There's a lack of motivation to complete my writing in my drafts lately. Looking at the way I start, I guess this year will be a slow blogging year for me.
CNY is so early this year. There is only 2 weeks left and I have not planned baking any cookies yet (except for my cashew nut cookies, which is a must every year).
I have made something last year that is very suitable for cny baking. So shall share it with all of you first. I saw this from Qi Qi in the house, and made this immediately because of the same reason... the leftover lotus paste from mooncake making. It is still stuffed in the freezer and I am ordered to clear the space for CNY. :)
After baking it, it was like discovering another treasure out of the so many recipes in the blogosphere. I describe them on my FB as 小巧可爱，一口一口，停不了口的一口酥, which I loosely translate into English as One Bite Crisp. You can just pop one into your mouth and I guarantee you that you won't stop at one!
It was a little sweet with lotus paste, but I think it will taste great with pineapple paste filling for CNY. :)
One Bite Crisp 一口酥
Ingredients (I made 60 pieces)
Pastry:
100g unsalted butter
55g icing sugar
40g egg
145g cake flour
40g ground almond
Filling:
350g lotus paste (or any paste you like)
Topping:
1 egg yolk, for glazing
some black sesame (I use white sesame)
Method
1. Whisk butter and icing sugar until pale and fluffy.
2. Gradually add in egg, whisk until combined.
3. Mix sifted cake flour with ground almond. Add into egg mixture and combine to form dough.
4. Wrap the dough in cling wrap and chill for 1 hour.
5. Divide the filling into 5 portions, 70g each. Roll each into a long strip of 20-25cm.
6. Divide the pastry dough (in step 4) into 5 portions, ~70g each. Roll each dough into a long strip of 20-25cm, flatten, put the filling in the centre. Wrap and seal well.
7. Roll the wrapped dough slightly to make sure the long strip is of even thickness.
8. Cut the long strip evenly into 2cm portions. (Mine smaller, I cut each into 12 pieces)
9. Brush egg yolk on top 2 times and sprinkle some sesame seeds.
10. Bake in preheated oven at 180 deg C for 10-15 minutes till nice golden brown.
Recipe from: 美味糕点新主张 and Qi Qi in the house