Missing Te'Amo? Here's an Easy Recipe for Mango Bubble Tea.

I’m usually a frequent visitor to Te’Amo. It’s one of my favorite study spots on campus—I’ve spent a great number of afternoons memorizing Russian verbs and finishing essays while happily drinking Mango Green Tea with Bubbles.

So it came as no surprise that I quickly began to crave bubble tea while quarantining in Columbus, OH. And while lucky Chicago residents can still order boba deliveries via Grubhub, I realized that I would have to make my own bubble tea in order to satisfy my cravings. As such, attached below is my easy recipe for making mango bubble tea from home!

The Recipe (Serves 3-4)

Ingredients and Supplies—all of which are available via Amazon delivery:

• *2 Bags of Rishi Organic Jasmine Green Tea

• *Le Sirop de Monin Mango Syrup, added to taste

• 1 Cup WuFuYuan Tapioca Pearl (Black Sugar Flavor)

• Cane Sugar, also added to taste

• 3-4 Bubble Tea Straws

• *Feel free to substitute different teas and fruit syrups. Also feel free to add milk to your bubble tea. Mango bubble tea has always just been my favorite, so I ordered mango syrup first. However, the Le Sirop de Monin brand alone sells numerous fruit syrups via Amazon - from raspberry, peach, and strawberry, to more exotic flavors like blood orange and desert pear.

#1) Brew the iced tea. Boil a 32 oz. pitcher of hot water, and add 2 bags of Rishi Jasmine Green Tea. Let steep for 3 minutes. Add about 2 Tb of sugar, to taste. Let the tea cool for a few minutes, and then place in the fridge.

#2) Make the tapioca pearls. Start by boiling 10 cups of water in a large pot. Once the water comes to a boil, slowly add 1 cup of tapioca pearls and stir. Once the bubbles start floating to the surface, cover the pot and cook the bubbles for 2-3 minutes on medium heat. Next, turn off the stove and let the bubbles simmer for an additional 2-3 minutes (allowing the bubbles to soften, to preference).

Let the tapioca pearls cool. Remove the bubbles from the pot, and let them sit in cool water for about 20 seconds. Then place the bubbles in a dry bowl and add sugar.

#3) Mix the iced tea, bubbles, and mango syrup to taste. Enjoy!

The Finished Product

The Finished Product

The Finished Product

Click here for thumbnail image source.

Finals Fuel: Earl Grey Shortbread Recipe

Maybe you’re skeptical of tea in shortbread, but I promise: you won’t be after trying this recipe.

It’s the perfect balance of sweet and savory shortbread goodness, not to mention the caffeine kick from the black tea. I’m willing to bet you already have all of the ingredients (even if you live in a dorm), and it’s doable in under an hour!

This recipe can easily be made dairy and/or gluten-free for anyone who prefers that, and I’ve included notes on the substitutions you can use (fair warning, though: a lot of shortbread’s flavor comes from dairy butter, so I can’t guarantee that the vegetable-based options will taste quite as good).

Bonus tip: if you don’t want to bake the full recipe when you first make it, just prepare it all, make the cubes, bake what you want, and freeze the rest (in an airtight container, of course)!

Now, on to the recipe!

Earl Grey Shortbread

Overview:

• Prep Time: 30 minutes

• Cook Time: 18 minutes

• Serves: 6 dozen

Ingredients:

• 1 cup confectioner’s sugar

• 1 1/2 tbsp Earl Grey tea from tea bags

• 1 vanilla bean (or substitute vanilla extract to taste)

• 2 cups all-purpose flour or gluten-free flour of choice (Check if your gf flour has xanthan gum in it—if not, you might want to add ~3/4 tsp to keep the shortbread from spreading)

• 2 sticks (1 cup) salted butter or margarine/vegetable shortening

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 325ºF. Pulse sugar and tea in a food processor if you have it, otherwise just crumble tea leaves as much as you can with your hands (no big chunks of tea leaf).

2. Split vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape seeds into food processor, or add extract. Add flour and pulse until combined. No food processor? Combine with fork or whisk.

