Halaya Ube Ice Cream

It's hard to imagine a simple ice cream recipe that comes out better than this one- it's creamy, soft and delicately flavoured, contains no eggs and takes hardly any time to prepare. It's even beautifully lavender-coloured. It goes perfectly with the mango ice cream I made earlier, but I imagine that it would also pair well with a bright green pandan ice cream or a red bean ice cream. Frozen, grated ube isn't hard to find in Asian supermarket's freezer aisles, though if I could find them fresh I'd like to try that at least once.

The halaya ube jam on its own.

The halaya ube jam is quite thin- but this makes it ideal for the ice cream batter, and easy to spread on bread or pancakes. It's incredibly delicious and worth a try if you haven't had ube before- it's nothing like the common orange sweet potatoes, with a delicate aromatic flavour that's hard to describe. Try it!

With the mango-cardamom ice cream- complimentary colours!

Halaya Ube Ice Cream
From Adora's Box

For the Halaya Ube:
1 410 g. Can evaporated milk
3/4 C. Sugar
2 Pandan leaves (optional) or 1 Tsp. Vanilla extract
1 Lb. Grated ube/purple sweet potatoes (one frozen package)
1 TBSP Butter
Red and blue food colouring to enhance purple-ness (if desired!)

Cook together for 5 minutes, or until thickened. Let cool. 

(You can halve this recipe to just make the ice cream, or use the rest as a spread, in buns, et cetera.)

For the Ice Cream:

1/2 Above halaya ube recipe
1 C. Sweetened condensed milk, or 1 can
300 ml Heavy/whipping cream
1 C. Milk, preferably whole
Pinch of salt

Mix all of the ingredients thoroughly and refrigerate at least 6 hours. Churn in an ice cream machine according to manufacturer's instructions.

Flaxseed and Honey Buns

If you like buns with a sweet, nutty flavour and a soft, dense texture, look no further. These bad boys are made with as much flaxseed as I could pack in for some delicious omega-3s as well as taste, and have the mild sweetness of honey. They're also made with a large portion of whole wheat flour for a relatively wholesome breakfast.

 

You can use more or less ground flaxseed, to taste. You can also try to add some different seeds on top, or some walnut pieces to the dough. In any case, these are the best toasted with butter and honey.

Flaxseed and Honey Buns
Adapted from Moje Wypieki

2 1/4 C. Bread flour
1 1/4 C. Whole wheat flour
3 TBSP Honey
3/4 C. Milk, warm
21 g. Fresh yeast, or 7 g. Active dry yeast
1 Egg
1/2 C. Water
1 1/2 TBSP Nut oil or melted butter
1/2-1 C. Ground flaxseed
Whole flaxseed, to sprinkle on

Mix yeast, milk and honey. Set aside for 15 minutes.

Whisk together the flours, salt and ground flaxseed. Add the yeast mixture, egg, water and oil and knead until smooth. Let rise covered 1 1/2 hours, or until doubled.

Separate into about 16 pieces and shape into balls. sprinkle with flaxseed and let rise covered for 30 minutes.

Bake at 180℃ for 20 minutes, or until golden.

Nutella-Cream Cheese Rolls with Walnuts (Tangzhong dough)

Here's a belated Valentine's day post- simple, rich and soft buns shaped like hearts. Not that they need to be- but they're cute! To shape them, cut a rolled-up log of the dough and filling (like a jelly roll) into 10 segments. Cut each segment most of the way through in the middle, then turn it on its side. Imagine moving the hour hand from the minute hand on a clock so it's set to 2 o' clock to get the angle right. Then, press down with your palm.

The tangzhong makes these rolls stay soft inside for a long time, and they're not too sweet despite the nutella and cream cheese filling. The walnuts add a nice toasty touch, but obviously hazelnuts are also good.

Nutella-Cream Cheese Rolls with Walnuts 

For Tangzhong:
15 g. Flour
72 g. Water
Mix well and cook on medium heat until 65℃, or until consistency is pudding-like. Let cool to room temperature before using.

For Dough:
Adapted from Kochtopf
All of tangzhong
90 g. Milk, lukewarm
30 g. Fresh yeast, or 3 Tsp. Active dry yeast
1 Egg
150 g. Bread flour
150 g. All purpose or type 550 flour
60 g. Sugar
1 packet vanilla sugar
2 TBSP Powdered whole fat milk
1 Tsp. Salt
80 g. Butter, softened

For Filling:
125 ml Nutella (half a small jar)
50 g. Cream cheese
1 TBSP Powder sugar
1 TBSP Hazelnut oil
1/2 C. Walnut pieces

Prepare the filling by mixing the nutella, cream cheese, sugar and oil until smooth, then stirring in the walnuts. Set aside for later.

For the buns:

Mix the flours, salt, sugars, and powdered milk with a whisk.

Dissolve the yeast in the milk and add the egg. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ones to form a smooth dough, adding more milk or flour if necessary to get it soft and pliable. Add the butter in pieces until well incorporated. Let rise, covered, for 1 - 1 1/2 hours, or until doubled.

Punch down dough and form a large rectangle. Spread the filling and roll up, then cut into 10 pieces. In the middle of each piece, cut a slit about 2/3 of the way in, then pull apart the two sides about 45 degrees while laying it rolled-side-up. Press down to form a heart shape. Let the buns, once shaped, rise for about and hour.

