Delicious Coma: Sweets Archives

May 21, 2007

a black sesame day, indeed

Last Thursday was my friend Carol's birthday. In addition to being a fellow appreciator of Japanese candy, Carol is a big fan of kurogoma (black sesame), so I decided to surprise her with some kurogoma cupcakes. Luckily, it's easy to make almost anything kurogoma-flavored by adding a few tablespoons of black neri-goma -- a tar-like paste of pure toasted black sesame seeds -- and some roughly-crushed whole black sesame seeds.

It's not every day you get to make something that looks like it belongs in a cement mixer....

I was pondering a kurogoma buttercream frosting, but went with a matcha cream cheese frosting instead. It was a good choice: the green tea flavor contrasted with the kurogoma and the tang of the cream cheese tempered the cupcake sweetness. Also, the green made them kind of half-leprechaun, just like Carol. These were yummy! Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera to the birthday dinner, so I don't have any pictures of Carol enjoying the cupcakes, but maybe she'll leave a comment testifying to how they made all her kurogoma dreams come true...

Kurogoma Cupcakes

Makes about 24 cupcakes

If you don't have access to neri-goma, omit the paste, increase the amount of whole sesame seeds to half a cup and use a food processor to grind them to the consistency of wet sand. It won't quite be the same, but it will still be kurogoma-licious.

1 1/2 sticks (170 g) salted butter
1 1/2 cups (340 g) sugar
3 tablespoons black sesame paste
1/4 cup (35 g) black sesame seeds
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 1/2 cups (310 g) flour, sifted
1 1/4 cups milk

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Toast the sesame seeds in a dry pan over medium heat, stirring or tossing them constantly, until they are fragrant, about two minutes. (If you buy already-toasted sesame seeds, iri-goma, you can skip the previous step.) Crush the seeds with a suribachi or spice grinder until they are the texture of damp sand and set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl. Add the sesame paste and seeds, eggs and vanilla and beat until combined. Gradually beat in the dry ingredients, then the milk, and beat for a couple minutes.

Fill cupcake tin and bake for 16-18 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

Matcha-Cream Cheese Frosting

Makes enough for about 24 cupcakes

1 8-oz (200 g) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 stick (55 g) butter, softened
2 tablespoons whipping cream
1 cup (125 g) sifted confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons matcha

Beat together the cream cheese, butter and whipping cream until creamy. Add the sugar and matcha and beat until glossy and smooth.

Link | Comment (16) | Categories: Ingredients | Recipes | Sweets

April 26, 2007

ikasumi soft-serve is the new black

Sea salt and citrus soft-serve ice cream.

You can find soft-serve ice cream everywhere in Japan. It is based on this simple equation: where you find tourists, you find vendors selling soft-serve. Where you find anything at all worth seeing, you find tourists. Every place in Japan boasts something worth seeing. Therefore, soft-serve is everywhere. This is a good thing.

Vanilla, strawberry and matcha are the standards, but the best part about soft-serve in Japan is its use as a vehicle for all manner of seasonal, regional and barely-edible ingredients, meaning that any decent tourist attraction will have its own special flavor. I like to try them all. I look it less as gluttony and more as a hobby, like collecting stamps. Except with nothing to show for it but some torn cone wrappers and a small ice cream belly.

Squid ink soft-serve ice cream.

Many soft-serve flavors I've tried have been both strange and delicious, like houji-cha (roasted green tea), shionami (sea salt), umeboshi, and tomato. Others have been less weird but just as good, like kuri (chestnut), iyokan (a kind of citrus fruit) and sakura (cherry blossom). Only one flavor was bad enough to force me to abandon the cone: ikasumi (squid ink), purchased at a stall near the famous Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo. I remember it tasted almost like chocolate, but there was something wrong beneath the almost-chocolate, a shadowy squid taste lurking below the surface which drove me to abandon ship.

