How to Make Witch's Fingers Shortbread Cookies - Halloween Recipe 女巫手指餅乾 - 萬聖節食譜

Do you like Halloween?  To be honest, it’s not my favorite holiday of the year.  However, I do enjoy creating fun treats and scary snacks for friends and family.   It’s one of the occasions where I can let my creativity runs wild!



Today, I’m sharing these creepy Witch’s Fingers Shortbread Cookies with you.  This recipe is my classic go-to shortbread recipe, as I've shared here in the past.   It’s actually quite easy to shape them into “fingers” form.  The details and decorations couldn’t be any easier to add on as well.  Be sure to watch the video tutorial on my YouTube channel for all the details and tips.



When I serve these Witch’s Fingers, my Little Boy likes to dip them in strawberry preserves for a bloody effect!  My Baby Girl is a bit less graphic, she chose a mud puddle, a.k.a chocolate sauce as her dipping option!  Either way, these cookies are super fun to eat and just as finger licking good as-is.



These Witch’s Fingers are perfect for Halloween Party.  Last year, I packed them up to share with some school friends and they were a big hit!  You can make them a day or two in advance and store them in an air-tight container.  They stay fresh for at least 5 to 6 days if you store them well without direct sunlight.



How’s your Halloween planning so far?  Do you or your kids dress up?  It’s was such a surprised that my Kiddos have decided so early on what/who they want to be this Halloween.  It’s even more surprising to me that I’ve their costumes already prepared!  They only need a few final touches here and there and that’s it.  Yes, this year's costumes are partially handmade.  But luckily, nothing too complicated.  Phew…. just a side note, I’m just happy that the kiddos are not into scary costumes, at least not yet! 



I hope you enjoyed today's recipe and tutorial.  Stay tuned for another fun and easy Halloween treat next week!  BOO!




Tools and Ingredients Used:
Valrhona Unsweetened Cocoa Powder (Click here for more information)
Sliced Almonds (Click here for more information)
Organic Vanilla Extract (Click here for more information)
Kerrygold Salted Butter (Click here for more information)
Measuring Spoons Set (Click here for more information)
Silicone Pastry Brush (Click here for more information)
Stand Mixer (Click here for more information)
Cooling Racks (Click here for more information)
Rolling Mat (Click here for more information)
Baking Sheets (Click here for more information)



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How to Make Salted Egg Yolk Lava Custard Mooncakes 流心奶黃月餅:

This year, October 4th marks the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival!  Are you ready to celebrate?  Traditionally, family and friends would gather and enjoy the evening together.  After dinner, it’s the time to head outside the back yard (or the roof of a high-rise building when we were living in Hong Kong) and enjoy desserts, fruit, hot tea, and some mooncakes together!  Of course, and we enjoy each other’s company as well.



I meant to share this post and recipe with you sooner.  But it took me quite a while to fine tune this recipe.   I just wanted to make sure that you’ll be successful in making these in your own kitchen as well.  This way, I do all the leg work in testing recipes so that you don’t have to.  Or, maybe secretly, I’m a perfectionist!



Did you know that some bakeries in Asia had long lines for this particular flavor of mooncake? They are called the infamous Salted Egg Yolk Lava Custard Mooncakes 流心奶黃月餅!  Quite often, customers went empty handed after the long wait because the mooncakes were all sold out by the time the customers got to the counter!  No need to get upset!  Be like me and make your own at home!  Not only there’s no line to wait, you know exactly what ingredients go into your mooncake.  This week’s motto:  Keep Calm, and Bake Your Own Mooncakes!



Oh, but you do have to wait a day after baking these mooncakes before you can enjoy them though.  As do all mooncakes recipes, you need to wait for a day for the mooncake skin to soften and to allow the flavors to get aquatint with each other.  It’s call “回油” in Chinese mooncake baking term.  Afterwards, the skin of the mooncakes will becomes soft, slightly darker in color, and more shiny.  It’s totally worth the wait as the fragrant will be more complex as well!



There are mainly 3 components to this moon cake, the outer layer is the mooncake skin, the second layer is the traditional custard filling, and finally the center, which is the star of this mooncake:  a salted egg yolk lava filling!  It’s so yummy when the lava filling is still warm and it oozes out as you bit into one.  Since you need to wait a day to enjoy them, you’ll need to slightly reheat your mooncake for 10 to 15 seconds in the microwave before serving if you want the floating lava!



This mooncake sounds decadent, but the salty egg yolk balanced well with the sweetness of the custard.  Therefore, this mooncake is not overly sweet, unlike most traditional mooncake fillings.  I hope you enjoy today’s recipe and tutorial!  Thank you so much for stopping by and stay tuned for some Halloween fun recipes in the next few weeks!





