Non-stop celebrations - Lunar New Year! ~ 過不完的節日^^

Did I tell you this time of the year is my favorite time of the year?! You see, it is non-stop celebrations – Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year, Lunar New Year (LNY) and Valentine’s Day (plus my Chinese birthday and birthday are only weeks away too)!!! Yup, it is fantastic =)

I was cleaning the house and the garden over the weekend for LNY, and found that all the citrus trees in my garden were bearing fruits – loads of. I have been thinking of baking some sweets to give to my relatives as gifts for the LNY holiday and was flipping thru books to look for recipe that is suitable. We bring sweets (candies, Chinese pastries, chocolate and etc) to family and friends’ home when paying them visits over LNY, symbolizing prosperity in the new year - a traditional of LNY. When I saw all those mandarins, a light bulb lighted up; I knew of just the perfect sweet I can bake up – mini citrus cakes!

To get in the spirit of the Lunar New Year, I decided to use what Chinese see as the symbol of prosperity – Kumquat (pronounced gam gwat) and mandarins fruits. Kumquat is widely popular during LNY and sold as a plant and used to decorate the house – think Poinsettias for Christmas and mandarins fruits are eaten as snacks – at least in my family~



I adopted the recipe from Hidemi Sugino’s The Dessert Book; the original recipe was for fava bean pound cakes, which sounds really interesting and soon to be tested. I would say these mini pound cakes are a variation to the financier cakes I made last year. Since I used 2 types of citrus in this recipe, I was worried that it would be overly tangy but the end result was some super moist cakes with ultra citrus fragrant that will delight anyone who eats them. BTW, they are best enjoyed with a cup of good black tea ;)

Citrus Mini Pound Cakes – 4in x 2in x 5¾in mini loaf pan
For the batter:
200g unsalted butter, thinly sliced
280g confectioners’ sugar
7 whole eggs, L size
200g almond flour
140g all-purpose flour
80g candied mandarins peel, process until purée-like in a food-processor
3g baking powder
Some candied kumquat halves
Some pistachio dice
Some Cointreau for brushing on cake

Prep:
- Butter the loaf pans generously with unsalted butter.
- Preheat the oven to 340°F/170°C.

Sift together, flour, almond flour and baking powder; set aside.

Using a stand mixer, combine butter, sugar and mix over medium speed for a few seconds or until incorporated; gradually add the eggs, flour mixture, mix for a few second after each addition.

Transfer mixture to a mixing bowl and fold in the mandarins purée until incorporated. Pour batter into a piping bag. Snip off a corner of the bag and pipe batter into the prepared pans, lightly tap each pan to release the air bubbles, arrange 3 to 4 pieces of kumquat and sprinkle pistachio dice generously on top. Place in the oven and bake for 25 minutes or until golden; remove from oven. Remove the cakes from pans, brush a layer of Cointreau on top of cake while it is still warm then leave on wire rack to cool.




Candied Mandarins Peel
100g mandarins peel
½ tsp salt

Syrup:
100g granulated sugar
100g water

Make the syrup: bring sugar and water to a boil over medium heat; remove from heat and set aside.

Wash the peel well using a veggie brush then slice into thin threads. Put peel, salt, add water to just cover in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and drain; repeat this step 1 more time.

Return the drained peel to a small saucepan, add the syrup to just cover and boil over medium heat until translucent. Let cool and cover (with syrup) overnight.




一年中就屬十一﹑十二﹑一月這些時候最得我心了。無他﹐因像有過不完的節日是的(笑)。想說剛剛才過完西方的聖誕﹑新年﹑可過幾天又是農曆新年了﹐可樂了我~

自踏入冬天﹐我就很少打理后花園那些花花草草﹐不過因為新年的關係﹐在過去的這個週末就想清理一下好去舊迎新。走進花園映入眼前的是顏色鮮艷的各色柑橘類的果樹﹐原來它們都結滿了果實﹐有檸檬﹐柚子跟橘子等。媽媽說現在是柑橘的季節﹐所以都結果了。果實看起來實在是太飽滿了﹐打掃中途忍不住摘了個橘子來吃﹐味道還不賴不過偏酸﹐覺得比較適合用來製作果醬。剛好我在為該做什麼樣的拜年糕點拌手禮而頭痛﹐突然想到我該用這些橘子跟朋友由佛羅里達州帶回來的金桔作為食材。記得Hidemi Sugino’s The Dessert Book 中有多個柑橘甜點的做法﹐決定做什麼後馬上翻食譜去。

