Little Joy Factory

Pâte à Choux (Cream Puff) is a luxury dessert that can be easily made at home.  Since I have seven egg yolks left after making "beauty" dessert , I decided to use them to make custard filling for Pâte à Choux (cream puff).   There is nothing like homemade creamy, milky and buttery custard to go with choux puff - it's so nice!      I like to use microwave to make custard, very convenient and can save a lot of time.  Within 10 minutes, smooth and creamy custard is ready (see recipe below).  As for Pâte à Choux,  you will never go wrong with  Michael Rulman 's recipe. He blogged about Pâte à Choux twice in 2009, and the entries were posted in his cooking books, one of which is  Elements of Cooking .  He applies his famous ratio into this recipe: equal parts water and egg, half as much flour and butter. That's it.  For those who are not...

Steamed milk pudding is a popular Chinese dessert , which is famous for its silky smooth texture and nutritional effect for complexion. Serve warm or cold, it's a sweet treat to impress your family and friends!  I used to drive all the way to a famous dessert house at Temple Street,  just to have a bowl of this "beauty" dessert.  Until one day, I decided to make my own milk pudding at home, which is much more economical. The recipe is very simple (see my earlier post ). It only consists of 3 ingredients: milk, egg and sugar. However, getting it done to perfection is not as easy as it seems. I know everyone is busy, and we all like to follow recipes and succeed at our first attempts.  So, let me share with you some tips on how to make a perfect milk pudding at your first attempt.  It's Thanksgiving week now, there are so much to be thankful for.  As a food blogger, this is my way of saying thank y...

Inspired by tasty soups from Souper Sundays , a weekly blogging event hosted by Deb in Hawaii ,  I bought a piece of butternut last week and intended to prepare a bowl of creamy pumpkin soup for my family.  One week has passed, the butternut still quietly lying in my fridge. Maybe we are really not a  "soup" family?  Nobody seems bothered to check with me about the soup.     Before the butternut started to rot, I decided to make my favorite Chinese pumpkin cake instead. I tasted pan-fried pumpkin cake for the first time during a trip to Shanghai few years ago. These small cakes were served as a dessert in a Chinese restaurant. They were orange in color, soft, chewy on the inside, and crispy on the outside. So delicious!    I searched for the recipe immediately after the trip,  and found a good simple one. Made a few times at home, they are as ni...

This Peach Cream Cheese Cobbler is by far the most scrumptious cheesecake I have ever baked. It's made with butter crumble, juicy canned peaches and rich cream cheese. Baked in a glass pan,  it can be very tantalizing just by looking at it, not to mention the wonderful smell!

  Homemade steamed milk pudding is economical in the sense that it only uses 3 ingredients: fresh milk, egg white and sugar.  If properly steamed, it's silky smooth with sweetened milk flavor.  The best part is , it heps to nourish our skin and improve complexion if eat regularly. That's why steamed milk pudding is also called "Beauty dessert".

前几天读到一篇新闻报导，75%的本地富人们渴望有时间做自己真正想做的事，并且认为这才是最奢华的享受。 有时间做自己想做的事，其实就是自由地支配时间，随时停下脚步，从忙碌的生活中抽离开来，没有所谓金钱上的限制。都以为富人们有这种奢侈，我们因而习惯性地设想“等我有钱了，我就如何如何” 。

My recent trip back to China has sparked a craze for traditional Chinese snacks in my Little Joy Factory. In the past few weeks, I have been attempting to make Royal Cheese Pudding (宫廷奶酪), Steamed Milk Pudding (炖鲜奶) , Glutinous Rice Rolls (驴打滚) and Sweet Pea Pudding (豌豆黄). It's a fun and enriching experience!