I started making edible crystals last summer, when my friend Jacky developed an obsession with it after he got placed in some edible crystal algorithm on TikTok. When you’re stuck in a specific niche algorithm on a social media app, it makes something feel so much more commonplace than it really is. It seemed like everyone was able to easily access these crunchy (very ASMR-friendly) candies but in reality it was actually quite difficult to source locally. So I made some, recorded a video of the process, got Jacky to record some very satisfying crunching (or cronching) sound clips of himself biting into these candy gems, and shared the process in this Instagram Reel. Apparently being fascinated by edible crystals is not just a common interest between Jacky and myself, because so many of you wanted to make them too. Making edible crystals is a multi-day process but trust me, it’s a very hands-off process and the most important ingredient is just patience.

Edible crystals, also known as traditional Japanese confectionary ‘kohakutou,’ is a vegan candy made of agar agar. Agar agar is a thickener derived from seaweed — it’s a great alternative to gelatin and I like using it to set jellies and puddings… and now edible crystals! What makes edible crystals special and different from regular candy is that they have a thin shell with a firm jelly-like texture on the inside. If you grew up in a Chinese household, I would say the jelly texture of the candy is really similar one of my favourite candies I ate growing up, Smith’s Melon Candy.

Edible crystals only require four ingredients: sugar, agar agar, water, and your flavouring of choice. First, the agar agar is combined with water (much like blooming gelatin in water), and is brought up to a boil. Sugar and candy flavouring is then added to form a thick, translucent mixture. While the candy mixture is still hot, it gets poured into a heatproof dish. Before the candy mixture sets, food colouring (you can use as many colours as you like) is swirled in to create beautiful gradients that resemble real gemstones. Unlike gelatin, agar agar sets relatively quickly at room temperature so you can start carving the gemstones soon after you make the mixture. The candy mixture sets in about 15 – 20 minutes in the refrigerator and is ready to carving immediately after. Carving each individual crystal is by far my favourite part of the process. Using a small knife, remove small pieces from the edges of a crystal. There is no real technique to it — all gemstones are uniquely shaped and no matter how you carve it, it will turn out beautiful!

After all the crystals have been carved, it is simply a waiting game. On the first day, the candies are sticky to the touch and see through. Place the carved crystals on a parchment-lined baking sheet or plate, leaving a few centimetres between each candy. Loosely cover the crystals, it is important to not place plastic wrap directly onto the candies. I used a second baking sheeting to cover the pan of candies, leaving a small gap between the two baking sheets so the candies are able to dry. A thin crust will start forming on the second and third day, and this is when I like to flip each crystal over so the other side has a chance to form an even crust. The crystal will become less translucent and vibrant during the drying process. On day four and five, an even crust will have formed on all surfaces of the crystal. The crystals are ready to be enjoyed now but personally I found letting the crystals dry for one full week to created the best texture. Using edible gold paint and gold leaf to decorate the crystals is optional, but make the crystals even more jewel-like! Crystal candies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks at this point.

Here is a separate batch with a different colour palette. I omitted edible gold paint and gold leaf on these ones, but they are just as beautiful. The photos show the crystals on the first day and on the fifth day after drying:

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Edible Crystals (Kohakutou)

Edible crystals, or kohakutou, is a Japanese candy made from agar agar. Besides looking like real jewels, what makes these crystal candies so special is the texture — they have a crisp exterior shell while the interior of the candies are soft and jelly-like. The candies are a great blank canvas for any flavouring or colours of your choice. Because the base of these gummies is agar agar, these edible crystals are vegan!

Servings 50 pieces

Author Amy

Ingredients

• 350 ml (1 1/2 cups) cold water
• 10 g agar agar powder
• 550 g (2 3/4 cups) granulated sugar
• 1/4 tsp candy flavouring
• Several drops of food colouring

Instructions

• Lightly grease a 8 x 8 square baking pan. Set aside.
• Fill a medium-sized pot with cold water and add agar agar powder to the water. Allow the agar agar powder to absorb the water for 5 minutes.
• While whisking, bring the mixture to a simmer and cook over medium-low heat until all the agar agar powder has dissolved, about 3 minutes.
• Add granulated sugar and mix until all the sugar has dissolved. The mixture will be thick at this point. Add flavouring of choice.
• Pour the sugar mixture into prepared baking pan.
• Before the mixture sets, add a few drops of food colouring throughout the mixture, spacing out the food colouring. Using a butter knife or a spoon, run it through the mixture to gently swirl the colours into the sugar mixture.
• Transfer the pan to the refrigerator. Allow candy mixture to chill until it has fully set, at least one hour.
• Once mixture has set, run a sharp knife around the edges of the pan to loosen the candy. The candy should come out as one sheet.
• Using the same knife, cut the sheet of candy into strips (I did 10) then cut each strip into 5 – 6 rectangular pieces. Shape each piece of candy by cutting off the straight edges at an angle.
• Place the crystal candies onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet or large plate. Loosely cover the cookie sheet (without touching the top of each candy) and let dry at room temperature for 5 days (flipping the candies halfway through) until a hard crust forms on the outside. I like using a second cookie sheet to cover the first one while leaving a crack for air to get inside.
• Optional: Using a small paint brush, brush edible gold paint along the edges of the candies and add edible gold leaf on the last day of the candy drying process.

The post Edible Crystals (Kohakutou) appeared first on Constellation Inspiration.

[Edit: I drafted this post back in the beginning of 2022 (!!) and forgot to publish it. So I have had my taiyaki pan for quite some time now and I still love it!]

A taiyaki pan has been on my to-buy list for the longest time. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted a piece of bakeware for such a long time without acting on it. But that has recently changed and I’m now a (very) proud owner of a taiyaki pan. Since getting it two weeks ago, I’ve made about 8 – 10 batches of taiyaki in attempts to perfect my ideal taiyaki batter. I’ve been working on a classic taiyaki recipe and a mochi one and I must tell you that the recipe development process has been delicious and has brought me so much joy. The joy definitely is worth more than the $25 I spent on the pan itself.