想想大可做我去年烤過的桔香小蛋糕﹐不過那實在需要烤多次才能達到我要的數量﹐決定做比較有份量的磅蛋糕。原食譜是用蠶豆茸(改天一定要試做)﹐我改以加入用糖漿煮過的橘子皮及金桔及刷一點橘味白蘭地酒好讓味道更突出﹐不過麵糊base做法還是源用Sugino大師的。味道做出來是我的那杯茶﹐是一種樸素而簡單的蛋糕﹐但是味道很紮實﹐可以享受到柑橘獨特的香味。最適合午後配杯紅茶享用喔~



柑橘風味磅蛋糕
磅蛋糕模具4in x 2in x 5¾in 6個

200g 無鹽奶油﹐室溫放軟﹑切片
280g 糖粉
7個 全蛋﹐L尺寸
200g 杏仁粉
140g 麵粉
80g 糖漬橘子皮粗泥
3g 發酵粉/ 泡打粉
適量 糖漬金桔
適量 開心果仁碎
適量 刷塗用橘味白蘭地酒

事前準備:
- 先把奶油從冰箱取出﹐使恢復為室溫。用手指戳一下奶油﹐變軟即可。
- 模具抹上厚厚的奶油﹐備用。
- 將一烤架移到烤箱中間﹐烤箱預熱至340F/170C。

要注意什麼呢?
- 麵糊攪拌至飽含空氣後立刻烘烤。
- 烤箱應不同制造商﹐溫度有異哦﹗記住烘烤時間只是參考而以﹗

混合篩過杏仁粉﹑麵粉﹑發酵粉﹐備用。用食物處理器將糖漬橘子皮磨打約一分鐘至粗泥狀後﹐移至碗中備用。

用電動攪拌器以中速把糖和奶油打至融合﹐分數次加入雞蛋﹐每加一次攪打數秒至融合。跟著小量地加入混合篩過後的粉類﹐每加一次都必須攪打均勻﹐至呈順滑麵糊狀。將麵糊倒進裝有橘子皮粗泥的碗中﹐用橡皮刀源邊往下刮翻拌勻。將麵糊倒入沒有擠嘴的擠花袋裡﹐剪去一角﹐將麵糊擠進烤模中至約8分滿﹐輕輕叩幾下釋放氣泡﹐放3 - 4塊糖漬金桔在上﹐最後撒些開心果仁碎。

放進預熱過的烤箱裡﹐烘烤約25分鐘至金黃色。用竹籤插入中央﹐慢慢拔出時不會沾黏﹐就烤好了。從烤箱取出﹐擺在網架上稍微放涼﹐翻轉倒扣﹐然後在蛋糕表面刷一點橘味白蘭地酒後整個放涼。

糖漬橘子皮
100g 橘子皮
½茶匙 鹽巴

糖漿:
100g 砂糖
100g 清水

製作糖漿: 將水和砂糖倒進小鍋裡﹐開中火煮沸後離火備用。

將橘子皮洗乾淨﹐抹乾﹐切成絲﹐備用。

將橘子皮﹑ ¼ 茶匙的鹽巴﹑適量的水(蓋過橘子皮即可)以中火煮沸﹐撈起橘子皮﹐倒掉熱水﹐擠掉水份﹐再重複一次這個去水份的做法。將橘子皮和糖漿混合倒進小鍋以中火煮沸後繼續煮至變透晶瑩為止。在常溫中放涼置一晚。將橘子皮跟小量的糖漿倒進密閉容器中冷藏存放。