Mochi with Sweet Peanut filling

Mochi!!! i loove mochi...especially ones that are of many different colors. my friend was having a Japanese themed party so i told him i'd make something yummy and sweet that goes with the theme. 

 first! i made the sweet peanut filling. i basically just put peanuts and sugar in a food processor and pulsed until i had a crumb-like consistency. the sugar added was to taste; i just eye-balled how much i added...it looked like 1 1/2 cup peanuts to 1/4 cup sugar and it tasted pretty good after i put it in the food processor. not too sweet but sweet enough mmm. 

 now on to the mochi itself! i didn't use the mochiko glutinous rice flour; instead, i just used what i had which was a generic type sweet rice flour. in a bowl, add 100 grams of sweet rice flour and 2 tbsp of sugar (or more if you want it sweeter). 

 in another pan (i used my 8x8 baking pan) pour in some potato starch, which you can get at a super asian store. this extremely helps with the crazy sticky mochi (it's crazy sticky!!)

 add in the 1/2 cup water into the flour/sugar mixture, 1/4 cup at a time and stir until there are no pockets of flour. if you want to add some color into your mochi, add the dye with the last 1/4 cup of water. 

then place the bowl over a bain marie, or simmering water on top of the stove, and let it steam for 15 minutes. 

 once it's done, wet your spatula and stir the mochi around until it forms a uniform dough. then dump it into the pan with the potato starch. while it's still warm (which helps the mochi stretch alot) divide the dough into 8 equal balls. 

 take one of the mochi balls and stretch out the ends to make a disc. brush off the starch as best you can..

 and add a good teaspoon of the filling into the middle. don't add too much or it'll burst. i've had that happen to me the first four times.. -.- 

 pinch the ends all together and then place the mochi ball end side down and rotate the mochi with your hands to shape it into a more circular shape. make sure you have enough potato starch in your pan! i'm soo serious when i say the mochi is extremelyyy sticky! 

 the mochi was soo easy to make that i made alot of batches with different colors!

with the green one i just added green tea powder into the flour/sugar mixture before i added the water! it was so good! 

even though i used the same filling in all of these, you can add some variety like red bean, chocolate ganache (mmm), nutella(!?), ice cream(???) and so much more! get crazy!

Ingredients

peanut filling:

1 1/2 cup peanuts 

1/4 cup sugar (or to taste)

Mochi: 

100 grams sweet rice flour

2 tbsp sugar 

1/2 cup water

Easy Lemon Squares

Yumm. These lemon squares were tart yet sweet..and so easy!! My friend asked me if we could bake something fast and easy for her supervisor and of course i said yes! 

first, you'll have to make the yummy, buttery shortbread mmm. this has always been my go-to shortbread recipe and everyone goes insane for it. 

cream the butter. add the powder sugar, flour, and vanilla and mix until it forms a dough.

cover the dough in plastic wrap and let it rest in the fridge! 

 after the 10 minutes is up, grab an 8x8 inch pan and spread the dough with your fingers! i think it would have been smarter to line the pan with parchment paper buuut..i totally forgot. the sides of the dessert were pretty stuck but the middle parts came out just fine. 

anyway, bake for 25-30 minutes in a 325 degree oven or until the edges are golden brown. 

meaaanwwhiillee.... mix together zest and juice of 2 lemons, 4 eggs, 1 1/2 cups sugar, and 1/4 cup flour. and that's it for the lemon filling!!

 let the lemon mixture sit for 10 minutes before pouring into the semi-cooled shortbread. bake for 20-25 minutes in 325 degree oven until the edges are browned and the filling is set but not too jiggly.. 

 let it cool completely before cutting!... well i couldn't wait until it was cooled, so i just cut the sides off and ate it. soooo goood!! i cut the lemon squares with a knife that i ran under hot water so i could get those sexy clean sides. 

oh! and in my opinion, the lemon squares tasted even better once it's been cooled way down in the fridge. the flavor of the lemon just pops out and wakes up your tastebuds. delicious. 

Ingredients

shortbread: 

1/2 cup butter

1/3 cup powder sugar

1 cup all purpose flour 

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

lemon topping:

4 eggs

zest of 2 lemons 

juice of 2 lemons 

1 1/2 cups sugar 

1/4 cup flour

Hi...

I know. I suck at updating my blog. And people have come up to me and told me that they check it everyday and then I feel worse. Since school is almost over though, I'm going to try really hard to revive my blog! for some reason  i just didn't find the motivation to update my blog because the baking process is so much faster when i don't need to take pictures every 5 seconds. but i will post a new recipe and instructions soon, i promise!

Here are some of the things i've made in the past couple weeks:

mini chocolate cupcakes and mini vanilla tea cupcakes topped with pretty pink buttercream frosting! i made these for my cousin's baby shower . they loved it! i also made the toppers as well! they took forever.

white chocolate green tea truffles covered in dark chocolate. 'nuff said.

my vanilla coffee spiked chocolate cake filled with strawberry jam, whipped cream and chocolate buttercream :)

after making endless macaron batches a couple years ago (and failing miserably),   i needed a break...until now. i made these yummy green tea macarons filled with white chocolate green tea ganache! i wasn't used to the oven so the bottoms kind of burnt..

then i made these cute mini ones with my friend! i loove the color scheme :)

then i made these babies. chocolate macarons filled with peanut butter buttercream frosting. this was the most perfect batch of macarons i ever made. 

look! no hollow shell!! i was completely shocked and i felt soo accomplished!! it was such an emotional moment for me -.- 

ok. i was really proud of these chinese hot dog buns because they smelled and tasted like legit ones from asian bakeries. after one bite, i felt like i was 6 years old again, sitting in the front seat of the shopping cart while my mom pushed me around.  

i made creme brulee! i used half heavy cream, half soy milk (since i don't drink milk milk...) because i wanted to cut the richness. i should have used more heavy cream than soy milk as it was kind of more runny than what i was used to.

my mom loves eclairs so much. i never really understood why...until i made these for her  on Mother's day. they were so yummy and fresh and the dark chocolate on top with the pastry cream filling just made the cream puff...just..amazing. i can't even explain. 

green tea and chocolate bread! this is in my freezer now, in case i have a matcha/chocolate emergency. 

i made these whole wheat chocolate chip muffins for my group presentation! they tasted so good and healthy! in a good way. 

yummy banana almond muffins for my second group presentation! i just love bribing the audience and  the teacher with baked goods. 

so that's what i've been doing lately...the next time i make something, i'll take plentyyy of pictures and update this shiz. :)