Hazelnut Macarons

Macarons made with ground hazelnuts in place of ground almonds and filled with a hazelnut ganache.

Mochi

Soft mochi made with Mochiko rice flour and filled with red bean paste. I added matcha powder to the mix for the one on the bottom and coated it in kinako which is roasted soy powder.

Warming Up

The weather the past week has been reported as a "high of 9 degrees" but it really feels much colder. Waiting for the bus in the morning, I'm finding that I really need to pull start pulling out my gloves and scarves. I warmed myself up with the traditional french onion soup topped with toasted bread and melted gruyere cheese. That did the trick!

Pao De Queijo

At the bakery that I used to work at, we used to make pao de quiejo, or Brazilian cheese bread. It is lightly cheesy with a crisp exterior and a soft, chewy interior due to the use of tapioca flour in it. It was quite popular among the customers also because it was gluten free. I remember that none of us in the kitchen particularly liked making it because it was quite laborious and very temperamental (and the fact that our hands smelled like cheesy tapioca flour afterwards).

However, I stumbled upon this recipe on a great website containing lots of asian recipes where the method is super simple and the result is fantastic! I used parmesan cheese this time but I think I may add some cheddar and chopped chives to the mixture next time as well.