Mini Dan Ta

You must know by now that it's springtime. Okay, so it may already be borderline summertime, but I haven't written a proper spring post yet.

Springtime brings new growth in the form of plants and love. From my experience, I can agree with that. Seven years ago during Spring Break, Tim and I started dating. Two years ago, we got married in the spring. Just this month there were two engagements among my friends (Congrats Rich+Tonnie! Congrats Yedeh+Quyen!), and we've already attended three weddings this year.

Last weekend, I attended a college friend's lovely bridal shower upstate in Beacon, and thinking about bridal showers made me realize I never posted the dan ta recipe I made for Tina's bridal shower. Oh, the horror! You can imagine me hitting myself like Dobby for going against the master that is blogging. Not really, but Harry Potter's been on my mind for whatever reason.

I made mini dan ta for Tina's bridal shower because she loves circles and the color yellow. She also makes delicious dan ta, but ironically her husband does not eat eggs (along with many other things). I've eaten many, many dan ta in my life, but this was my first time making them, and I was pleased with their ease. In the future, I'd like to try using lard for the tart shell in place of butter to attain that super flaky texture. How dangerously delicious would that be?


Mini Dan Ta (Chinese Egg Tart)
adapted from various sources

Tart Shell Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup butter
1 egg, beaten
pinch of salt

Egg Custard Ingredients:
4 cups milk
5 large eggs
1/3 cup granulated sugar
pinch of salt

Directions:
1. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and salt.
2. Mix in the butter until reaching a crumbly mixture.
3. Stir in egg and mix until forming a dough.
4. Shape dough into 1/2 inch balls, flattening each ball into tart mold (or mini muffin pan). Be sure to cover the bottom and shape dough against the sides of the mold so that dough is higher than the sides.
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
6. Combine all custard ingredients into a medium saucepan over low heat.
7. Whisk custard gently until all sugar is dissolved.
8. Strain egg custard through a sieve and let cool.
9. Fill the tart shells with the egg custard to be 3/4 full.
10. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.
11. Let cool slightly and remove from molds before serving.

Azuki Shortbread

I'm so happy to be celebrating Mother's Day this year with both my mothers in Fort Wayne, IN. My in-laws live in Fort Wayne, and my own parents flew in from Texas to join us for the weekend. On Friday, the huge storm system in the Midwest challenged our intended celebration, but when two out of three flights from Chicago to Fort Wayne were canceled, we decided to rent a car and road trip the rest of our journey. Tim drove through the storm and got us in town in time for dinner on Friday night.

I am tremendously blessed to have two wonderful mothers, and this weekend was a great reminder of that fact. We cooked together, talked a lot, looked through some old photographs; it was a relaxing weekend and a good break from the busyness that is our typical life.

Both mothers love shortbread cookies, so I wanted to honor them (as well as the mothers at the Chinese Christian Church of Fort Wayne) with these azuki shortbread cookies. I was toying with the idea of making shortbread cookies filled with azuki paste, but in the end I folded the paste into the dough. At a glance, you could mistake these for chocolate chip cookies, but those chips are in fact red beans! Still sweet, but without the extra cholesterol. This recipe was adapted from a Cook's Illustrated recipe, but I used the shortcut shortbread cookie method that I've posted about before.

Happy Mother's Day! Please call home to your mothers and let them know how much you love them; I don't think our mothers will ever tire of hearing that from their children. So Mom and Mama, I love you both.


Azuki Shortbread
adapted from Cook's Illustrated and previous post

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 cup unsalted butter, cold
1 cup azuki bean paste

Directions:
1. With a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed for about 3 minutes, until the mixture is smooth.
2. Add flour, cornstarch, and salt to butter mixture, mixing only until it disappears into the dough. Don’t work the dough much once the flour is incorporated.
3. Fold in azuki paste.
3. Transfer the soft, sticky dough to a gallon-size zipper-lock plastic bag. Put the bag on a flat surface, leaving the top open, and roll the dough into a 9 x 10 1/2 inch rectangle that’s 1/4 inch thick. As you roll, turn the bag occasionally and lift the plastic from the dough so it does not cause creases. When you get the right size and thickness, seal the bag, pressing out as much air as possible, and refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours or freeze for 30 minutes. You may keep the dough in this stage up to two days.
4. Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or Silpat.
5. Put the plastic bag on a cutting board and slit it open. Turn the firm dough out onto the board (discard the bag) and, using a ruler as a guide and a sharp knife, cut the dough into 1 inch squares. Transfer the squares to the baking sheets and carefully prick each one four times with a fork, gently pushing the tines through the cookies until they hit the sheet.
6. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point. Transfer the cookies to a rack to cool. This recipe makes about 40 cookies.


