Coffee Popsicles

中文菜谱： 咖啡冰棍

Hot, hot and very hot!  That is how I feel these days when summer is here in Texas.  I literally crave for frozen treats every single day.  So I am happy to make different kinds of popsicles every day.

This batch is coffee flavor, which is made with freshly ground and pumped espresso shots.  There is a strong, intense but smooth coffee flavor because of that.  Dripped or pot brewed coffee can be used here too, but the flavor and taste would not be as good though.

Ingredients：

4 to 6 shots of espresso
1 1/2 whole milk
1/2 to 2/3 cup condensed sweetened milk (or adjust the amount to taste)
1 teaspoon coffee rum liquor

Directions：

Make the espresso shots with espresso machine

Repeat the process until there are 6 to 8 shots of espresso coffee

Add espresso, milk, condensed milk, and coffee rum liquor in a medium bowl or cup.  Whisk until well blended. 

Pour the mixture to a popsicle mold

Cover with popsicle’s lid and insert popsicle sticks

Add a flat plate to the top so that these popsicle sticks will stay in place.

Freeze for 4 to 6 hours or until firm. 

Ready to be unmolded

Unmold all popsicles and wrap them up individually so that I don’t have to pick a fight with the popsicle mold every time I want to enjoy a popsicle O(∩_∩)O~

Oh, what a pleasant treat in a hot summer day!

Mango and Blueberry Yogurt Popsicles

中文菜谱：

芒果蓝莓酸奶棒冰

Houston has been known for its long and hot and sticky summer.  How do I prepare myself for it?  The answer is popsicles and ice cream! O(∩_∩)O~

Mango is a stable fruit down here in the south.  It is very juicy, creamy and sweet when ripe.  I love putting mango into drinks and desserts.  Not only the bright yellow color looks great and cheerful, more importantly it tastes fruity and awesome! 

Ingredients：

1/2 cup Greek honey yogurt
2/3 cup blueberry jam
1 large/ or 2 medium ripe mangoes
water as needed

Directions：

Peel the mangoes, and dice the fresh.  Add to vitamix along with some water.  Blend on high speed for about 10 to 15 seconds.

Add a couple teaspoons blueberry jam to ice popsicle mold, followed by Greek honey yogurt and mango puree.  Add more blueberry jam and yogurt on top.

Cover with popsicle’s lid and insert popsicle sticks

Freeze for 4 to 6 hours or until firm. 

To unmold the popsicles, just dip the mold in warm water for 10 seconds.  And then they shall be easily removed from mold. 

Here you go.  Here are some most beautiful and tasty popsicles ready to be eaten O(∩_∩)O~

Mango Orange Smoothie

中文菜谱： 芒果甜橙smoothie

Summer in Texas comes a lot earlier and faster than I thought.  The temperature bumps up from seventies to eighties, and then to nineties in merely a couple weeks.  It looks like we are going to enjoy all kinds of icy drinks for a really long time.

Mango and orange go really great together.  The combination is refreshing and very tropical-like.  

Ingredients：

1 ripe ataulfo mango
1 sweet orange
1/2 cup ice cubes
water as needed
1 to 2 teaspoons honey (optional)

Directions：

Peel mango and orange.  Cut into small cubes.

Add mango and orange, along with ice and water, to Vitamix  

The fruits are super sweet this time, so I leave out the honey.

Turn on Vitamix.  Blend on high speed until smoothie is smooth and silky.

Pour into a tall glass 

You have a glass of 100% pure fruit smoothie and 100% deliciousness!  O(∩_∩)O~

Chocolate Covered Figs with Chocolate Ganache

中文菜谱：

香醇甜糯的巧克力无花果

I was inspired by an episode of Unique Sweets on Cooking Channel to make these chocolate covered figs.  I had never thought about pairing figs and chocolate together before until I saw that episode about chocolate.  Figs and chocolate make such a great couple in flavors and texture!

Figs are very sweet and a tiny bit chewy and gooey while dark chocolate is fruity, earthy, bitter and nutty.  They complete each other in such a perfect way that makes each bit like an explosion of flavors in your mouth. 

Ingredients：

1/4 cup chopped 100% cacao chocolate (for chocolate ganache filling)
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon coffee rum liqueur
8 to 10 dried but soft figs
1/2 cup chopped 100% cacao chocolate (for dipping)
3 to 4 tablespoons honey (use more if you like sweeter taste)

Directions：

Try to pick soft and large dried figs for this dessert.  Otherwise, it would be very difficult to fill figs with chocolate ganache.  

I bought mine from Central Market in Houston.  

Besides the golden soft figs, I also bought my 100% cacao chocolate there too.  They have Valrhona chocolate from 40% cacao all the way up to 100%.