What is taiyaki?
If you’re not familiar with taiyaki, I’m here to tell you that once you’ve had it, you will never pass up the opportunity to get a fish-shaped waffle. Despite being Japanese in origin, I had my fair share of taiyaki growing up. A taiyaki is a fish-shaped waffle (or cake… depending on who you ask) that’s usually filled with sweetened red beans, though custard, cheese, and sweet potato fillings are also commonly found. The taiyaki gets its name from tai, which is a sea bream fish which its shape resembles. Tai fish are considered a symbol of luck and fortune in Japan, and at a time was a fish enjoyed exclusively by the higher classes or on special occasions due to its high price point. The owner of the store that created the first taiyaki, decided to shape their waffles into tai fish so ordinary people can get a taste of the expensive fish at a lower price. Since it’s invention, the taiyaki has evolved and you can now find many variations of this fish-shaped treat. Besides the classic, I love taiyaki made with croissant dough. The layers of buttery pastry with pearl sugar caramelizes so beautifully in the pan.

A classic taiyaki batter is made with either all-purpose flour or cake flour, much like a classic pancake batter. I’m sure if you wanted to use your true and tried pancake recipe in the taiyaki pan, it would make a wonderful fish waffle.You can use whatever filling you like because this batter recipe is a great blank canvas. I chose to use cookie butter because a) cookie butter and b) I had an impulse buy moment at the store and bought way too many jars. The cookie butter is actually a perfect filling for taiyaki — it’s sweet, has a great consistency, and most importantly tastes like nostalgia, which is exactly what I want to experience when eating a taiyaki.

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Cookie Butter Taiyaki Waffles

A taiyaki is a fish-shaped waffle that's usually filled with sweetened red beans, though custard, cheese, and sweet potato fillings are also commonly found. Cookie butter is actually a perfect filling for taiyaki — it's sweet, has a great consistency, and most importantly tastes like nostalgia, which is exactly what I want to experience when eating a taiyaki.

Author Amy

Ingredients

Taiyaki Batter

• 120 g (1 cup) all-purpose flour
• 24 g (3 tbsp) cornstarch
• 26 g (2 tbsp) granulated sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 175 ml 3/4 cup whole milk
• 1 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla

Filling

• 5 tbsp cookie butter

Instructions

• In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
• In a large measuring cup, whisk together milk, eggs, and vanilla.
• Add the wet ingredients to the bowl of dry ingredients. Mix until no streaks of flour remain.
• Heat up taiyaki pan over medium heat. Once both side of the pan is hot, grease the inside of the pan with vegetable oil.
• Pour batter into one side of the taiyaki pan until the 3/4 full. Add one table spoonful of cookie butter to the centre (the "belly" of the fish) and cover the filling with a bit more batter. Close the taiyaki pan and flip it, so the batter inside covers the entire pan.
• Cook taiyaki on each side over medium heat for about 3 minutes, until it is golden and releases from the pan easily. If taiyaki is sticking to the pan, cook the taiyaki on the same side for an addition 30 seconds – 1 minute.
• Remove from pan and transfer to cooling rack. Repeat will remaining batter and filling.
• Taiyaki are best enjoyed right away. The waffles can also be reheated in an airfryer or oven.

The post Cookie Butter Taiyaki (Fish-Shaped Waffle) appeared first on Constellation Inspiration.

I started making this cherry blossom jelly cheesecake about three or four years ago. Every year when cherry blossoms start blooming, I would revisit the idea of this cheesecake but it never turns out perfect enough for me to share the recipe. I share a photo of each year’s version on Instagram but it never successfully becomes its own blog post. After a few years of less-than-perfect cherry blossom cheesecake (often due to a murky jelly layer), I’m happy to report back that we did it. We figured out why the cheesecake never sets firm enough (too much whipped cream), why the jelly would turn murky (the cheesecake layer wasn’t set yet), and cherry blossoms wouldn’t stand out in the jelly (the jelly was too red). Besides the many trials and tribulations (thought they were tasty ones), this no-bake cheesecake is actually quite easy to make if you give yourself enough time for each layer to set fully before assembling and serving.

What is a no-bake cheesecake?

As its name suggests, a no-bake cheesecake is a cheesecake that doesn’t have to be baked in the oven. Traditional cheesecakes have eggs in the batter which would help the cake set during the baking process. No-bake cheesecakes in the other hand relies on being chilled to help it become a firm, sliceable cake. The first few versions of this cake only had whipped cream, cream, cheese, and sugar as the main components, and it heavily relied on the whipped cream for its structure. Often times, the cheesecake would still not be stiff enough to create a clean slice that would hold its shape on its own. After adding the jelly layer, the weight of the jelly would cause the cheesecake layer to squish out. After the first few cakes, I started adding a bit of gelatin to the cheesecake layer, which helped the whipped cream to create a sturdy (but still fluffy and cloud-like!) texture. Compared to traditional baked cheesecakes, no-bake cheesecakes are lighter and smoother, almost like a mousse in texture. Similar to baked cheesecakes, this no-bake version also has cookie-based crust. Instead of the traditional graham cookie crust, I opted for speculoos cookies, which added a nice sweetness and a hint of spice to the cake. You can use whatever cookie you like.

Where can I find edible cherry blossoms?

Cherry blossoms have a subtle sweetness but do not have too much of a distinct flavour like other flowers. Cherry blossoms are edible, but you want to make sure there are no pesticides on the flowers you choose to use for baking and desserts. My favourite way to incorporate cherry blossoms into cakes and cookies is to use cherry blossom tea or pickled cherry blossom flowers from my local Japanese market. The latter is usually pickled in salt, so I would recommend rinsing the flowers in warm water to get rid of some of the salt before adding it to baking. Letting the flowers sit in warm water will also help the flowers ‘blossom’ and look fuller in the jelly layer of the cheesecake.

Do I pour the jelly directly onto the cake?

The jelly layer can be made with a store-bought jello mix but I wanted to be able to control the colour of the jelly, to make sure it’s not too dark and the cherry blossom flowers will still be apparent in the layer. The jelly layer is a simple mix of gelatin, sugar, water, and flavouring (I chose peach!). It is important to allow the gelatin to bloom in a bit of cold water before adding hot water and sugar to it — the gelatin is more likely to clump up if it is mixed directly into a large amount of hot liquid. Once the jelly mixture has been made, it is crucial that we allow the mixture to return to room temperature. If we add a hot or even warm jelly mixture to the top of the set cheesecake, it will cause the cheesecake to start melting into the jelly layer, creating a murky jelly. Through the many cheesecake tests, I also found that it’s equally important to gently ladle in the jelly mixture because pouring the jelly mixture, can easily break the surface of the cheesecake and cause the centre of the cheesecake to start melting into the jelly. Before returning the cheesecake with the jelly layer to the refrigerator to chill, add the cherry blossom flowers. I have tried making this jelly layer with agar agar instead of gelatin, and it was not as succesfully as using the latter. Because agar agar sets at room temperature, the agar agar jelly would start to set before all the flowers were added.