What makes all these flavors so easy to eat is the fact that it is soft-serve (sofuto kuriimu in Japanese) rather than regular ice cream. If I had to maneuver around chunks of frozen tomato, I don't think I'd be as happy as I am eating a cone of something smooth and yielding that tastes faintly of tomatoes. (If you are wondering, this particular soft-serve reminds me of a fresh mozzarella and tomato salad, but sweet, of course.) The cutting-edge of food is all about changing the textures of familiar foods into something more unexpected, but foams and flavored papers are nothing next to Japan's national program of soft-serving everything under the Rising Sun. I'll toast my cone of kinako to that.

March 30, 2007

kuro-mitsu

Kuro means black and mitsu means honey, so for the longest time I thought kuro-mitsu was just a dark type of honey, perhaps buckwheat, and I wondered why I could never find it in the honey section of the supermarket. In actuality, kuro-mitsu is a syrup made from black sugar (kuro-zato), the famously healthy dark brown sugar produced in Okinawa, and sold next to the other sugars on the shelves. While mass-produced brown sugar in the U.S. is often made by simply coating refined white sugar with molasses, black sugar is unrefined, resulting in chunky, sticky granules with a pronounced molasses flavor.

Kuro-mitsu is thinner and milder than molasses, making it an ideal substitute for honey, whether spread on toast, drizzled over yogurt or stirred into tea. Kuro-zato is known for its throat-soothing qualities, so I use it in my favorite sick-day tea: I boil sliced ginger in water for five minutes, let it sit for ten minutes, reheat, and pour the resulting liquid over the juice of one lemon and one tablespoon of kuro-mitsu. It's spicy, sweet and citrusy and always makes me feel better.

Kuro-mitsu over yogurt.

But there's no need to stay virtuous in your kuro-mitsu use. The dish that inspired me to buy my own bottle of kuro-mitsu, in fact, was a strange and wonderful dessert named, alluringly, Honeycube, the special of the day at a cafe in Nagoya. (Just try saying it: Honeycube. Don't you want to eat it even though you have no idea what it is?) Honeycube turned out to be a plate piled high with the most unlikely ingredients: cubes of just-toasted white bread scattered over a heaping portion of vanilla soft-serve ice cream, then topped with a drizzle of kuro-mitsu and a dusting of cinnamon. Oh, and there was a scoop of fresh whipped cream in there somewhere, too. Surprisingly, Honeycube as a dessert lived up to Honeycube as a name. The cinnamon-scented crunch of the warm toasted bread with the cool softness of the ice cream was something like eating an ice-cream-stuffed churro and led to the realization that kuro-mitsu and ice cream go together like peanut butter and chocolate. Or strawberries and cream. Or kinako and fresh mochi. Whatever -- something synergistically delicious anyway.

This realization is why, while out for post-dinner drinks at an izakaya last week, when I heard the waiter say the only dessert they had was ice cream topped with kuro-mitsu and kinako, my reaction was one of such deep and sudden enthusiasm the man scooted back about a foot in surprise and four of my friends ordered the same, having no idea what they were getting, but unable to resist my breathless excitement. It was like a Japanese hot fudge sundae. I ate every bite.

Link | Comment (2) | Categories: Ingredients | Sweets

January 3, 2007

happy new year!

If you aren't in the habit of reading the weekly Japanese candy reviews on my other blog, you should check out the special New Year's entry, which includes a wagashi wallpaper you can download.

Link | Comment (0) | Categories: Sweets

December 8, 2006

persimmon tart

This is the week you have to stop denying autumn is over. Wrapped up in a new wool coat, you ride your bike in the frosty morning, snow-dusted mountains on the horizon, burrowing your chin deeper in your scarf. The leaves have fallen. Your scary fume-spewing kerosene heater is out.

But it's okay. This autumn was a good one. Especially that persimmon tart.

Kaki flood the markets in autumn, especially in this part of Japan, which is famous for its persimmons. (It's even rumored that perhaps the name of my town, Ogaki, once meant "big persimmon." Which I think is far cooler than the present meaning: "big gate." Boooring.) The kaki sold raw is almost exclusively amagaki, the rounder, more flat fruit which are eaten while they are still firm; in the U.S., they are often labeled as "Fuyu persimmons." The longer, more pointed kaki, shibugaki -- which are terribly astringent until they soften completely -- are typically dried and sold later in winter, especially around New Year's. The best part about this kaki glut is that it makes it possible to buy one persimmon for less than 100 yen (about $1), something you can't say for apples. Thus, when the tart-baking urge struck, it was kaki I reached for.

