Without a drop of oil/a bit of fat added, these old-styled Chinese egg cakes are light, healthy and just delicious. They also bring back a lot of childhood memory. At that time, cakes were a novelty because nobody owned an oven to make them at home. They were only available at a few shops in the town. Everyday my sister and I could not wait for our mum coming back home from work because we could always happily find these yummy cakes in her purse. I tweaked the traditional recipe by adding dried cranberry and a handful of nuts.

Makes 12 egg cakes,

• 75g                   cake flour 低筋面粉 (all-purpose or plain flour works it just doesn’t produce a cupcake as soft as cake flour)
• 3                        large eggs   room temperature
• 60g                    caster sugar白砂糖
• 2 tablespoons  dried cranberry蔓越莓干
• 1 tablespoon    corn flour生粉
• 1 tablespoon     pine nuts or sunflower nuts （optional）松子或瓜子仁

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170℃ or340°F.  Line a cupcake/muffin pan with cupcake liners.
2. Dust dried cranberry with corn flour.
3. Place eggs into a large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to whisk the eggs on medium speed (30 seconds). Gradually add into sugar and beat on high speed until the eggs have tripled in volume. This takes about 8-10 minutes. This is the most important step of the whole process. You will need beat the eggs until really light, silky and white without bubbles at all.
4. Sift flour into the beaten eggs. Gently fold flour in until you can’t see flour anymore, then fold in dried cranberry.
5. Now pour the batter into a lined cupcake pan. I use a level ice cream scoop for even measuring. Fill liners to about 2/3 full (do not over-fill). Sprinkle with  8-10 pine nuts. Place the cupcake pan into the middle rack of the oven. Bake for 20 minutes. You can insert a toothpick into the center of the cake. The cupcake is done if the toothpick comes out clean.
6. Remove the pan from oven and place it on the cooling rack for about 10 minutes.

I’ve made these Chinese cookies trying to get my 5-year-old daughter to continue taking the crunchy and delicious peanuts at home. She has recently refused to take peanuts or any nuts after being brainwashed at school. “Nuts free” – you can’t get away with the slogan whenever you step in the classroom/campus (which is totally understandable). What a pity if you would have to miss these beautiful nuts because they are enriched with so many health-benefiting nutrients essential for optimum health and wellness.

Makes 60 pieces   

Recipe adapted from Mykitchen101

•  350g                    raw blanched peanuts， 去皮生花生
• 300g                     all purpose flour， 中筋面粉
• 100g                    icing sugar， 糖粉
• 1/4 teaspoon     salt
• 150g                     peanut oil (or any cooking oil)

 For egg yolk wash

• 1 egg yolk            room temperature
• ½ tablespoon     water in room temperature
• 3 tablespoons     blanched peanuts, halved (for decoration)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170℃. Spread the blanched peanuts in a baking tray and bake for about 15 minutes or till golden brown. Set aside to cool. Use a food processor to process into finely ground peanut. Place it in a mixing bowl.
2. Combine plain flour, icing sugar and salt in another mixing bowl and sieve into ground peanut and mix well.
3. Add into oil. Use your hand to mix them well to make a dough.
4. Preheat the oven to 170℃. Take out 15g of dough, use your two palms to press it firmly and shape gently into a ball then place it on a lined baking tray. Do the same with rest of the dough. Use your index finger to gently press down the ball to create a ‘well’.
5. Mix together water and egg yolk. Brush the dough top with some egg yolk wash. Place halved-peanut on the top.
6. Place the baking tray in the middle deck of the oven. Bake at 170℃ for 20 minutes or till they become golden brown. Cool completely on a cooling rack before enjoying.

These dumplings are so easy. You don’t even need to fold them.

Yields about 30-35 sticky rice Siu Mai

Fillings

• 150g                          white glutinous (sticky) rice白糯米, cooked
• 100g                          bamboo shoots, minced， 冬笋切小丁
• 200g                           ham, ground pork or any cured meat, minced and cooked,  火腿、腊肉、腊肠以及猪肉馅任何一种，剁碎

• 80g                          dried shiitake mushroom (soaked with hot water), 香菇泡发再切碎
• 80g                            egg skin, 蛋皮 (optional), minced
• 10g                             ginger, minced, 姜末
• 15g                              spring onions, minced, 香葱切碎
• 2 tablespoons          cooking oil
• ½ teaspoon             salt
• 1 teaspoon                 light soy sauce生抽酱油
• 1 teaspoon                 sesame oil

Wrappers

• 300g    plain flour or all purpose flour  中筋面粉
• 90g     hot water (in 80℃)
• 90g     water in room temperature

Method 

1. Soak the glutinous rice with clean water for 2-3 hours. Move out and drain. Place parchment paper in a steamer basket, transfer rice into the basket and steam for around 20 minutes until the rice is almost transparent. Rinse the cooked rice in a running water to cool it off. This process also helps keep the rice from sticking to each other.
2. While rice is steaming, start making wrappers. Place the plain four in a mixing bowl, gradually add 90g hot water and mix by using chopsticks. Then add the 90g room temperature water, use your hand to mix the dough well. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes till it becomes smooth. Cover the mixing bowl with cling film or a plastic bag. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
3. Now continue working on the fillings. Heat up the cooking oil on a wok or a pan, over medium heat, fry the ginger for one minute, add any of your meat options (ham, ground pork or cured meat) and cook for another 1 minute. Add bamboo shoots and cook for 2 more minutes. Add into salt, soy sauce and sesame oil. Now place the sticky rice in the wok and mix well. Stir well to keep the rice from sticking to the bottom of the wok. Add spring onions right before you turn off the heat. Does it look like we are making ‘fried rice’? Yes, it does! Remove the ‘fried rice’ from wok and place it in a bowl.
4. Now let’s make the wrappers. Divide the dough into 3 equal pieces. Pick one piece and cut it into 10-12 pieces. Simply use your hand to pick up each piece and pound in into the floured surface to make a small disc. Then use a rolling pin to smooth out each disc until it’s about 10cm in diameter with edges thinner than the center.
5. Now let’s assemble. Place 1 tablespoon of the fillings in the center of a wrapper. Use your big thumb to press down the filling. Gather up the wrapper around the filling, pleating it as you go to form an open-topped pouch. Carefully squeeze the sides of the dumpling about half way up to give the dumpling a ‘waist’. Repeat with the remaining dumplings.
6. Pour enough water into a steamer and bring to a boil. Place the parchment paper in the steamer basket. Place as many dumplings as you can. Leave a little space between the dumplings. Steam over high heat for about 10-15 minutes. Serve with soy sauce and/or chili oil.