The procedure:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Combine the vanilla and the beaten egg in a small bowl and set aside.

Combine the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Whisk so that all the dry ingredients are thoroughly combined.

Using your fingertips or a pastry cutter, work the cold butter into the dry mixture until you get pea-sized crumbs of flour-coated butter. You don’t want to overwork the dough as this will contribute to tough, flat scones. Optionally, if you have a food processor, you can cut the butter in by pulsing the mixture a few times, one second each time.

Pour the cream and egg into the dry mixture all at once, and using a spatula, give it a few quick folds until the dough is evenly moistened and there aren’t any visible puddles of cream or egg. Add the mulberries and fold them in gently.

Pour your dough out onto your baking sheet and pat it gently into a circle that is 3/4″ in height. Using a sharp knife or bench scraper, score the dough into 8 pieces. Separate them slightly if you wish.

Mix the honey with a splash of warm water and mix to combine. Using a pastry brush, brush the tops of the scones and sprinkle with the raw sugar.

Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 18 – 22 minutes, or until the tops and bottoms of the scones are a nice golden brown.

Enjoy them hot from the oven with some clotted cream or jam. As with all scones and biscuity things, these are best the day are made. However, you can freeze the unbaked scones and just bake one whenever the craving hits; just pop the frozen scone directly into a preheated oven and bake for 5 – 8 minutes longer.

The procedure:
Make the streusel: In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond meal, all-purpose flour, granulated sugar and salt. Cut the butter into the dry mixture (or use your hands to rub the butter in) until the dough looks crumbly and sticks together when you compress a bit between your fingers. Try not to overwork the dough as the heat from your hands will melt the butter. Just aim for a crumb consistency. Place in the the refrigerator until ready for use.

Make the cake:
Preheat oven to 350F with a rack in the center rack. Line a tube pan or bundt pan with parchment paper and coat with oil or butter, then dust with flour. Set aside while you prepare the cake batter.

If you haven’t already, take your 6 tablespoons of butter and melt it over low heat (do not let the butter brown or boil, we just want to get it to a liquid state).

Special instructions if you’re using raw honey: Add the raw honey to the liquid butter, allowing it to become liquid from the butter’s residual heat. Yes, I know this renders it “unraw”, but we’re baking a cake here, for goodness sake!

Set aside the butter mixture to cool while you work on the rest of the cake.

In a large bowl, sift together the all-purpose flour, salt, baking soda, and granulated sugar.

In a medium bowl, mix together the 2 eggs, persimmon puree, oil, vanilla and almond extracts, and honey (if you haven’t already added it to the butter mixture). While stirring the liquid ingredients, slowly pour in the butter, incorporating it well.

Make a well in the center of the dry mixture and pour in the liquid mixture. Stir with a spatula until there are no visible lumps of flour. Add the chopped walnuts and raisins, and stir a couple of more times to evenly distribute them.

Pour the batter into the cake pan and smooth it out, trying to get an even distribution. The batter is a relatively thick one, due to the viscosity of the persimmon puree and honey. Take the streusel mixture and scatter it over the top of the batter. Place the cake into the oven and bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let cool on a wire rack, then slice and enjoy! If there are leftovers, wrap them well in plastic wrap to prevent the cake from drying out. If the cake is well-wrapped, it will keep at room temperature for 2-3 days. Past that, I’d keep it in the refrigerator or freezer for future snackage.

The procedure:

Place oil into deep fryer according to the manufacturer’s instructions and preheat to 375F. If you don’t have a deep-fryer, heat up enough oil in a thick-walled pot (at least a depth of 3 inches, I’d say) to a temperature of 375F. As in all situations where there’s a big vat of hot oil involved, make sure you keep an eye on it!

In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, glutinuous rice flour, baking powder, 1 teaspoon granulated sugar and salt. Add additional spices, if using. Add the mashed sweet potato flesh and knead until you get a moist, soft dough. If the dough is too wet, add flour one teaspoon at a time until you get a workable dough. If your dough is too dry, add some lukewarm water; trust your instincts as different sweet potatoes vary in water content. Try not to over-knead though, as overcompacting and overworking the dough will result in tough donuts.

Divide the dough into 5 portions, about 35g each. Use your finger and thumb to poke a hole in the middle, making a cute little donut. You are free to roll out the dough and punch them out if you have donut cutters as well.

Place some granulated sugar in a shallow bowl and have it ready. Place a rack with a paper towel underneath it for the donuts that come out of the fryer. Having tongs ready right about now is good too.

Test your oil to see if it’s hot enough; a great test I’ve always used is to stick a wooden chopstick into the oil. If bubbles form immediately and quickly around the chopstick, the oil is ready. If the bubbles are slow to form, it’s definitely not hot enough. Fry the donuts, two to three at a time, making sure not to crowd the pot. Adding them all at once will make the temperature of the oil drop too much, resulting in oily donuts. Fry until golden brown and cooked all the way through, about 6-7 minutes. Using tongs or a slotted spoon, drain the donuts and immediately drop them into the shallow sugar bowl, turning them to coat. Place on the rack to cool briefly and continue to fry the rest of the donuts.