A simple tart, it is nothing more than thinly-sliced fruit, sugar, butter and a sprinkling of spices in a basic crust. When baked, the persimmon pieces soften and meld together to become, after cooling, something gently chewy, kind of like a Japanese yōkan or a very soft Fruit Roll-Up. With some vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, it will be so good you might, like me, be forced to make another one a few days later. Or, if the amagaki season has already ended, daydream about it through at least a couple cold bicycle commutes.

Kaki no taruto (Persimmon tart)

Makes 6-8 servings

For dough:
1 stick (115 g) cold unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups (155 g) all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 to 4 tablespoons ice water

For filling:
3 persimmons, peeled, seeded and sliced 1/8-inch thick
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/2 stick (55 g) cold butter, sliced thin

Vanilla ice cream or sweetened whipped cream

Make dough: Blend together flour, butter, and salt in a bowl with your fingertips until most of mixture resembles coarse meal, with the biggest lumps about pea-sized. Drizzle 2 tablespoons ice water evenly over and gently stir with a fork until incorporated.

When you squeeze a small handful of the dough, it should hold together without crumbling. If it doesn't, add more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring after each addition until incorporated (keep testing). Don't overwork the mixture or add too much water, or your dough will be tough.

Form dough: Divide the dough into 4 portions. With heel of your hand, smear each portion once across your work surface in a forward motion to help distribute fat. Gather dough together with a pastry scraper and form it into a disk. Chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 1 hour.

When you are ready to assemble the tart, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). On a lightly floured surface roll out dough into a 13-inch round and fit it into a 10-inch tart tin, trimming the excess. Arrange the persimmon slices decoratively on the pastry shell, overlapping them. Mix the nutmeg and ginger with the sugar and sprinkle on top of the fruit. Top with butter slices and bake for 45 minutes or until the crust is golden and the persimmon slices are lightly browned. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.

Link | Comment (2) | Categories: Autumn | Recipes | Sweets

October 18, 2006

kinako frosting

So in my continued quest to flavor every possible dessert in my life with kinako, I came up with a kinako frosting this weekend to top these banana cupcakes. The kinako seems to temper the tanginess of the cream cheese a bit, which makes for a more mellow, not-overly sweet frosting. I'm thinking of using it to top some kabocha cupcakes in the near future.

Kinako-Cream Cheese Frosting

Makes enough for approximately 1 dozen cupcakes

3 oz/85 g cream cheese, at room temperature
3 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
2 tablespoons whipping cream
1/3 cup confectioners sugar
1/4 cup kinako, plus 1 tablespoon for sprinkling
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat together the cream cheese, butter and whipping cream until smooth. Add the confectioners sugar, kinako and vanilla and beat on low speed until combined, then beat on high speed until fluffy.

After spreading or piping the frosting, put 1 tablespoon kinako in a sieve and sprinkle over your cake or cupcakes.

July 24, 2006

melon sorbet

Melons are big in Japan. Not really size-wise, more in popularity. And price. And sometimes weirdness. Take, for example, this:

It's not just on The Simpsons....

While (sadly) not usually square, melons in Japan are reliably delicious, sweet and juicy and full of flavor, which is more than can be said for 90% of the melons sold in the U.S. So even though I wasn't sure I wanted to adulterate my beautiful, perfect, expensive melon, I decided to go for it and came up with this sorbet, using this recipe and this overview of sorbet-making. It's sweet, cool, melon-y and takes up less room in my teeny tiny refrigerator than a real melon would. It's the taste of summer, frozen!

Melon Sorbet

Makes 8 servings

about 1 pound (500 grams) diced melon
3 Tbs lemon juice
2 Tbs sake
1 cup sugar, or to taste

Process the melon in a food processor or blender until smooth. Add the remaining ingredients and process for 30 seconds. Taste for sweetness. The mixture should be hovering on the edge of too sweet; frozen desserts seem less sweet than they actually are. Process in more sugar as needed, then pour the mixture into a lidded container. Chill in the refrigerator for one hour.