Azuki (Red Bean) Paste
Ingredients:
1 cup dried azuki beans
1/3 cup sugar
3 cups water

Directions:
1. In a small bowl, cover beans with water and soak overnight.
2. Drain beans. Simmer beans and 3 cups water for an hour or until soft. Continue to simmer until the beans absorbs most of the water. Add sugar and mix beans until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat.
3. Put beans in food processor and blend until it becomes a smooth paste.
4. Add sugar and continue blending until desired sweetness and consistency.

Chocolate Babka

On Sunday morning, I tweeted that I was at Temple Beth Sholom with a chocolate babka in the oven. As Jewish as that may sound, I am not Jewish. I just happen to find myself at the temple each Sunday because the temple rents their space out to Living Faith Community Church, the church I attend.

With Mother's Day approaching, we celebrated our congregation's mothers with a tea social and jewelry making session led by the talented Juyon. Everyone contributed to a great assortment of treats and teas; I even spotted a matcha chocolate swirl cake made by Sumin. When brainstorming what to bring, I wanted something that would feel at home in the temple. One particular Seinfeld episode came into mind, and that's when I knew what I had to make: babka. Not the "lesser [cinnamon] babka", but a chocolate babka.
























This yeasty chocolaty cake is divine. With all the butter, sugar, and chocolate that goes into it, how could it not be? I made one large babka and a three mini babkas the night before, and I let them rise in the fridge overnight. The babkas baked so wonderfully in the temple's kitchen, I think they knew exactly where they were.

Now, it doesn't matter what faith you belong to or where you worship, you really have to make this babka. My mind's already brainstorming what other flavors I can marry the delicious babka with. I hope that will be the content of another delicious future post.


Chocolate Babka
Gourmet, December 2006

Dough Ingredients:
3/4 cup warm milk (105–115°F)
1/2 cup plus 2 teaspoons sugar
3 teaspoons active dry yeast (from two 1/4-oz packages)
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour plus additional for dusting
2 whole large eggs
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 sticks (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into pieces and softened

Egg Wash Ingredients:
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon heavy cream or whole milk

Chocolate Filling Ingredients:
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, well softened
8 ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (I used 1 1/2 cups mini chocolate chips)
1/4 cup sugar


Directions:
1. Stir together warm milk and 2 teaspoons sugar in bowl of mixer. Sprinkle yeast over mixture and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. (If yeast doesn't foam, discard and start over with new yeast.)
2. Add 1/2 cup flour to yeast mixture and beat at medium speed until combined. Add whole eggs, yolk, vanilla, salt, and remaining 1/2 cup sugar and beat until combined. Reduce speed to low, then mix in remaining 2 3/4 cups flour, about 1/2 cup at a time. Increase speed to medium, then beat in butter, a few pieces at a time, and continue to beat until dough is shiny and forms strands from paddle to bowl, about 4 minutes. (Dough will be very soft and sticky.)
3. Scrape dough into a lightly oiled bowl and cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled in bulk, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
4. Line each loaf pan with 2 pieces of parchment paper (1 lengthwise and 1 crosswise).
5. Punch down dough with a lightly oiled rubber spatula, then halve dough for large loaves. Separate dough into 6 pieces for mini babkas. Roll out 1 piece of dough on a well-floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into an 18- by 10-inch rectangle and arrange with a long side nearest you.
6. Beat together yolk and cream. Spread 2 1/2 tablespoons softened butter on dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border all around. Brush some of egg wash on long border nearest you.
7. Sprinkle half of chocolate evenly over buttered dough, then sprinkle with half of sugar (2 tablespoons). Starting with long side farthest from you, roll dough into a snug log, pinching firmly along egg-washed seam to seal. Bring ends of log together to form a ring, pinching to seal. Twist entire ring twice to form a double figure 8 and fit into one of lined loaf pans.
8. Make another babka with remaining dough, some of egg wash, and remaining butter and chocolate in same manner. Chill remaining egg wash,covered, to use later. Loosely cover pans with buttered plastic wrap (buttered side down) and let babkas rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until dough reaches top of pans, 1 to 2 hours. (Alternatively, let dough rise in pans in refrigerator 8 to 12 hours; bring to room temperature, 3 to 4 hours, before baking.)
9. Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.
10. Brush tops of dough with remaining egg wash. Bake until tops are deep golden brown and bottoms sound hollow when tapped (when loaves are removed from pans), about 40 minutes, 25 minutes for mini babkas. Transfer loaves to a rack and cool to room temperature.