Xmas tree cupcakes

Looking for some cute holiday cupcakes?
Put green tea cream leaves on your favorite cupcakes and make sweet xmas tree!

Maccha (green tea) cream
200ml Heavy whipping cream
3tsp Maccha(green tea powder)
3tbs powdered sugar


Beat all the ingredients in a chilled ball.
When it gets thick enough to pipe, put it into a pipping bag with tip of star shape.
Pipe on each cake.


Decorate with dried fruit.
To make the stars, cut out fruit sheet using a star shape cookie cutter.

Football Meat Pies

My boyfriend loves Oregon ducks and meat pies..so I combined both!

Quail eggs ducks wearing corns and broccoli stems hats and football meat pies.

Pies

Ingredients
2 puff pastry sheets
Meat fillings
Cheese

Direction
Cut out shapes with football shaped cookie cutters, using two different sizes.
First cut out 8 larger football pies, then cut 4 of them again using a smaller cutter.(I made the cutters by myself with a thick paper)
Place the second cut pies on the first ones.
Brush edges of pastry with beaten egg.
Bake in a very hot oven, 400F for 15-20 minutes.
When it's done, put the meat filling in the middle of the pies.
Cut cheese and put on the pies to make it look like footballs.



Meat pie filling
Recipe adapted from food.com

Ingredients
500 g minced beef
1 onions, chopped
1 cup water, divided
2 beef bouillon cubes
1/4 cup ketchup
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
pepper
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 pinch nutmeg
3 tablespoons plain flour


Directions
Pre-heat oven at 220 degrees Celsius.
Brown meat and onion.
Add 3/4 cup of the water, bouillon cubes, ketchup and Worcestershire sauce, pepper, oregano, and nutmeg.
Boil and cover for 15 minutes.
Blend flour with the remaining 1/4 cup water until it becomes a smooth paste; add to the meat mix.
Let cool.

Toaster Pastry ~ Easy Mille-feullie (Napoleon)~

One of my favorite kinds of cakes is mille-feullie<3 data-blogger-escaped-br="">Sheets of puff pastry sandwiched with pastry creme.

This recipe is very easy. You can bake a pie in a toaster oven:)

★Pie crust
-1 frozen pie sheet

Move the frozen pie crust to the fridge a day before you plan to use it.
Cut into desired sizes.
With a fork poke small holes in the crust.
Line toaster oven tray with aluminum foil.
Bake until pastry is golden brown.
Cover the pastry with another sheet of aluminum foil to prevent it from burning and bake until it swells. ( about 10-15mins)


To make mille-feullie, You can just spread pastry creme between the layers of pies. I made the creme from soy milk this time! It tastes like custard creme.


~soy creme~

almond flour 90g (1cup)
soy milk 300g (1&1/2cup)
grated *yamaimo 90g
agar 1/2tsp
Maple Syrup 75g (1/4cup)
*(nigari 1/2tsp) - if you have.
corn or potato starch or arrowroot 2tbs dissolved in 3 tbs water
almond oil 60g (1/3cup) (5tbs)
vanilla extract 1/2tsp

*Yamaimo is called Japanese Yam. It is a root vegetable that is viscous in texture like okra.

*nigari is the most common tofu coagulants used. It is composed mainly of magnesium chloride and other minerals found in seawater.

You can find both nigari and yamaimo at Japanese grocery stores.

Direction:
place the top 6 ingredients in blender and mix well.
move the mixture to a large skillet and brig it to a boil.
Add the cornstarch/water mixture and stir well.
Reduce heat and simmer about 10 mins.

Let it cool and put in fridge over night.
Place the mixture into the blender and mix well.
Heat oil in a microwave for about 1min and add it to the mixture. Mix well.
Add vanilla extract and blend well.

Avocado Sesame Cookies

Got a bag of 10 organic avocados for only $3 at a farmers market!
I was searching for avocado recipes and found this one...Avocado Cookies!
Avocado is known as butter fruit... so I thought why not try this...I know it sounds bad, but it turned out good:) My co-workers loved it!

I basically followed the recipe from Chewy & Gooey Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies, but I skipped chocolate chips and replaced Earth Balance with Sesame paste(Tahini) to add a Japanese twist to it;)

Avocado Sesame Cookies

1 3/4 c whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp tahini
1/4 - 1/3 c mashed avocado (no chunks)
3/4 c brown sugar
3 tbsp agave
2 tsp vanilla

-Combine the first 4 ingredients in a bowl
-In a separate bowl combine the tahini and avocado to make a smooth buttery mixture, then add the sugars and vanilla to combine until the ingredients are well incorporated
-Add the dry ingredients and mix well, then refrigerate the cookie dough overnight

Preheat the oven to 350º F

-Scoop the cookie dough and place evenly on a baking sheet, flattening them slightly with your hand
-Bake for 10-15 minutes (more or less) depending on your desired consistency - if you bake them too long, they only stay chewy for a bit before becoming crunchy

Sake Peach Jam

Peaches are in season. Yay!
Found a nice bourbon peach jam recipe online, but I didn't have bourbon at home...
So I replaced bourbon with sake. It turned out yummy:)

Sake Peach Jam
inspired by The Sweets Life

Ingredients:
-1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
-2 shallots, finely diced
-1 jalapeno, seeded and finely diced
-3 large firm peaches, blanched, skinned, and diced (or 1 small package of frozen peaches)
-1/4 cup beet sugar
-1/4 cup sake
-1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
-salt & white pepper, to taste

Directions:
1. In a large skillet over medium heat, add olive oil, shallots, and jalapeno. Season with salt and cook for 2-3 minutes, until tender. Add peaches and cook an additional 2-3 minutes.
2. Stir in sugar before deglazing the pan with sake.
3. Reduce heat to low, add vinegar, and allow liquids to reduce (5-10 minutes).
4. After thickened, adjust seasonings (salt & pepper) as needed before removing from heat

Yuzu Pepper Veggie Pizza

Spice up your pizza with a Japanese unique spice, YUZU PEPPER!
Yuzu is a Japanese citrus fruit known for its characteristic aroma.
Yuzu pepper is the hot rage in Japan right now and more and more food companies have started making it.
It's spicy paste made from Yuzu zest, green chili peppers and salt.
Look for it in Japanese grocery stores.

I mixed Yuzu pepper with tomato sauce to add a spice for the pizzza.
About 1/4tsp yuzu pepper for 3TBS tomato sauce.
Yummy!!

Japanese Sweet Potato French Toast

2cups Orange juice
1 Japanese sweet potato
Sugar
Cinnamon
Breads

Blend orange juice, sweet potato, cinnamon in blender and pour mixture into a wide dish. Dip bread slices into the mix, coating both sides. Sprinkle sugar and cinnamon and fry in medium-hot skillet until golden brown. Serve with maple syrup.

Raw Pecan Crusted Cashew Creme Tart

Made with only nuts and dried fruit. Very natural, simple but yummy tart!
Recipe adapted from Whole Living.