As with all fried goods, enjoy these donuts as soon as possible as their deliciousness is inversely proportional to the time out of the fryer.

The procedure:

Spray a 12-cup mini cupcake pan with vegetable oil or rub with butter, then dust lightly with granulated sugar. Preheat oven to 350F.

Combine melted butter and sugar, whisk until pale and completely incorporated. Add the lightly beaten egg and mix again until completely incorporated. In a separate bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder, mochiko, baking powder, making sure no lumps remain. Add this dry mixture to the butter/sugar/egg mixture and mix lightly with a spatula until there are no visible pockets of dry mix. Pour the coconut milk and vanilla over the top and fold into the batter until the batter isn’t lumpy. Divide evenly amongst the cupcake tins. Bake for 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the brownies rest 5 minutes in the tin before turning them out onto a rack to cool completely before eating.

Will keep at room temperature for 2-3 days and can be refrigerated. However, with most foods made with mochiko, refrigeration renders them much denser and slightly more chewy. If this isn’t to your liking, you can microwave them gently and they should soften back up.

Note: This recipe is welcome to add-is like chocolate chips, chopped nuts, and dried fruit. I wanted to experience pure mochi-ness so I opted out.

The procedure:
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F. Place the raw walnuts in a shallow pan and roast for 30 minutes, stirring once in a while so the nuts roast evenly. Keep an eye on them so they don’t burn and turn bitter. Once it starts to get fragrant, it’s almost ready. Remove the pan from the oven and let the walnuts cool.

Meanwhile, in a large pan, pan roast the black sesame seeds over medium-low heat, stirring continuously. Roast for about 10 minutes, or until the seeds start to smell fragrant. Turn off the heat immediately and remove the pan to a cool place. Grind the seeds in a spice grinder, coffee grinder or if you have a Vita-Mix/Blendtec, until you have a wonderfully fragrant powder. Make sure to scrape down the sides periodically so that you have a uniform grind.

By the way, grinding the seeds to a powder before making the butter ensures that you have a creamy end product; trying to grind the whole seeds with the walnuts will only result in a grainy, hulled butter. If this is what you prefer, by all means go for it

Once the black sesame powder and walnuts are cooled, place them in the bowl of your food processor along with the sea salt and sugar. Grind until creamy; this should only take about 2 – 3 minutes; it will first ball up, then loosen as the walnuts release their oils. Keep going until your tahini is whipped and smooth.

Scrape into a sterilized glass jar; allow to cool (it will be a bit warm from the processing) before putting on the cap and storing in the refrigerator. I’ll wager it’ll keep for at least two weeks, but keep an eye on it as walnut oils tend to go rancid quite easily.

The procedure:

Preheat the oven to 375F. Prepare your loaf pan either by oiling/buttering it or lining with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients except for the beer until well combined. Pour in the beer and mix, trying not to overmix (similar to when you are making muffins, you don’t want to develop too much gluten which could result in tough bread). Mix until just combined. The batter will be thick.

Pour into the prepared loaf pan and if using the glaze, brush the top of the bread with the glaze and place in the oven. Bake for approximately 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean. The crust will be golden brown. If you feel like the crust is browning too quickly, you can place a piece of tin foil over the top as a tent.

Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes before turning out on a rack to cool completely. Slice and enjoy!

This recipe is super versatile as well; you could add any number of herbs (I used dill in my case), cheeses, nuts or dried fruits. Get creative!

The procedure:
In a bowl, combine the dried figs and sundried-tomatoes and cover with boiling water; allow to soak for at least one hour prior to starting the jam.

Drain the figs/sundried-tomatoes and put into a small saucepan. Add the rest of the ingredients and enough fresh water to cover the mixture by one inch. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer and cover.

Simmer for 30-45 minutes, or until the figs and sundried tomatoes are soft and pulpy and the liquid is reduced. Place the contents into a blender or food processor, and taking care, puree until desired consistency.

If the mixture is still a little too liquidy after pureeing, place the contents back into the saucepan and reduce over low heat, stirring the entire time until your desired consistency is reached. I reduced until it was tacky and slightly sticky.

Spoon the mixture into sterilized glass container, press a piece of plastic wrap over the surface and allow to cool. When cool, place in the refrigerator.

Should keep in the refrigerator for at least a week.

The procedure:
Mix together the ingredients for the sponge in a large bowl, whipping it if you can to aerate the mixture. Set it aside while you prepare the flour mixture.

Mix together the ingredients for the flour mixture, whisking it together to make sure the ingredients are incorporated fully and spoon over the sponge. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rest for one to four hours; or, until you see the sponge bubbling up through the flour mixture. Since it’s wintertime where I live, I waited about four hours before proceeding with the rest of the recipe.

