a journal of finding good food and restaurants i love to eat in Taipei when I'm not in Los Angeles. looking forward to hearing from other food lovers about where your favorite places to eat are, so i can try them next!
Okay how I did I already eat three of these? They are so good out of oven. They were fluffy, moist and the top was caramelized with the sugary edges. I ended up using the kitchens aid to mash the bananas first, then add the rest of the top half of ingredients, then the dry with the flour last.
I might also add a bit of lemon juice and salt to the cream cheese next time, or less flour. Also, would this recipe work with chocolate chips?!
When I have brown bananas in the house, I get the urge to make banana bread!! (Or freeze to make smoothies but I prefer banana bread)
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). You can use a loaf pan but I used muffin pans- it makes 12 large muffins. You can also wait to preheat after you’ve made the banana bread part, before you make the cream cheese.
2. Make banana bread: mash bananas in mixer or with fork. Combine melted butter, brown sugar, egg, sour cream, white sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl; mix until smooth.
3. Whisk in baking soda, baking powder, salt and flour until just combined.
4. Make cream cheese filling: mix together cream cheese, egg, white sugar, and flour in a medium bowl until smooth.
5. Pour 1/2 of the banana batter into each muffin liner. Then layer with spoonful of cream cheese filling. Pour remaining banana batter on top. (Don’t worry if you have cream cheese peeking out. I had almost 1 with mostly cream cheese since I put too much banana batter in the first half.)
6. Bake in the preheated oven about 30 minutes for muffins, 50 minutes for loaf, until top is firm and bounces back and toothpick in center is clean. Enjoy while warm!
These biscuits were light and fluffy, yet had a nice crunchy top. Make sure to fold the dough over itself for the nice flaky layers. So good out of the oven, with a bit of honey and butter. Finished this batch the same day, next time I would double it for a dozen. This recipe is a keeper.
Original recipe: uses unsalted butter and ¾cupwhole milk or buttermilk
Instructions
For best results, chill your butter in the freezer for 10-20 minutes before beginning this recipe. It's ideal that the butter is very cold for light, flaky, buttery biscuits. (I had butter already in the freezer so I took it out while I was prepping the dry ingredients)
Preheat oven to 220C/ 425F and prep a cookie sheet
Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a large bowl and mix well.
Cut or grate butter with box grater and mix it into your flour mixture. Can also use fingers to press butter into flour. Combine until it looks like coarse crumbs.
Add yogurt, milk, and stir until just combined (don't over-work the dough).
Transfer your biscuit dough to a well-floured surface and use your hands to gently work the dough together. If the dough is too sticky, add flour until it is manageable.
Once the dough comes together, fold in half over itself and use your hands to gently flatten layers together. Rotate the dough 90 degrees and fold in half again, repeating this step 5-6 times but taking care to not overwork the dough.
Use your hands (do not use a rolling pin) to flatten the dough to 1" thick. You can use a round biscuit cutter or I just shaped the dough into a rectangle and cut into 6-8 pieces for a more rustic look
Place less than ½" apart on baking sheet.
Bake on 220C/ 425F for 12 minutes or until tops are beginning to just turn lightly golden brown.
If desired, brush with melted salted butter immediately after removing from oven. Serve warm and enjoy.
Last night, I was craving cake. And I had all the ingredients in the fridge, mostly. So it was the perfect time to try to make a lemon loaf for the first time. This recipe from Broma Bakery was very easy to prepare and make, and I skipped the glaze because 1- the cake was sweet enough on it's own for me and 2- I didn't have any powdered sugar on hand.
This recipe was SO GOOD. We ate almost the entire loaf the first day, though it came out flatter than I expected (maybe because it needed that extra 1/4 cup of flour and 1/4 cup of sugar. lol). (Can you see how moist it is?)
EASY LEMON CAKE LOAF
INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup granulated sugar*
zest of 2 lemons (about 2 Tablespoons)
1/2cup unsalted butter, melted
2 eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons lemon juice (about half a lemon)
1/4cup greek yogurt or sour cream **
1/4cup milk
1 1/3cups all purpose flour ***
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Preheat the oven to 175 C / 350°F
2. In a large bowl, combine the granulated sugar and lemon zest. Use your fingers to rub the sugar and the lemon zest together.
3. Add the melted butter to the sugar and mix well. Add the vanilla extract and each egg, mixing well.
4. Add the greek yogurt, milk and lemon juice. Mix to combine. It will look curdled and lumpy, and that's normal.
5. Add the all purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix until the batter is smooth. Do not over mix.
6. Pour the batter into lined loaf pan and bake at 175 C/ 350°F for 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until a chopstick inserted into the middle comes out mostly clean. Cool slightly before cutting, but it's quite wonderful warm as well.
RECIPE NOTES AND CHANGES
* (originally 1 cup)
** (originally sour cream)
*** (I misread the recipe and used 1 1/3 cup of flour instead of 1 2/3 cup but the cake came out wonderfully moist and rich but not too dense. will try it next time with the right amount of flour to compare.)
