Sesame Seed Balls

These may not look like much, but these are heaven's balls. (Which are only 600 times better then male testicles, I swear. These aren't salty or sweaty; only sweet and delicious.)

You haven't heard of them before? Well, that's 'cause you probably have never had one of the best brunches ever: dim sum. Don't get me wrong, our Western breakfasts are awesome, and I am planning a crepe blog post soon (have patience, mon petit chou), but you never really get anything umami out of our Western brunches.

Sesame Seed Balls are served at dim sum, but, fortunately, can also be found at Chinese bakeries even until the afternoon (although, they were probably made in the morning, so they're less fresh later on in the day). But, what's great about them aside having the delightful sesame flavor plus the sweetness of lotus nut paste? Well, there's many things, but the next most important one is that they're vegan. Yes, that's right: tasty, delicious, and animal-product free.

So, even though I have yet to make this recipe at home myself, here it is for you. (If you don't want to make a batch at home, either, hit up Chinatown and just enjoy. In Boston, they're only $.60 a piece. The best sixty cents you'll have ever spent.)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups glutinous rice flour

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/2 cup boiling water

lotus nut paste

1/2 cup sesame seeds

a bowl of cold water

oil for frying

The bulk of the ball is just the glutinous rice flour, brown sugar and boiling water. Those three ingredients are combined and kneaded until they form a dough. A teaspoon of the lotus nut paste is put inside a well created in each pinched off piece of dough, and then the balls are cinched shut. Next, they're dunked in cold water and rolled in sesame seeds. Finally, they're fried in oil to give them their golden color. For details and more on the recipe see Hell Yeah It's Vegan!

Apple Oat Scones

Here in New England, summer has been creeping away, leaving us fully in the throes of Fall. The trees are yellowing to red. The world smells like hay. And the apples are crisp, tart, and plentiful.

Using apples from our local farm, I recently made some scrumptious Apple Oat Scones (recipe courtesy of the Wakefield Inn).

Ingredients:

2 Cups Flour

1/4 Cup Sugar

1/4 Cup Oats

1 Tablespoon Baking Soda

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1 Teaspoon Cinnamon

1/4 Teaspoon Ground Cloves

1 Apple

1 Egg

1 Cup Heavy Cream

Now, this is a devastatingly easy recipe. And when they are warm out of the oven - tender with subtle, delicious flavors - it will taste like you spent much longer than the half hour it takes to make these scones.

After sifting together the dry ingredients, you add a peeled, cored, and diced apple to the mixture. The egg and cream are combined separately and then folded in to the dry ingredients (in as few strokes as possible).

After generously flouring a flat surface, the dough is separated in half, formed into (approximately 6 inch diameter) circles, and then cut into wedges of four or six.

The scone wedges should now be placed onto a baking stone or a metal sheet lined with parchment paper and placed into an oven preheated to 400 degrees. These scones only bake for 12-15 minutes and are a beautiful golden brown color when finished.