Healthy Brownies

Hey you guys! Today's recipe are healthy brownies. I'm into healthy things, and this was my first experiment of making healthy desserts. As it turns out, these brownies turned out pretty good. These were initially for the Healthcare Club (Health Club for short) that I created at my school so that students will learn healthier habits. I'm still quite please with my first attempt at making these brownies and these brownies still look pretty darn delicious. They don't look healthy, huh? Well, anyway, enough about me ranting. Here's the recipe for the brownies. Enjoy. :)


Ingredients

• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 cup UNBLEACHED all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup olive (or canola) oil (can increase to 1 cup, if you want moist brownies. 1/2 cup was dry)
• 1 1/2 cup water
• 1 tsp vanilla extract. 

Directions: 

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
2. In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flours, cocoa, sugar, baking powder and salt. 
3. Mix in the water and olive oil. 
4. Mix in the eggs and vanilla extract. 
5. The batter should be a bit more liquidy than other brownie batter. Mines turned out a bit dry with 1/2 cup oil, so, I suggest adding 1/4 cup more. 
6. Grease a baking pan and evenly pour the batter in. 
7. Bake for about 30 minutes
8. Use the toothpick test to make sure the brownies are cooked all the way. Let it cool, and cut it into 30 pieces. Enjoy. 

Dorayaki どら焼き

Hey everyone. How are you guys doing? Well, I've been busy with school and it's been crazy. Everyone knows how school is. So, anyway, I've been posting a lot of Japanese recipes lately. It's kind of strange, but still, it's Asian. Anyways, I decided to make dorayaki, because I love red bean paste and cake. It's my absolute bean paste ever. I do like lotus seed paste the best, but it isn't a bean paste. Anyways, red beans are awesome. So, compared to the store bought ones, mines taste a bit different and the texture is different. They're both still quite delicious. Here's a recipe to the dorayaki I made. You can adjust it to suit your tastes. Some of you guys might say it's a bit too sweet, but I like things really sweet. So, here's the recipe. Enjoy.

Ingredients

• 1 cup flour
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup water 
• 1/2  tsp baking powder
• red bean paste

Directions:

1. In a bowl, mix the eggs and the sugar together. 
2. Mix in the honey. 
3. Then, add the flour and baking powder and mix. Then, slowly add in the water. The batter might be a little thick. You can add a little bit more water if you need to.
4. In a non stick pan/skillet, pour about 1/4 cup of the mixture (or a little less) onto the pan over medium heat, and let it cook until it starts to bubble. Then, flip the cake until it's cooked. Take it off the pan, and cook the rest of the batter this way. 
5. To make the dorayaki, you will need two cakes to make one dorayaki. Take one cake, spread red bean paste over it, and then cover it with another piece of cake. There you go. Enjoy. :) 

Sushi

Hey you guys. It's been a while since I posted a recipe. I've been so busy with school. I have so many AP classes, clubs, and I have journalism too. I created the Healthcare Club at my school just this year. I'm so excited for the club. So, anyways, I decided to make some sushi. Sushi is so yummy. I haven't made it in such a long time that I decided to make some. I know, I already posted a sushi recipe before, but this recipe is a bit different. Also, we didn't have any avocados, but that's okay. I'll make sure to have them next time I make sushi. This sushi I made has imitation crab meat and spam. I can't wait to add different things to the sushi. I really like adding fried shrimp or chicken. It'd be cool to add tofu too. There are so many possibilities of food combinations. So, yeah, anyways, here's a recipe to my sushi. You can add other things too, if you want. Enjoy.

Ingredients


Sushi Rice:

• 4 cups of sushi rice
• water (to cook the rice in)
• 2/3 cup rice vinegar
• 6 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tsp salt
• 2 tablespoon Mirin

Fillings (which are optional)

• spam
• imitation crab meat
• avocado
• tofu
• egg
• shrimp

And of course, you need seaweed. 