How long does the cheesecake need to be in the fridge?

The jelly cheesecake can be served once the jelly layer has set, which takes around 4 – 5 hours in the refrigerator, but I like to let the cheesecake set overnight to make sure everything is sturdy enough to be sliced. I’ve cut into many cheesecakes too early and regretted it!

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No-Bake Cherry Blossom Jelly Cheesecake

A no-bake cherry blossom cheesecake to celebrate spring's most beautiful flower! A light and smooth cheesecake sits on top of a speculoos cookie crust. The highlight of this cheesecake is the jelly layer, which is studded with cherry blossom petals.

Servings 6 inch cake

Author Amy

Ingredients

Speculoos Crust Layer

• 185 g (15 cookies) speculoos cookies
• 1/2 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 50 g unsalted butter melted

No Bake Cheesecake Layer

• 150 ml heavy whipping cream
• 250 g (1 block) full-fat cream cheese room temperature
• 80 g (2/3 cup) powdered sugar
• 6 g (1 envelope) unflavoured gelatin
• 40 ml water
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp salt

Cherry Blossom Jelly Layer

• 6 g (1 envelope) unflavoured gelatin
• 315 ml water divided
• 100 g (1/2 cup) granulated sugar
• Few drops red food colouring
• Few drops flavouring of choice
• 10 – 15 cherry blossoms

Instructions

Prep

• Optional: create a 6-inch cake ring with a sheet of acetate to line the inside of a 6-inch spring form cake pan. If omitting acetate, line the inside of the pan with parchment paper.

Speculoos Crust Layer

• In a food processor, blitz speculoos cookies until it reaches a fine crumb. Some larger pieces are okay. Transfer cookie crumbs into a medium bowl.
• Add granulated sugar and salt to cookie crumbs. Mix well.
• Add melted butter and mix until the mixture resembles wet sand.
• Transfer the cookie mixture to the cake pan. Using a spoon, pack the cookie mixture tightly. The tighter it’s packed, the less likely it will fall apart when cutting the cheesecake.
• Transfer the cake pan to the freezer to chill while you make the cheesecake layer.

No Bake Cheesecake Layer

• Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip heavy whipping cream on medium-high speed until it reaches stiff peaks, about 3 – 4 minutes. Set aside.
• Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat cream cheese on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1 – 2 minutes.
• Add powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt to the cream cheese mixture and mix until very smooth.
• In a small bowl, add water and gelatin. Allow the gelatin to bloom for 5 minutes. It will become a thick gel. Microwave for 30 – 45 vseconds and give it a stir until the gel becomes a clear liquid.
• Add gelatin mixture to the cream cheese mixture and mix well.
• Gently fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture without deflating the whipped cream. This takes several turns with your rubber spatula.
• Remove the cake pan from the freezer and and spread filling into crust. Use an offset spatula to smooth down the top as much as you can.
• Cover the top of the cake pan with plastic wrap and allow it to chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours.

Cherry Blossom Jelly Layer

• Add a large measuring cup, combine gelatin and 1/3 cup of room temperature water. Allow gelatin to bloom for 5 minutes.
• Once gelatin as thickened, add 1 cup of hot water to the measuring cup. Stir to until gelatin has dissolved.
• Add sugar, red food colouring, and flavouring of choice. Stir to combine.
• Allow the jelly mixture to return to room temperature before transfering to cake pan.
• Remove chilled cheesecake from refrigerator and take off the plastic wrap.
• Gently ladle the cooled jelly mixture on top of the cheesecake layer.
• Add cherry blossoms to the jelly layer.
• Cover the top of the cake pan with plastic wrap and return cake to the refrigerator to chill overnight.

Serving

• Remove cake from the springform pan. Gently peel away acetate/parchment paper.
• Using a clean sharp knife, cut into slices for serving. Wipe the knife clean between each slice.

The post No-Bake Cherry Blossom Jelly Cheesecake appeared first on Constellation Inspiration.

Cherry blossom season is in full bloom here and I can’t think of a more beautiful time of the year. The soft pink petals flutter in the wind and everything looks so effortlessly romantic. Having a hanami (Japanese for “flower viewing”) picnic under the cherry blossom trees has not become an annual tradition yet, but I’m making more of an effort to make bento boxes filled with springtime sweets and sakura snacks for enjoying under the blossoms. People in Japan take their hanami bentos very seriously but for my first all-homemade bento, I thought I would start with something for manageable and least likely to cause any mental breakdowns. I’ve only had one and a half breakdowns so far.

The first thing I had to do was get a bento box! I knew I wanted a multi-layer one but didn’t expect to find most perfect four-tiered Rilakkuma box at the mall. It has three deep compartments and one shallow one, which was perfect for small sweets and cookies. It also came with matching utensils. I can’t find the exact one I used but these San-X or pastel-coloured lunch boxes would be just as cute. After finding the box, it was time to design the menu:

• First savoury layer: sakura onigiri
• Second savoury layer: sakura inari sausage octopus
• Third sweet layer: hanami dango
• Final sweet later: assorted butter cookies

Creating the first layer: sakura onigiri

One of my favourite snacks of all time: onigiri. Onigiri are Japanese rice balls made of steamed rice that have been compressed into a rounded triangular shape that are usually wrapped in a nori seaweed sheet. I love plain onigiri, I love ones filled with tuna, and I especially love ones filled with a piece of shrimp tempura. These sakura onigiri are coloured pink with Japanese plum rice seasoning (I found this at my local Japanese market) and is speckled with ebi furikake throughout. I used a strip of nori for each onigiri because I didn’t want a full sheet of seaweed to hide the beautiful pink rice. The pink plum powder is very easy to use. The instructions on the back of the packaging said to use 1 tablespoon of plum powder for every 320g of cooked rice. After adding the plum powder to the warm rice, I then added a generous sprinkle of furikake to the rice and mixed until everything was distributed. Onigiri can be formed with just your hands (wetting hands with water will prevent the rice from sticking to your fingers!) but you can also use an onigiri mold.

