Hands Down My Most Delicious Batch of Madeleines Ever Made - Chocolate Dipped Chocolate Madeleines

These chocolate madeleines were so delicious. Seriously, me and Mister were like munching on at least two madeleines every time we opened the storing container. But why just two? Because the whole batch only yields 12 madeleines, and I gave two to my mother-in-law, so we had to control ourselves and try to make these pastries last a little bit longer.

Chocolate dipped chocolate madeleines - 

Ingredients (about 12 pieces)?

• 115 grams unsalted butter 
• 14 grams/1 tablespoon unsalted butter for prepping the pan
• 2 large eggs
• 80 grams granulated sugar
• 20 grams caster sugar
• 30ml whole milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 95 grams all purpose flour
• 10 grams/1 tablespoon for prepping the pan
• 22 grams cocoa powder
• 10 grams/1 tablespoon for prepping the pan
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

Chocolate dipping sauce:

• 100 grams 70% or dark chocolate
• 5 grams/1 teaspoon unsalted butter

How?

Measure 115 grams of unsalted butter and melt it. I used the hot water bath (bain-marie) method to melt the butter, also changed the hot water once to speed up the melting process. Meanwhile, remove 2 eggs from the fridge and let them rest under room temperature for a little bit.

Bring out a big mixing bowl, I simply used the stand mixer bowls. Measure in 80 grams of granulated sugar plus 20 grams of caster sugar. Also break in that 2 eggs we took out from the fridge earlier.

Beat them either using the stand mixer, but I actually used hand-held mixer instead. Switch to medium speed and beat for about 5 minutes, or till the mixture appears a little frothy-looking.

Pour in 30ml of whole milk and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Beat again till fully blended.

Have another big bowl ready and measure in 95 grams of all purpose flour, 22 grams of cocoa powder, 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Sift these powder on top of the big mixing bowl filled with our wet ingredients. Mix till everything has been evenly blended together.

Now let's pour in the melted butter. This time don't use the mixer, but a rubber spatula instead to fold till just about evenly mixed together.

You can use this batter right away, but this time I was more patient and actually store the batter to a lidded container then into the fridge overnight. So the next day when I bake the madeleines, I will be using cold batter, which will help the madeleines rise better and have a more "humped" shape as a result.

So either way, when ready to bake, preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius/350 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Prep the madeleine pan. Again, I used the hot water batch method to melt the butter, this time 14 grams, about 1 tablespoon of butter. Then I brush melted butter to the madeleine mold.

Prepare a small bowl and add in 10 grams, that is about 1 tablespoon of flour plus 10 grams, also about 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder. Mix them together then dust onto the madeleine mold. After that, invert the pan and give it a few taps. This till shake-off excess powder sticking onto the pan.

Some people prefer to further store the prepped madeleine pan in the fridge and wait till cold enough to actually use in baking. The concept is kind of like storing the batter in the fridge overnight. But for the pan, I think 15 to 30 minutes will do the trick, or simply skip this step shouldn't do much harm.

Scoop the batter to the center of each madeleine molds. I used about 1 tablespoon to 1 1/2 tablespoons for each madeleines. There is no need to level or even out the batter, just keep them like imperfect shape of scooped batter balls.

Into the oven and bake for 12 minutes plus or minus 2 minutes depending on your oven heat status. Just to be safe, check halfway through and see if you need to flip the madeleine pan around to ensure even baking. The madeleines are ready when the center rises up, like a humped pastry, and the edge appears darker color.

Remove the pan from the oven and let cool under room temperature. I turned them out onto a wire rack to cool-off.

During this time, melt 100 grams of chocolate along with 1 teaspoon of butter. Use a rubber spatula to mix them evenly together. Pour that chocolate dipping sauce to a smaller but deeper container, which will be easier to dip in the madeleines.

So once the madeleines is cool enough to handle by hand, dip them one by one in the warm chocolate sauce. Then back to the wire rack to cool-off and set, at least 15 minutes. Later on I actually carefully move the chocolate dipped madeleines to the fridge to further help the sauce set.

So I guess the extra work, that means prep the batter a day ahead and store them in the fridge can really make a big difference. These madeleines turned out with a tiny bit moisture feel, I mean they weren't dry at all. More so on a little luscious side.

By the way, even though many chocolate madeleine recipes all look somewhat similar, after all, some classic dessert ingredients and steps have been tried and true. But I did look closer into Emma Duckworth Bakes' chocolate madeleines recipe online for some reference. 

Look at the result, my batch of chocolate madeleines turned out super delicious. So I can assure you that her original recipe should be very good too, most likely even better. And I thank her for publishing that recipe online, so I had a good research before baking these yummy chocolate bites.

