I was in Philippines during the long Ramadan and National Day holiday. My Filippino-Chinese friend arranged a fully packed eight days Philippines holiday for us. It was truly wonderful holiday, from volcano watching, to dolphin watching, to snorkelling and eating balut. Okay, I'll have to admit, the balut part wasn't really enjoyable, but it's an experience. And the food was really nice too! As my friend knows that I like ube jam, she bought a tub for me.
Ube is purple yam. I'm suprised it's so common in Philippines even though I read that many countries have them too. With its precious one tub, I decided to make buns with it, replacing yam recipe with ube since they are from similar family. The bread was soft and chewy, it was really good.
Recipe for Ube Buns, modified from 孟老师的100道麵包.
Makes 20 mini buns
Ingredients:
(A) Water Roux
40g Ube paste/jam
20g Bread flour
100g Water
(B) Dough
420g Bread flour
40g Caster sugar
6g Instant yeast
1/2 tsp Salt
190g Water
30g Liv Unsalted butter
(C) Fillings
300g Ube paste, divided into 15g each
Method:
1. Water Roux: Place all the ingredients in (A) in a pot and mix well. Place it on the stove and cook over low fire until it becomes a paste.
2. Transfer the paste into a plate, cover it with cling wrap and put it into the fridge for about 60mins.
3. Dough: In a large mixing bowl, place the water roux (A) and mix in all the ingredients in (B), except butter. Mix until smooth, then add in the butter to continue mixing for at least 15mins or until dough is very smooth (my dough was still quite wet when I left it to proof).
4. Cover it with cling wrap and let it proof for 80mins.
5. Divide the dough into 20 pieces. Let it rest for 10mins.
6. Using a rolling pin, flatten the dough, place the ube paste (C) into the centre of the dough, then wrapped it tightly. Flatten it, roll it up like swiss roll, then roll it together and place it into the paper cup. Continue doing it for the remaining pieces.
7. Let the doughs proof for further 45 mins in the cups.
8. Preheat fan oven to 170C.
9. When the doughs are ready, brush them with milk and sprinkle sesame seeds on top.
10. Bake them for 15mins or until browned on top.
11. Let it cool before serving. Enjoy.
P.S.: If you are interested to go Philippines, I can share my experience with you. :)
This post is sponsored by Liv butter. Try Liv today!
I have always love to watch Anna Olson's baking show on Asian Food Channel (AFC). However, on AFC website, it's not easy to look for her recipes episode by episode. The better site is through Food Network, which are categorised accordingly. What I tried today was her Classic Chocolate Chips Cookies. It was really easy to make, without even having to use the mixer. I am always fazed by how she just used wooden spoon or whisk to do the creaming and whisking. Her cookies turned out to be very evenly round, whereas mine is truly a homemade version! Heehee...
Recipe for Classic Chocolate Chips Cookies, adapted from Anna Olson's Drop Cookies Series.
Makes approximately 53 one inch cookies
Ingredients:
1/2 cup (113g) Liv unsalted butter, at room temperature
5/8 cup packed Brown sugar
1 large Egg, at room temperature
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups Plain flour
1 tbsp Cornstarch
1/2 tsp Baking soda
1/2 tsp Fine rock salt
1 1/2 cups Chocolate chips
Method:
1. Cream the butter with the brown sugar using a hand whisk until light. Beat in the egg and the vanilla.
2. In a separate bowl, sift the flour with the cornstarch, baking soda and salt.
3. Add this to the butter mixture and stir until blended. Stir in the chocolate chips.
4. Using a teaspoon, scoop spoonfuls of dough, shape them into a ball (I wasn't able to get balls) and place onto a parchment lined baking tray.
5. Chill the scooped cookies for at least an hour, or once chilled, the cookies can be frozen for baking later. (I left it in the chiller overnight).
6. Preheat the oven to 170C.
7. Arrange the chilled scooped cookies onto parchment-lined baking trays, leaving 1 inch between the cookies.
8. Bake for 15 minutes, until browned. Cool the cookies on the baking tray.
9. If baking cookie dough that has been frozen, arrange the frozen cookies on the baking tray and let them thaw for 20 minutes at room temperature before baking as above.
"This chocolate chip cookie dough has 2 secrets to success. The first is the addition of cornstarch, which holds in moisture to guarantee a soft-centred cookie. The second is to chill the cookies before baking – this ensures they all bake to the same size and don’t spread too much while baking."-Anna.
This recipe is a keeper. My children simply loves them!
