When I'm not doing graphic design, I like to get crafty (the good kind of crafty) with a pair of SCISSORS and hot glue gun, a spatula and whisk, a needle and thread, anything really. This is a collection of some of my artsy fartsy shenanigans.
Carving pumpkins has become one of my family’s favorite fall traditions, especially since all the slicing and dicing means we get to pig out on homemade roasted pumpkin seeds afterwards. Here are some of my recent creations.
You are what you drink
For as long as there’s Halloween candy, there is job security for dentists.
Pumpkinocchio
You’re on mute.
Last shave before Movember
Less is more
I like stuffing my face with cookies. I like stuffing my cookies. And thus stuffing the cookies that I stuff in my face is a two birds, one stone kind of thing. I tried my hand at recipe development and came up with these goodies. Matcha-stuffed black sesame cookies, red bean-stuffed black sesame cookies, black sesame-stuffed matcha cookies, and red bean-stuffed matcha cookies. Woo wee that was a mouthful. Nearly as full as my mouth stuffed with stuffed cookies.
Yields: 14 large cookies
INGREDIENTS
Matcha Cookies:
1 cup (226g) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar, plus more for coating
3/4 cup packed (150g) light brown sugar
2 tablespoons (16g) matcha powder (see note 3)
2 large eggs, room temperature
3 cups (360g) all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
granulated sugar, for rolling
roasted black sesame seeds, whole for topping
[Filling Option 1] Red Bean:
1/2 cup (165g) red bean paste
4 1/2 tablespoons (63g) unsalted butter, softened
2 1/2 tablespoons (6g) all purpose flour
1/8 teaspoons kosher salt
[Filling Option 2] Black Sesame:
2/3 cup (75g) roasted black sesame seeds, ground to coarse powder
7 tablespoons (98g) unsalted butter, softened
7 tablespoons (89g) granulated sugar
3 teaspoons (8g) all purpose flour
DIRECTIONS
Make cookie dough. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together softened butter, sugars, and matcha until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add egg and mix until incorporated. Scrape down bowl as needed to ensure thorough mixing.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Add dry mixture to mixing bowl. Mix on low speed until dough forms. Scrape down bowl as needed. Do not overmix.
Cover and refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour, overnight is best.
Make filling. In a small bowl, mix ingredients of chosen filling thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or until firm enough to easily scoop into a ball.
Form cookies. Once cookie dough and filling are sufficiently chilled, preheat oven to 350F with rack in middle of oven. To form each cookie, use large ice cream scoop to scoop out matcha cookie dough (see note 2). Split in half and roll each half into a ball. Place each ball on a parchment lined cookie sheet and flatten slightly with your palm. Use small ice cream scoop to scoop out filling. Place in center of one of the flattened dough halves. Top with the other flattened dough half and re-roll into a ball. Roll in sugar. For black sesame stuffed cookies, dip top of cookie in black sesame seeds and slightly press into dough to stick. Repeat until all dough and filling has been used. If at any point during assembly, the cookie dough or fillings become too warm and difficult to work with, pop them back in the fridge for at least 30 minutes (or freezer for 10 minutes) to firm up before making more.
Bake cookies. Space cookies 3" apart on cookie sheet as they will spread while baking (I fit 6 cookies on a sheet). Bake in batches in preheated oven for 18-20 minutes, or until they just begin to brown at the edges. Cool completely on cookie sheet to firm up before eating.
Yields: 10 large cookies
INGREDIENTS
Black Sesame Cookies:
1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed (150g) light brown sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (120g) roasted black sesame seeds, ground to coarse powder
1 1/2 cup (180g) all purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
[Filling Option 1] Matcha:
1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup (75g) granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed (75g) light brown sugar
1 tablespoon (8g) matcha powder (see note 3)
1 large egg, room temperature
1 1/2 cups (180g) all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
[Filling Option 2] Red Bean:
1/3 cup red bean paste (110g)
3 tablespoons (42g) softened butter
2 teaspoons (5g) all-purpose flour
pinch of kosher salt
DIRECTIONS
Make cookie dough. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix together softened butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla extract and mix until incorporated. Scrape down bowl as needed to ensure thorough mixing. Next stir in black sesame powder.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Add dry mixture to mixing bowl. Mix on low speed until dough forms. Scrape down bowl as needed. Do not overmix.
Cover and refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour, overnight is best.
Make filling.
[Filling Option 1] In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together softened butter, sugars, and matcha until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add egg and mix until incorporated. Scrape down bowl as needed to ensure thorough mixing.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Add dry mixture to mixing bowl. Mix on low speed until dough forms. Scrape down bowl as needed. Do not overmix.
Cover and refrigerate filling for at least 1 hour, overnight is best.
{Filling Option 2] Mix ingredients thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or until firm enough to easily scoop into a ball.
