Japanese Knotweed Oatmeal Squares ｜日本虎杖麥皮方塊

Japanese knotweed comes out from late April to early May.  The freshly sprouted stems are tender and juicy.  However, the stems will soon become too fibery and woody, and no longer suitable for consumption.  Look for knotweed that is less than a foot long when picking.  They generally like to grow near water, but I have seen them growing at roadsides.  

Knotweed has a tangy flavour, and it break down easily after boiling.  It makes a very pleasant sweet and sour sauce with chocolate.  To give it some texture, I thickened the sauce with some cornstarch.  However, it can be omitted if you are using more chocolate instead.

Japanese Knotweed Oatmeal Squares

日本虎杖麥皮方塊

Knotweed Filling Ingredients:

5-6 pcs Japanese Knotweed, about 1.5 cups

100 gram Chocolate Bar, semi-sweet

1 cup Brown Sugar

1 cup Water

pinch of Sea Salt

Cornstarch Slurry (2 tablespoons Cornstarch + 2 tablespoons Water)

Oatmeal Ingredients:

3 cups Whole Oats

1.5 cups All Purpose Flour

2 cups Butter

1.5 cups Brown Sugar

pinch of Salt

虎杖餡材料：

5-6 支  虎杖，若1.5杯

100 克  巧克力，半甜

1 杯  啡糖

1 杯  水

少撮  海鹽

粟米粉 (2湯匙 粟米粉 ＋2 湯匙 水) 

麥皮材料：

3 杯  麥皮

1.5 杯  麵粉

2 杯  牛油

1.5 杯 啡糖

少撮  鹽

DIRECTION 做法:

1. Cut the knotweed into small rounds and add them into a small pot.  Add brown sugar, water, and salt from the filling ingredients.  Bring it to a boil, and continue to boil until the knotweed has totally softened and can be broken apart easily.

1. 虎杖切小粒並放入小鍋內。鍋內加入餡料材料的啡糖、水和鹽。把虎杖煮至完全軟身。

2. Reduce the heat to medium.  Add the chocolate and stir until it is totally melted.  Add cornstarch slurry; consistently stir until the filling thickens.  It will take only about 10 seconds.  Quickly remove the pan from the heat; set it aside.

2. 把火調低至中火。加入巧克力並攪拌至完全溶掉。下粟粉水，不停攪動直至餡料變杰身；若10秒。迅速離火。

3. In a large bowl, combine all the oatmeal ingredients.  Mix together by hand until the mixture becomes crumbly.

3. 在一只大碗內，加入所有麥皮材料；用手拌勻。

4. Line a deep baking tray with parchment paper.  Add half the amount of the oatmeal and spread it evenly.  Then, add and spread the knotweed filling.  Cover the filling with the rest of the oatmeal filling.  Gently press down the top with hand.

4. 焗盤內舖上焗紙，倒入一半麥皮材料，填平。平均倒入虎杖餡料，再舖上剩餘麥皮材料。用手把其稍為壓平。

5. Bake it in the pre-heated oven at 360F for 25 minutes and until the oatmeal is golden.

5. 放入已預熱至360F焗爐，焗若25分鐘和至麥皮表面至金黃。

6. Remove it from the oven.  Cut it into equal portions when hot. 

6. 從焗爐取出，趁熱分件。

Chocolate Cookie Pie | 巧克力曲奇派

I made this pie as a Valentine's surprise for my husband and my son.  This dessert looks so impressive and it is easy to make.  Basically, you just need to mix all ingredients together and pour the mixture into a big pan.  It is even more convenient than making cookies.

You can substitute the cashews for any types of nuts or seeds you enjoy, or go without them.  When the pie comes out from the oven, it will feel relatively soft, but it will firm up when it cools.

One thing I like about this pie is that it has the crispy cookie texture for the topping but it contains a cake texture underneath.

I hope you will enjoy this recipe.  Happy Valentine's Day.