Creating the second layer: sakura inari & sausage octopus

Inari is a traditional sushi made with a vinegared rice ball tucked inside a seasoned deep-fried tofu pocket. Inari is quite common at sushi restaurants and is one of the easiest sushi dishes to make at home. Most Japanese grocery stores will have packets of the sweet and salty tofu pockets in the refrigerated section of the store and some will even come with the vinegar seasoning for the rice. To make the inari pockets more festive, I topped each one with a salted cherry blossom flower.

Sausage octopus is something I’ve always loved (despite not being something I’ve grown up eating), so I knew it had to go in my sakura bento box. I used vegetarian sausages but you can use your favourite kind. First, cut each sausage in half. Then cut an ‘X’ halfway down the sausage, this will create the first four ‘legs.’ Rotate the sausage and carefully cut another ‘X’ between the slits. In a frying pan, heat a little bit of oil and cook sausages on medium heat. The octopus legs will start to flare outwards as it begins to cook. Once thoroughly cooked, remove the sausages from the heat and pack in the lunch box.

Creating the third layer: hanami dango

If you like mochi, you will love dango! Hanami dango, as its’ name suggests, is dango that is enjoyed during cherry blossom season. It features three chewy, tender rice balls on a stick. Each skewer will have a green rice ball, a white one, and a pink one, in that order. Each colour has a special meaning: the pink to symbolize the cherry blossoms, the white to symbolize the melting snow, and the green represents the green colours that come with spring. I’ve made hanami dango many times using many different recipes, but I’ve recently started incorporate soft tofu into my dango rice dough (thank you for the wonderful tip, Okonomi Kitchen!) and it’s my favourite version yet. You can find the updated hanami recipe dango here.

Hanami dango can also be purchased at Japanese grocery stores (when it’s in season) or some Japanese restaurants will offer it a special during this time of year!

Creating the final layer: assorted sakura cookies

For the final sweet layer, I made strawberry, vanilla, and matcha shortbread dough and shaped them three different ways to make three different types of cookies. First, the doughs were rolled out and I used a small round cookie cutter to cut out circles. Once baked, half of the cookies were filled with a matcha cream cheese buttercream. I placed a skewer in the middle and topped each cookie with its corresponding coloured cookie to form a cookie hanami dango skewer.

The next two cookies were variations of checkerboard cookies and layered cookies. Rolled out dough was stacked on top of each other, cut in half, and stacked again. Cookies were baked until golden brown around the edges. You can find a tutorial on how to create checkerboard cookies here. Any type of shortbread or sugar cookie dough (no leaveners) will work with this technique.

Assembling the bento box

Once all the food has been prepared, pack it in the bento box. I like to pack the food items tightly in the box. Not only does this make a more beautiful box, but it also prevents the food from shifting around when be transported. If you are bringing different dipping sauces for items in your bento box, pack it separately in it’s own little container so it doesn’t spill inside the box. Bento boxes are also meant to be eaten at room temperature so keep that in mind when planning your menu!

After I packed all four layers of my bento box and made sure everything is secure, I headed to the park in my neighbourhood that has the best cherry blossoms. It was very busy at the park but we were able to find a shaded spot under a big blossoming tree. The bento box might’ve taken five hours to create and only five minutes for us to consume, it was such a lovely experience to enjoy the blossoms this time of year.

The post Hanami Cherry Blossom Picnic 🌸 appeared first on Constellation Inspiration.

It has been eight years (what?!) since my last trip to San Francisco, but I still remember certain parts of my trip so clearly as if my last trip wasn’t in 2015. I met Michelle of Hummingbird High for the first time on that trip and we bonded over waffles and coffee. Then I tried Tartine’s lemon tart for the first time, which is now my favourite lemon tart of all time. Another standout (of course it’s food related) was going to Craftsman and Wolves and ordering everything in their pastry case with new friends Jenn, Susannah, and Dafna. Everything was great but I was on a mission to try their Rebel Within muffin. Mission accomplished. I’m sure you’ve seen the muffin before — it has become quite a pastry celebrity ever since CaW started making them. From the outside, it may look like a normal savoury muffin but the cheesy muffin studded with green onions and sausage encases the perfectly runny egg in its centre. It’s served with a little vial of tabasco salt on the side. Eater has a great breakdown of this muffin if you want to learn about it. Ever since I had that muffin inside the bakery, I told myself I would try to recreate it at home. I did have one semi-successful attempt a few years ago but then my desire to recreate it and produce a consistent recipe got eclipsed by many failed attempts.

The hardest part about making the Rebel Within is figuring out the timing of the egg so that the whites are cooked but the yolk stays perfectly runny after two rounds of cooking. The egg is first boiled in water and then it gets cooked again when it is placed in the muffin batter and baked. Conceptually, you want to place a very soft boiled egg in the centre of the muffin batter but realistically it is quite difficult to peel the very soft boiled egg. When the egg is barely cooked, it tends to stick to the shell and tear when you remove it. Or the egg whites are still so wobbly that the yolk falls out of the egg. At first I tried a 2.5-minute boiled egg, which was almost impossible to peel. A 3.5-minute boiled egg is still very runny when you place it in the muffin batter but after it is baked in the muffin again, the yolks are firmer than I would like. Which is fine if you prefer more of a medium egg. I found that an egg boiled for 2 minutes and 45 seconds to 3 minutes is perfect. Three minutes and 15 seconds is fine but is pushing it a bit and doesn’t guarantee consistency results every time you cut open the muffin.

Next is the savoury muffin batter. The original Rebel Within has house-made sausage studded throughout the muffin but since I’m not a meaty gal, I omitted the meat in the batter and added more cheese to bump up the flavour and salt content. From Eater’s thorough breakdown, you see that a lot of the moisture comes from creme fraiche, but I found that sour cream works just as well if you aren’t able to find creme fraiche. For the batter, we start off whisking together the usual suspects: all-purpose flour, baking powder and soda, a bit of sugar and salt. Then we add the liquid ingredients which is a mixture of sour cream, eggs, and melted butter. My cheeses of choice are cheddar and parmesan. I love the addition of parmesan and found the muffin to taste a little flat when it is made with just cheddar. Chives are optional but I like the flavour and colour it adds. After you make the batter (which is going to be quite thick!), I transferred it to a piping bag so I can fill the muffin tin more easily. Before assembling the muffin, light dust the soft boiled eggs with a bit of flour — this will help the egg stay in place as well as absorb any excess liquid that tends to gather around the egg in the muffin. Fill the bottom of a large muffin pan or popover pan with a bit of the batter, carefully place the floured egg in the centre and continue to pipe the batter around and on top of the egg. Don’t overfill the muffin tin too much or else the muffin will need more time to bake through and there is increased chance that the egg will overcook. Top with more cheese and then bake. Baking it at 400F gives it great lift and it should be taken out of the oven at the 16 – 17 minute mark. I don’t recommend leaving the muffin in there for more than 18 minutes. If your first batch is a bit overcooked, don’t get discouraged. It took me many tries (and many cartons of eggs) to really figure it out, but I hope this works as a good starting point for you. Enjoy the muffin when it’s fresh —It’s most satisfying when enjoyed warm.

