Mango Coconut Milk Rolls

This post is long, long overdue.  I meant to share it as an immediate follow-up to the Creamy Mango Coconut Spread I posted weeks back, but life in the past month really hit me like a bus and squeezed out every last little minute that could have been spent baking or blogging.  Luckily, I just managed to snag a bit of downtime (which really shouldn’t be downtime, as I still have a lot of other things waiting to be done) to get back to the unfinished WordPress draft that has been hanging around for so long with the other bazillion tabs that have collected on my browser.

Chinese Red Date Soup Dumplings

Happy Chinese New Year, year of the rooster!  Just like last year when I made Dumpling Candies, this year I am again featuring a sweet spin-off on dumplings!  One of my favorite types of dumplings is the soup dumpling, or guantang bao, which is filled with a hot, savory soup and yummy meat filling.  I didn’t grow up eating it often, so the idea of somehow wrapping soup inside of a steamable bun that would hold its shape has always seemed extra fascinating to me.

Chestnut Glutinous Rice Cake Waffles

Back with another feat of the mini waffle maker!  Aahhh, I love it so much!!!  My year is definitely starting off on a good note.

This time I’ve made these amazing chestnut glutinous rice cake waffles that are inspired by a favorite Chinese dessert of mine, baked sticky rice cake.  From the outside, baked sticky rice cake is golden brown and appears like any other cake baked in an oven (just as these waffles look like any ordinary waffles).  But once cut into, the inside is not fluffy and spongy, but delectably sticky and gummy.

Dumpling Candies for Chinese New Year

It’s almost Chinese New Year, the year of the monkey!  Dumplings are one of my favorite Chinese New Year foods, and one of my favorite Chinese foods in general.  So, to celebrate this special holiday, I made some super cute candies that look just like a mini version of the actual thing.