How to Make Rose Steamed Buns - Valentine’s Day Recipe Idea

Valentine’s day is less than a week away.  Do you and your loved one celebrate?  My Hubby and I usually prefer staying in and celebrate with the kiddos together with a special dinner.  After all, we didn’t want to head out and dine with the crowds when EVERYONE is out!  hm….is that a sign of getting old?  Perhaps, we are just not romantic in nature, a.k.a. typical parenthood! 



Although we’re staying in on V-day, I still like to prepare something special for my family!  My Kiddos are my little Valentines, too!  This year, I’m making these Rose Shaped Steamed Buns as a special treat.  You’ll find 2 different flavors in my video tutorial.  They are Purple Yam Buns and Rose Flavor Buns, all made with natural ingredients and natural coloring.



In the Purple Yam Bins, I added purple yam powder for the pretty purple color and a hint of purple yam flavor.  It’s slightly sweet and comparable to sweet potato.  For the Rose Buns, I added a little bit of rose extract in the dough.  Just make sure you use a small amount as the rose extract could be quite strong.  If you cannot find rose extract, you can substitute with rose water.  However, the later one is much weaker in aroma and you might need to use more to achieve the same flavor.  I’ll list the ingredients at the end of this post for your reference.



The only thing I was a little bit disappointed was that the pretty pink color in the rose buns turned a little bit orangey after steaming.  You can chose to use store-bought natural food coloring for this recipe is you prefer a more vivid color.  But honestly, I’m sure anyone would be super happy to get these rose buns for Valentine’s Day, despite pink or orange theme!   Wish you all in advance a warm and sweet Valentine’s Day with your loved ones!





Tools and Ingredients Used:
Rose Extract (Click here for more information)
All Natural Food Coloring (Click here for more information)
Grapeseed Oil (Click here for more information)
Bamboo Steamers (Click here for more information)
Active Dry Yeast (Click here for more information)
Purple Yam Powder (Click here for more information)
Matcha Powder (Click here for more information)
Dough/Bench Scraper (Click here for more information)
Rolling Pin (Click here for more information)
Rolling Mat (Click here for more information)
Strainer/Sieve Set (Click here for more information)
Bamboo Spatula Set (Click here for more information)
Measuring Cups Set (Click here for more information)




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How to Make Flower Garden Cookies with Video Tutorial

I adore spring.  It’s one of my favorite season of the year.  I love seeing my newly planted herbs starting to sprout; the longer day light extended till after dinner; the cute (or more often creepy) Easter Bunny at the photo booth in the Mall; and the excitement in my Kids’ eyes when they go for the Easter Egg hunt!  It’s a season to play, enjoy and celebrate.  So, to celebrate this lovely season, I created these Flower Garden Cookies to share with you.



The base cookies themselves are similar to the texture of sugar cookies, and I flavored them with dried and grounded lavender buds, lemon zests and rose extract.  They are packed with the elegant floral aromas with a hint of refreshing citrus.  I top the cookies with some white chocolate mixed with Matcha green tea, which acts as “glue" for the bunny as well as mimicking the “meadow in the garden”.  Then, I decorated each cookie with a dressed up chocolate bunny, a chocolate egg, lavender buds, a dried tea rose, and some rose tea petals (broken apart from the tea roses).  Please see the ingredients list at the bottom of the post for more details and where to buy these ingredients.



I packaged these Flower Garden Cookies individually and shared them with some of my my Baby Girl’s classmates as a way to say thank you for their kindness.  The kids loved them and I was so happy that they enjoyed these cookies so much!  You can use these gorgeous cookies as party favors, center piece for your spring party, a place card holder (between the bunny and the egg) for your next Easter gathering, or just because.  These cookies are great for desserts and afternoon tea.  Interested to see how I made them?  Here’s the video tutorial with the step by step instructions.  Check it out!





Pretty easy, isn't it?  I hope you enjoyed my video tutorial.  If you haven’t done so, please subscribe to my Youtube channel here.  You’ll be the first to know when I have new and exciting video tutorials published.  I added a list of ingredients and tools that I used at the bottom of this post.  You can leave me a commend if you have any other questions.  I hope you enjoy today’s post and video tutorial.  Stay tuned for more fun recipes and giveaway.