After you can observe the sponge bubbling up through the flour mixture, add the oil and mix the dough together, either with a stand mixer or by hand. I did this by hand as the amount of dough was so small. Mix until the dough is smooth and homogenous looking; as the hydration of the dough is higher than your standard sandwich loaf, it will feel tacky and sticky. This is fine. Continue kneading the dough until you achieve good gluten structure and the dough passes the windowpane test. This took me about ten minutes by hand.

Place the dough in a lightly-oiled bowl and let it rise until doubled, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. After this first rise, take the dough out and degas it, you can do a couple of stretch-and-folds to give it better structure, then place it back into the bowl and let it rise again for 45 minutes.

After 45 minutes have elapsed, take the dough and degas it gently and shape it (you can do a small boule or shape it sandwich style if planning to bake in a loaf pan). Place the dough in your chosen baking receptacle and let it rise a third time until doubled, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Half an hour before you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 400 F.

When ready to bake, place the loaf into the oven, steam (if not baking in a pullman tin) and lower the temperature to 375 F and bake for 25 minutes. Check to see if the bread is done by inserting a thermometer into the center of the loaf and making sure it reads at least 190 F. Invert the bread onto a cooling rack and let it cool for at least 4 hours before slicing to enjoy.

The procedure:

Using a blender, blend the MimicCreme, sugar, vanilla, extract, salt and vodka until smooth. Chill the base thoroughly, at least 4 hours or overnight, preferably.

Churn the ice cream base according to your ice cream maker manufacturer’s directions. During the last minute of churning, add the crushed peppermint oreo cookies.

Pour into container and freeze thoroughly. Scoop and enjoy.

Making the filling:

Steam kuri squash until flesh yields easily when poked with a fork. Let cool slightly, then scoop out the flesh and roughly mash (no need to make it very smooth, you’ll be working the flesh during the sweetening phase).

In a medium saucepan, combine the kuri squash flesh, raw sugar and salt, and over medium heat, stir until sugar is dissolved. Keep cooking the sweetened squash puree (this process helps to dry out the paste, you don’t want soupy squash as a filling for the buns) until it stops looking shiny and pulls away from the sides of the pan. Turn off the heat and let cool completely.

For the bao dough:

Whisk together the whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, yeast, and salt. Add the agave nectar and vegetable oil and water, stir to combine until you get a rough dough.

Turn dough out onto counter and knead until you have a smooth, supple dough. I didn’t use my stand mixer as the amount of dough was small (and sometimes you just want to experience the pleasure of working with bread dough!). Knead until it passes the windowpane test, with a 5 minute rest halfway to allow the dough hydrate and the gluten to relax slightly.

Place in a medium, oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and proof until doubled in size. In my cold house, it took about 1.5 hours.

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Once the dough has doubled, turn it out onto the counter and give it a few kneading strokes, and let it rest for 5 minutes for the gluten to relax. Divide the dough into 5 pieces.

Divide the filling into 5 mounds in preparation for stuffing the bao.

Flatten each piece, and using a small rolling pin, roll out into a 5″ diameter circle, taking care to make the edges thinner than the center (so that when you gather the dough around the filling you don’t end up with a super thick bottom and a super thin top). Place 1 mound of sweetened squash filling in the center and draw up the edges of the dough around the filling; pinching the dough at the top to seal.

Place seam side down on baking sheet, and cover with a kitchen towel while you complete the rest of the bao. After filling all 5 bao, let proof for 20 minutes.

I mixed together a simple slurry of almond milk, cornstarch and a pinch of sugar for a matte-style wash. If you desire a shiny-type of wash, simply beat one egg with some water. Brush the tops of the proofed bao with your wash of choice and sprinkle with some sesame seeds for garnish.

Bake bao for 25 minutes (if they start to brown too fast, you can tent with a piece of foil to avoid overbrowning).

Let cool completely on racks for at least 8 hours (this allows the dough to finish cooking completely, if you were to eat them right away, you might find the dough directly underneath the filling to be slightly raw. After 8 hours, the dough will have finished cooking and the flavor will be better. This is generally true of most breads.)

Enjoy! My favorite way to eat these is to reheat them for 20 seconds in the microwave, then pop into the toaster for a little bit to get them slightly toasty on the outside. The outside becomes slightly crispy and the inside bread stays light and fluffy. Delicious!

Cooking Notes:

• I know that squash comes in various shapes and sizes, and my kuri squash, after halving and deseeded, was about 500g. After steaming and making it into sweetened puree, the yield was about 250g. Basically, you’re aiming for about 50g of sweetened filling per bao. If your squash is abnormally large or small, you can scale up/down the dough component. Or you can just eat the extra filling as is, it’s delicious that way too!
• Any type of squash, pumpkin, sweet potato/yam or even beans can be sweetened in this way; it’s really a universal technique that you can apply to many vegetables/legumes to make sweetened paste for bun/bao fillings, dumplings, etc.
• This dough is pretty versatile, besides using it as a baked bao dough, this dough makes steamed bao quite nicely too. Give it a try!