Chocolate Cookie Pie | 巧克力曲奇派

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup Butter, softened

1 cup Brown Sugar

2 Eggs

2 tablespoons Vanilla Extract

2 cups All Purpose Flour

1 cup Whole Wheat Flour

1/2 cup Raw Cashews

1 cup Chocolate Chips, semi-sweet

2 tablespoons Baking Powder

pinch of Sea Salt

材料：

1 杯  牛油，放軟

1 杯  黃糖

2 隻  雞蛋

2 湯匙  雲呢拿香油

2 杯  多用途麵粉

1 杯  全麥麵粉

1/2 杯  生腰果

1 杯  巧克力粒

2 湯匙  泡打粉

小撮海鹽

DIRECTION:

1. Beat the butter, brown sugar, and salt together until well incorporated.

2. Add eggs, vanilla extract; mix well.

3. Add the remaining ingredients into the bowl.  Mix and form it into a dough.

4. Transfer the dough into a heat-proof container and flatten the dough with a spatula.

5. Bake it at 350F for about 25-30 minutes, or until it is golden brown and crispy.

One thing to note about this recipe is that the baking time can be 10-20 minutes different depending on the thickness of the dough.  I flattened my dough into 2 cm thick and it took me 30 minutes baking time.

做法：

1. 把牛油、糖和鹽加入大碗；用攪拌器拌勻。

2. 加入雞蛋和雲呢拿油；拌勻。

3. 加入剩餘材料；拌勻並捏成麵糰。

4. 糰糰放入派盤壓平。

5. 用350F焗若25-30分鐘，或至表面金黃。

注意因麵糰厚度，烤焗時間可有10-20分鐘差異。我用了30分鐘焗了我派；麵糰是2cm厚。

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies ｜巧克力裂紋曲奇

One of the best parts about Christmas is that we can go Christmas tree hunting.  It is a tradition for my husband's side of the family.  Usually in early December, the whole family including lots of Uncles, Aunts, and cousins will go to a tree farm far outside town to look for a perfect pine tree for the merry season.

According to the tradition, we need to have our picks disapproved by the others a few times before deciding on our final tree.  Sometimes it is funny to see them find a tree they really like but they "need to" give up and move on.  Of course, we always go back to cut the tree we like at the end.

Ethan always remembers to bring his toy tool set to "help" everyone cut down the trees and "fix" the tree stumps.

Then the staff in the tree farm will put the tree in a machine to shake out most of the pine cones and dead needles, and then wrap the tree in a net for people to bring home.

My husband and I didn't get a real pine tree.  We have a beautiful artificial one we can use every year.  But we do enjoy joining the family to look for theirs.  My in-laws love spruce pine and they always like to get one that has more space among the branches to fit all their ornaments.

After tying up their tree to the car, we will sit around the wood fire, sharing hot cocoa and some cookies.  This year, I brought these chocolate crinkle cookies there and everyone loved them.  Instead of using butter, I used coconut oil in this recipe.  Not because I suddenly became health conscious, it's just because I have lot of it in my cupboard and I need to clear some out.  However, coconut oil  does make the cookies taste more soft and delicate and emphasizes the cocoa flavour.

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies ｜巧克力裂紋曲奇

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups All Purpose Flour

1 cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

2 cups Sugar

1/2 cup Coconut Oil

4 Eggs

1 tablespoon Vanilla Extract

2 teaspoons Baking Powder

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1/2 cup Confectioners' Sugar (for dusting)

材料：

2 杯  多用途麵粉

1 杯  巧克力粉，無糖

2 杯  糖

1/2 杯  椰油

4 隻  雞蛋

1 湯匙  雲呢拿香油

2 茶匙  泡打粉

1/2 茶匙  鹽

1/2 糖粉 （裝飾用）

DIRECTION:

1. Whisk the eggs and melted coconut oil together.

1. 攪打蛋至打勻；拌入椰油。

2. Add vanilla; mix well.

2. 下雲呢拿油；拌勻。

3. Add sugar and salt.  Mix until it is totally incorporated.

3. 下糖和鹽；拌勻至無顆粒。

4. Add flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder.  Gently mix everything together until the mixture becomes similar to mashed potato.

