Little Joy Factory

Today is the fifteenth day of Chinese New Year , Chinese celebrate it as The Lantern Festival (元宵节). This year, The Lantern Festival is also the The Valentine's Day! It's reported that 243 couples in Singapore will be tying the knot today. What an auspicious “double happiness” date!  The Lantern Festival symbolises family togetherness. Eating tangyuan , or sweet rice dumplings,  is an important part of the day in my family. Back in my home town in Northeastern China,   tangyuan  is usually filled with sugar, walnuts, sesame, rose petals, sweetened tangerine peel, red bean paste, dates, or dried fruits.  A lot of combinations of these ingredients.  It feels so good to enjoy a bowl of warm  tangyuan with your family on a cold winter day . This year, I decided to make my own tangyuan for the first time. One reason is, I have one whole pack of glutinous rice flour, leftover from making Chinese N...

Chinese New Year is approaching, food bloggers here are busy baking CNY cookies.  I have baked pineapple tarts, almond cookies, peanut cookies. How about you? Since there is still one week away, I'd like to bake one more type of CNY cookies. Read a few posts about Chinese Walnut Cookies (核桃酥) recently.  Some recipes add alkaline water, some add shortening, some use vegetable oil, some use butter.  Despite the difference in recipes, I notice there is one thing in common:  food bloggers are trying to create the traditional taste of walnut cookies from their hometown, from their childhood memories. In my hometown, Chinese walnut cookies are crunchy and full of walnut fragrance. There is no butter in it,  but for sure there are walnuts. They are so delicious that I have always been tempted to buy them whenever I see similar ones at bakery shops here.  How...

It's a tradition to have nian gao (steamed rice cake) during Lunar New Year. It has an auspicious meaning of promotions or prosperity in work and life year after year (年年高升).    Baked nian gao brings a nice change to the traditional steamed one. Garnished with generous amount of walnuts,  it's crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. Sugar is omitted in my recipe as red dates have natural sweet smell. In addition, I spread a layer of red bean paste in the middle, which enhanced the sweetness of the rice cake. With fresh milk, eggs, and vegetable oil, every bite of  baked  nian gao  is like an explosion of flavor in your mouth.  Absolutely sinful!   I served this baked nian gao to family and friends during today's gathering.  It's indeed a popular snack that no one wants to give a miss. BAKED RICE CAKE (NIAN GAO) INGREDIENTS: Batter:...

  Don't have sweet tooth for traditional CNY cookies? Try Mozzarella cheese cookies! They are easy to make yet addictive. Soft and fluffy with pure cheese and butter taste make them another must-have during Chinese New Year. I made two batches of them yesterday after work. It took me less than an hour to prepare the dough, cut out the cookies and send them to oven. When the first batch came out of the oven, the whole kitchen smell heavenly. My daughters kept running into the kitchen for another bite while I was busy baking the second batch.  Eventually, I could barely store one jar of these cookies out of 60+ pieces I baked. Hope there are still some left on new year's day, which is just 3 days away from now. Unlike other cookies, Mozzarella cheese cookies do not have added sugar in it. This is definitely a bonus point for people who concern about blood sugar level, especially during festival seasons.   With these savoury cheesy cookies, my ...