find the traditional ingredients (such as rice flour, sweet red bean paste & katakuriko potato starch) at an specialty/asian food store.

.Marry me? I have cake.

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Yay! I have a blog!

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