Homemade Sweet Red Bean Paste

Continuing with dessert planning for Chinese New Year, I knew I had make some homemade sweet red bean paste. Often used in many Asian desserts and snacks, red bean paste can be found in steamed buns, sesame balls, ice cream, dumplings, and many other pastries.

I've used canned red bean paste before, but always found it way too sweet for my taste. Making your own is actually pretty easy, it just takes a bit of time but you can adjust the sugar and sweetness to your liking.





To start, the beans should be rinsed and soaked in water overnight to help reduce the cooking time. After soaking, the beans are drained and placed into a pot with enough water to cover them by a few inches and simmered until soft. The beans and cooking liquid are then pressed through a fine mesh strainer to remove the skins. You could also use a blender or food processor to blend the beans into a smooth paste without removing the skins first, but I prefer using the strainer for a smoother texture.



Sugar, salt, and vegetable oil are added to the paste, which is then cooked down to get rid of any excess liquid and thicken the paste up. Allow to cool and that's it, you now have red bean paste to use in any recipe you choose!

Growing up, I would often have steamed buns filled with this sweet bean paste on the weekend, so I'm definitely going to try making some. Along with ice cream, I've been experimenting with red bean cheesecake and cookies and I'll be getting a recipe up for them soon! Enjoy!



Homemade Red Bean Paste
Makes about 2-1/4 cups ( 537g) of paste

Ingredients
8 oz (229g) dried adzuki beans
Water as needed for boiling
1/2 cup (104g) white sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup (38g) vegetable oil

Directions

Rinse the beans and place in a large bowl. Cover with water and soak overnight. Drain and place the beans in a pot with 3 cups of water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer the red beans for 1-2 hours until soft, stirring occasionally. If there is still a lot of water in the pot, continue cooking until there is only a thin layer of water covering the beans

Press the beans and any excess liquid through a fine mesh strainer set over a pot. Discard the leftover skins. Add the sugar, salt, and vegetable oil to the red bean paste and cook over medium low heat, stirring often until the paste thickens. Allow to cool.

Writing a Craft Book

With Happy-Gurumi coming out in a few weeks (on March 10th!) I've been looking back on everything that went into making the book. I can't believe that it's been two years since I sent out that first proposal and started filling a bright pink binder with notes, revisions, and pattern testing. I've learned so much about what goes into publishing a craft book, both expected and unexpected, so I've decided to share some details of the work process behind Happy-Gurumi!

Chewy Almond Cookies

It seems the holidays were not too long ago and I was baking up a storm. Cookies, cheesecake, chocolate mousse, I even made an ice cream cake. I didn't think it was possible, but I was kind of over desserts and baking by the time January rolled around. Well now it's been over a month since I've made anything and I'm ready to get my cookie back on!

With Chinese New Year coming up, I've been thinking about what to bring to my family celebrations later this month and these almond cookies are definitely on the list!

Hellloooooo 2015!

Happy first week of 2015! Or really happy second week, because I'm late in posting this. Geez, time flies! Anyway, I hope everyone had a fun and relaxing time during the holidays. Per usual, I got a cold, ate way too much, got a cold again, and caught up with friends and family. Aside from getting sick, I had a really great time!

While 2014 was a pretty good, I'm really looking forward to this year. I have a couple of big things coming up that will hopefully lead to even bigger opportunities for The Pudgy Rabbit!

First up is my crochet book, Happy-Gurumi! I can't believe that it's coming out in just a couple of months, on March 10th. It seems nuts that just a year ago, I was crocheting like crazy, turning my sketches into working patterns and somehow a book came out of the mess of yarn that covered my desk. Big thank you to my editors at Martingale for all their hard work and pulling everything together. You can pre-order the book right now at Amazon and Barnes and Noble!

And if you don't know how to crochet, not to worry, there are detailed instructions with plenty of pictures that will teach you the all basics. A new year, a new craft, that's what I always say! ;)



Then in May, I'm going to be exhibiting at the National Stationery Show! This is my first trade show and I'm really excited to be doing such a big fair. There's going to be thousands of attendees along with some really major retailers and lots of press. I'm actually a bit nervous because I've only exhibited at much smaller craft fairs so far and I haven't even done that many fairs in general. It's kind of a big leap to do such a major show and I have so many things that I need to prepare that it makes me panic a little. But I figure it's good to take some risks and this would be great exposure for the shop, so out of my comfort zone I go!

On the plus side, my crochet kits have already been highlighted by the NSS and they're currently a part of their favorite things for the 2015 show! Whoo hoo!





In other news, I'm also working on some new things for the shop, developing patterns, and planning out some new products. The next few months are going to be really busy, but I'm coming out of my cookie and fatty food induced holiday haze and super excited to get started!

So I wish everyone a happy and healthy new year and hope that the next twelve months are great! Cheers to 2015!