Bolo Bao is a DELICIOUS soft Hong Kong bun with a crumbly, sweet, cookie-like topping that you can find at any Cantonese bakery. While “Bolo” means pineapple, and “Bao” means bread, there’s not actually any pineapple in this bread. Its name comes from the criss-cross pattern atop the bread, which looks like the pattern on a pineapple. This bread can more accurately be described as a marriage between a soft, lightly sweetened bun + a crumbly soft cookie on top. It was one of my childhood favorites, and I love that this recipe allows me to make a small little bun at home anytime!
I was wasting away on Facebook yesterday when this lovely video popped up in my feed:
Mmmm… fluffy, lightly sweetened, bouncy souffle pancakes. Some people commented that they had tried them before in Taiwan and Japan and said it was like eating a cloud, and that it was airy like cotton candy. The stuff of daydreams.
I watched all the way through wondering how well the inside got cooked and how fluffy it would taste in my mouth. So I went searching for recipes and videos online. I couldn’t seem to find the right kind of recipe when I searched “Taiwanese Fluffy Pancake,” but there was a lot out there for “Japanese Fluffy Pancake” and before I knew it, I landed on the familiar pages of Nami’s blog at Just One Cookbook and was quickly convinced that her recipe held the key to a perfect fluffy pancake experience in my future. It looked very similar to the fluffy ones in this video- maybe with a little less bounce, but just as tantalizing.
Some of my favorite traditions take place in the fall: pumpkin patches, spiced cider, caramel apples, pumpkin pancakes, and pumpkin spice lattes. I’m looking forward to adding Dorie’s Chocolate Pecan Pie and the Fall Lantern Walk to that list this year! There is something warm and comforting about these traditions as the weather cools, especially since you can eat a lot of them :] YUM!
A couple years ago, I bought a donut pan, and for some reason I only ever feel like putting it to use in the autumn. I’ve made spiced cider donuts in the past, but picked up the 4-pack of canned pumpkins at Costco recently so I decided to try pumpkin donuts this time. I originally meant to keep it simple with this pumpkin doughnut recipe dipped in cinnamon sugar. I could just imagine biting into the sweet cinnamon sugar coating and the recipe seemed simple enough. When I coated my warm donuts in my own cinnamon sugar mixture, though, all I got was a very brown donut (not pretty and sugary like the photo!). I accidentally inhaled as I took my first bite and choked on cinnamon-sugar dust. Bleh. It was not an enjoyable eating experience, and I was not about to share that with friends.
Hmm… let’s do a glaze instead, I thought. What’s a good autumn glaze that would work with pumpkin? Apples… no. Maple syrup…? Yes. Maple is super autumny. Let’s do it.
I looked up a maple glaze recipe, groaned inwardly as I poured 1.5 cups of maple syrup ($$$!) into the saucepan, and spent the early afternoon baking and glazing donuts. Thank goodness the kids were having one of those afternoons where they were playing nicely alone AND with each other… for the most part. Maybe they instinctively knew that when they gave Mommy space to bake, their kindness would later be rewarded *omnomnom*.
The donuts turned out pretty yummy and my friends seemed to like them! People kept asking where they were from and remarking that they looked and tasted professional :] Bonus points for being baked, not fried! I think we’ll do them again next year, so here’s the recipe for future me, and anyone else who might want to give these a go!
Brrr it’s been cold here lately, and on chilly days like this, there’s nothing better than a hot bowl of congee to warm you up! Congee, or “jook,” is the Chinese equivalent to porridge. It’s the ultimate Chinese comfort food, and every Chinese kid has grown up eating this for breakfast or sometimes lunch. My husband loves it with fish fillet, and I enjoy it with pork and uh, special Chinese egg (I’ll skip the explanation on that one for now). Yummy stuff.
I am Chinese American and I have struggled to get the right congee (or “jook”) consistency for the last 10 years. But it has eluded me time and time again. How could this super easy staple in Chinese cooking be so hard for me?
I’ve tried cooking it over the stovetop for 6-7 hours.
I’ve tried it in the slow cooker for 4-6 hours.
I’ve tried it in the Instant Pot for 2 hours (it’s supposed to be only 30 mins).
I’ve tried each of these methods MULTIPLE TIMES and have only really liked it maybe twice. But I could never replicate the consistency of the one that I liked. Was it the type of rice I used? Had I used day-old refrigerated rice? Was it the temperature that I cooked it at? Was it the liquid to rice ratio? WHAT DID I DO RIGHT AND WHY CAN’T I DO IT AGAIN?
There’s a post I have been REALLY wanting to get out to you about responding to questions from kids… because if you have a toddler like me, you’re probably fielding a lot of questions alll the time! And I recently found a new strategy I LOVE using with my little girl. But man it’s been kinda crazy times over here, and every night that I’ve meant to pound out that post, something else has come up.