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The Rebel Within Muffin

This is inspired by the famous Rebel Within muffin from Craftsman and Wolves in San Francisco. A savoury muffin studded with cheddar, parmesan and chives encases a beautifully runny egg. The hardest part about making the Rebel Within is figuring out the timing of the egg but it is so satisfying when you cut into it and the yolk oozes out!

Servings 6 large muffins

Author Amy

Ingredients

Soft-Boiled Eggs

• 6 large eggs

Savoury Muffin Batter

• 240 g (2 cups) all-purpose flour
• 39 g (3 tbsp) granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 240 g (1 cup) full-fat sour cream room temperature
• 2 large eggs room temperature
• 57 g (1/4 cup) butter melted
• 3 tbsp milk
• 200 g (2 cups) shredded cheddar cheese
• 100 g (1 cup) shredded parmesan cheese
• 1 tbsp chives finely chopped

Instructions

Soft-Boiled Eggs

• Fill a bowl with warm water and place eggs in the bowl.
• Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Slowly lower the eggs into the boiling water. Set timer for 2 minutes 45 seconds* (See note)
• While eggs are boiling, create an ice bath in a bowl.
• Once timer is up, remove the eggs from the pot and place into the bowl of ice water. This will stop the eggs from cooking further.
• Once eggs are cool enough to touch, very carefully peel the eggs. Gently tap the egg on the counter to crack the shell. Start peeling from the cracks in the wide end of the egg. The hardest section to peel is the narrowest part. If the white sticks to the shell in one spot, try from a different spot. 
• Once all the eggs are peeled, place on a plate and place in the freezer while you make the muffin batter.

Savoury Muffin Batter

• Preheat oven to 400F and grease a large muffin/popover pan. Grease the top of the muffin pan generously. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, whisk together flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together sour cream, eggs, and melted butter, and milk.
• Pour the liquid mixture into the dry mixture, and stir with spatula until ingredients are mostly combined.
• Add 75% of the cheddar cheese, all of the parmesan cheese, and chives and mix until evenly distributed. The batter will be thick.
• Transfer the batter to a piping bag. Pipe a thin later of batter to the bottom of the muffin pan. Place a chilled soft boiled egg in centre. Continue to pipe the batter around and on top of the egg. Be generous when piping batter on top of the egg because the batter will slide off a little as it bakes.
• Top each muffin dome with the reserved cheddar cheese.
• Bake muffins for 16 minutes rotating halfway through the baking time. The tops of the muffins should be golden brown.
• Allow muffins to cool in pan for 5 minutes. As these muffins cool, it will continue to cook the egg. Using an offset spatula or butter knife, carefully go around the sides of the muffin to loosen it from the pan. Once it is no longer sticking to the sides of the pan, remove the muffins.
• Enjoy warm.

Notes

*I found that an egg boiled for 2 minutes and 45 seconds to 3 minutes is perfect. A three minutes and 15 seconds egg is much easier to peel but doesn’t guarantee consistency results every time you cut open the muffin.

The post Recreating The Rebel Within Muffin appeared first on Constellation Inspiration.

I think the best thing about holiday (any holiday really!) baking is the excessive number of cookies it is socially acceptable to make and consume in a short period of time. My favourite part of holiday baking process is the decorating (not the eating!) — I love filling cookies, piping details, and adding gold flakes to anything I can possibly add gold to. During the holidays I like to work with recipes that allow you to make several different types of cookies from one base recipe. For Easter this year, I’m making five different kinds of cookies from a perfect blank canvas shortbread dough. The shortbread recipe is my go-to during the holidays and I like to add seasonal mix-ins or use different cookie cutters depending on the time of year.

After I made my base shortbread dough, I divided the dough into two portions, one to remain as a vanilla dough and the second to become dough for carrot cookies. I used this set of Easter cookie cutters from Williams Sonoma Canada to stamp out my cookies and these are the cookies I made with them:

1. Marbled sugar cookies (with flower and rabbit-shaped cutters)
2. Lemon sandwich cookies (with egg-shaped cutter)
3. Sparkly butterfly cookies (with butterfly-shaped cutter)
4. Coconut sheep cookies (with sheep-shaped cutter)
5. Matcha vanilla carrot cookies (with carrot—shaped cutter)

Marbled sugar cookies: After cookie dough is rolled out, stamped with cookie cutters and baked until edges are golden. While the cookies are cooling, make a batch of royal icing. Divide royal icing into three bowls and colour two of the portions with food colouring. Drop a few drops of the coloured icing into the bowl of white icing. Using a spatula or spoon, swirl icing 1-2 times until marbled. Dip the top side of each cookie into the icing and let excess icing drip off. Decorate with gold flakes.

Lemon sandwich cookies: After cookie dough is rolled out, stamp dough with egg-shaped cookie cutters and transfer cut outs to a baking sheet. Using a small circle cookie cutter, stamp put the ‘yolk’ from half of the egg cookies. Bake cookies until edges are golden. Place cookies with ‘yolk’ cut out onto a cooling rack and dust with icing sugar. Spread a generous layer of homemade or store-bought lemon curd on cookie without cut out, then top with sugar-dusted cookie.

Sparkly butterfly cookies: After cookie dough is rolled out, stamped with cookie cutters and baked until edges are golden. While the cookies are cooling, make a batch of royal icing. Transfer royal icing to a piping bag and decorate cooled cookies with royal icing. Before icing dries, dip the cookie into coarse sanding sugar. Allow icing to set before stacking cookies.