Put mixture into your ice cream maker and process according to the manufacturer's instructions. (If you don't have an ice cream maker, there are instructions for freeze-and-stir sorbet-making in the sorbet overview I linked to above.) Transfer to a lidded container and freeze for at least 3 hours before serving.

Link | Comment (3) | Categories: Recipes | Summer | Sweets

July 4, 2006

kinako ice cream

As much as I'd like to believe the health benefits of kinako are retained when it is eaten in ice cream form, I have a feeling the whole milk, heavy cream and egg beat the soy into submission. I suppose you could try making this recipe with soymilk. But I like my ice cream deliciously detrimental to my health.

Kinako in ice cream form does, however, retain its nutty flavor and general yumminess. If you like peanut butter, you'll like this.

Kinako Ice Cream

Makes 4 servings

1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup whole milk
1/3 cup kinako (toasted soybean flour)
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup heavy cream

In a saucepan over medium-low heat, stir together the sugars and milk. Gradually stir in the kinako. When the mixture begins to simmer, remove from heat, and whisk half of the mixture into the egg. Pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan, and stir in the heavy cream. Continue cooking over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon, about two minutes. Remove from heat, and strain into a container with a lid.

Chill in the refrigerator, ideally for at least 4 hours and up to overnight. This will improve the texture. Pour chilled mixture into an ice cream maker, and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.

May 27, 2006

kinako pancakes

These pancakes have a nutty taste and more protein and B vitamins than your average pancake. They also have a tendency to stick to the pan, so use a nonstick skillet and butter it a bit before you add the batter. Also, buttermilk is unheard of in Japan, so I use a mixture of whole milk and plain yogurt. You could use a cup of buttermilk instead.

Kinako Pancakes

Makes about 8 4-inch pancakes

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup kinako (toasted soy flour)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
dash of salt
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup whole milk
1 egg
3 Tbs melted butter

Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl. Stir together the yogurt and milk, then add to the flour mixture. Add the egg and butter, then stir to combine. Lumpiness is okay.

Heat a nonstick skillet over a medium-low flame and add some butter or a bit of oil. Pour the batter into the skillet, about a half-cup for each pancake. When the edges of the pancakes look dry, flip them to cook the other side. Keep the finished pancakes warm in a low oven (250°F) until you are done making all of them.

Serve with butter, maple syrup and extra kinako for sprinkling on top.

Link | Comment (3) | Categories: Recipes | Soy | Sweets

May 3, 2006

kinako

Kinako is toasted soybean flour or, as I thought of it for the first few months in Japan, that weird powder they always put on mochi. It has a nutty flavor that reminds me a bit of peanut butter, especially when I sprinkle it on buttered toast, which is a favorite way to eat it here. Mixing it with some brown sugar and cinnamon before putting it on the toast makes a more substantial version of plain cinnamon-and-sugar-topped toast, but, since my prime kinako-toast-eating time is right after work, I am usually too lazy to do more than just dole it straight out of the bag. Kinako is also good as a yogurt or ice cream topping, especially when that ice cream is additionally topped with an (sweet bean jam). According to the back of my kinako package, it also makes a nutritious drink when mixed with milk, but I'll have to take their word for it since the thought of drinking a tall glass of milk always makes me want to gag. Unless there are brownies involved. I'm willing to make a lot of exceptions for brownies.

Kinako on toasted azuki-bean bread.

Since it is made of ground and toasted soybeans, kinako is full of protein, B vitamins and other soy-licious things, so in addition to finding it at Japanese or Asian grocery stores, you can also find it at natural foods stores.

Pocky has a kinako flavor, but unfortunately it was only in stores during the That Weird Powder phase, so I haven't tried it.

Some kinako recipes:
Kinako pancakes
Kinako ice cream
Kinako frosting

Link | Comment (5) | Categories: Ingredients | Soy | Sweets