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

CHOCOLATE ROSE TUTORIAL

so you want to learn how to make a chocolate rose?

Hey hey! I know you're back here for that Chocolate Rose Tutorial...

So you wanna impress your friends and neighbours? Make a cake/cupcake and top it off with a few of these chocolate beauties and they'll be oohing and aahing. In fact, you'll be oohing and aahing. It's so easy!

Are you excited yet?

Have you been playing with your big wad of chocolate plastic since my Mini Chocolate Pumpkin Tutorial?

People have been asking me if they could use white chocolate. Of course you can use white chocolate! You can also tint it with food colouring if you wish too! Do whatever your little hearts desire! The fun part is fooling around with chocolate, in my opinion. You could make so many little figures with it! Just imagine the possibilities!

It wasn't easy taking pictures while working with the Chocolate Plastic. I had a bit of chocolate gunk on my hands and lighting wasn't so good. I had to take the shot balancing the camera in my right hand while holding the rose in my left most of the time. I was too lazy to whip out my cumbersome tripod. I was doubly lazy when I thought of having to move all my gear down to my cheapie cardboard box food porn "studio" downstairs. I ended up photographing everything at the kitchen table.

Remember to have fun with this Chocolate Plastic. I love the stuff. My daughter pops those little chocolate pumpkins in her mouth and exclaims how yummy they are. Fondant is pretty, but Chocolate Plastic is tastier!

There were a lot of pictures in this step-by-step tutorial. There was also a lot of me fiddling with the chocolate plastic, putting it down, picking up the camera, swearing 'cause of the crappy lighting and taking the shot anyway. I'm sure you'll understand...food is my passion and teaching is my occupation. Photography is neither. I know why they call it "F-stop" now. There was a lot of me stopping to mutter the F word.

CAKEBRAIN'S CHOCOLATE ROSE TUTORIAL:

Please check out my Mini Chocolate Pumpkin Tutorial post for the recipe & storage instructions for the Chocolate Plastic.

Roll a handful of chocolate plastic into a ball. I have a plastic-lined board from my Wilton decorating kit that I like to use that creates a smooth surface. You can also use a wooden or marble board. I'm using my fondant rolling pin. In this case, a smooth surface isn't important because you'll be reworking it with your fingers anyway. Roll the chocolate plastic to about 1/8" thickness.

Using a small circle cutter about 1 inch in diameter, cut out 15 circles.

I used my a cutter from my Wilton flower decorating kit for cutting out the circle shapes.
Take a small chunk of the remnants left from cutting the circles and create a small ball about the size of a marble.

Roll the remnants into a smooth ball. If you roll too much, you might have a sticky situation. I just apply light pressure and work quickly. Apparently, I heard from Mark at No Special Effects that he didn't have much luck working with White Chocolate Plastic because of his hot and humid climate. That's too bad. I live in a temperate climate and had no problems with the chocolate plastic melting. Yay for living in Vancouver!


Create a teardrop shape from the ball. Just bring one end to a point. This part of the rose will be your base on which to build the petals. Don't make your base too big or you'll be in trouble later.

Take each circle and, using primarily your thumbs and index fingers, flatten it into petal shapes so that the edges are thinner at the edges. I just rotate the petal while flattening the edges. Don't overwork it and don't try to make it look perfectly circular. Learn to love little imperfections.

1st row of petals (3 petals required): taking one of the prepared petals, wrap the teardrop base so that the tip is mostly hidden. You should be only be able to see a bit of the tip of the teardrop when looking from the top of the rose. Take another petal and overlap the first wrapped petal. This picture shows what you'll have with 2 petals wrapped around the base. Take the third petal and again, overlap the last petal you applied to the base.

2nd row of petals (5 petals required): the key to the second row of petals is that these should stand straight up whereas the first row were wrapped towards the centre. Wrap each of the 5 petals one by one; overlapping the preceding one. Continue in this manner until all 5 are attached. Use your fingers or a cotton swab to adjust the position of the petals, if you wish. This picture shows the first petal applied for the second row.