Directions

1. Put the rice in a rice cooker pot. Rinse it 2 to 3 times.  Fill it up with water until it reaches around the 4 1/2 to 5 cup mark. Cook the rice. 
2. While the rice is cooking, make the sauce for the rice. Mix together the vinegar, sugar, salt and mirin. 
3. Once the rice is done cooking, scoop the rice out into a huge bowl, and gradually mix in the vinegar mixture. 
4. Place a seaweed sheet onto a bamboo seaweed roller thing ( I don't know what it's called). Spread sushi rice onto it. Then, add the fillings along the edge.. Roll it over once so that the filling is covered. Then, continue rolling until the whole roll is rolled up. Cut into small pieces. You can basically put any type of filling you want in the sushi. Enjoy. :)
   
   
   Here's the link to my other sushi recipe. It has pictures. Well, I hope you guys enjoy the sushi. 
   
   
   
   

AnPan Man

 Hey everyone. I just recently went to a Japanese Bakery for the first time, and, the breads were delicious! I never head about it until my friend mentioned it one day, and I knew I had to go out and try it. The first picture is of the AnPan Man from the bakery. They make the red bean kind and the chocolate kind. I decided to choose the chocolate kind (with chocolate cream too), because I like chocolate. It's pretty delicious and looks pretty cool. The next time I go, however, I'll try the actual red bean kind. So, I attempted to make the AnPan Man. I'm halfway successful. I realized that I didn't have anything to use to make the eyes and the mouth. I was able to make the cheeks and the nose, which I'm happy about. Maybe next time, I'll stick two chocolate chips for the eyes, or I can make icing and add food coloring. It's just an idea. Also at the bakery, they had Kobe Cream Delight, Double Chocolate Bread, Chocolate Hat, and the regular red bean buns. They also had Strawberry with Cream and blueberries and a lot of other things, but they cost a lot more. My favorites will have to be the AnPan Man, Double Chocolate and the Kobe Cream Delight. They are delicious. Anyways, the AnPan Man recipe. It's why I'm making this post. Well, here's the recipe. Enjoy. :)
What You need: 

• The recipe for the bread dough
• can of red beans
• something you want to make the eyes and mouth (icing, beans, candy, chocolate chips, melted chocolate, etc.)

Dough (for those who are lazy):

• 3 3/4 cup bread flour
• 3/4  cup sugar
• 1/2  cup warm milk
• 1/2  cup warm water
• 2 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 1 egg, whisked
• 1/4  cup oil

Directions: 

1. In a bowl pour in the warm water and warm milk. Mix in the sugar. 
2. Add in the active dry yeast and let it poof for about 10 minutes.
3. Mix in the egg and oil. 
4. Slowly add in the flour, cup by cup,  until a dough has formed. Knead the dough. It should be elastic, but it shouldn't stick to the bowl. 
5. Cover it with plastic, and let it rise for about an hour in a warm place. 
6. Push the dough down to let out the air.
7. Divide the dough into 15 pieces, and let them rise for an hour.
8.  Flatten the dough, add the red bean, and then enclose the red bean with the dough. Roll it into a ball.  Make sure you have extra dough. With the extra dough, you make 3 little circles for reach bun. 2 for the cheeks, one for the nose.
9. Let it rise for another hour.
10. Add in the eyes, if you are using chocolate chips or beans, or whatever you are using. If it's icing or melted chocolate, you add it after the bread is done baking. Brush the top with egg yolk if desired and bake for 13 to 15 minutes. Enjoy.

Mooncake 月饼

Hello Everyone! 中秋快乐! Today is the Chinese Mid Autumn Festival, or the Mooncake Festival, 中秋节. I've decided to post today, because of the special holiday. Every year for the Mid Autumn Festival, we all eat mooncake. It's a tradition. Mooncakes are delicious, but are a rare treat unless you make them yourselves. Chinese stores usually only sell them during the Mid Autumn Festival season, making them a rare treat. However, there are bakeries that probably sell them year round. There are so many different types of mooncakes, with different fillings, and different types of crust, including the regular baked crust or the snow skin mooncake. I personally like the regular baked crust better. I really like the lotus seed filling and red bean filling, without the yolk. Others like the yolk, but I don't. There are also other fillings like green tea, winter melon, and nuts, but I don't care for those. My favorites are lotus seed  (or white lotus seed) and red bean. So, here's a recipe for mooncakes. Enjoy. :) 