Coconut sheep cookies: After cookie dough is rolled out, stamped with cookie cutters and baked until edges are golden. While the cookies are cooling, make a batch of royal icing. Transfer royal icing to a piping bag and pipe icing to the body and the head of the sheep cookie. Before icing is set, sprinkle toasted coconut to the cookie. Tap cookie against the baking sheet to remove excess coconut.

Matcha vanilla carrot cookie: Make cookie dough and remove ¼ portion of the dough and place in a bowl. Add a few drops of orange food colouring to the large portion of dough and mix until colour is evenly distributed. Add green food colouring or matcha powder do the smaller portion of dough and mix until evenly distributed. Roll out each portion of dough. Using the carrot cookie cutter, stamp out the root of the carrot in the orange dough and the leaves portion in the green dough. Combine the components on the baking sheet. Bake until edges are golden

After the cookies have been decorated, I’m serving my Easter cookies with homemade hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows in this Figural Chick Mug and Figural Bunny Mug.

Thank you Williams Sonoma Canada for supporting Constellation Inspiration!

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My Favourite Shortbread Recipe

During the holidays I like to work with recipes that allow you to make several different types of cookies from one base recipe. For Easter this year, I’m making five different kinds of cookies from a perfect blank canvas shortbread dough. The shortbread recipe is my go-to during the holiday sand I like to add seasonal mix-ins or use different cookie cutters depending onthe time of year.

Author Amy

Ingredients

• 227 g (1 cup) unsalted butter room temperature
• 115 g (1 cup) icing sugar
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 260 g (2 cups and 3 tbsp) all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350F and line baking sheet with parchment paper.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together butter, icing sugar and vanilla at medium speed until smooth, about 1-2 minutes.
• Add flour and salt and mix on low speed until combined.
• In between two sheets of parchment paper, roll out dough to ¼-inch in thickness. Lightly flour the cookie stamp/cutter and press.
• Transfer cut outs to prepared baking sheet, placing cookies 2 inches apart.
• Transfer the baking sheet to the freezer for 10 minutes. Freezing cut out cookies before baking will help preserve the design and shape of the cookies.
• Bake until the edges are lightly golden brown, about 12 – 14minutes.
• Remove from oven and allow cookies to cool on the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack to cool completely.
• *See body of blog post on how to use this shortbread recipe to create 5 different Easter cookies

Notes

The number of cookies this recipe makes will depend on the size and shape of your cookie cutter. The cookies shown in photos above were made with 1 batch of the shortbread recipe.

The post Easter Cookies Five Ways (One Dough!) appeared first on Constellation Inspiration.

I’ve never had fried chicken from Jollibee (I haven’t had chicken in almost five years!) and it wasn’t until a few months ago that I had my first fried peach and mango pie (don’t roll your eyes at me!). Vancouver got it’s first Jollibee location a year ago but I wasn’t ready to brave the crazy long lines just for the pie. The line eventually died down so I’m here to report back that I’ve finally had the pie and we’re going to recreate it today so you can have peach mango pie at home whenever the craving hits. I’m not going to start claiming that this homemade recipe is a “copycat recipe” or is “better than Jollibee,” but I will say that we’re making the filling from fresh fruit, our own all-butter pastry, and then deep frying it. I might prefer deep fried pie dough more than baked pie dough now?!

To make these peach mango pies, we’re first going to make the filling. The filling is exactly what the name suggests — diced fresh peaches and mangoes are cooked down with sugar, cinnamon, a bit of lemon juice, and a pinch of salt until it becomes jammy. Unlike making a traditional baked fruit pie, we want to cook the fruit before filling the pie. The deep frying process for the assembled hand pies is a quick one, so the filling has to be cooked first. We fill homemade all-butter pie dough with the cooked fruit filling, seal the edges, and then they’re ready to be fried. You could bake the pies (like how I made these brown sugar hand pies) but deep frying it makes the outer layer of the pie pastry extra crispy and more similar to the original Jollibee pie. Deep frying can be intimidating but when you fry the pies one at a time, it’s quite easy to control the temperature and prevent any splatters of hot oil.

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Peach Mango Pies

I'm not going to start claiming that this homemade peach mango recipe is a "copycat recipe" or is "better than Jollibee,"  but I'lll say that we're making the filling from fresh fruit, our own all-butter pastry, and then deep frying it. I might prefer deep fried pie dough more than baked pie dough now?! Deep frying can be intimidating but when you fry the pies one at a time, it's quite easy to control the temperature and prevent any splatters of hot oil.

Author Amy

Ingredients

Peach Mango Filling

• 200 g (1 cup) peaches diced
• 200 g (1 cup) mangoes diced
• 65 g (5 tbsp) granulated sugar *see instructions below
• 8 g (1 tbsp) cornstarch
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt

All-Butter Pie Dough

• 300 g (2 1/2 cup) all-purpose flour
• 13 g (1 tbsp) granulated sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 227 g (1 cup) very cold unsalted butter, cut into 1⁄2-inch pieces
• 120 ml (1 1/2 cup) cold water
• 110 g (1 1/2 cup) ice cubes
• 15 ml (1 tbsp) apple cider vinegar or white vinegar

Egg Wash

• 1 large egg

Instructions

Peach Mango Filling

• In a medium saucepan over medium heart, combine peaches, mangoes, granulated sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, cinnamon, and salt. I like to start with 3 tablespoons of sugar and add more if needed. If the fruit you're using is very ripe, you might only need 3 tablespoons but I found 5 tablespoons to be the perfect amount. Cook until filling becomes jammy, while stirring often, about 10 minutes.
• Once mixture has thickened, remove saucepan from the heat. Transfer fruit filling to a small baking sheet or bowl to cool. Allow filling to cool while you make the pie dough.

All-Butter Pie Dough

• In a large bowl, stir together the flour, granulated sugar, and salt. Add the butter. With a pastry cutter or a fork, quickly cut the butter into the flour mixture until mostly pea-size pieces of butter remain (a few larger pieces are okay).
• In a large measuring cup or a small bowl, combine the water, ice, and vinegar. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons (15 ml) of the ice-water mixture over the flour mixture and mix with a spatula until the water is fully incorporated. Add more of the ice-water mixture, 1 to 2 tablespoons (15 to 30 ml) at a time.
• Using the spatula or your hands, mix until the dough comes together in a ball with some dry, shaggy bits remaining. Squeeze and pinch the dough with your fingertips to bring all the dough together, sprinkling dry bits with 1 to 2 tablespoons (15 to 30 ml) of the ice-water mixture, if necessary, to combine.
• Divide the dough into 2 portions. Shape each portion of dough into a flat disk, wrap each disk in plastic, and refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour, to give the dough time to rest.

