Modern Asian Baking at Home

Filed under Food

May 10, 2024

It’s Foodie Friday! One of my friends gifted me the Modern Asian Baking at Home cookbook for Christmas last-last year!

Looking for the perfect Asian dessert/baking #cookbook? Check out Modern Asian Baking at Home! #asiandesserts #subtleasianbaking

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Modern Asian Baking at Home

Modern Asian Baking At Home by Kat Lieu

_{I received this book as a gift from a friend + as always, my thoughts/opinions are mine + mine alone, but if you click the affiliate link to buy this book, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you!}

By Kat Lieu

Genre: Food/Cooking
Pages: 176

There are a whole host of different “subtle asian (insert topic of interest here)” groups out there, and Kat Lieu is the founder of the ever-popular “Subtle Asian Baking!”

The intro of this book really spoke to me because (despite always loving the desserts at Asian bakeries), I grew up also thinking Asians didn’t bake. (Like our dishwashers, the oven was also for storage rather than use.)

Modern Asian Baking At Home starts off with a section on “The Asian Pantry” (if you didn’t grow up in an Asian household, some ingredients, e.g. calamansi, Chinese five-spice powder, jujubes, pandan, tapioca flour, ube, etc. may be unfamiliar). It also discusses different techniques (e.g. steaming, beating egg whites, shaping milk bread dough).

It’s then divided into the following chapters:

Basics and Confections

This section includes recipes for things like Fluffy Japanese Souffle Pancakes (I made something similar once upon a time!), Ube Halaya Jam, DIY Boba (so you can make this from scratch!), Eggless Mochi Cheese Puffs, Tanghulu Candied Fruits, Night Market Scallion Pancakes, Velvety Nama Chocolates, Hanami Dango (dumplings) with Sweet Soy Sauce Glaze, Chewy Taiwanese Snowflake Crisps…

Quick Microwave Mochi

SAB (Subtle Asian Baking)’s Favorite Cookies and Pastries

As the title suggests, this section includes all kinds of tasty cookies/pastries! You can learn to make Black Sesame Neapolitan Sugar Cookies, Lemony Matcha Macarons, Butterfly Pea Flower Shortbread, Mochi Pon de Ring Donuts, Soft Crumb Ube White Chocolate Scones, Tangzhong Milk Bread Five-Spice Cinnamon Buns…

Ube Butter Mochi!

Airy and Not-Too-Sweet Cakes

The best compliment any (East?) Asian parent can pay to a dessert = “it’s not too sweet.” Learn to make Spicy Gochujang Flourless Chocoatel Cake, Pandan Chiffon Cakes, Pillowy Taiwanese Castella Cake, Asian Bakery Fresh Cream Cake (these were the types of birthday cakes I grew up eating!), Dreamy Matcha Basque Cheesecake…

One-Pot Honeycomb Cake

Bread and Yeasted Bakes

I veryveryvery rarely bake bread, so this section is a little intimidating for me, but “Super Easy Milk Bread” sounds doable, right?! You can also learn to make Pineapple Buns, Butter Basil Sourdough Naan, Japanese Curry Bread Buns, and No-Knead Miso Foccacia, to name a few.

Treats Under One Moon and Holiday Bakes

Snowy Skin Mooncake

Looking for something festive that’d be perfect for holiday gatherings/potlucks? This will be your go-to section! Summer Fruit Tarts, Lunar New Year Nian Gao, Mochi-Stuffed Ube Crinkle Cookies, Buttery Lunar New Year Almond Cookies…

Mochi Waffle Holiday Tree

Custards and Frozen

My favorite dessert = mango with sticky rice + that’s a recipe in here! :] You can also learn to make Silky Black Sesame Panna Cotta, No-Churn Corn and Cheese Ice Cream, Simply Perfect Purin (Japanese take on flan), Mochi Boba Milk Tea Ice Pops, and Comforting Black Sesame Soup!

Drinks

If you want to learn to make some fancier non-alcoholic drinks, there are recipes for Lemongrass Chai Latte, Vietnamese Egg Dalgona Coffee, Subtle Asian Baking’s Pink Drink, and Homemade Soy Milk here!

Mango Lassi with Sago

Each recipe in Modern Asian Baking At Home includes:

A short introduction
Prep time
Cook time
Ingredients
Instructions
Serving size/Yield
Tips/advice on different things (e.g. how to make it vegan, how to store ingredients for easier/quicker prep, different ingredient substitutes/alterations you can make, how to decrease clean-up time, etc.)