Black Sesame Cookies

A simple black sesame cookie with only 4 ingredients, that is if you find toasting the sesame not difficult :)

Black may not look auspicious for Lunar New Year, but i think most of us, do wear black during the festival nowadays. We have modernized, right? Hehehe.

Cranberry Orange Cookies

Yummy! My hubby said these were so good. It was at Peabody's site that I first came to know of these cookies.

I like the refreshing taste of orange in this, with chewy cranberry bits that contrasts with the crisp cookie. The orange sugar coating adds some glitter to its outlook.

Budapest Roll ~ Budapestrulle

I tried baking dacquoise once. It came out so beautiful, and so I let it cool down for a few hours, thinking to attend to it, later. But it sweated and melted in the humidity. Sigh!

I didn't realise that the cake base for this, is actually almost a dacquoise, yes just almost, or maybe it is still considered as one. It is baked much quicker, only 15 minutes rather than 1 hour. It was only after I ate it, I realised what type of cake did I bake. Hahahah.

Guangxi Banana Leaf Dumplings 广西蕉叶糍

Today is my mother's birthday. I will try to post one Guangxi dish each year on her birthday to honour her heritage.

Guangxi is one of the few places in China where banana leaves are abundant, and I saw on the internet that some are so huge, you can go all bare behind a frond and not get seen.

How to Prepare Mandarin Segments

Mandarins are abundant at this time, when it's around Lunar New Year.

If I need to use Mandarin segments in my bakes, normally I will buy canned mandarins because I had no idea how to peel away the membrane. Mandarin membranes can't be easily sliced off as the segments are loose , unlike oranges that are snugly bound.

This time, it came upon me the idea of blanching and peel, just like how we peel nuts. I tried it and it works!