Heat the heavy cream in a double boiler or in microwave oven until it gets very hot but not yet boiling.  Add to chopped chocolate.  Whisk until chocolate melts.  Add coffee liqueur and 1 to 2 tablespoons honey. 

Whisk until chocolate ganache is silky and smooth.  Cover with lid and refrigerate for a couple hours.

Spoon the chilled chocolate ganache to a piping bag.  Fill the figs with as much chocolate ganache as possible.

Melt the remaining chocolate along with 1 to 2 tablespoons honey together in a double boiler. 

Quickly dip each fig in melted chocolate.  Shake off excessive chocolate and set them on a board lined with plastic wrap.

Refrigerate for an hour until the chocolate inside and out are all set.

Bon Appetite！ O(∩_∩)O~

You don’t have to use 100% cacao dark chocolate here.  Any dark chocolate with more than 60% cacao would be perfect for figs. 

Dinner Rolls with Salted Egg Yolks and Pork Song (Dry Shredded Pork)

中文菜谱：

酥皮蛋黄肉松小面包

If you have been to an Asian bakery, you might have come across with some pork song buns.  Pork song is dry shredded pork which is made from pork that has been stewed, shredded, seasoned, slowly sautéed, and dried.   It is a long and slow process to make pork song.  That is also why it has such a nutty, delicate and rich flavor. 

Asian bakeries use pork song a lot.  If you have a chance to try it, just go ahead and have one.  You might instantly be hooked O(∩_∩)O~

Sometimes I love to bake pork song buns at home too. 

Ingredient s for the buns:

For the starter：

20 g all purpose flour
100 g water

For the dough：

380 g all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons yeast
50 g granulated sugar
120 g milk
1 large egg
4 g salt
40 g butter, diced and softened under room temperature
egg wash and white sesame seeds for topping (optional)

For crispy toppings：

15 g egg
30 g butter, melted
50 to 60 g cake flour
10 g dry milk powder
30 g confectioner sugar

For pork song and salted duck egg yolks filling：

8 salted duck egg yolks
1 package of pork song （4 盎司，约112克）
3 to 4 tablespoons syrup

*** I posted before how to make salted duck eggs from scratch: https://www.yankitchen.com/english-blog/salted-duck-eggs .  Salted duck eggs and egg yolks are both available in most Asian grocery stores if you don’t want to wait that long.  Take a look at the package when you buy them from store.  Some are already cooked; some are not.  Buy the ones that have been cooked.  Otherwise, raw egg yolks need to be baked or steamed with a drizzle of rice cooking wine before adding to the filling.  ***

Directions：

In a small bowl, add 20 g flour.  Whisk while gradually adding 100 g water to the bowl.  Microwave the batter on high for 30 seconds.  Take it out, whisk again.  And then send back to the microwave for another 20 seconds.  Take it out; whisk; and send back to microwave for 15 seconds.  Repeat the process until you get a very thick batter.

Cover with plastic wrap.  The starter can be used right away when it cools down.  Or it can also be stored in fridge to be used on second day.

Add flour, dry milk powder, sugar and salt to a stand mixer bowl.  Whisk well. 

Add the starter, egg, milk.  Sprinkle the yeast on top.  Let it sit for 3 to 5 minutes.

Attach the dough hook to the stand mixer.  Knead at speed 2.

 When everything comes together to form a dough ball, add diced butter.

Continue to knead until the dough can pass window panel test. 

Cover with lid or plastic wrap.  Wait for about 60 minutes or until the dough doubles in its size.

While waiting for the dough to rise, prepare the filling.

With a fork, crush the egg yolks.

Add pork song and syrup, mix well.

Transfer the dough to a large lightly dusted wooden board.  

Punch down and gently knead into a dough ball again.  Cover with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rest for another 10 minutes.

Divide the dough into 16 equal pieces.

With a small rolling pin, roll out each piece thin and flat.

Add filling.

Wrap up and shape each one into small round ball. 

Add to large baking pan.  Cover with plastic wrap and let them rest for another 20 to 30 minutes.

Add all ingredients for crispy toppings to a small bowl.  Whisk until everything is well combined together.  Refrigerate until it is totally chilled and hardened.

Divide into 16 pieces too.

With a small rolling pin, roll each piece thin and flat.  And add to the top of dinner rolls.

Brush each one with egg wash and then sprinkle with white sesame seeds.

Preheat oven to 400F/205C

Bake for 16 to 20 minutes, or until the rolls are golden brown.

Piping hot and fresh out of the oven！ O(∩_∩)O~

Shredded pork and salted duck egg yolks may sound like a bizarre combination.  It is sweet and savory, strange but in a good way.  Salted duck egg yolks have a rich fatty and nutty flavor.  When combined with pork song, that aroma is amplified.  No wonder this filling is a extremely hot trend in Asia countries for the last couple years O(∩_∩)O~