4. 下麵粉、巧克力粉和泡打粉。拌勻至其接近薯蓉的質地。

You can refrigerate the batter for later use or work on it immediately.

You may see there are some white dots in the photo here.  That is from the coconut oil.

如選擇稍後才焗曲奇，可把麵糰包好放入雪櫃。

5. Scoop equal portions on the parchment paper, and gently press down each portion with a spoon.

6. Bake them in the pre-heated oven at 360 F for 10 minutes.  Remove them out of the oven and allow them to cool completely before moving them.

5. 用大匙把麵糰分成小份；放到舖上焗紙的焗盤上。用匙輕壓平麵糰。

6. 放入預熱焗爐。以 360F 焗若10分鐘。將其放涼。

7. Dust them with icing sugar as desired.

Keep them in an air-tight container and enjoy them within three days.

7. 灑上糖粉。

把曲奇存放在密封器皿內並在三日內食用。

Orange Chocolate Chips Yogurt Ice Cream | 香橙粒粒朱古力乳酪雪糕

It's another real food my son happily embraces when the warmer weather sets in.  He was quite amazed by the fact that he could actually make his own ice cream at home manually (and of course, is delighted to discover those chocolate chips in the ice cream).

Orange Chocolate Chips Yogurt Ice Cream

香橙粒粒朱古力乳酪雪糕

Ingredients:

2 cups Plain Greek Yogurt

1 Orange of zest (about 1 tablespoon)

1 Orange of juice (about 1/3 cup)

1/3 cup Dark Chocolate Chips

3 tablespoons Agave Syrup

材料：

2 杯   原味希臘乳酪

1 橙皮 (約1湯匙)

1 橙汁 (約1/3杯)

1/3 杯   黑朱古力粒

3 湯匙   龍舌蘭蜜

DIRECTION:

Chocolate and Banana Muffin ｜ 巧克力香蕉小蛋糕

One way to teach a child to value food is to involve them in cooking.  Perhaps I'm a cooking enthusiast, my son more or less inherits some of my genes in this way.  He loves to help around the kitchen, from breakfast to dinner.  If the television isn't on to distract him, he will often peek in to the kitchen and ask if he can help when I am cooking.  I've seen his interest in cooking grow through time.

I still remember my son used to love to smack things around the house with his toy hammer when he was so little.  He would crawl around the house and smack the floor, walls, or cupboard.  So on his 2nd birthday, I decided to make a non-baked chocolate cake for him and assigned him to smash the cookies crumbs for the ingredients.  He happily did his job for a good 10 minutes with lots of laugher with me in the kitchen.  It was the first time we became a team.

Now my son is five years old.  He is capable of a lot more cooking skills that he could actually cook a simple meal for himself, and making pancakes and muffins are two of the things he enjoys most, including his pleas to lick the bowl (by the way, I never let him to lick the batter since I am very conscious of salmonella or other similar risks).

The recipe below was made by my son and the muffins came out beautifully.  I hope you will also enjoy the recipe.

Chocolate and Banana Muffin

Ingredients:

1 Banana, ripe

2.5 cups Whole Wheat Flour

60 gram Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips

A handful of Oats

1/3 cup Milk

1/2 cup Sugar

2 tablespoons Baking Powder

1/8 teaspoon Sea Salt

1/3 cup Brown Butter

1 tablespoon Vanilla Extract

3 Eggs

DIRECTION：

1. In a mixing bowl, mash the banana with a fork until the banana is fine.

2. Whisk in eggs, milk, vanilla, and butter.  Then mix in the rest of the ingredients except chocolate.

3. Fill each muffin paper 1/4 full of batter.  Place a piece of chocolate onto the centre, and the fill up the muffin paper to eighty percent full.

4. Sprinkle the top with oats.  Bake them in a pre-heated oven at 350F for 12 minutes.