COME HERE, MY LITTLE DUMPLING!

psst!

Hey you...Dumpling Lover...

I know you love all manner of dumplings! Gyoza, apple dumplings, potstickers, perogies, har gow...if it can be wrapped into a tasty mouthful-sized portion, you're into it, right?

You troll the Asian market freezer section marvelling at the myriad of fillings of bagged commercially made dumplings like those really tasty potstickers from Hon's. Which, by the way are right next to the bags of frozen tiny Man Tou (steamed white buns) so that for breakfast or snacks, you can whip out a few from the freezer to steam (in-only-3-minutes-on-high-heat-can-you-believe-it!) for the kids 'cause they so like to dip the little buns in condensed milk!

Unlike my maternal grandmother who deftly made her own doughs from scratch and jerry-rigged two ping-pong paddles with a hinge at the end to squish dough balls into perfect little circles of dumpling wrappers for her homemade dim sum, I tend to buy my wrappers at the local Asian market.

Sure, I've made wrappers from scratch. But I'm no dumpling martyr. The fun part is inventing the different fillings to be wrapped. You can be so creative with the dumpling innards!

Dumpling wrappers from scratch definitely are yummier and have a lovely chewy texture just like homemade noodles. However, I'm willing to compromise that because I don't have any time with my kids and my job to do the Martha thing and make the wrappers too.

So don't read on if you're looking for a wrapping recipe. This post is all about the joy of making dumplings. It's economical, it's yummy and it's healthy too! You can control what goes into the wrappers (think hidden veggies for the kiddies). Since my time is money around here (and my sanity too) I buy fresh dumpling wrappers when I decide to make dumplings. I know how to make wrappers from scratch but I'll leave that for the summertime when I'm on my holiday. Maybe.

Instant dumpling gratification is what I'm all about today. These are the closest thing to scratch and you won't believe how amazing they are compared to the commercially frozen ones.

When I make potstickers, I don't bother with making just one batch. I usually make it in bulk so that I can freeze the raw dumplings for future meals. Generally, a package of wrappers will make enough dumplings for a filling that consists of 1 lb of ground pork. So, if you want to make just a few I suppose you could just halve the recipe.

Chinese Potstickers, the Cakebrained Way

• 2 packages of commercially made frozen dumpling wrappers (gyoza or potsticker style, which are round and do not have egg as an ingredient) [mine were 300 gr packages; so 600 grams total of wrappers]

Filling:

• 2 lbs of ground pork
• 1 package of silken tofu (optional)
• 1 large bunch of chives (or any other veg like baby bok choy or napa cabbage etc.), finely chopped
• 4 large cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 inch piece of fresh ginger, grated
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp white pepper
• 2 tsp sugar
• 2 tsp Shao-Hsing wine or dry sherry
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 2 T soy sauce
• 1 T oyster sauce
• 2 T cornstarch

1. Saute the chives, garlic and ginger in a pan until softened and aromatic. Allow to cool.
2. Combine the pork, silken tofu, the cooled sauted chives mixture and the rest of the filling ingredients. Mix well. You can even mix all of these ingredients in your stand mixer with the paddle attachment.
3. Have a sheet pan ready with a tea towel to cover the finished dumplings. Get a small bowl of water for sealing the dumpling skins and use a small spatula or spoon for scooping the filling into the formed skins.
4. Keep the dumpling wrappers covered with plastic wrap or a towel while you form and fill the wrappers. Follow the slide show tutorial for pleating techniques. If you don't want to bother with authenticity, then simply fold the dumpling in a half moon shape without pleating and be done with it. Who's going to sue you for that? Life's too short.
5. Wrapped dumplings should be frozen uncovered until solid, which will only take a few hours in the freezer. Then, remove from the sheet pan and store in ziploc freezer bags until needed.
6. To cook the dumplings, follow the tutorial in the slideshow. Use a nonstick pan with a lid and a little veg oil. After frying until golden brown, add 1/4 cup of water and cover until most of the liquid has evaporated. Uncover and serve with dipping sauce (or continue frying the other sides if, like me, you like all your sides to be crispy!)