This picture shows the second row of upright petals.


3rd row of petals (7 petals required): the third row of petals should be curved slightly. Attach each petal as in the previous steps, using your fingers to gently curve the edges outwards. Form each petal one at a time or you'll have the petals sticking to each other in a mangled mess.

This picture shows the rose with the third row of petals almost finished (with 3 curved petals applied). Adjust the third row of petals to look as natural as possible.

The finished chocolate rose will be unique. It's almost impossible to make all your roses look the same. This is a good thing though because it'll look more natural. You can make some roses look like buds, and have others fully blossomed, like the one above. Make your chocolate rose leaves from the leftover chocolate plastic.
Have fun! Tell me how it goes!

PLAYING WITH CHOCOLATE: MINI CHOCOLATE PUMPKIN TUTORIAL

Here, by popular demand, is my tutorial on making Mini Chocolate Pumpkins.

Since it's a long-weekend here in Canada, I have an itty bitty amount of time between stacks of marking to give you a quick run-down on how to work "Chocolate Plastic" into cute Mini Pumpkins.

Remember those Chocolate Roses I made? (Check back later because I have to post that tutorial next!) I still have plenty of leftover chocolate plastic from making the roses. I kept it tightly wrapped in plastic wrap and then put all of that in an airtight plastic container. All you have to do is take a small piece of the chocolate plastic and warm it up in your hands or beat it with a rolling pin! What fun! Yes, the beating part.

The recipe is simple: Melt 6 oz bittersweet chocolate and combine it with 1/3 cup
corn syrup. Mix thoroughly until combined. Spread the mixture thinly and evenly on a plastic wrap-lined sheet pan for a few hours (covered with more plastic wrap). Knead the chocolate plastic to soften and keep it wrapped in plastic wrap when you're not using it.

Pinch a small ball of chocolate plastic in your fingers and create a ball by rolling it between your palms. You remember...kind of like when you were a kid playing with Playdough!

I like a squat shape for my mini pumpkins, so I kind of squash the ball between my palms. Then I use a toothpick (or a skewer, or my favourite tool--my metal "cake tester") and trace lines up and down...and all around the pumpkin to--well, make it look like a pumpkin!

Take a tiny ball of chocolate plastic and roll it into a tiny log to make the stem. Cut off a stem-sized piece and use a toothpick to position it into the pumpkin.
I like to make a hole down the top of my pumpkin with a toothpick first. I drill down to about the centre of the pumpkin.It's a delicate matter. You can use tweezers I suppose, but I find a toothpick works fine because the little point helps guide the stem end into the hole.

I use the toothpick tip to squish and press down the stem to attach it firmly to the pumpkin top and then proceed to make a leaf.

Create a tiny ball of chocolate plastic into a leaf shape. I know that pumpkin leaves don't look like this, but I'm working in such a tiny scale that I don't really care. This simple leaf design is so much easier to handle. If you're so inclined, go ahead and make the pumpkin leaves look botanically correct. I find that trying to make little curly tendrils doesn't work well as the plastic chocolate doesn't hold its shape so well when it's rolled so thinly.
You can use the Mini Chocolate Pumpkins to adorn Mini Pumpkin Cheesecake Brulees or this Pumpkin-Pie Chiffon Cake oozing with Dulce de Leche. They're great on cupcakes too. If you want, you can use white chocolate and tint the finished shapes with food colouring but I'm not as crazy about the white chocolate flavour as real dark chocolate :)

Yes, I'll post my original Pumpin-Pie Chiffon Cake Recipe next (I was a busy little baking-bee this weekend). It's yummerific. I'm on a roll because I winged the recipe with all the extra pumpkin puree I had on hand from making those Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes. I still have some puree left and am thinking of adding it to a certain creamy dessert I've made in the past...

Enjoy!