Ingredients: 

Dough: 

A

• 4 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2    cup powdered milk
• 1/2    tablespoon baking powder   

B

• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 4 eggs
• 3/4  cup melted butter 

Filling

• 4 cups Lotus Seed Paste or Red Bean Paste 
• 20 salted egg yolks (optional, if you like egg yolks in mooncakes. I don't). 

Directions: 

1. If you are using egg yolks, preheat the oven to 350 F and bake them for 10 minutes. Divide the red bean into 20 portions, and add 1 yolk to 1 portion of red bean. Roll it into a ball until the red bean covers the yolk. 
2. In a bowl, sift together A. 
3. In another bowl, mix together the B. Slowly add the A to the B and lightly mix. Divide the dough into 20 pieces. 
4. Preheat the oven to 400 F. 
5. Roll a piece of dough into a ball and flatten it to form a 4 in circle. Put one piece of the filling in the center and wrap the dough to enclose the filling. Pinch the edges to seal them and roll it into a ball. If you have a mooncake mold, place it in and then gently tap it out. If not, then, you can use a cookie cutter to make the mooncake into a circle or any shape. 
6. Do this with the rest of the dough and filling, Then, if you want to, brush the top of the mooncakes with egg yolk. 
7. Bake them for 30 minutes. 
8. Take them out and enjoy.

Crepes

Hello Everyone! How are you guys doing today? I'm doing fine, thank you very much. I'm already getting a lot of homework from school. That's what I get for taking 4 AP classes. Anyways, I decided to post a crepes recipe. I spent a lot of time trying to find a Japanese crepe recipe, but I failed at that, so I decided on making regular crepes. The recipes I founded for the Japanese crepes seemed very similar to the regular ones, so I decided just to make regular ones. They taste pretty good, and I love it with ice cream, bananas, and chocolate (nutella). You can add other things, if you want too. It's just my preference. I also like it with red bean ice cream. Red bean ice cream is awesome. Anyways, here's the recipe to the crepes. I hope you guys enjoy these.

Ingredients

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cup  milk
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp corn oil

Directions 
1. In a bowl, mix together all the ingredients.
2. Heat up a non stick pan and butter it.
3. Take 1/4 cup of the mixture pour it on the pan and swirl it. Once it's nearly cooked on one side. flip it over and cook for another 20 to 30 seconds.
4. Take it off the pan, and let it cool, if you are using ice cream filling.
5. You can add any fillings you want now. After you add the fillings, you can wrap it any way you want.

                     

Baked Pita Chips

Hello, everyone. Today is Labor Day. Happy Labor Day everyone. I hope everyone is enjoying their day. So, I said that I would post a recipe for pita chips. Well, here they are. This recipe is for baked pita chips, and it's really quite simple, really. It's much healthier than the packaged kinds, which usually have a lot of preservatives to keep them "fresh". In the picture, you can see that I ate these with hummus. Hummus is really yummy. My favorite is Athenos Roasted Garlic Hummus. There are other good flavors too, but I usually get this kind. Anyways, for the pita chips, you can buy pita bread from the store, or you can make pita bread with my recipe, here. It's really simple to make. You can also add other seasonings to make whatever kind of flavored pita chips you like. This is the kind I like. Enjoy. :)

Ingredients

• pita bread
• garlic salt (or regular salt)
• cooking spray (olive oil or butter flavored)

Directions: 

1. Preheat the oven (or toaster oven) to 400 F. 
2. Lightly spray the pita bread with the cooking spray. 
3. Sprinkle the salt on both sides of the bread. Cut into 8 triangles (or whatever shape chips you want).
4. Bake for 6 to 12 minutes, depending on the size of the chips. 10 minutes should be sufficient. 
5. Take out and enjoy. You can eat it plain, or with hummus. :)