A Slew Of Sweets

 Creating goodies is one of the most fun things to do in a kitchen. They're even more so when you have a  slew of recipes to work off of. Luckily the New York Times Cooking section put out a mini cookbook of sorts featuring all things baked , sweet or both.

This keeper was part of yesterday's New York Times Sunday issue. There are many good recipes, perfect for snacks, dessert and Easter.They can work at Spring showers or grad parties too, along with warmer weather get togethers. There are twenty-four recipes in total. Most are baked, but some are made thanks to a stove top, food processor or fridge. There are the traditional ones such as The World's Best Chocolate Cake, a lush devil's food with a creamy dark chocolate ganache icing and the plus of an espresso spiked marscapone cream. Chocolate chip cookies are there too.They are the classic New York Times version with their mix of bread and cake flour along the addition of  big chocolate disks. A lovely and classic recipe is Kentucky Butter cake, perfect for an Easter dessert. This has a cup of butter in it along with buttermilk taken from Nell Lewis of surprisingly Platte City Missouri. A glaze of more butter, melted and mixed with confectioner's sugar and vanilla is poured into the holes poked in the finished product. A dusting of confectioner's sugar tops it. There's also Puppy Chow and a traditional shortbread crust too.

Then there are the unique recipes. Shortbread afectionados should try the pretzel shortbread made with half a cup of blitzed pretzel crumbs added to the traditional recipe. There are tea cookies made with Earl Grey tea and spiked with orange zest for a zingy flavor. Those who like mochi should try their hand at the butter mochi bars with a passionfruit glaze. It's the mochiko flour that gives it that marshmallowy texture. For another kind of flour is semolina used in the Namoura, the Lebanese cake contributed by Amanda Saab which she got from her Lebanese grandmother. It's made with whole milk yogurt and semolina flour and flavored with syrup made with vanilla, granulated sugar and lemon juice boiled down into a syrup.Another tasty dessert which is a spin of the classic Hispanic one is a tres leches bread pudding. This is mix of heavy cream, evaporated milk and whole milk mixed with eggs and poured over buttery brioche.This can be served warm or cold with fresh made whipped cream.if you;re having breakfast for dinner finish with sheet pan chocolate chip pancakes. These can be topped with whip cream and fruit or maple syrup and butter. Another spin on the traditional are peanut butter cookies with miso for a different flavor or tapioca with lemongrass.

This issue is the perfect treat book. Make any of these for a fun and soothing bite. They're a fun day in the kitchen.

Carrying On Tradition

Traditions are what connect us to our ancestors and the essence of who we are. Culinary traditions are even more binding, tying us to the dishes our antecedents made. It is more so in the Japanese and Japanese-American communities. They not only revere their ancestors but carry on with ancient recipes.

Hannah Kirschner, the creator of Sweets And Bitters, a combination of blog and cookbook, wrote about the Sasaki family for yesterday's New York Times's Christmas Day Food issue. The Sasakis have been here for over a century, first arriving to the Seattle area in 1908.The city was a boomtown then , catering to young men looking to make a fortune< He only went back to Japan once  to acquire a bride,Hisaye, They raised four kids who carried on their traditions as well as taking lessons in the art of Japanese flower arranging - ikebana as well as taking Japanese lessons. Their lives were disrupted by  the interment camps of the Second World War. Everything related to their nationality was banned, especially the foods.It changed after the war when they could return to traditional foods , using the  laquered natsume, the wooden canisters used in tea ceremonies. Cousins have come over to use their grandmother's fans to cool the rice used in the dishes. For a while in the Nineties , the family stopped with the celebrations yet a cousin , Ron Sasaki, brought it back. He bakes a snapper or rock cod to symbolizing the return to the homeland . His father did the same thing for earlier family dinners

The New Year's foods are comforting as with the ozoni, or mochi soup. Mochi is a big thing right now. The Sasakis use the plain however, not the sweet usually associated with ice cream. There's also Japanese veggies such as mizuna, Japanese mustard greens and golf ball sized satoimo or taro root.Mirin , a kind of sweet rice wine is added along with yuzu the lemony Asian citrus. Chicken and kamaboko, a kind of steamed fish cake add the flavor too and protein. Rice is always present in Japanese cooking.Mochi rice, a more glutinous version is used in sekihan, red bean sticky rice. This dish is usually made the day before with adzuki,, a mung bean that sort of looks like a kidney bean. It is labor intensive with the rice having to be rinsed several times. The Sasakis also make Nishimi  dashi braised vegetables with chicken. This is a light stew that has all the best of Japanese veggies. There is daikon, the long , white radish used generously in Japanese cooking and kabocha squash. Shoyu, or Japanese soy sauce is used here for flavoring.

Culinary traditions define who we are. They have been defining the Sasaki family for 111 years. The dishes, lovingly made with the same ingredients their ancestors used, tell who the family is.

Making The Most Of Mochi

Japan is known for many tasty  treats, from the delicate crisp tempura to the flavorful  ever popular sushi. Now one of their most popular sweets, mochi is becoming a favorite. What's great about this dumpling like sweet is that they can be made at home, much like any confection.

Tejal Rao,a former food critic and contributor for the New York Times Sunday Magazine wrote about this interesting sweet for yesterday's New York Times Food section. Mochi is a street food with vendors making it fresh at their stands but it can also be bought in supermarkets too..It is a big treat during the Japanese new year Describing it is a bit hard. Imagine a soft dumpling with a sweet inside, made only of rice and beans plus a sweetener.Modern mochi makers such as Tomoko Kato, owner of  Williamsburg, Brooklyn's Patisserie Tomoko also makes  chocolate and strawberry fillings.s.An ice cream version of it first hit the States at  Los Angeles based company Mikawaya in the early Nineties where it was also pushed into major supermarket chains.  It's  kind of like a frozen bonbon with the daifuku rice dough wrapped round a sphere of ice cream.Trader Joe's pushed an all American version of it in its' stores in 2014. Theirs had a pumpkin pie filling that was just in time for Thanksgiving of  that year. There's predictions that mochi will be the next macaron.It could well be. They're all about the melding of textures instead of flavors and they're different enough here to be eye catching. Unfortunately mochi  has a short shelf life. The dough dries out after a day or two and should be eaten right away.

Another plus about them is that they're easier to make than macarons.There's no baking and timing involved, save for cooking the two layers on the stovetop. Mr. Rao includes a recipe with the article. The most difficult part is making the exterior or the daifuku rice dough.It has to be as tender and soft as a kitten's paw. Home chefs do have to buy the mochiko flour which can be had at Asia food markets or Amazon, however corn starch can be used too.Potato starch is also used , primarily to keep the dough from sticking to fingers. It's rolled out with a rolling pin into thick, flat disks, Home chefs can go traditional with a sweet bean paste or anko. Again ths requires getting azuki beans,found at Whole Foods, Albertsons and Asian food markets. After being cooked for a bit., they're then transferred to a food processor where they're pureed into a paste. That's returned to the pot where it's sweetened with sugar along with pinch of salt added. It's then poured out and spread out in a small shallow container and put into the fridge to set. The bean paste is rolled into balls between the fingers and then enrobed in the mochi dough. More hand rolling is involved and then the dough is pinched to seal it, More adventurous home chefs can try a chocolate ganache as an alternative to the anko.

Mochi is a fun treat that will sure to be the next fad.It's an easy make and fun to create. Try it for a different type of dessert.