Brooke's Matcha Cookies

Brooke is almost famous in the neighborhood for these cookies. Make sure we use 100% matcha powder, ceremonial or culinary grade for a strong match taste and green color. The key to her cookies is weighing out the ingredients instead of using cups - especially the flour. There is no need to chill this dough before baking but if it's too sticky it won't hurt to chill for 30 minutes before scooping. 

INGREDIENTS

• 180 g all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon matcha powder, ceremonial grade or high-quality culinary grade
• 1 tablespoon milk powder, optional
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 115 g unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 150 g granulated sugar
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 100 g white chocolate, roughly chopped, plus a handful extra for topping
• flakey salt, optional

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Mix dry ingredients - in a small bowl, combine flour, matcha powder, milk powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl (stand mixer bowl if using a stand mixer), cream butter and sugar. Mix until very creamy and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.
4. Add in eggs and vanilla. Mix until smooth.
5. Add dry ingredients to wet - Mix briefly until just combined with some flour patches left.
6. Fold in white chocolate chips with a silicone spatula - do NOT overmix.
7. Using a 2-tbsp scooper, scoop out balls of cookie dough and place them on your baking sheet, leave 2 inches in between for spreading.
8. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges are set but the middle is still soft and puffy. In the last 2 minutes of baking, press a few extra white chocolate chunks on top of each cookie (optional)
9. Let the cookies cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes before carefully transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. At this point, you can sprinkle some flakey salt to add a delightful saltiness to the cookies.

Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Chewy chocolate chip (or chunk) cookies with a crispy, delicious edge. Melted butter recipe so no chill time is required. 

Made these for the neighbor friends and they love them.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/3 (170g) cup of flour 
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, melted & cooled
• 1/2 cup (100g) light brown sugar, packed
• 1/3 cup (70g) granulated white sugar 
• 2 tsp vanilla extract 
• 1 large egg, room temperature 
• 1 1/2 cup (250g) semisweet chocolate chip or chunks 
• (optional) replace 75g of chocolate chips with chopped walnuts 
• flakey salt, to finish 

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line baking sheets with parchment paper. 
2. Melt butter and set aside to cool. 
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside. 
4. In a large bowl (stand mixer bowl if using a stand mixer) cream together butter, and both sugars. It's important that the butter is not hot - warm is ok. Whisk vigorously until it turns into a paste-like consistency. 
5. Whisk in egg and vanilla until smooth. 
6. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and fold until there's still some streaks of flour left. Fold in chocolate chips/chunks (and optional walnuts if using) until just combined. 
7. Use a 2 tablespoon scooper and scoop onto prepared baking sheets. 6 scoops is good as they spread. Bake for 10-12 minutes. 
8. Cookies are ready when edges are golden but middle is still soft and puffed up. 
9. Immediately after taking the cookies out, use a fork or large round cookie cutter to reshape. Sprinkle sea salt. 
10. Let cookies continue to cook for 3-5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before packaging if giving cookies away. 

(In the photo I am using Guittard super chocolate chips. They taste good but look funny. I might prefer their semi-sweet. Trader Joe's semi sweet chocolate chips are good too.)

Notes: we used our smallest scooper and was able to get 22 3 inch cookies from 1 batch. 

Mac Salad - Top Chef Seldon Simeon Recipe

Serves 4 to 6 people 

INGREDIENTS:

• 8 ounces macaroni
• 1 pound russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and chopped
• 3 cups mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon garlic salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more for serving
• 1 medium carrot, grated
• Shredded iceberg lettuce, for serving

DIRECTIONS:

1. Bring a pot of well-salted water to a boil over high heat. Cook the macaroni a minute or two longer than the package directions, until very tender. Drain and rinse under cold water. Place in the refrigerator to cool and further drain for a minimum of 2 hours.
2. In the same pot, combine the potatoes and fresh water to cover by 1 inch. Salt it well and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain well.
3. In a large bowl, stir together the eggs, mayonnaise, garlic salt, pepper, and carrots. Fold in the potatoes and chilled macaroni. Refrigerate until ready to eat. 
4. Serving on a bed of shredded lettuce with a sprinkle of black pepper.

Spam Musubi - Top Chef Sheldon Simeon Recipe

Taken from Cook Real Hawai'i by Sheldon Simeon

TECHNIQUE TIPS: There are many differing techniques for preparing and wrapping Spam musubi. Without getting too technical up top, here are a few of my basic guidelines:

1. Cut your Spam thick so you can taste it (I prefer the reduced-sodium kind for its balanced taste).

2. Sear then glaze the Spam with shoyu and sugar before wrapping.

3. Make sure your rice is warm and your nori sheets are bone-dry (and a musubi mold makes this easy, but you can use a Spam can).

Musubi maker molds, which are rectangular plastic boxes open on the top and bottom, are available for a few bucks online. If you don't have one, you can use the empty Spam can as a mold: Shape the rice into a block inside the can by firmly pressing it down with your fingers, then shake it from the can. Place the packed block of rice perpendicular to the nori strip and carefully wrap with the nori as directed.