Extended reading:

• Two-color madeleines 雙色瑪德蓮

Sweet Red Bean and Taro Soup 紅豆芋頭甜湯

Every time I go to this local shabu shabu place, towards the end of the meal they'll always bring up sweet red bean soup for dessert. Mostly cold, but sometimes they'll serve the hot version instead during winter months.

That's the kind of sweet ending I would enjoyed. So I was like why not making it at home too? I don't have to wait to snack on this Taiwanese sweet red bean plus taro soup only when having a shabu meal. Plus it's not hard to make at all.

Sweet red bean and taro soup 紅豆芋頭甜湯 - 

Ingredients?

• 190 grams to 200 grams red beans
• 100 grams taro
• 8 to 10 cups water
• 1/2 cup crystal sugar
• Small pinch salt

How?

Rinse then soak the red beans the night before. I actually stored that in the fridge instead.

When ready to cook, drain out the water. Start a pot of fresh water instead then add in the soaked red beans. Use 8 to 10 cups of water for this recipe. If you prefer more "soup" like me, I actually used 9 cups of water here.

Switch to medium high heat and bring to a boil. Then lower the heat to keep it at a light bubbling stage. Continue to cook till the red beans almost reach 2/3 of your preferred texture, like 70% done. If start counting the time from the beginning, mine took about 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, peel and cube the taro, about the same or slightly larger than the red beans. After red beans are almost finished cooking, add in the taro cubes.

Continue to cook till the taro can be smashed down easily with the force of your tongue, that's about 40 more minutes for mine.

Only flavor with crystal sugar or any other types of sugar towards the end. I used 1/2 cup of crystal sugar, plus a small pinch of salt.

The sweet soup is ready when the sugar has been fully melted within. You can serve it hot or chill in the fridge till cold.

Because the red beans will continue to absorb a little bit of soup overtime, so if you know the whole pot of sweet red bean soup won't be finished at once, I would suggest to go with the "soupy" route.

Also if it's hard to buy just 100 grams of taro, don't worry and just get more taro instead. You can always peel and chunk the unused taro, store them in a Ziploc bag or a container then keep in the freezer. Frozen taro can last for quite some time.

However, do remember when ready to use the frozen taro again, do not defrost. The texture can turn a little "fluffy" once defrosted. 

Three Ingredients Only Persimmon Custard (柿プリン)

It took me a while to decide whether I should use custard or pudding to describe this recipe. You know that this little sweet treat recipe was kind of a popular way to enjoy persimmon in Japan. And there they called it 柿プリン, basically persimmon pudding. 

But if you really Google something "pudding" online, usually it'll end up with tons of a more "bread-like" baking dish instead. So I figured let's keep it as persimmon custard instead, and I'll also put up 柿プリン to provide some extra insight.

Three ingredients only persimmon custard (柿プリン) - 

Ingredients (about 4 medium servings)?

• 400 grams/2 big ripe persimmons 
• 200 grams whole milk (I used lactose-free version)
• Some honey (optional)

How?

Peel and slice the persimmons to chunks. We will need 400 grams of persimmon here for the main custard part. You can also save some and slice to smaller cubes for garnish later on when serving.

Transfer persimmon chunks to a blender. Pour in 200 grams of whole milk and blend till smooth. Taste and see if some honey is needed. 

The persimmons I have here are very sweet, but I still added no more than 1 tablespoon of honey just for that extra aroma. After adding honey, blend again till evenly mixed.

Pour into containers, use glass containers if possible so that orange hue can been seen.

Cover with lid or cling foil. Store in the fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight. Once the texture has been set, you can add the cubed persimmon on top and enjoy the whole custard anytime.

Fun thing is that I also Googled what's better not to be enjoyed together with persimmon. Ended up dairy was one of them. Saying that there's a risk of forming stomach concretions by eating these two together.

However, you do see many sweet treats being made using persimmon and dairy together. So I dug a little bit more. Yet again it's more about portion control. As long as you don't binge eating persimmon and dairy, usually the situation won't be as serious, and most likely nothing bad will happen.

One more thing you can do to prevent such event is that always make sure to use very ripe persimmon if it's about to be turned into something creamy. Because ripe persimmons are less astringent, that means less tannic, and reduces the chance of forming bezoar in your body. 

And of course if somehow you don't feel too good after eating persimmon, even without dairy some people can't digest such fruit that well still, just stop consuming it all along. But for those who can eat persimmon without much issues, please enjoy such delicacy especially fall and winter are the best seasons for sweet persimmons.

