Pear Custard Pie

This pie has been our favorite dessert in our home for over 20-some years.  It has become my signature pie and most requested dessert during the holidays.  The light and not-too-sweet pie is best to consume while it is still warm.

Ingredients:

1   9"Deep dish frozen pie crust
1  can of 15 oz. LITE halves pears in light syrup
2   Eggs
1/3  cup sugar
3/4  cup Heavy whipping Cream
1  TBSP milk
1  TBSP vanilla extract
1  TBSP Flour


Steps:

Preheat oven at 350 degrees F.

1. Mix eggs with sugar until creamy.
2. Add in cream, milk, and extract, lightly mix well.
3. Add flour into the cream mixture and stir lightly a couple times with a fork until smooth. Do not over mix at this point.
4. Drain and discard juice from canned pears.  Cut pears into slices.
5. Use a fork to pierce some holes thru the pie crust.
6. Arrange sliced pears evenly on the pie crust and pour in the cream mixture
7. Bake at 350 F for 50 - 60 minutes.
8. Insert a wooden stick into a cooked pie. Pie is cooked when the pulled-out-stick is clear.
9.  Let the pie cool down for 20 minutes before slicing to get a clean slice. 

Tips:

1. Do not over mix flour as it acts as a thickening agent. Over mixing will cause the cream mixture to become liquidy and fail to solidify into the custard.

2.  Bake immediately after pears and cream mixture is in the pie crust. A soggy pie crust bottom will result if you delay baking it right away.

3. A pint of heavy cream can make two pies.

4.  It is easier to transport and avoid spills by placing the pie on a baking sheet or cooling rack to bake in the oven.

Ways To Eat Persimmons (1) - Persimmon Muffins

We have two different types of persimmon trees in our backyard.  The heart-shaped Hachiya are not to be eaten before softening or ripening because they will have a bitter taste.  The Fuyu looks like a tomato and can be consumed when still very firm.  The persimmons from our backyard are very big and sweet. Every year we would gave most of them to our neighbors and friends.



We have been eating persimmons as fresh fruits the past couple of months.  I was trying to find new ways to consume them before they all ripen.  I went online and found out they can be used to make salad, sauce, chutney, smoothies, cookies and breads.  I found this bread recipe online and decided to adapt it to make some muffins. I was really surprised the muffins were so moist and tasty with the combination of walnuts and coconut added.  This is definitely a nice recipe and will be kept in my recipe book for sure.


Recipe adapted from Allrecipes

Persimmon Muffins

(Makes 18 medium size)

Ingredients


2 eggs

1 1/2 cups organic flour

3/4 cup  organic white sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon pumpkin spices

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

3 Hachiya (soft) persimmon

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup shredded coconut

Directions

1.Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

2.In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, pumpkin spices, salt, nuts, and coconut and set aside.

3.Use a mixer and beat the eggs first, then add sugar, and oil.

4. Peel persimmons and make a cup of pulp.  Add to the sugar mixture.

5. Fold in flour mixture. Pour batter into prepared muffins tin.

6..Bake for 35 to 40 minutes.

Note:

You can also pour into a bread pan and bake at 325degree F for 55 minutes.

Quick Peach and Pear Pie

I have been craving for dessert for sometime.  I had forgotten that I had frozen pie crust leftover from when I made the chicken pot pie.  I decided to try the recipe I saw from another blog.   I revised the recipe to fit the ingredients which I had on hand.  The prep time only took 5 minutes.   Within 25 minutes or so, the sweet aroma of warm pastries permeated the house.   The hot, scrumptious pie was so delicious that we finished it in less than 20 minutes.   The next time I bake this I will use pears as the filling, for I love eating pears.   If you like pie that isn't too sweet, this is a fantastic recipe to use if you want a quick dessert.

Recipe adapted from Wandering Chopsticks's Pluot apple galette.

Ingredients:

1 Peach, peeled, cored and sliced
1 Pear, peeled, cored and thin sliced
1 tbsp butter (optional)
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
1 frozen pie crust, defrosted

Direction:

1.  Slice the fruits thinly, mix sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg together.
2.  Lay defrosted pie crust on a pie plate or greased cookie sheet.
3.  Scatter the fruits into the pie crust.
4.  Sprinkle butter on top of mixed ingredients.
4.  Fold up the sides of pie crust.
5.  Bake at 400 degrees F for 40 minutes.

Sweet Yam Soup with Tapioca

This is an easy Chinese soup dessert that does not take a long time to cook.  Whenever I crave dessert, I would throw in a yam with a couple slices of ginger, cook it for about 20 minutes and the dessert is done.  It's also a quick and last minute dessert to make if we have friends visiting at home.  This time I made it with the fragrant leaves commonly found in Asia and some tapioca for additional texture.

Ingredients:

2 Pandan leaves, screw pine
1 big Yam, peel and cut to pieces
2 slices ginger
1/3 Cup Sago (Tapioca Pearls) - see instruction below
Rock Sugar

Directions:

1. Place water and pandan leaves in a pot and bring to boil.

2. Reduce heat, add yam and simmer for about 20 minutes (or till yam is soft).  Add rock sugar to taste.
3. Add prepared tapioca (read below for instruction).