INGREDIENTS:

• natural oil, for the skillet
• 1 (12-ounce) can 25% lesson sodium Spam, cut into 6 slices (I personally like to cut into 8)
• 1/4 cup shoyu (soy sauce)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons mirin
• 2 sheets sushi nori
• 4 cups cooked short-grain white rice, warm
• 2 teaspoons furikake (optional)

PREPARATION:

1. Lightly coat the bottom of a skillet with oil and heat over medium heat. Fry the Spam slices until browned and crispy, 2-3 minutes per side. Remove from the heat and set aside on paper towels to drain.
2. Wipe out any excess oil from the pan. Add the shoyu, sugar and mirin, and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, return the cooked Spam slices to the pan and turn them to coat. Cook until a sticky glaze starts to form, about 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat and let the Spam sit in the glaze until ready to use.
3. Toast the nori sheets by carefully waving them over a stove burner on low (this is easiest with gas; use tongs if needed) for 10-20 seconds until crisp and crackly, then cut each sheet into thirds lengthwise (you can also toast them briefly in a hot oven, a minute or two, just until crisp).
4. Prepare a bowl of warm water.
5. Lay a strip of nori on a clean surface. Moisten the lower half of the inside of a musubi mold and place the mold perpendicular to the nori strip on the bottom third of the strip. Fill the mold with about 1/2 cup rice and press down very firmly and evenly until the rice is packed 3/4 inch high. Sprinkle the rice with furikake (if using). Top with a slice of Spam, making sure a little of the glaze carries over from the pan onto the rice.
6. Pull off the mold and wrap the musubi tightly in the nori strip by rolling it away from you as you would a sushi roll. Seal the edge of the nori with a dab of warm water if necessary (the moisture in the warm rice should do most of the work). Wipe off the mold with warm water and repeat with the remaining Spam and rice. Serve immediately or wrap in plastic wrap and save for later.

Soy-glazed Spam Musubi

The kids favorite snack (meal by how many they can eat at a time) but it's always so expensive to buy at their favorite Hawaiian restaurant. When I'm not lazy, I like to make this version for them and we do it in bulk - the recipe doubles easy and I actually put less rice in each musubi for them.

SOURCE: From Alana Kysar’s Aloha Kitchen Cookbook
Makes 8 musubi

• 2 Tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 Tablespoons light brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon mirin
• 1 to 2 teaspoons neutral oil (we just used extra virgin olive oil)
• One 12-ounce can Spam Less Sodium, cut horizontally into 8 slices (clean the can and set aside for use in this recipe if you don’t have a musubi mold!)
• 3 sheets roasted sushi nori, cut into thirds crosswise
• 2 teaspoons furikake
• 5-6 cups cooked short-grain rice (we used sushi rice)

Directions:

1. Whisk together soy sauce, brown sugar, and mirin. Set aside.
2. Lightly coat the bottom of a large skillet with the oil and heat over medium heat until sizzling. Fry Spam slices until evenly browned and crispy, 2 to 3 minutes each side, bringing the heat to low for the last minute of cooking, then turn off the heat.
3. Pour soy mixture into skillet and turn Spam slices to evenly coat them. The mixture is going to cook down quickly, so don’t leave them unattended! Transfer immediately to a plate.
4. Place a strip of nori rough side up on a cutting board or clean work surface. Line the cleaned, empty Spam can with plastic wrap and press one slice of Spam all the way down to the bottom of the can.
5. Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon furikake over the Spam slice. Take 1/2 cup (loosely packed) cooked sushi rice and pack it into the can as well, pressing with your fingers until the rice is evenly, firmly patted down and flat.
6. Pull the stack of rice and sliced Spam out of the can by pulling out the plastic wrap, then place the stack Spam-side down onto the strip of nori.
7. Bring both ends of nori up to meet in the middle of the rice. If needed, you can wet your finger and rub it along one end of the nori to help it stick to itself. Flip musubi over so the seam faces down, and go back to step 4 with all the remaining ingredients. Serve immediately or store wrapped in plastic wrap for later.

Thai Tea

Hong shared this recipe with us after making a batch and gifting it to us for Thi's birthday. It's delicious and we like to dilute it a little then use oat milk instead of creme or milk.

Ingredients

• 8 cups water
• 2 cups of Thai tea mix
• 1 1/4 cups sugar

Directions

1. Put all ingredients into a big pot and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.
2. Boil for 4-5 minutes.
3. Turn off stove and let site for 30 minutes.
4. Pour through a fabric strainer.
5. Chill and serve on ice.
6. Optional: Add half and half, milk, or alternative milk to taste.

Hawaiian Banana Bread

I tend to prefer banana bread with white sugar versus brown sugar because the banana flavor comes out more. I noticed this is the key difference between banana recipes from Hawaii and the mainland so I made this recipe and it's delicious. The flavor reminds me of Vietnamese banana bread pudding I grew up eating.

Yields: 2 loaves
*I halved it since I made this during a pandemic and needed to limit valuable ingredients such as egg, flour and sugar and put the batter into 3 mini loaves because I can't find my regular loaf tin.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup butter
• 2 cup sugar
• 6-7 ripe bananas, mashed
• 4 eggs, well beaten
• 2 1/2 cups, all purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking soda

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Prepare 2 loaf pans, by greasing with butter. Set aside.
3. In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.
4. Add masked bananas and eggs. Mix well.
5. Whisk/sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda.
6. Slowly add to the creamed mixture.
7. Mix gently until just combined. Do not over mix.
8. Pour batter evenly into 2 prepared loaf pans.
9. Bake for 45-50 minutes. (About 35 minutes for the 3 mini pans)
10. Test doneness with a toothpick. If it comes out clean, it is done!