Dessert

When I was little, Halloween did not exist in Japan.

There were no costume parties, no trick-or treating, and no gross (and fun) food.

But Halloween is now reportedly estimated to have over 200 million dollars in economic impact in Japan.

When we go to Japan to visit my family, we usually choose a warmer season (typically later spring or early summer), so I’ve never witnessed any Halloween related festivities in Japan in person, but based on what I see on the social media, I definitely see it has become a big event.

Valentine’s day is pretty big in Japan and people spend money, but now I hear Japanese people spend more money for Halloween.

Sadly, one thing I remember well as a Halloween related memory was the tragedy of a Japanese exchange student shot on the Halloween night in 1992.

Staying with his host family in Louisiana, he, in a John Travolta costume, and his friend accidentally went to a wrong house. The homeowner saw the two teenagers walking toward his property, went to get a gun, and told them to freeze. The reported story was that the Japanese exchange student did not understand what “Freeze” meant, he walked closer to the guy trying to explain the situation, and then he was shot dead.

This may have been the first time for many Japanese people who heard the American event called “Halloween”, and everyone leaned what “Freeze” meant…

Sorry, I didn’t mean to be a wet blanket, but 20 years later I still think about this event when Halloween approaches.

I do like Halloween and enjoy the event a lot.

These Pumpkin Snowball Cookies are super tasty and perfect for small treat bags.

Pumpkin Snowball Cookies

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup confectioners sugar
1~2 tablespoons pureed pumpkin
a pinch of salt
1 cup all purpose flour

confectioners sugar
cinnamon

1. Combine the first five ingredients. Mix well. Roll to form small balls. Place them on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.
2. Bake at 350F for about 15 minutes.
3. Mix confectioners sugar and cinnamon. Roll the cookies in this sugar mixture.

Have a safe and fun Halloween everyone!

I’m on Instagram.

You may want to call these pancake sandwiches, because they look like ones.

But I refuse to do so (lol).

They look like pancakes, but these are called “dorayaki” in Japan and the cake is sweeter, softer, and it has a unique caramelized top.

I grew up eating dorayaki all the time, but this was my first time to make one.

When I was researching its recipes, I discovered that there are often unusual ingredients used, things not typically seen in the Western pancakes recipes.

Some of those examples are honey and mirin.

These sweetening agents are used in addition to sugar, and I believe they, particularly mirin, create the beautiful caramelization when cooked.

I even found a recipe that called for soy sauce!

You can see that the ones in the back are darker.

They are not burned but showing the caramelization. ‘

Dorayaki is typically two cakes sandwiching sweetened red bean paste.

But I decided to add some seasonal touch, and spiced pumpkin cream cheese was added.

These were so delicious!

The combination of the chunky sweet red beans and creamy cream cheese was just perfect.

The color balance was pretty nice, too.

Pumpkin Dorayaki

3 eggs
130g sugar
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon mirin
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
50cc water
180g all purpose flour
50cc water
pumpkin cream cheese
1 package cream cheese
1/4 can pureed pumpkin
1~2 tablespoon sugar
cinnamon
nutmeg
ginger
1.5 cup Japanese sweet red bean paste

1. Mix eggs, sugar, honey, and mirin well.
2. Dissolve baking soda and powder in 50cc water. Add the mixture to 1.
3. Add flour. Mix. Let it rest in the fridge for a half hour.
4. Add 50cc water. Mix well.
5. Cook on a preheated (350F) griddle and make 4-inch diameter pancakes. When they start bubbling, flip them over. Cook for a few more minutes.
6. Make pumpkin cream. Mix all the ingredients well until smooth.
7. Sandwich the pumpkin cream and sweet red bean paste with two pancakes.

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Okay, I definitely got my mojo back(lol)!

I got up early yesterday and I was ready to bake a chiffon cake.

It rose well, just the way I wanted, and it turned out to be a beautiful cake.

This special pan I bought in Japan forms a uniquely tall, slender shape, which gives a sophisticated look, I think.

This cake is so light, airy, and soft.

So different from any other cakes.

(Some people say it is just like angel food cake, but I disagree. The chiffon cake is much more moist and flavorful, in my opinion.)

I usually serve my chiffon cake with whipped cream, but this time I decided to go with slightly sweetened Greek yogurt.

So good.

Chiffon cake always tastes special probably because I don’t make it very often and it’s hard to find in the U.S.

I’m on Instagram.