Form cookies. Once cookie dough and filling are sufficiently chilled, preheat oven to 350F with rack in middle of oven. To form each cookie, use large ice cream scoop to scoop out black sesame cookie dough (see note 2). Split in half and roll each half into a ball. Place each ball on a parchment lined cookie sheet and flatten slightly with your palm. Use small ice cream scoop to scoop out matcha filling. Place in center of one of the flattened dough halves. Top with the other flattened dough half and re-roll into a ball. Repeat until all dough and filling has been used (see note 4). The black sesame dough is quite crumbly, so you'll have to work quickly and gently. If at any point during assembly, the cookie dough or filling become too warm and difficult to work with, pop them back in the fridge for 30 minutes (or freezer for 10 minutes) to firm up before making more.
Bake cookies. Space cookies 3" apart on cookie sheet as they will spread while baking (I fit 6 cookies on a sheet). Bake in batches in preheated oven for 18-20 minutes. Cool completely on cookie sheet to firm up before eating.
Notes:
Though instructions state using a stand mixer, the cookies can be made/mixed by hand or hand mixer as well.
I like using ice cream scoops when making cookies as it results in more uniformly sized cookies, and it minimizes how much I have to handle the dough and consequently melt the butter/soften the dough. Large ice cream scoop = 1/4 cup. Small ice cream scoop = 1 tablespoon.
Culinary grade matcha is sufficient for flavor and color, but ceremonial grade matcha produces an even more vibrant green and maintains its color after cookies sit for a couple days. I noticed when I used culinary grade matcha, the cookies turned a more muddy green color after a couple days. So up to you which to use. Culinary grade is cheaper, but ceremonial grade's color keeps longer.
The amount of the matcha filling (same mixture as the matcha cookies) is enough to fill 28 cookies while the black sesame cookie dough is only enough to make 10 large cookies. So you can either triple the black sesame cookie dough recipe to make them even and make ~30 cookies or you can use the extra matcha filling to make stuffed (or plain) matcha cookies or freeze for later use.
Mixy Matchy: If you’re making all four types of cookies at the same time, making the full matcha cookie dough recipe (which also serves as the matcha filling for the black sesame cookies), the full black sesame cookie dough recipe, the full red bean filling recipe, and 1/2 the black sesame filling recipe yields 25 cookies total: 14 matcha cookies (8 black sesame-filled, 6 red bean-filled) and 11 black sesame cookies (6 red bean-filled, 5 matcha-filled).
Happy stuffing!
Presenting a pentagonal project within a plethora of pretty possibilities with paper.
A 3-D paper mobile for a geometric-themed party.
Out with 2018 and in with 2019! And while people are making resolutions to begin new diets, I resolve to let them eat cake! One of my biggest passions is baking and decorating (and eating) cakes like these.
Apple Cinnamon Cake with vanilla frosting and fondant + Apple Cinnamon Cupcakes
Chocolate Fruit-topped Train Cake
Fire Truck Carrot Cake with cream cheese frosting and fondant
Lego Mini Figure Head Cake (vanilla cake with strawberries and cream and fondant)
Salmon Nigiri Carrot Cake over Cheerio Krispy with fondant
Superhero Peanut Butter Rice Krispy Cake with fondant
Chocolate Rice Krispy Donut Cake with fondant “frosting” and sprinkles
Citrus Olive Oil Cake with Vanilla Buttercream and Chocolate Streaks
Christmas season is upon us! Too often I allow the busyness of decorating our home, designing our Christmas cards, hosting get-togethers, finding the perfect gifts for family, etc. to cloud my view of the real purpose of celebrating Christmas. I am really excited to begin these new family traditions to center our focus this season on the greatest Gift God has ever given. The Jesse Tree, Advent candles, and family devotionals will be just as much for me as they’ll be for the kiddos. May our hearts prepare Him room!
Ornament designs inspired by Ann Voscamp’s A Jesus Advent Celebration
Let me preface this with I can be accident prone at times. I was making an iced matcha to enjoy on this hot day when the cup slipped out my hand and fell onto my kitchen floor, cracking the cup and more importantly wasting precious ceremonial-grade matcha. :(
But I decided to make the most of my mess and make matchart. Matcha + Art = Matchart
A very good friend is moving across the country this summer (big tears), so to ensure they don't forget us over here in California, I made them a farewell/housewarming gift with my trusty hammer (and my not-so-trusty hammering skills .. ouch).
When I'm grocery shopping and I see unique produce on sale, I can't help but think about how I can have fun with it. Today, colored cauliflower was 99 cents per pound, so of course I did the most sensible thing and bought some so I make art with it (and get my vitamin C, vitamin K, folate, pantothenic acid, and vitamin B6).
Sharpen them, melt the shavings, and make multi-racial minifigure crayons.
This fruit bowl is anything but boring. An awesomely hand-crafted, one-of-a-kind ceramic fruit bowl by the very talented J Modernist!