Extended reading:

• Persimmon salad with mozzarella and Jamón Ibérico

Easy and Slightly Impressive Make Ahead Dessert - Lemon Posset

Ingredient and process-wise, it's hard to be simpler than lemon posset for dessert. I mean, besides the extra berries on top, you only need three ingredients for this recipe. You can even make it a bit fancier by using the actual lemon as container. Make ahead is not a problem too, which can be a time saver on the day of whatever party or event going on. Take a look and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Lemon posset - 

Ingredients (about 8 servings using lemon cups plus 2 with small ramekins)?

• 5 yellow lemons
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• Some fresh berries (optional)

How?

Halve 4 lemons lengthwise and scoop out the inside. Don't scoop too deep if possible, since the inner lemon skin can have a tiny wee bit bitter taste to it. However, some like it especially when eating together with quite sweet custard though.

Don't discard the pulp and flesh just yet. Squeeze that and collect the juice to a cup. We will use some for the cream, and you can save the remaining for other use later on.

Pour 2 cups of heavy whipping cream to a medium pot. Switch to medium heat and wait till warm but not boiling at all. Add 2/3 cup of sugar and whisk till dissolved.

Remove the pot from heat and add 5 tablespoons of lemon juice. You'll notice the cream starts to coagulate after introducing the lemon juice. Whisk again, then take the remaining one lemon and zest it. Add the zest of that one lemon to the pot too. 

Whisk till evenly blended one last time. Set the pot aside to cool down for about 15 minutes. After that, carefully pour the thickened cream mixture to hollowed lemon cups, you can use ramekins too.

Transfer these filled cups to the fridge and wait for at least 4 hours. You can definitely store them overnight, but in that case, better cover with a lid or something to secure the aroma from other stuff in the fridge.

When ready to serve, garnish the top with some fresh berries if desired. 

I would love to use both blueberries and raspberries for a brighter color pop, but raspberry is a super hard-find in Taiwan. In fact, come to think of it, I haven't even seen raspberries in high-end supermarkets for a long time.

Extended reading:

• No alcohol no heavy cream tiramisu (quality eggs will do)

One Way to Utilize Leftover Lady Fingers - Coffee and Chocolate Ice Cream Cake

I made some tiramisu a while back, the non-alcoholic version. So I got a pack of lady fingers but ended up with more than half of the portion unused. That's why this ice cream cake recipe was born, just a simply way to use up all the leftover lady fingers that's been sitting in the shelf for weeks.

Coffee and chocolate ice cream cake using lady fingers - 

Ingredients?

• 18 to 22 lady fingers
• 2/3 cup coffee (black or milky kind)
• 400ml cookie and cream ice cream (just pick something you like)
• 400ml milk ice cream (just pick something you like)
• Some dark chocolate shavings
• Some cocoa powder

How? 

Brew the coffee of your liking, let it be black coffee or the milky kind, both work find. We need about 2/3 cup. Once done, pour over to a dish with some depth, a dish wide enough to soak in the entire lady finger. Set aside and let cool.

Line a meatloaf pan with cling foil. It doesn't have to be pretty, just helps pulling out the cake in the end.

Remove one of the ice cream from the freezer and wait till soften enough to scoop and reshape, but not too watery or soggy.

When ready to assemble, dip the lady finger to the coffee both sides, then arrange one single layer on the bottom of the pan.

Scoop the softened ice cream all over and try to smooth out the surface. I used cookie and cream ice cream to begin with, but my optimal choice was coconut milk, no luck finding that.

Shave some dark chocolate all over the surface.

Loosely cover the pan with cling foil and into the freezer till set. At least semi-set, that'll be a minimum of 30 minutes just to be safe. Meanwhile, remove the second ice cream choice from the freezer and wait to be softened.

Once ready, take out the pan, uncover, and add another layer of coffee-dipped lady fingers. Scoop the second ice cream flavor all over and smooth out the surface.

Loosely cover with cling foil again and into the freezer till fully set this time. I waited 2 hours, but preferably overnight.

When ready to serve, remove the pan from the freezer and invert to a cutting board. Take out the cling coil. Dust some cocoa powder all over the top. Slice and serve right away.

I took too long setting up the plate and table, so by the time I'm ready to take some pictures, the bottom ice cream nearly all melted.

Also I guess the consistency of the milk flavored ice cream I chose had something to do with it too. It was a bit softer than the cookie and cream one, making it harder to hold up the shape once removed from the fridge. 

Oh well, still not too bad in the end especially I didn't get to use my top choice coconut milk ice cream. What would you use instead? I suppose a bit exotic matcha flavored ice cream should tastes pretty good too.

Extended reading:

• No alcohol no heavy cream tiramisu (quality eggs will do)

No Alcohol No Heavy Cream Tiramisu (Quality Eggs Will Do)

Two things worth celebrating. First, I can finally make a tiramisu without alcohol nor heavy whipping cream. The result was still creamy and luscious. Second thing that makes me happy is there's no leftover mascarpone.