Ingredients and Tools Used:
Mooncake Mold (Click here for more information)Mini Silicone Sphere Mold (Click here for more information)
Custard Powder (Click here for more information)
Dry Milk Powder (Click here for more information)
Kitchen Scale (Click here for more information)
Strainers Set (Click here for more information)
Organic Coconut Milk (Click here for more information)
Large Measuring Cup (Click here for more information)
Measuring Spoons Set (Click here for more information)



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How to Make S’more Ice Cream Pie

Yesterday marked the first day of Fall!  The weather has been comfortable and mostly cooled down.  But it’s still nice and warm in the afternoon so my Kids are stilling craving for cool desserts most of the time.  The solution?  This scrumptious S’more Ice Cream Pie!



S’more is one of my Kids’ favorite treats.  I don’t make them too often, so it remains as a special and occasional treat for them.  But before I am ready for the cozy campfire and traditional S’more, this S’more Ice Cream Pie is the best transitional treat in between the Summer and Fall.  It combines the best of both world with the comforting gooey and charred marshmallow on top as well as refreshing ice cream filling.  Plus, who doesn’t like magic chocolate shells and chocolate graham cracker crust?  Yes, these are all the components of this pie.  The perfectly sinful and delicious combination, all in one easy-to-prepare pie!  If you haven’t watch the video tutorial above, please check it out.  You’ll agree that this pie is super easy to put together.



This recipe calls for a total of 3 cups of softened vanilla ice cream.  You can use homemade ones or store bought ones.  However, when I was making this pie, I realized that I didn’t have enough vanilla ice cream while preparing for the 2nd layer!!!  As much as I prefer my homemade ice-cream recipe over store bought ones, I also didn’t want to drive to the store for just 1/2 a cup of ice cream!  So, I improvised and substituted with coffee ice cream instead.  It turned out quite delicious with a more complex of flavor.  Next time, I’m going to try with a layer of chocolate ice cream as well!  So, by all means, explore and experiment with different flavors of ice cream when you make this pie!  Just like everything else in life, we need to learn to be flexible.  My new motto of the week, “Keep Calm and Eat Pie!”



For the coming weeks, I’ll be posting some traditional recipes for the Chinese Mid-Autumn festival as well as fun treats for Halloween.  If you have any recipe request or suggestion, please feel free to leave a comment below and I’ll try my best to post them before the festivals.  Remember, Eat, Drink, and Be Happy!  Thank you for stopping by today and I’ll see you next week! 

Tools and Ingredients Used:
Kitchen Torch (Click here for more information)
Butane for Torch (Click here for more information)
9-inch Pie Plate (Click here for more information)
Organic Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (Click here for more information)
Organic Honey Graham Crackers (Click here for more information)
Ninja Food Processor Set (Click here for more information)
Mini Marshmallows (Click here for more information)




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How to Make Chinese MahJong Coconut Osmanthus Jello 麻雀(麻將)椰汁桂花糕

Have you heard of one of the most popular Chinese card game called MahJong (麻雀 or 麻將 in Chinese)?  It’s one of my In-Law’s favorite game to play with friends and family.  I made these Chinese MahJong Coconut Osmanthus Jello 麻雀(麻將)椰汁桂花糕 to celebrate my Mother-In-Law’s birthday.  They were fun to make and absolutely fun to eat as well, especially if you’re eating the winning set of “tiles”!



When I was a little kid, I remember sitting next to my parents and watch them play MahJong during the Chinese New Year.   That was how I learned the rules for the game.  Back then, I was secretly hoping that they need to take a bathroom break so that I can sit-in as a substitute!  Those were some fun memories.



I got the MahJong Silicone Mold to make these Coconut Osmanthus Jello and the mold is super easy to use.  I’ll list the product link as well as the required ingredients at the end of this post for your convenience.  To mimic the actual MahJong tiles, I make these jello in 2 layers.  The bottom layer is made with coconut milk and the top layer is made with dried Osmanthus. 



For this recipe, I tested out a few times to get the perfect flavor and consistency.   My kids love the version with milk mixed with coconut milk.  I personally love a stronger coconut milk version.  I’ll list both of them in details in the recipe below so that you can choose for yourself. To color the wordings of the “MJ tiles”, I used my homemade beet root red food coloring (red), matcha green tea powder(green), and homemade red cabbage blue food coloring (blue).  I’ll list the links to the tutorial below for your reference.  Otherwise, you can use store-bought natural food coloring as well.



This plate above is the famous winning hand called 十三么.  Which is considered a rare hand to win because it’s not easy to collect all these tiles in a game.  But it’s a challenge that many MJ players would dream to get this hand in the game. 



These Coconut Osmanthus Jello not only look whimsical and realistic, they are also very refreshing and delicious!  If you know someone who love to play MahJong, you’ve got to try this recipe out!  Wish you all good luck in the game and have fun making this treat.  Remember, Eat, Drink, and Be Happy!  Thank you for stopping by and I’ll see you all next week!



