by : Reiko Japanese Food, Sweets

Sweet Azuki Paste Stuffed Hoji-Tea Donuts
ほうじ茶あんドーナツ

I’ve been having craving for Azuki paste stuffed donuts.

I was even in the mood for making paste from scratch, but I was not able to find dry Azuki beans at any stores.

So I decided to try making a quick version by using this can.

Seeing “Kombu Seaweed” bewildered me a bit.

No one wants the taste or smell of seaweed in your sweet azuki paste.

These were how the beans looked after drained and rinsed.

No Kombu smell or taste!

I was relieved.

I added some water and sugar and cooked them until the paste had the right thickness.

I added ground Hoji-tea leaves to the donut dough.

Loved the combination of Hoji tea and Azuki.

They were good, but I will try a different donut dough recipe next time.

This was a bit dense, and it created a crust a bit too crispy to me, although my husband liked it.

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by : Reiko Sweets

Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Tofu Cream Cheese キャロットケーキカップケーキ&豆腐クリームチーズ

Carrot cake is a popular choice for the Easter dessert.

But this year I went with something different. ↓

https://sideb.culinarytribune.com/2023/04/08/lime-lemon-cakes

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But when I saw all the pictures of other people’s carrot cake, I developed craving for it.

I like my carrot cake filled with a lot of chunks of nuts and dried fruit.

I used pecan nuts and dry cranberries this time.

This time I made my vegan “cream cheese” with tofu as the main ingredient.

Tofu (extra firm; extra water removed), coconut oil, sugar, salt, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar.

It was delicious, and I loved that it worked well for piping too.

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by : Reiko Sweets

Lime Lemon Cakes
ライムレモンケーキ

Technically, they are lemon-shaped lime cakes.

I was initially planning to make lemon-shaped lemon cakes, but the bag of lemons I found at the grocery store was too big (too many lemons), so I decided to go with a smaller bag of limes.

A few years ago I bought this pan.

I don’t use it too often, but I’m still happy with this purchase.

They turned out great.

Perfectly moist, soft, and full of lime flavor!

They were finished off with lime icing and zest.

Citrus cakes are always popular at our house.

I thought my husband would love these, but it was still great to see him enjoying them!

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by : Reiko Sweets

Very Good Brownies (Vegan)
やっぱり王道、ブラウニー（ヴィーガン）

We love chocolate.

When I buy a bag of chocolate chips, it doesn’t last long in our house.

So, I had to use them quick before they were eaten as an after-dinner snack.

There are many vegan brownies recipes online.

I picked this one, https://eatwithclarity.com/homemade-vegan-brownies/ because the ingredients were simple, which is always a good thing.

It turned out great!

This was a good recipe.

I will definitely make it again.

Brownies are one of our favorite snacks.

But who doesn’t like brownies.

Right?

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by : Reiko Gluten Free, Sweets

V/GF Coriander Banana Apple Cake
コリアンダーりんごバナナケーキ

The sweets we had in Spain and Portugal were all fantastic.

I found them perfectly sweet, by which what I really mean is that they were not as sweet as the sweets typically found in the U.S, and I loved it.

That experience encouraged me to make and eat the sweets that I truly love.

The best way to do so is making my sweets myself so that I have control over the sweetness of my treat.

This was my first time to try “SnapDragon” apples, and I was excited.

I’ve made this cake before, and I liked the combination of apple and banana.

But really.

How could that go wrong?

I wanted to add some spice.

First, I thought of cinnamon.

I knew it was going to work just fine.

Then, I thought “hmmm, maybe cardamom”.

I LOVE cardamom.

Unfortunately, I was out of cardamom.

Then I saw this bottle of corriander.

I never used coriander for baking, but when I quickly did some google research, I found out that coriander is “sweet and citrusy”.

That sounded like it would work.

Done!

The coriander flavor was subtle, but I liked it.

I will definitely use it again for baking, and next time I will add more.

I paired the cake with my favorite spiced tea.

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by : Reiko Sweets

Matcha Sesame Cookies
抹茶ごまチュイール

I cooked a lot during our vacation, but I missed baking.

I looked through my cookbooks, and I decided on sesame cookies as my first baking project after our vacation.

Me giving the cookies good energy through the oven door (lol).

I’ve used this recipe before, but this time I added Matcha.

It didn’t show the color much, but you can certainly taste Matcha.

I really enjoy baking and eating home-baked sweets.

Hope I can bake much more before going back to work.

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by : Reiko Japanese Food, Sweets

Oatmeal Mochi with Soy Sauce Maple Syrup
オートミール餅、醤油メープルシロップがけ

Happy New Year!

This mochi made of oatmeal is absolutely delicious!!

I sprinkled Kinako (roasted soy powder) and then drizzled a mixture of soy sauce and maple syrup.

This salty-sweet syrup was so good, almost addictive.

I liked it so much that I made another batch right after I finished these!

Oatmeal Mochi recipe (in Japanese) -> https://www.instagram.com/p/Cm1AeO2BdC4/

What do you wish for 2023?

Me?

WORLD PEACE.

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by : Reiko Bread, Sweets

The world’s easiest Bûche De Noël
世界一番簡単ブッシュドノエル

This Bûche De Noël (or Yule Log) is not made of cake but made of sandwich bread!

You need several (I used four) slices of white bread.

Take crust off.

Roll them flat with a rolling pin.

Spread your favorite jam (I used cherry jam) and roll them into a log.

Cover with plastic wrap and let it rest while you prepare Adzuki butter.

I just combined and mixed store-bought sweet Adzuki paste and vegan butter until it was creamy.

Spread it over the log.

Voila!

As you can imagine, it’s quite small.

It’s perfect for one or two (I ate the whole thing myself!).

It was absolutely delicious!

Since it’s so easy to make, it can be a make-your-own project for kids too.

If Adzuki is not your cup of tea, you can simply use chocolate whipped cream or any frosting.

Merry Christmas.

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by : Reiko Mushrooms, Sweets

Plant-based Shiitake Madeleines
斬新！椎茸マドレーヌ（ヴィーガン）

I hope it’s not too shocking to you.

The idea came from last night…

I celebrated our anniversary month at Kaiseki Furukawa, a Kaiseki restaurant, in Minneapolis.

This was our second course, a part of the 10-course meal.

This course consisted of eight different things, and one of them was a Shiitake shortbread cookie.

When the chef told me what it was, I was initially skeptical.

But once I had my first bite, I loved it!

It definitely tasted like Shiitake.

It was unique and delicious.

Since I liked the cookie so much that I wanted to make Shiitake sweets myself.

Luckily, I had some dried local Shiitake.

I picked madeleine to be my first Shiitake sweets.

I added powdered dried Shiitake to the batter.

They turned out great!

They got the beautiful brown color.

And they were delicious!!

Who knew mushroom can taste so good in a cake?

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by : Reiko Sweets

This year’s custom ordered vegan birthday cake for me!: Coffee Rum Vanilla Chestnut Cake
今年のオーダーメード誕生日ケーキはこれ、コーヒーラムバニラ栗ケーキ

The last few years my husband has been ordering a custom vegan cake for me for my birthday from Betsy.

https://www.instagram.com/seymourmunchmore/

This year I requested a cake made of coffee/rum sponge cake, vanilla frosting, and chestnut cream.

She did an awesome job as usual.

It was not only pretty but also delicious.

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