Most of the time when I'm working with recipe using mascarpone, I always ended with some unused portion. However, this time I was able to find just the right package and a perfect recipe calling for the exact amount, so I get to used every last bits of mascarpone. No more leftover mascarpone.

No alcohol no heavy cream tiramisu - 

Ingredients?

• 4 medium or 3 large eggs
• 500 grams mascarpone
• 16 to 20 lady fingers
• 1 cup strong coffee
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Some cocoa powder

How?

Remove the eggs and mascarpone from the fridge and rest under room temperature for 5 to 10 minutes before using them. 

Brew the coffee first then pour into a wider surfaced container, at least wide enough that you can dip in the whole lady finger.

Separate the egg yolk and the egg white. For the yolks, also add in 500 grams of mascarpone and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Mix till blended.

As for the egg white, beat till frothy. I used stand mixer with medium high speed, took about 4 minutes to achieve that consistency.

Gradually add in the sugar while mixing/beating the egg white at the same time. Once all the sugar has been added, keep mixing/beating till the egg white can keep a soft peak form, should take few more minutes.

Introduce the yolk mixture to the white. Gently fold them together till evenly blended.

Have your tiramisu container ready. I used glass container just so I can see the layers from the side, kind of amusing and satisfying doing so. 

Dip the lady fingers in coffee till semi-soaked, it'll happen really quickly, shouldn't need to soak more than three seconds on each side. You'll know when the lady fingers turn all soggy and start to fall apart. Lay down one single layer of coffee dipped lady fingers on the bottom of the chosen container.

Spread half of the mascarpone mixture on top, also slightly even it out.

Do another layer of coffee-dipped lady fingers on top of the mascarpone then spread the remaining mascarpone all over. Even out and cover with lid or foil. Into the fridge for few hours, preferably overnight.

Just right before serving, sift some cocoa powder on top, then the no alcohol no heavy cream tiramisu will be ready to serve. 

I'm never a fan of tiramisu with coffee liqueur in it, so this no alcohol recipe just fits my need. And the no heavy cream part kind of make the whole process easier too. 

And look at that creamy layer! Even without heavy whipping cream, this tiramisu still turned out quite nice.

By the way, it's normal if you see some liquid on the bottom of the remaining tiramisu. I simply treated it as extra sauce when enjoying the tiramisu, still luscious and satisfying.

Extra recipe using mascarpone:

• Whipped brie with mascarpone, honey, and pink peppercorn

Mini Sweet Potato Casserole Topped with shredded cheese 起司地瓜燒

Regular sweet potato or the fancy Japanese purple sweet potato (murasaki imo), I was literally standing in front of these two options at the supermarket for a minute. Both can yield a sweet and smooth casserole for my little afternoon treat. What persuaded me in the end is that there was this one chunky sweet potato, just the right size, and that means I only need to peel this one single sweet potato only instead of many smaller purple variety.

Mini sweet potato casserole topped with shredded cheese - 

Ingredients (for 2 big or 4 small servings)?

• 560 grams sweet potato
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
• 2 to 4 teaspoons heavy whipping cream
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 100 grams shredded cheese (mozzarella and Cheddar preferred)

How?

Peel and slice the sweet potato into chunks.

Steam the sweet potato till fork tender. Mine took about 30 minutes.

Once ready, use a fork to mash the steamed sweet potato, just like what you'd do with mashed potato.

After this first round of mashing, add 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter, 2 teaspoon of sugar, and 1/8 teaspoon of salt. Also start with 2 teaspoons of heavy whipping cream and mash till evenly blended with the sweet potato. 

Check the consistency, if seemed too thick, blend in more heavy whipping cream, up to 4 teaspoons total. Also do a quick taste test and see if more sugar is needed for your preference. Once all set, mash again through a wire sieve if not too troublesome. This will give you an even smoother texture in the end.

Spread the sweet potato paste to ramekins, filled up to 80% full then top the remaining space with shredded cheese.

Into the oven and switch to high heat. Bake till the cheese has been melted and slightly browned. Remove from the oven and serve right away.

So on top of my initial hesitation between the regular sweet potato and the fancy Japanese purple sweet potato, I also had a hard time picking shredded cheese. My best choice would be mozzarella and Cheddar blend. However, I also have to look closer to the label and trying to get the most natural product as possible.

That left me with only one option, shredded mozzarella. Even though milky and satisfying, but I definitely think with additional salty Cheddar, the sweetness from the sweet potato will become more pronounced. So it's up to you, I would still choose whatever healthier product as possible. Just keep in mind that if you can find great mozzarella and Cheddar blend, that's the way to go.

Savory way to enjoy sweet potato:

• Sweet potato congee 地瓜粥