I’m always trying to find the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe (and oatmeal chocolate chip) that’s not a fussy recipe and is tasty. I scribble recipes into a notebook and try mark notes afterwards what I thought of the result. This one had a bunch of hearts from last time and it may be my cutest batch yet, so it’s a keeper. The cookie didn’t seem to flatten much with softened (not melted) butter during baking, but were easy to take off the pan after short cooling. The taste is soft but still slightly chewy and crispy on the edges.
EASIEST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE RECIPE
INGREDIENTS
1/2cupbutter
1/2cupgranulated sugar
1/4cupbrown sugarpacked
2teaspoonsvanilla extract
1large egg
1 ¾cupsall-purpose flour
1/2teaspoonbaking soda
1/2teaspoonkosher salt
1cupsemisweet chocolate chips
My Optional add in - 1/4 cup oatmeal for 1/4 of the flour
1. Preheat the oven to 190 C / 350 F
2. Microwave the butter for about 40 seconds. Butter should be completely melted but shouldn't be hot. (I had some butter that left at room temperature for another batch, so I used that today)
3. Mix butter with the sugars until well-combined.
4. Stir in vanilla and egg until incorporated.
5. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt. (Spoon in flour rather than packing it in)
6. Mix dough until just combined. Dough should be soft and a little sticky but not overly sticky. (Do not over mix)
7. Stir in chocolate chips. (And oatmeal. Add chocolate chips on top of scooped dough if needed)
8. Bake for 7-10 minutes, or until cookies are golden brown on edges and bottom. 9. Sprinkle sea salt or salt flakes on top.
Another day, another banana bread recipe. Today’s hit recipewas from Sally’s baking addiction -My Favorite Banana Bread with 4.8 stars and 1200 plus votes. I picked it because I wanted something more moist and had some yogurt on hand (and a lot of browned bananas) and the recipe was a hit! It’s moist, not too dense, nice crust and I added chocolate chips and (and nuts to half of it) and used a square cake pan instead of a loaf pan which reduces the baking time by 20-30 min.
Ingredients
2 cupsall-purpose flour (leveled)
1 teaspoonbaking soda
1/4 teaspoonsalt
1/2 teaspoonground cinnamon
1/2 cup (or 1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/3 cupplain yogurt or sour cream, room temperature
2 cups
mashed bananas (about 4 large ripe bananas)
1 teaspoonpure vanilla extract
3/4 cup chocolate chips (I used a mix of semi sweet and milk) and added some almonds and walnuts
1. Preheat oven to 350F or 180C
2. Best butter and sugar on high until creamy, about 2 minutes. Then mix in eggs, one at time on medium speed; then yogurt, bananas, vanilla until mixed
3. On low, mix in dry ingredients. Sally’s recipe whisks dry beforehand but I just added one by one with flour last so it’s just one bowl. Don’t overmix
4. Scrape sides down and mix in chocolate chips and/or nuts with spatula. I mix in 2 kinds of chocolate chips and then add nuts only to half of the side so there’s options.
5. Bake for 60-65 minutes in loaf pan or 30-40 minutes in a square cake pan until top is browned and center is set. If you bake in loaf pan, cover the top halfway so it doesn’t burn.
6. I can never wait for it to cool one hour. I cut it right away and try it and there’s nothing like eating it hot out of the oven! 😆 Store in fridge after 2 days, if it’s not all eaten by then.
Lemon kale bean soup just sounded so good and perfect for winter, and of course, halfbakedharvest takes the best photos, so I had to try this recipe. (I wish my kitchen had the window light that hers does, but sadly no windows in my kitchen).
LEMON KALE ORZO SOUP
▢ 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
▢ 1 shallot, chopped (x)
▢ 4-6 cloves garlic, smashed
▢ red pepper flakes (x)
▢ 2 tablespoons salted butter
▢ 2 cups dry orzo pasta (i used fagoli, 1 cup next time, soaks too much liquid)
▢ 6 cups low sodium chicken or vegetable broth
▢ 1 can white beans
▢ kosher salt and black pepper
▢ 1/2 bunch kale, finely shredded
▢ 1/2 cup basil pesto (I added less)
▢ 1/2 cup whole milk (I added a little heavy cream)
I love waffles, but I had never made mochi waffles before. New year, new you, right?
I had some sweet rice flour in the pantry from a visit last year to Siang Khau Lu, so I decided to give this recipe a try (it had the most reviews on google with 442). The result was a chewy, soft waffle that was like some of the round mochi breads or cheese breads I'd pick up at local bakeries. I wished it was slightly crispier on the edges, like this mochi waffle street vendor that I found in Taipei years ago before it was a thing. I should mention I didn't have any white sugar on hand, so I used brown sugar instead of white sugar, which did give it a caramel color and flavor, but did not make it crispy. I'll keep tinkering with this recipe and see if I can adjust it to be crispier.
EASY MOCHI WAFFLES
Ingredients (makes 4-6 waffles)
3/4 cups milk
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cupmochiko flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1. Preheat waffle iron.
2. In a medium mixing bowl add 3/4 cup milk, 1 egg, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract. Whisk until well combined.
3. Add 1 1/4 cup sweet glutinous rice flour, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Whisk until just combined.
4. Add 1/4 to 1/2 a cup of the batter to the waffle iron. This will puff up a lot, so I recommend filling it less than half full to prevent overflow and make sure the edges get griddled. Cook for 3-5 minutes or until golden brown.