So instead, today is about oatmeal. Because I’ve had this post ready to go (but kept forgetting to snap a picture for it). It’s really yummy oatmeal! My friend just happened to test the recipe this week, and she liked it, too! “So tasty, quick and easy!” It really is yummy, so I hope you try out this warm, toasty, stick to your ribs oatmeal with the cooler seasons approaching!
—–
This is my new go-to oatmeal recipe. But wait, JoEllen, you already posted a steel cut oatmeal recipe! Ah, yes. I did. And I still like that one! It’s chock full of steel cutty, apply, cinnamony raison goodness! And you can freeze it into pucks and simply reheat in the morning- what’s not to like?
Nothing, except that I have a new recipe I’ve been using and loving, and I prefer it for many reasons:
- I use quick cooking steel cut oats (which are only $7.99 for 112 ounces from Costco!). Faster and less expensive.
- I use my Instant Pot electric pressure cooker, so I really can just dump everything in and then forget about it until it’s all done.
- I use less liquid (about half the amount of my previous recipe!), which means the oatmeal is more toothsome and chewy. When I reheated frozen batches from my old recipe, it came out a bit mushier than I preferred.
- I skip the apples now, which makes it SO MUCH FASTER. I will probably add them back if Costco ships them through Google Shopping Express again, but until then, I probably will take the easy breezy route and just use raisins as my add-in. Such a time saver!
I usually double this recipe and freeze two batches the same way I described before. It works great! I also find that the bottom sort of caramelizes in the Instant Pot, which I find kind of awesome. It adds a toasty nuttiness to your oatmeal (though the pot is admittedly annoying to clean afterward)!
If you don’t have an Instant Pot, this same recipe works on the stove top (instructions below). Enjoy!
Granola: Great on yogurt, with ice cream, or on its own as a snack.
Last week, I made some. Then I put some in a bag for my friend. A couple days later, she texted me:
“Really this is the best granola I have ever had… Makes me want to become a hippie and try my hand at it”
…Need I say more?
So here is the recipe in case you turn up the Beatles and make some groovy granola :].
There’s a reason these pumpkin pancakes have 2k fans on allrecipes.com. A very good reason. Even though I just posted a recipe for whole wheat blueberry pancakes, these are actually my favorite type of pancakes to make! And really, when the leaves start turning color and there’s a chill in the air, nothing beats starting your morning with pumpkin pancakes and a foamy mug of hot cocoa (my favorite recipes here and here (salted caramel))! Not that we’re getting much of a chill in California these days, but you know. Back in the day when there were cool October mornings… *nostalgic sigh*
Don’t fret if you don’t have all the spices on hand. I rarely have allspice around, and just up my cinnamon a little and call it a day.
Two things I always crave these days: pizza and pancakes.
I am annoyed that DoorDash doesn’t deliver the pizza I like, but the pancakes? Those I can take care of myself! Last week I was all about pumpkin pancakes, and this week, I’ve moved onto blueberry pancakes. This is mostly because we ran out of canned pumpkin and I had frozen blueberries in the freezer already.
Because I like to put all my frequently-used recipes on my blog for easy access, I am now adding this one! I’ve got it memorized for the moment because I made it three days in a row, but in case I ever get past this obsession and forget the proportions, I can now find it here. They feel healthyish (whole wheat!), take 5 minutes to mix together, and taste great! Enjoy!
I always thought it took one of those super healthy, super “crunchy,” super moms to do things like make your own granola.
BUT HEY GUYS I DID IT! And it was pretty easy!! I didn’t do it because I was trying to be that mom. I did it because I had greek yogurt and honey and nothing fun to go with it, so I thought I’d try to find an easy homemade granola recipe, cuz y’all know I love a little crrrrrunch in my food. There are a lot of recipes out there, so I was just trying to find something where I already had all the ingredients in my pantry. I narrowed it down to one winner winner, and the results were delicious! It was just crunchy enough, and had a complex sweetness that wasn’t cloying or too straightforward. Yum!
I brought some to share with friends and someone immediately commented on the complexity of the sweetness. This isn’t something I usually notice when I’m noshing on granola, so I think that makes this a recipe worth keeping. I’m not honey expert, but I find that darker honeys seem to taste more complex, so I use my darkest honeys (buckwheat, and one I got from Paris) for this granola. The almond extract, vanilla extract, and coconut make a lovely combination I would have never thought to try on my own! I’ve made this recipe twice now, and love that I know exactly what’s in my crunch-a-munch. Hope you like it, too!
1/10/2018: This is the updated recipe I use now (with or without the Instant Pot)- it’s thicker and more hearty!
Now that cooler weather has hit us, I’ve been transitioning into warm, roasty toasty breakfast foods. One comfort food that I am happy to welcome back is this warm-ya-to-yer toes apple cinnamon oatmeal!
Mmmm! This is a delicious and heart-healthy way to start your mornings! I prefer steel cut oats over other types because I like the toothsome texture better, and also because they’re less processed (i.e. better for you) than other oat varieties.
Meet JoEllen
Subscribe via Email
Top Posts & Pages
Categories