Below is a picture consists of (one of each of) all the tiles in the MahJong Game.  You can look at this picture and reference back where to add the colored gelatin mixture when you make the recipe!  Have fun!




Link to Homemade Beet Root Red Food Coloring Tutorial
https://goo.gl/v7G49A
Link to Homemade Blue Food Coloring Tutorial
https://goo.gl/K6BDHM

Ingredients and Tools Used:
Chinese MahJong Silicone Molds (Click here for more information)
Calphalon Baking Pan (Click here for more information)
All Natural Food Colorings (Click here for more information)
Organic Coconut Milk (Click here for more information)
Unflavored Gelatin Powder (Click here for more information)
Dried Osmanthus (Click here for more information)
Large Measuring Cup (Click here for more information)
Strainers Set (Click here for more information)
Matcha Powder (Click here for more information)
Flat Top Wooden Spatula (Click here for more information)
Measuring Cup Set (Click here for more information)



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Garza Blanca Resort Suite Tour- Summer Vacation 2017 @Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

First of all, sorry for not posting anything last week.  It was the Labor Day long weekend in the States, we're back on track with school schedules, and I’m still daydreaming about our summer vacation, whenever I'm alone!  When I'm not daydreaming, I was actually busy processing the videos and pictures that we took during our summer vacation in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

(Lobby of Garza Blanca Resort)

Second of all, this is NOT a sponsored post!  We paid for this entire trip out of our own pocket!

Now that the disclaimer is done, if you still haven’t check out my video above, be sure to watch it.  In this video, I’ll give you a virtual tour of our 2 bedroom suite at the Garza Blanca, a beautiful resort where we stayed for 5 nights during our summer vacation.   I also included some of our daily activities and food that we enjoyed.   Although we did experienced some thunder storms (mostly at night), overall, we had fantastic and awesome experience for our stay. 

(Click on the images to enlarge)

Besides the beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean by the beach, the infinity pools at this resort are just as gorgeous.  We signed up for the all-inclusive package and the non-motor sports activities at the hotel beach area are all included as well.  For the majority of time, we stayed in our resort, hung out at the beach and pool side.  My Kids declared that it was the most amazing vacation ever!  Honestly, I guess it’ll be quite hard to beat this one though.  No pressure on the person who will be researching and booking our next vacation destination though (a.k.a. my Husband)!

(Berry Blush Cocktail)

(Grilled Mushroom – Side dish from the Steakhouse)

(Sauces for the Steaks)

(Veal Chop)

(Dessert Tree from the Steakhouse - Assorted Desserts)

There are 3 major restaurants in this resort, unfortunately one of them (Italian theme) was under renovation during our stay.  So we only dined in the remaining 2 of them, they are Blanca Blue (Mexican theme) and Bocados STK (modern steakhouse).  The food and service in both restaurants were exceptional!  Be sure to check out more food videos and pictures from my video tour above.  The presentation of the dishes from Blanca Blue were fabulous!

(Lobby of Hotel Mousai)

(Pressure Massage Shower – one of the Hydrotherapy Circuit at Spa Imagine)

The sister resort of Garza Blanca called Hotel Mousai is for adults only.  They do have 2 other restaurants but we didn’t get to try them this time.  However, I did get a chance to visit Spa Imagine, which is located in the Hotel Mousai, and enjoyed a relaxing massage as well as their Hydrotherapy services.  That facility and services were just as wonderful as the rest of the resort.  Everyone was very attentive and courteous.   They would go above and beyond to make sure that you are happy and satisfy.  I did had a relax afternoon at the spa and felt rejuvenated when I left!  Thanks to my Honey for watching the Kids!

(Room Service Food)

(Mojito from Pool Side Service)

(Snack from Pool Side Service)

(Seafood Ceviche from Pool Side Service)

As I mentioned before, we opt for the all-inclusive package for our stay.  Therefore, all of our food including room service and pool side snacks and bars were all included.   But I have to say, the room service food was just so-so.  On the other hand, the pool side snacks and drinks were surprisingly delicious!  Overall, we had an awesome vacation and spent some quality time together as a family.  We sure made some unforgettable memories and something to look forward to in the future.  We sure hope to have a chance to be back some day…..but for now, I need to work hard for our next vacation! 

Just in case, below is the hotel website and information if you’re interested to check it out. 

Garza Blanca Preserve, Resort & Spa
Website: http://www.garzablancaresort.com/ Resort Phone: +52 (322) 176 0718
Address: Carretera a Barra de Navidad Km. 7.5 Puerto Vallarta , JAL. ,48390, Mexico.

Disclaimers
uTry.it hotel reviews are solely based on our experience at each hotel or resort we visit.   They were just our opinions. Unless otherwise stated, uTry.it and its owner were not compensated in any way to stay at these hotels nor to write reviews.  We have no control over your lodging experience at any given hotel. Your experience will depend on the staff working that evening, the time of day, the cycles of the moon and many other things beyond our powers to influence.