Assembly

• Once pie dough has had a chance to rest, remove from fridge. Roll out the pie dough to 1/8-inch in thickness. Cut sheet of pie dough into 8 equal rectangles. Repeat with second sheet of pie dough.
• Fill half of the pie dough rectangles with the cooled fruit filling, leaving 1/4-inch on each side to seal the pie.
• Brush on a thin layer of egg wash to each of the four sides. Top with another rectangle of pie dough and use a fork to crimp and seal the edges. Repeat with remaining pies.
• Place the assembled pies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and place in freezer as you heat up frying oil.
• Heat a heavy-bottomed pot of neutral oil to 375F.
• Carefully lower chilled pie into the hot oil.
• Fry one or two pies at a time, turning halfway, until golden brown, about 3 – 5 minutes.
• Once ready, remove pies from oil and place on a wire rack or paper towel to drain for 10 minutes. Enjoy hot.

The post Peach Mango Pies appeared first on Constellation Inspiration.

I don’t know how I’ve lived for so long without a Costco membership. My partner and I got one recently and our weekly Costco trip (on Mondays in the late afternoon to be exact) is always a highlight of my week. The one thing that makes or breaks my Costco trip? The free sample stations. I will shamelessly try everything Costco is sampling that day and I might even get seconds (embarrassing, I know) if I really liked the product. My latest free sample that evolve into an obsession — Pisti Pistachio Cream. The lady at the booth was giving out quartered pieces of whole grain toast smothered in the nutty, dark green cream and I took two (of course). It was so lovely on toast but I had other plans for it. I knew I wanted to use it primarily for baking and will make a piece of pistachio toast snack while I wait for those cookies to bake.

If you’ve been following along for the past year, you’ll know that I’ve been obsessed with my Peanuts cookie stamps. Apparently many of you have been too, because it’s constantly sold out at Williams Sonoma! I always keep an eye on when they restock so I can let you know. (Psssst. they’ve restocked!). In the past few months I have many several versions of these sandwich cookies: strawberry cheesecake (recipe), chocolate with dulce de leche, pumpkin with nutella for fall, and cookie butter with sprinkles for Christmas (recipe). This is a springtime version of the cookie. I know that spring is still 18 days away but I’m more than ready to bid farewell to the winter. The main star ingredient in these cookies is pistachio and we’re using it two ways in the cookie: ground pistachios in the shortbread dough and pistachio cream for the centres. Adding ground pistachios to the shortbread dough gives it a beautiful green colour as well as nutty flavour. It also makes the cookie even more tender. After the pistachio cookies have been stamped and baked, we’re piping a ring of coffee cheesecake cream and filling the centres with a big dollop of the pistachio cream. The cookies are great at room temperature but my favourite way to enjoy them is after they’ve been chilled in the fridge for 15 – 20 minutes. When they’re chilled, the texture of the cheesecake cream is like actual cheesecake, and who doesn’t love two desserts in one?

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Pistachio Latte Sandwich Cookies

The main star ingredient in these cookies is pistachio and we're using it two ways in the cookie: ground pistachios in the shortbread dough and pistachio cream for the centres. After the pistachio cookies have been stamped and baked, we're piping a ring of coffee cheesecake cream and filling the centres with a big dollop of the pistachio cream.

Servings 12 cookies

Author Amy

Ingredients

Pistachio Shortbread

• 160 g (2/3 cup and 2 tsp) unsalted butter room temperature
• 90 g (3/4 cup) powdered sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 210 g (1 3/3 cup) all-purpose flour
• 80 g (1/2 cup) roasted pistachios
• 1/2 tsp salt

Coffee Cheesecake Cream

• 125 g (1/2 block) cream cheese room temperature
• 55 g (1/4 cup) unsalted butter room temperature
• 180 g (1 1/2 cup) powdered sugar
• 1 tsp espresso powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt

Pistachio Cream

• 80 g (1/4 cup) pistachio cream

Instructions

Pistachio Shortbread

• Preheat oven to 350F and line baking sheet with parchment paper.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together butter, powdered sugar and vanilla at medium speed until smooth, about 1-2 minutes.
• In a food processor, blitz pistachios until it becomes a fine flour.
• Add flour, ground pistachios, and salt and mix on low speed until combined.
• In between two sheets of parchment paper, roll out dough to ¼-inch in thickness. Lightly flour the cookie stamp/cutter and press. Transfer cut outs to prepared baking sheet, placing cookies 2 inches apart.
• Transfer the baking sheet to the freezer for 10 minutes. Freezing cut out cookies before baking will help preserve the design and shape of the cookies.
• Bake until the edges are lightly golden brown, about 12 – 14 minutes.
• Remove from oven and allow cookies to cool on the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack to cool completely.

Coffee Cheesecake Cream

• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together cream cheese and butter on medium speed until smooth, about 1 – 2 minutes.
• Add icing sugar, espresso powder, vanilla extract, and salt. Turn on mixer on low speed and mix until ingredients are combined. Increase mixer speed to medium-high and beat until mixture is completely smooth and fluffy, about 1 minute.

Assembly

• Turn over half of the cookies, they will be the bottom cookies.
• Pipe a ring of cofffee crean on the bottom cookie. This will act as a barrier for the pistachio cream centers.
• Take half a heaping tablespoon of pistachio and fill the centre. Sandwich the top cookie and press lightly. Repeat with remaining cookies until all cookies are filled.
• Serve at room temperature or chilled (which is what I prefer!).

The post Pistachio Latte Sandwich Cookies appeared first on Constellation Inspiration.

Find yourself a friend that would spend their Saturday morning lining up for fresh mango mochi for you because that is the true testament to true friendship. This isn’t just normal mochi you can get at the grocery store, but whole mango mochi that when you search ‘mango mochi richmond’ on TikTok, you will notice that it has more than 620K views. It is being sold at the most unassuming place — a food court stall in a somewhat neglected (*neglected in it’s pre-mochi era) Chinese mall that specializes in… rice bowls? This rice bowl stall generates a ridiculous line every day that weaves throughout the entire food court and upper level of the mall it is in. I haven’t braved this line myself because the disappointment of lining up for the mochi and being told it has sold out would crush my soul. Last weekend, one of my closest friends decided it was time I tried this viral mochi so she spent a good amount of time lining up for the mochi before the stall was even open to get it for me. (I love you, Jen!!!)

