Anyways, here’s the recipe I’ve modified from the original which was found in the a Canadian Living cookbook for cookies and bars (sorry I forgot the name).

• 3oz semi-sweet or bitter-sweet chocolate, chopped (I use Baker’s semi-sweet chocolate, which can be found in all the grocery stores in Vancouver)
• 1/2 cup of unsalted butter, cubed (can use margarin)
• 1 cup of sugar (doesn’t need to be exact, I usually use about 2-4 tbsp less sugar)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs, beatened
• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder* (I add it in for the cake-like effect so it’s optional)
• 1/2 tsp salt* (not in the original, I just like adding salt for flavoring)
• ~1 tsp espresso or other insta coffee* (optional, adjust amount to personal liking)

1. Place the chopped chocolate and butter in a sauce pan and melt under low heat stirring occasionally. Add in the espresso or coffee if using.
2. Remove from heat after everything is melted. Mix in the sugar, vanilla extract and beatened eggs.
3. Add in the flour (and salt & baking powder if using). Mix well until batter is smooth with no lumps. Batter should be silky looking.
4. Pour batter into an 8″ square baking pan (I usually line it with parchment for easy cleaning and lifting the brownies out of the pan). Bake at a 350°F for 30-35 minutes. Stick a toothpick in the brownie to test. If it comes out clean (might have tiny tiny pieces stick to it) and dry, it’s done!

Let me know how your’s turned out!

Recipe from Jessica’s Su Good Sweets. I used live yeast which I bought from an Italian grocery store and added 1 whole egg instead of only using half.

Baked Char Siu Bao Dough

~3/4 tbsp of live yeast (or One 1/4-ounce envelope active dry yeast)
1/3 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of warm/hot water
2 cups bread flour
1 large egg, beaten
3 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp salt

1) In a large bowl, mix together yeast, sugar and water. Let sit for ~30 to 60 mins to activate the yeast. To speed things up, you can put the bowl under another container filled with hot water (to achieve a double boiler effect). Make sure you don’t let the yeast mixture touch the water if it’s really hot or you might killed with the heat. The yeast mixture is ready when you see bubbles and/or brown foams on the surface.

2) Add the egg and oil, stir it a little bit with a fork. Mix the salt and flour together in another bowl. Add the dry mixture into the yeast mixture 1/3 at a time while using your fingers to do the stirring.

3) Start kneading the dough. When it comes together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and continue kneading. Use a spatula or a dough scrapper to scrap up the dough from the board and keep sprinkling flour on the work surface. Knead for about 15 minutes. The dough should be smooth and elastic. Try to stretch the dough while you knead. Cover and let rise for 3-4 hours until it triples in size. I usually leave it over night and bake the next morning. If you want to speed it up, heat the oven at 150F, then turn it off and put the covered dough in the oven (make sure the contain is oven proof).

4) When it’s ready punch dough down and turn it out on a floured surface if it is still a bit sticky. Knead it for a couple of minutes and then roll the dough into 12 inches long. Divide the dough into 12 one-inch pieces. If it is hard to roll it into a log, you can try what I do. I divide the dough in half, then divide each half into half again. Now you got 4 pieces. Cut each piece into three equal pieces to get 12 pieces. Keep any dough that is not being used covered to avoid it from drying. Flatten one piece of dough into a circle (use a rolling pin or just flatten it between your palms) and fill it with 1.5 tbsp of char siu bao filling. Gather the side and pinch together to close. Place seam side faced down on a parchment lined baking sheet. Repeat for the rest of the dough, placing them about 1.5 – 2 inches apart on the baking sheet.

5) Once all the dough is filled, cover and let rise for 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 350F. Prepare egg wash by mixing a beaten egg with 1 – 2tbsp of milk (or water, I used milk since I can make scrambled eggs with the left over egg wash). Spritz each bao with water and brush with the egg wash. Bake the bao for 15-20 mins, turning the baking sheet once half way through the baking. They are ready when they are golden on top.

Tip: I find that the bao turns golden really fast in my oven, about 10-12 minutes. You might want to keep an eye on them when you bake them for the first time.

Here’s a picture of the char siu bao fresh out of the oven!

In preparation for Valentine’s Day dinner (we decided to eat at home this year), I’m trying to make a yummy lasagna for Al. My brother loves lasagna but my mom never makes it at home. The only time we get it is when we have dinner at my Aunt Kit’s place because it’s always part of the Christmas menu. Last year, however, we didn’t go to her place for Christmas dinner so Dave was starved of his favourite pasta dish.

Anyways, I didn’t expect to get the barista job so quickly so instead of having all day today to make the sauce, I had to go in for training. Thank god lasagna is a lovely make ahead dish, so I did all the work for it on Saturday night. The basic idea of making lasagna is pretty simple, here’s the “formula”:

(layer of sauce, noodle, cheese) x 3 + 40-50 minutes baking time = lasagna

Easy right?! I had learned how to make an easy tomato beef sauce before so I made that first. While the sauce is cooking, I grated this block of mozzarella cheese. I had a hard time grating it because it was too soft so I ended up slicing it. Once the sauce is done, I cooked the noodles and then it’s off to the easy assemble part. Aside from using mozzarella cheese, I also added spoonfuls of ricotta cheese in between for more flavor. After it’s all done, I sprinkle the grated cheese on top (I placed the sliced cheese in the layers) and wrapped it up with plastic wrap and foil before sticking it in the fridge. All this took about 2 hours.

Today after I came home from standing 7 hours at the mall, I heat up the over, popped the dish (plastic wrap removed!) into the oven for 40 mins. Then I took out the foil and boiled the lasagna for 3 mins to melt the cheese on top. It turned out quite nicely except that since I used sliced cheese, there are “holes” where there were no cheese in between the layers. If I’ve added more cheese it would’ve tasted better. The sauce was really good and it’s just the right amount. I don’t like too much sauce (it looks like soup…) with my pastas.

Recipe will follow in up coming posts! For now enjoy the photos.

So after that wok incident (remember my dad burned it…), I took a slight turn and made baked char siu baos instead. As you can see from the picture, they looked pretty good don’t they? ~^__^~

Well, they might look good but there’s one flaw. I over baked the bottom ~>_<~ I tried to decrease the baking time and lower the temperature but they are still too brown for my liking. Anyways, I won’t give up! Check out these cute little baos before they get a tan in the oven.

The interesting thing I learned from this experiment is that bread flour makes a lot of difference. I used all-purpose flour the first time and it turned out really well, just a bit a too tough (not airy enough). So the second time I used bread flour. Turned out wonderfully! It’s so soft and airy. The top is in a light golden colour.

Another thing I tried is using a sugar glaze after baking. Sometimes when you buy baked buns at the Asian bakery, they have this sticky, sweet glaze on top. So I tried doing that and it was a little too sticky and sweet even though it’s really just a little sugar plus water.

I find it really hard to bake bread during the weekdays because of the time it takes to rise. I’ll probably try more on weekends. Anyways, I’ll post the recipe for the bao soon!~