3. Cut butter or non-dairy shortening into chunks and add to food processor. Pulse mixture until dough just forms. If you’re working without a food processor, make the chunks extra small and combine by hand. Don’t melt the shortening! We need it to be solid and cold to get the delicious, crumbly texture of the shortbread when it’s baked.

4. Transfer dough to lightly floured parchment-lined baking sheet. Gently pat into 1/2-inch-thick rectangle. Freeze 15 minutes. (See? Cold butter. Is. Key.)

5. Cut rectangles into 1/2-inch cubes. Arrange cubes 1 inch apart on 2 large baking sheets lined with parchment paper or greased. Bake 18-20 minutes, or until golden on bottoms. Let cool on wire rack, make yourself a cup of tea to drink with your shortbread, and enjoy!

---

Images via here, here, and here

Recipe via Giant Food Stores

A Simple and Tasty Chocolate Cake Recipe

Things couldn't be better with summer in full swing, with freshly cut grass, trees sprouting, and flowers blooming everywhere under the sun. Although chocolate is often reserved for colder weather, there’s no reason to deny yourself something as chocolatey and indulgent as this recipe. Here is a simple chocolate cake made with five ingredients. It's light and tender, and perfect for steamy summer days.

The recipe comes from Pâtisserie and Baking Foundations Classic Recipes, a textbook-ish collection published by Le Cordon Bleu. Often used as a base for more complicated desserts like Feuille d’Automne (Fall leaves), and Croustillant au Chocolat (Crispy chocolate mousse), this chocolate cake is just as enjoyable by itself. I would even venture to say that it's better homemade and decorated in your own way!

---

Ingredients (serves 1 to 4 people, your call):

1. 3 Eggs, yolk and white separated
2. Caster Sugar, 75 grams
3. Plain flour, 35 grams
4. Cornstarch, 25 grams
5. Cocoa powder, 15 grams

---

---

How:

1. Beat the egg whites into a firm meringue (when you lift the whisk from the mixture, there'll be a small curled tip at the end of the whisk); gradually add the sugar as you whip the egg whites.

2. Whisk the yolks until smooth; add it to the fluffy egg white foam.

3. Mix the flour, cornstarch, and cocoa powder together; gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet mixture (mix with a spatula till you don’t see lumps of flour; don’t over-mix since we want to retain the air in the mixture, which makes the cake fluffy).

4. Pour the mixture into a mold of your choice.

5. Bake at 355F for 18 minutes (if not completely set after 18 minutes, bake for a little longer but definitely keep an eye on the cake).

This is it! I throw in some chopped chocolate just to intensify the flavor. You could also serve the cake with ice-cream, strawberries, whipped cream, icing sugar, or all the above (no shame!).

Nigella Lawson and Nik Sharma recently talked about “empowering home cooks”, which really resonated with me. This chocolate cake is a perfect opportunity to transform a classic recipe for fancy pastry into an approachable dessert for home cooks to improvise and enjoy. 

---

Feature image via

Make to Impress (Yourself or Anyone): Lemon Ricotta Cake

What smells more divine than that rising cake mixture in the oven? With a few ingredients like eggs, butter, flour, sugar and dairy, I have found my path to heaven. One of the greatest joys of baking comes when I stand next to the vent and take a huge inhale of that hearty smell of butter and eggs, in perfect balance with the scent of lemon zest.

---if only I could do this in yoga classes when I am told to take a deep inhale!

This lemon ricotta cake recipe from NYTimes Cooking calls for readily available ingredients and no fancy techniques are needed! In contrast to its elegant simplicity is the impressive final product: when served hot, it has a gooey pudding texture; if you let it set and serve it cold, it turns more like a flan; on top of that, you can play with the decorations-berry sauce, confectioners’ sugar, more lemon zest, whipped cream, ice cream… Let the occasion and your imagination lead you! It’s a perfect dessert to impress your family and friends in this holiday season.