It may sound like a bold statement but mochi is the superior treat. Out of all Asian desserts (or maybe even desserts in general), mochi has been and always will be my favourite. The tenderness! The chew! The elasticity! It has all the textures that I love. I grew up making mochi via the steaming method but recently I’ve been converted by the convenience of microwaving mochi. Microwave mochi has the same ingredients — glutinous rice flour, sugar, and water — making this mango mochi a naturally gluten-free and vegan dessert. The mochi component of this dessert comes together easily and quickly. It takes about five minutes to prepare the mochi and a couple of minutes to assemble the treat. Because there are only two parts to this dessert — mango and mochi — choosing a ripe, fragrant mango is key to making the perfect mango mochi.

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Whole Mango Mochi

Whole pieces of ripe mango is wrapped in a thin layer of homemade, soft mochi. The mochi can be made in the microwave with just three ingredients — glutinous rice flour, sugar, and water. Mango mochi is vegan and gluten free!

Servings 2 pieces

Author Amy

Ingredients

• 43 g (1/3 cup) mochiko or glutinous rice flour
• 26 g (2 tbsp) granulated sugar
• 80 ml (1/3 cup) water
• 1 large mango
• 43 g (1/3 cup) mochiko or glutinous rice flour toasted, for dusting

Instructions

• In a medium, microwave-safe bowl, whisk to combine glutinous rice flour and sugar.
• Add water and whisk until mixture is smooth.
• Cover the bowl with a microwave-safe plate that is slightly larger than the bowl. Microwave mochi mixture for 1 minute, stir with a wet spatula, and return to microwave. Repeat two more times. The mixture will turn slightly translucent as it cooks. Allow mochi to cool.
• Peel mango and remove flesh from pit into two pieces. Set aside.
• Dust work surface with toasted glutinous rice flour. Transfer cooled mochi to work surface and dust the top of mochi with more toasted glutinous rice flour.
• Divide the mochi into two equal portions.
• Using a rolling pin, roll out mochi to a thin layer, about 1/8-inch in thickness. Adding more toasted glutinous rice flour if mochi is sticking to rolling pin.
• Place a piece of mango to the centre of the rolled out mochi and wrap the mochi around the mango, using your fingers to pinch the mochi seams to create a seal. Repeat with second portion of mochi.
• Enjoy the day the mochi is made.

The post Whole Mango Mochi appeared first on Constellation Inspiration.

Welcome to my unofficial Valentine’s Day baking series! I feel like I’ve been neglecting the blog lately with my 12 Days of Christmas Cookies and 10 Days of Lunar New Year series being almost exclusively shared on Instagram. We are changing that with the next few recipes which were developed with Valentine’s Day in mind, but there are good for any time of the year. We’re starting off this unofficial series with these sparkly, crispy-yet-chewy (cookie buzzword!) stuffed red velvet cookies. What are they stuffed with? You can tell your Valentine that the cookies are stuffed with love, but here on this corner of the internet love also means cream cheese. So basically, we made red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting in cookie form and damn it is good.

Before you get start going on and on about why red velvet is not the superior cake flavour, I’m here to tell you that any shortcomings of red velvet is made up for by cream cheese frosting. It is also the reason I eat carrot cake (even if the cake has raisins in it). Much like red velvet cake, these cookies are vanilla based with a hint of chocolate, just enough for you to notice that it’s there. We stuff each dough ball with a cream cheese frosting centre and roll it in red coarse sanding sugar to amp up the colour and to give them the sparkle that they deserve. These cookies are great warm, but I like them even better when they have had some time to cool down or even chilled in the fridge. Once chilled, the cream cheese centre becomes cheesecake-like, so you get two desserts in one.

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Stuffed Red Velvet Cookies

Much like red velvet cake, these cookies are vanilla based with a hint of chocolate, just enough for you to notice that it's there. We stuff each dough ball with a cream cheese frosting centre and roll it in red coarse sanding sugar to amp up the colour and to give them the sparkle that they deserve. These cookies are great warm, but once chilled, the cream cheese centre becomes cheesecake-like, so you get two desserts in one.

Servings 12 cookies

Author Amy

Ingredients

Cream Cheese Filling

• 227 g (8 oz) cream cheese room temperature
• 60 g (1/2 cup) icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp salt

Red Velvet Cookie Dough

• 240 g (2 cups) all-purpose flour
• 21 g (1/4 cup) cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 250 g (1 1/4 cup) granulated sugar
• 227 g (1 cup) unsalted butter room temperature
• 1 large egg room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 – 1 tsp red food colouring depending on brand of food colouring
• 3/4 cup red coarse sanding sugar for rolling

Instructions

Cream Cheese Filling

• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine cream cheese, icing sugar, vanilla, and salt on low speed. Gradually increasing the speed to medium, mix until filling is smooth, about 1 minute.
• Portion cream cheese mixture into 12 equal portions and place on a baking sheet. Each portion will be roughly a heaping tablespoon. Transfer baking sheet to freezer to chill while you make the cookie dough.

Red Velvet Cookie Dough

• Preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, coca powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together sugar and butter on medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute.
• Add egg, vanilla, and red food colouring. Mix until combined.
• Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until no dry streaks remain, about 1 minute.
• Using an ice cream scoop, divide the dough into 12 equal portions. Roll each portion between the palms of your hands until it is round. Repeat.
• Remove cream cheese filling from freezer.
• Using your knuckle or a teaspoon, create an indent at the centre of each cookie dough ball. Place a portion of chilled cream cheese filling and pinch the dough to seal the filling.
• Roll each dough ball in red coarse sanding sugar.
• Place dough ball on baking sheet, leaving at least 2 inches between each dough ball.
• Bake until the edges of the cookies are set, about 11 – 13 minutes. When the cookies are ready to come out of the oven, give the baking sheet a tap on the oven rack to create ripples around the cookie.
• Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes. Transfer them to a cooling rack to cool complete.
• Enjoy cookies at room temperature or chilled.

The post Stuffed Red Velvet Cookies appeared first on Constellation Inspiration.