Bake at 180℃ for 18-20 minutes.

Rolled Sugar Cookies

These cookies are great for holidays for many reasons. For one, they're easy to make the dough for in little time using a food processor or stand mixer. You can also make the dough far ahead of time and freeze it for later, thawing it in the fridge overnight. It's easy to roll out and cut shapes that hold after baking, and they taste good with all manner of decorations- I used both chocolate and sanding sugar with icing (those got eaten before pictures were taken). Be careful not to overbake these, as they're done before they go brown, and need to cool on the sheet to set.

Rolled Sugar Cookies 
From chefkoch.de

500 g. Flour
250 g. Butter
250 g. Sugar
1 Packet (2 1/4 Tsp.) Baking powder
1 Egg
1 Packet vanilla sugar, or 1 TBSP homemade
Dash of lemon extract, optional

Mix dry ingredients. In a food processor or stand mixer with a paddle attachment, add the remaining ingredients and mix until homogenous. Wrap dough and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Roll out dough between sheets of baking parchment and cut into desired shapes. Bake for about 15 minutes at 180℃.

Nusskipferl I and II

Nusskipferl I, in the middle, and II around the perimeter.

These crescent-shaped nut cookies are probably the most essential Christmas cookie of all- and for good reason. Not only are they pretty with their curvy shape and coat of powder sugar, but they're buttery and nutty with a soft, crumbly texture. I tried two different recipes as an experiment, and I honestly can't choose a favourite. The recipe without eggs is a little more like a classic shortbread and is a bit simpler, but the one with yolks is easier to work with and holds its shape better when baked. You can use almonds or hazelnuts, but in my family they'd be unthinkable without at least some of the latter. I made one batch with Bourbon-vanilla sugar, and one with a hint of cinnamon- both flavours are highly complementary to the hazelnut. Try one, or the other, or both, Christmas or not.

Nusskipferl I
From chefkoch.de

560 g. Flour
160 g. Sugar
400 g. Butter, cold
200 g. Ground hazelnuts
1 Packet of vanilla sugar, or 1 TBSP homemade

about 1/4 C. Powdered sugar and one additional packet/tablespoon of vanilla sugar

Preheat oven to 180℃.

Cut the butter into small cubes. In a food processor, or a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, mix all of the ingredients until homogeneous. Wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Cut the dough into small pieces. For each piece, roll with the palm of your hand to form a log, then curve it to form a crescent shape. Press down lightly. Repeat until all the dough is used.

On a baking sheet with parchment, bake the crescents for about 12-15 minutes depending on size, or until the bottoms are just beginning to brown.

Allow the cookies to cool and set. Mix the powdered sugar and remaining vanilla sugar and use a sifter to dust the cookies.

Nusskipferl II
Adapted from Dr.Oetker: Backen Macht Freude

250 g. Flour
1/4 Tsp. Baking powder
Pinch of salt
125 g. Sugar
1 Packet vanilla sugar, or 1 TBSP homemade
3 Egg yolks
200 g. Cold butter
150 g. Ground hazelnuts, almonds, or a mix
2 Tsp. Cinnamon

1/4 C. Powder sugar and 1 Tsp. Cinnamon, to dust

Mix the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. In a food processor or stand mixer with a paddle attachment, add the ground nuts and sugar. Add the butter in small pieces and mix until crumbly. Add the egg yolks.

Once a homogenous dough forms, wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 180℃. Shape the dough into small crescents and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the bottoms are lightly brown. Let cool before sprinkling with the powder sugar and remaining cinnamon through a sieve.

Mango-Cardamom Ice Cream (Eggless)

One of my favourite ice cream recipes is this very simple, eggless recipe that uses both delicious ataulfo mangoes (the king of mangoes!) and my favourite spice, cardamom. The flavours complement each other tremendously, and the texture is smooth and creamy even without eggs thanks to the sweetened condensed milk. 

I like to use canned mango purée because good fresh ones are few and far between, but if you can find some, just put them through a food processor until you get the 2 cups of purée. Another side benefit of this recipe is that because there aren't any eggs, there's no need to strain the mixture- it doesn't curdle at all.

The cardamom isn't necessary, but it adds a little bit more of a special touch, and makes it a very fitting dessert after any Indian meal. No embellishments are necessary, but if you want to make it a little fancier, try adding slivered almonds, crushed pistachios, flaked coconut or fresh mango pieces as a garnish. 

Mango-Cardamom Ice Cream
Adapted from Gayathri's Cooking Spot

2 C. Ataulfo mango purée
1 C. + 2 TBSP Milk
1 C. Whipping cream
1 Small can (about 1 cup) sweetened condensed milk
8 Cardamom pods
Pinch of salt
1 Tsp. Cornstarch

In a large bowl, mix the cream and mango purée. Set aside.

In a large saucepan, bring 1 C. of the milk, sweetened condensed milk, salt and cardamom to a boil. Remove from heat and cover. Allow to infuse for 30 minutes.

Mix the 2 TBSP milk and cornstarch. Stir into the mixture and bring back to a boil. Cook on medium heat until thickened.

Let cool for about 5 minutes while stirring, then pour into the bowl with the cream and mango and mix well. Refrigerate for at least 12 hours.

Freeze according to ice cream maker instructions.