Props, ingredients, and tools used in this post:
Lindt Mini Chocolate Bunny (Click here for more information)
Dry Lavender Buds (Click here for more information)
Dry Rose Tea Buds (Click here for more information)
Matcha Green Tea Powder (Click here for more information)
White Chocolate Chips (Click here for more information)
Easter Candy Coated Chocolate Eggs (Click here for more information)
Daisy Flower Sprinkle for Bunny (Click here for more information)
Rainbow Nonpareils (Click here for more information)
Flower Shaped Cookie Cutter (Click here for more information)
Silpat Non-Stick Baking Mat (click here for more information)
Calphalon Baking Sheet Pans (Click here for more information)
Oval Shape Wood Board (Click here for more information)

Strawberry Macaron Flower Pops

Last week, I made these Strawberry Macaron Flower Pops for someone’s house warming party.  I think they made quite an unique and elegant centerpiece.  Don’t you agree? Best of all, they can also double duty as dessert for the gathering.  How cool is that?  If you have medium size glasses or vase, fill them up with sugar and you can easily arrange the flower pops on top, pretty much like arranging real flowers (I made myself sound like an expert in arranging real flowers while I had close to zero experience on that subject matter! ha!) 



I absolutely adore how cute these flower pops turned out.  You can check out the Strawberry macaron shells recipe here.  But instead of piping them in circles, I piped some in flower shapes.  Once the macaron shells are baked, simply pipe the strawberry buttercream fillings onto one shell, gently press a lollipop stick in the middle and press on another macaron shell.  (I used these lollipop sticks.) Then, your Strawberry Macaron Flower Pops are ready for display and admiration! 



Besides house warming parties, I think these flower pops are also perfect for bridal showers, tea parties, weddings, to celebrate Spring, or simply, just because.  My little girl love them and she was so excited when she saw these pops!  The smile and excitement on her face was precious!  So, make some flower pops, and make someone happy.  The satisfaction and happiness you’ll receive in return are priceless!   

Last but not least, I want to wish you all a wonderful Easter weekend!

Boozy Framboise Guimauve Pops--For Mothers Day

The other day, I was craving for marshmallows.  Those soft, pillow-y and flavorful marshmallows.  Ever since I made my own, (see previous posts from here and here), I can never go back to the store bought ones.  If you've ever tried a homemade marshmallow, you will know exactly why.  The texture of the homemade ones is just heavenly soft and light; the flavor is truly up to your imagination.  On the day I craved for the marshmallows, my imagination took me to a boozy place, with sweet and tart framboise (raspberry in French), and a wonderland filled with pinkish guimauve (marshmallow in French).  Okay, I know, I’m not French, but don’t you agree that French names sound more fancy and romantic? And these Boozy Framboise Guimauve Pops definitely are fancy, romantic and just darn tasty!  They will make you dream a little.



Making homemade marshmallow involve making a syrup, which is a solution of sugar and liquid, and cook it to a certain temperature.  The easiest way to tell the temperature of the syrup is using a candy thermometer.  If you don’t have one, I highly recommend you getting one.  It’s not only useful in candies making, but also handy when canning for jams and cooking the custard for your favorite ice cream.  Click here to see the thermometer I use.  The price is reasonable and and the numbers are easy to read.



I couldn't help it but to turn these marshmallows into pops, lovely flower pops.  You can wrap them individually with treat bags and pass them on as gifts (you know, Mother’s Day is coming up).  I think they are the perfect homemade gifts for Mother's day.  They are just so feminine and beautiful. Although you can hardly detect the taste of liquor in these mallows because most of the liquor is cooked off.  These boozy mallows are simply not for kids, pregnant ladies, or any one who can’t take alcohol.  But, you can certainly replace the liquor with fruit juice and make them kids friendly.  My kids love the kids friendly version a lot.  I’ll include both recipes below for your convenience.  Oh, and I used these cookie cutters to make the pops.  Aren't they the cutest thing ever!?



So, I made a batch of kid's friendly flower pops for my kids.  Then a boozy batch for myself and some friends to enjoy!  To distinguish the two, I piped the boozy one into long ropes in a pastry bag fitted with a round pastry tip.  When the ropes were dry, I cut them into small pieces.  These are not just cute, but also sweet, tart, raspberr-ey, pillow-y, and melt in the mouth as well.  Super addictive!  One last thing, I used potato starch to prevent the marshmallow from sticking together.  You can also use a mixture of corn starch and powdered sugar.  However, I love the potato starch because it's mild and doesn't have the raw flour taste.  Plus, the potato starch doesn't add any sweetness to these mallows as they are already sweet enough.  I used the potato starch to coat these Black Sesame Mochi as well.  Have you ever make homemade marshmallows before?  I want to know what flavors you dream of. 




For more homemade gift ideas for Mother's Day, check out the Meyer Lemon Sugar Scrub and Lavender Bath Salt.

恭喜發財! Happy Chinese New Year!

I took these beautiful 桃花 Prunus Persica pictures this morning right outside of my house.  They are just beautiful and so festive for the Chinese New Year. 



I wish you all a healthy and prosperous Year of Snake.   祝大家恭喜發財, 身體健康, 步步高升,大吉大利!