Serves: 12 people

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 quart whole milk (I used almond milk)
• 1 ¾ cups semolina flour
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 ¾ cups sugar
• 1 large or 2 small lemons, zest only
• 4 large eggs
• 1 pound (2 cups) fresh ricotta cheese, strained

How to:

Preheat the oven to 325F; butter the mold (the original recipe uses a 11-inch round cake pan; I used the batter to fill a 6.5*6.5 inch square pan and 11 holes of a 12-muffin tin)

Step1:

Bring the milk to boil over medium heat. When it starts simmering, slowly add the semolina and salt. STIR WITH A WHISK CONSTANTLY!! This is the arm workout of the day. For 2 minutes, keep stirring when it gets sticky. The point is to make the mixture smooth and prevent the bottom from getting burnt.

Step2: 

Remove the saucepan from the heat, stir in the sugar and butter. Transfer the batter to a mixing bowl; give it a stir from time to time when it's cooling down.

Step3: 

Stir in the lemon zest, eggs (1 at a time) and ricotta. After adding each ingredient, beat until smooth. I promise your arms will have a nice workout after making this dessert.

Step4:   

Batter in the mold of your choice! Bake for about an hour, until it's golden and fairly set (to test: gently shake the mold and the mixture shouldn't be running around). Take it out when it has cooled down a little bit and decorate!

What I really love about this recipe is that it can be as fancy or down to earth as you like. Eat directly from the muffin tin like my roommates and I did on a cold winter night, or cut it into slices, pair with a nice scoop of ice cream next to it, and finish with a pinch of mint leaves. Find your sweet spot(s) on that scale and enjoy!

Feature image via

Catch the Tail End of Summer with A Versatile Courgette Soup

Summer is the time of young vegetables, refreshing herbs, and light food. A long awaited season after many months of jumping back and forth between winter and spring, sunny weather has been in full swing in Chicago for the past few months. It's early October and I am so grateful for the weather. Before it gets cold, all I want to do is to savor the last bit of warm weather.

Inspired by the recipe from SeriousEats, I just had the picture of a perfect dinner in mind when I saw these baby courgettes in the produce aisle. They were not “baby” in size, but so young and delicate that a grasp would be enough to leave a mark on the surface.

Here is a simplified version with variations and tips:

---

Courgette & Basil Soup

Ingredients: 

• 3 Courgettes (Zucchini)
• 1 Leek
• Basil leaves
• A few cloves of garlic
• Salt & pepper
• Olive oil

1. Prep
   1. Rinse the basil leaves and air dry; chop the leaves right before adding them to the pan
   2. Julienne the leek — cut it into small slices
   3. Peel the garlic cloves and cut them into small chunks; or just mash them 
   4. Dice the courgettes —  I did this while sweating the leek; when I saw clear juice oozing from the cut, I wanted to preserve the freshness.
2. Cook
   1. Heat the saucepan up a bit and pour enough olive oil to at least cover the base
   2. Add the leak when the pan is warmed up; frequently turn it around and season generously with salt to get the moisture out of the leek (add more oil or some liquid if the leek takes on color)
   3. Add mashed garlic and mix well with the softened leek slices
   4. Add courgettes and a handful of basil leaves when the smell of leek and garlic begins to take over your kitchen 
   5. Mix well and add liquid (water or stock if you want the soup to be light. I added almond milk and very diluted millet porridge because they were at hand and I wanted a little bit starch in my soup)
   6. Simmer till all ingredients are soft and cooked
3. Blend: Add some more fresh basil leaves and blend
4. Season: Salt & pepper it the way you like 
5. Garnish and Serve with bread: usually a few drizzle of olive oil and more herbs would do, but this soup is very flexible so however you want; some ideas: lemon/lime zest and peels,  thinly sliced red pepper, bacon crisp, more basil leaves… or even add potatoes, peeled and cubed, along with garlic if you prefer a thicker consistency.

---

As a random cook and firm believer in “use whatever is at hand,” I really love this recipe for its flexibility and seemingly unlimited variations. 

This light soup is perfect for a summer evening, be it an entrée or a starter paired with bread, rosé or something sparkling. Toast to the season, bon appétit!

---

All images courtesy of the author