Makes approximately 80 plump, overstuffed dumplings

Potsticker Dipping Sauce

• 1 T dark soy sauce
• 1 T soy sauce
• 2 T Chinese white rice vinegar
• 1 T Hot chili oil (optional)
• 1 T finely sliced scallion
• 1 T grated fresh ginger
• 1/4 cup chicken stock

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Serve with potstickers. Store remaining sauce covered in refrigerator

THE ZEN OF CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE MAKING

Dark and White Chocolate Chip Cookie Nirvana

Achieving a state of higher consciousness through a chocolate chip cookie?

Wouldn't it be grand indeed!

cross-section of a cookie: see the dark and white chocolate strata? pretty neat, eh?

Jacques Torres' Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, from his gorgeous book A Year in Chocolate: 80 recipes for Holidays and Special Occasions, is such a vehicle to deliver you to cookie nirvana.

You will be enlightened by the delicately crispy exterior that yields to a slightly chewy interior. Unrefrigerated dough baked straight from my mixer yielded a flatter, more uniform cookie. After refrigeration for a few hours, the cookies were more chunky-looking but just as tasty.

The chocolate chip cookies are meant to be gargantuan so as to achieve the proper texture. I made the 3 inch cookie ball doughs and was rewarded with baked cookies that were about 5 inches in diameter. The cookie below was from my first unrefrigerated batch, made straight from the mixer and the above cookies were made from 3-inch balls of refrigerated dough.

The first batch of unrefrigerated dough yielded a baked cookie exterior that was deceptively smooth. It didn't even look like it had much chocolate in it. However, when you break one open, you can see the chocolate strata therein. I used real chocolate bars and not chips (which I think is so important for this cookie): Lindt Dark 85%, and Callebaut white chocolate chunks. The chocolate bars were just broken along their molded lines and since they were kind of big chunks, I found it easier to sandwich them between the raw cookie dough. I didn't want to break up the chocolate too much. I was rewarded by the lovely layers created by this technique.

How could I improve on Mr. Chocolate's fantastic chocolate chip cookie recipe? Well, my adaptation of Torres' recipe was to add white chocolate chunks, which I believe only improved the original recipe. The white chocolate added an almost sweet-nutty, creamy-vanilla sort of flavour and texture that contrasted well with the bitterness of the dark chocolate strata.

I think I overdid it with the amount of chocolate overall (yikes, did I just say that?) because when I adapted the recipe by adding white chocolate, I didn't really decrease the original amount called for in the recipe. There was barely enough cookie dough holding the chocolate together!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Nirvana

makes 3 dozen ridiculously large cookies

adapted from Jacques Torres' A Year in Chocolate

4 3/4 cups all-purpose flour [I used organic, unbleached]

2 t salt

1 1/2 t baking powder

1 1/2 t baking soda

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar

1 1/4 cups plus 2 1/2 T granulated sugar [I used organic evaporated cane sugar]

3 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten

2 t pure vanilla extract

1 2/3 pounds bittersweet chocolate, chopped into bite-sized pieces [I used Lindt Dark(85%) chocolate bars and broke along the lines]

1 cup white chocolate pieces [I used Callebaut]

• Preheat the oven to 325°F. Have ready 2 nonstick cookie sheets, or line 2 regular cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats. Set aside.
• In a bowl, stir together the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, beat the butter on medium speed for about 5 minutes, or until very light and fluffy. Add the brown and granulated sugars and beat until well blended. Add the eggs and beat just until incorporated. Beat in the vanilla. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture a little at a time, beating after each addition until incorporated. When all of the flour mixture has been incorporated, remove the bowl from the mixer and, using a rubber spatula, fold in the chocolate.
• To shape the cookies, using a tablespoon, scoop out a heaping spoonful of the dough and, using the palms of your hands, form it into a 3-inch ball. Place the balls on the prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 1 inch apart.
• Bake for about 15 minutes, or until lightly browned around the edges. Remove from the oven, transfer the cookies to wire racks, and let cool completely.
• Store, in an airtight container, for up to 5 days.
• [cakebrained note: I keep prepared dough in their 3-inch ball shapes, refrigerated in a ziploc bag for a few days and bake as I need them. I only ever bake 6 cookies on a sheet at one time. This way you have a constant supply of fresh cookies. They're so good hot from the oven! Alternately, you can freeze the cookie balls too and keep them longer, but you may have to add a few minutes to the baking time]

MANGO PEACH MOUSSE CAKE

mango peach mousse cakeThe warm weather is finally here in Vancouver and I've been hankering for a light mousse cake. The trouble with making cakes in general for me...and I've oft lamented this fact: most recipes make cakes too huge for our average family to finish.