To prepare tapioca:

1. Soak tapioca pearls in cold water for 20 minutes.  Drain.
2. Boil a small pot of water.  Turn off heat and add the drained tapioca, stirring constantly until the pearls are translucent with a very small white center.
3. Drain the tapioca in a fine mesh sieve and run cold water through the sieve to wash the starchy tapioca pearls. Drain and add to the yam soup.

To Die For Blueberries Muffin

It is blueberries season and I bought some from Costco last week.  I asked my daughter to make some muffins to consume some of  the blueberries.  She made these delicious blueberries muffins yesterday.  They are really moist and literally to die for when they're fresh out of the oven.  She used this recipe to make some muffins when we celebrated the Lunar New Year.  This recipe was adapted from Allrecipes.com and definitely will be saved for future use.  

To Die For Blueberry Muffins

Makes 12 regular-sized muffins

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 cup fresh blueberries

Streusel topping:*

1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon


Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.

2. In a big bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. 

3. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup.

4.  Mix this with the flour mixture and fold in blueberries.  Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with streusel crumb topping mixture.

3.To Make streusel crumb topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon.  Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking. *

4.Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

Note:

*She used regular-sized muffin tin and cut the streusel topping in half to cover one batch of muffins.

Sweet Mung Bean Soup（Dao Shuang)绿豆爽

I was very happy to see this long forgotten dessert when my friend came over to visit with this on her hand.  This is a popular Chinese dessert that sells by the local street vendors in Asia.  When I was a little kid, my dad used to take me to eat this on weekends.   I have not had this for over 30 years.  I was so surprised to hear that this is so easy to make,

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

1 cup green mung bean, soaked in cold water for an hour, drained and rinsed
2 pandan leaves, rinsed(optional)
1/3 cup sugar
2 cups water
1 you tiao 油條(fried dough fritters)
Thickener:
1/4 cup sweet potatoes flour, 1/4 cup water

Directions:

1. Soak the mung bean in cold water for an hour. Drain and rinsed.
2. Steam the mung bean for 20 minutes or until they are cooked.
3. Add pandan leaves, water and sugar in a pot. Bring to a boil or until sugar is dissolved.
4. Add steamed mung bean and mix well in low heat.
5. Slowly stir in the thickener until mixture is thicken.
6. Serve warm with sliced you tiao.

Note:

I did not have pandan leaves at home, but it still tasted good to me not having it.  The you tiao is a must have when serving this dessert.

Japanese Pumpkin's Tapioca Soup南瓜西米露

Japanese pumpkin is also called Kabocha squash.  It has a dark green skin, and the color of the inside is orange.  The skin is really hard, so cook lightly in microwave will help cutting it easier.

It  is believed to have an effect of lowering the cholesterol.  It has the sweetness texture like sweet potatoes but with a slight melon-cucumber flavor.  I often sauteed it with garlic and black beans.  On Sunday, our friends came to visit and we had barbeque at home.  She taught me how to make this dessert right after dinner.  It's very simple and quick to make this dessert.

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Serve 6 people

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Tapioca
1 Japanese pumpkin
6 Cups water
1 can coconut milk
Rock Sugar

Directions:

1. Soak tapioca in cold water.
2. Place pumpkin into microwave and cook for 3 minutes.
3. Peel and cut pumpkin to pieces.
4. Turn heat high, add water and bring it to a boil.
5. Add rock sugar until dissolve.  .
6. Add pumpkin and cook until it is soft.  Turn to low heat and mash the pumpkin to smaller pieces
7. Taste and add sugar to prefer sweetness.
8. Drain tapioca and stir into the pot, stir constantly until tapioca tunrs clear.
9. Pour in coconut milk and bring it to a boil then turn off heat.  Serve it while it's hot.

Pandan Chiffon Cake

This is the first time I used the pandan leaves to bake a cake.  I followed the recipe from this blog, Icook4Fun and made this pandan chiffon cake and it was just so moist and delicious.  The pandan leaves are commonly used in Asia.  It is mainly used for desserts.  The leaves created a fresh aroma and its juice can also be used as food coloring.  This cake is very moist and has just right amount of sweetness.

Recipe adapted from Icook4Fun.  Thanks Gertrude for letting me share the recipe here.

Ingredient A :

3/4 cup sugar
6 large egg whites
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Ingredient B :

1/2 cup sugar
1 3/4 cups self-raising flour, sifted
6 large egg yolks
1 cup fresh coconut milk
10 pandan leaves
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Note:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degree F. Get ready a 9” tube pan. Do not grease the pan.
2. Clean and cut the pandan leaves to about 1” length and blend them in the food processor with the coconut milk. Strain the juice and measure out the 1 cup for use.
3. Whisk ingredients A in an electric mixer until light and stiff.
4. In a mixing bowl, mix egg yolks and sugar until light and creamy. Add in corn oil and pandan coconut milk. Mix well. Stir in sifted flour and fold in carefully and gently to mix.
5. Pour egg yolk mixture lightly into the egg white mixture. Mix evenly with a spatula. Pour the batter into tube pan and bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes or until cake is well browned and firm to touch.
6. Remove cake from oven. Invert pan immediately. Leave to cool, and then remove cake from pan with the help of a thin-bladed knife.

Note:

I followed the recipe exactly and I will definitely try her recipe on the Mandarin Orange Chiffon Cake since I like citrus cakes a lot.