With a five year old and a 2 year old who love cake but have limited capacity for it, and a hubby who doesn't enjoy more than a sliver of cake (under duress), I am hard-pressed to finish a cake within 3 days. Besides, there's only so much running I can do to work off the cake calories!

The first time I made this mousse cake, I used two thin cake layers and made the mousse with strictly mango puree. The mousse was yummy but I found the cake-to-mousse ratio not to my liking. I wanted more mousse. So, I took off one of the cake layers and increased the mousse. It's perfect now and the only thing I want to tinker with is the cake. It's a French sponge and can withstand a light syrup soak or a layer of jam or mango puree on it, but I think I'll try a thin layer of Asian chiffon and see how that works. Asian bakeries don't use genoise but incorporate chiffon-type layers in their mousse cakes. The texture is fine and the chiffon doesn't compete with the light mousse.

I'll be making mini cakes from now on. I have a cake ring that's 7" in diameter for the mousse cakes. My 6" cake rounds for baking the sponge cakes are perfect (I bought these from Wilton's at the Michaels store---40% coupon yay!)

I split the cakes in half and freeze what I don't use by wrapping tightly in plastic wrap and then in a ziploc bag. The halved 6-inch layer of sponge is placed in the middle of the 7" cake ring or springform pan. If you use a cake ring you should wrap the bottom in plastic wrap and place it on a sheet pan in case of leakage. By pouring the mousse mixture over the cake layer and lightly tapping out all the air bubbles, you'll get a smooth-looking cake...no air pockets. I don't really care to decorate these little cakes because at home we just chow down anyhow. If I were to take one to a party I'd decorate it with fresh fruit slices brushed with apricot jam glaze and piped sweetened whipped cream.

good to the last bite: here you can see I spread a layer of fruit puree between the cake and the mousse to inject some intense fruit flavour and moistness

The great thing about this refrigerated mousse cake is its lightness. You can eat a whole lot! However, since it only makes a 7 inch cake, it's not so dangerous. Portion control is built right in! The cake slices are smaller than normal and you still feel satisfied.

The mousse recipe is straight-forward and the fruit can be interchanged with other fruits like raspberries, blueberries or whatever is in season. You just have to taste the puree before incorporating the whipped cream to adjust for sweetness.

MINI MANGO PEACH MOUSSE CAKE

(makes one 7" round cake)

1 6-inch round vanilla sponge cake, split [you'll use just half of the cake; wrap and freeze remaining cake for later use]

Puree mixture:

• 180 g mango peach puree [I used my Vitamix to puree a mixture of mango and peaches]
• 45 g granulated sugar

Gelatine mixture:

• 1 1/2 T gelatine powder
• 75 g water

Whipped cream mixture:

• 240 g heavy whipping cream

1. In a saucepan, heat the fruit puree with the sugar until it boils and the sugar is dissolved. Stir well. Allow to cool to room temperature. Reserve 3 T puree in a small bowl.
2. Whip the cream until soft peaks form.
3. Soak the gelatine in the water and microwave to dissolve. Watch carefully and stir often. The gelatine should be fully dissolved. Combine with the puree and mix until well blended.
4. Combine the puree and the whipped cream mixtures.
5. Place the split cake layer at the bottom of the 7" cake ring (which is wrapped in plastic;sitting on a sheet pan) or springform pan. Centre it, ensuring there is an equal amount of space between the cake and the ring. Spread the reserved fruit puree on the cake layer. Then pour the mousse mixture over it and level the surface. Lightly tap the cake ring so that air bubbles do not form.
6. Refrigerate the cake until firm (approximately 2 hours)
7. Heat a towel and wrap around the outside of the cake ring. Remove the ring carefully and decorate with fresh fruit slices (brushed with apricot glaze) and piped sweetened whipped cream.