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Guava is a round green fruit so common in Taiwan that it could be considered the Taiwanese pear.  We have a guava tree in our backyard, which yields small, sweet fruits with many seeds, in contrast with Taiwanese guava fruits which are larger and have a milder flavor. During Thanksgiving, my daughter shared with our family a recipe for guava tarts which we ended up baking in order to use up this year’s ripe bumper crop of guava fruit. I would like in turn to share recipe with you.

Ingredients

• 7-8 medium sized guava fruits, seeded and cut into small pieces. Note that the quantity of guava will depend on the number of tarts you are making, as well as the type of guava you are using.
• 3 Tablespoons flour
• 1/3 cup of butter — half for the tarts, cut into pieces, and half for greasing the pan, melted
• 2/3 cups sugar
• Dash of salt
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
• Tart pastry or pie crust dough made with your favorite recipe. My daughter generally relies on this Real Simple recipe to make crusts for both pies and tarts. For my batch, I made a slightly richer crust by mixing the following ingredients: 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, 2 Tablespoons sugar, a pinch of salt, 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature, 2 eggs and 5 Tablespoons water.
• Lemon zest

Instructions

1. Use a pastry brush to grease a muffin tin with melted butter.
2. Line each cup of the tin with dough. One way of doing this is to cut out circles of dough using a cookie cutter or the lid of a jam jar. Please one circle of dough into each tin and then mold the dough to the shape of the cup.
3. Mix the flour, sugar and lemon juice with guava slices.
4. Place a dollop of the guava mixture into each dough-lined cup, then top each tart with a small quantity of lemon zest and a few small pieces of cold butter.
5. Bake at 425 degrees for three to five minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees and cook until crust turns light brown. This took 15 minutes in our kitchen, but cooking time may vary depending on how quickly your oven gets hot.

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These custard egg tarts are a common fixture at dim sum restaurants across the United States. They originated in Hong Kong in the 1940s and were eventually introduced to China and Taiwan. This recipe produces custard tarts which with a thin, golden crust and light, fluffy filling.

Crust Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour
• 3 oz cream cheese
• 1 stick of margarine (4 oz.)

Filling Ingredients:

• 1 cup milk
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup (or 1/3 cup to taste) sugar

Instructions:

1. Mix crust ingredients and use the dough to line a 12-cup muffin tin.
2. Beat the eggs with a fork and strain with a mesh strainer. Add milk and sugar to the egg mixture and mix well. Note: avoid creating bubbles in the mixture to ensure smooth consistency in the tart.
3. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
4. Pour the batter into the cups, filling 3/4 of each cup with the mixture.
5. Bake for 20 minutes.

Removal Instructions:

Cover the baking tin with a cutting board. Hold the sides of the board to the tin, flip the pan over and then lift the pan. The tarts will be face down on the cutting board and ready to move to a serving platter.

Many traditional and old-fashioned Taiwanese desserts feature sweet potatoes or yams as a main ingredient. In this recipe, we use yam to make the puffs. Deep-frying is a way of drawing out the fragrance of the sesame seeds as well as sealing in the sweet taste of the puffs. At Chinese banquets, such as those given for weddings, this dish is often served as dessert. The golden color of the puff symbolizes joy, good fortune and happiness.

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Ingredients

• 1 lb yam
• 1 bag of red bean paste (about one pound)
• 1 ½ Tbsp. ground sugar
• 1 ¼ cups glutinous rice flour
• ¾ cup white sesame seeds
• Cooking oil for frying. Note: Depending on the size of the pot, as long as you have enough oil to cover half of the puff, you can turn the puff over to ensure that both sides are cooked to golden brown.

Instructions

1. Peel yam and cut into chunks. Steam for 30 minutes or until soft.
2. Mash yam and add sugar. When the mixture cools, add rice flour, mix well and knead into a smooth dough. Divide dough into 20 small pieces and then roll these pieces into balls.
3. Cut a slit in the corner of the red bean package, squeeze paste out and shape it into a ball. (Note that the ball of red bean paste is for filling and does not have to be perfectly shaped.)
4. Take a piece of dough, press into a flat round shape and place a red bean ball in the center. Seal the dough and roll it into a ball, then roll the ball into a cylinder puff shape.
5. Place sesame seed in a shallow plate and roll the puff in the sesame dish. Gently press the sesame seeds into the puff to ensure that they stay on the puff evenly.
6. Pour frying oil into a deep pot or wok and heat over medium heat. Place the puff into hot oil and deep fry until both sides turn golden brown.
7. Serve piping hot or at room temperature. This recipe yields 20 puffs.

Yam Tip

Yam has orange flesh and reddish-brown or orange skin. It contains more water than sweet potato. For this recipe, using yam instead of sweet potato will enhance the color of the puff, as well as add flavor and texture.

An empanada is a stuffed pastry turnover of Spanish origin, which takes on many different forms in bake shops around the world, from Portugal to the Philippines. Taiwanese bakeries such as Yi Mei sell both savory and sweet versions of the empanada.

When I created this recipe, I wanted to make a sweet, filling dessert turnover that could be prepared quickly. To give the pastry a light, flaky consistency, I used a package of Indo-European puff pastry, rather than create regular pastry dough from scratch.

Ingredients for filling:

• 4 ripe bananas, cut into 1/4-inch thick slices
• 4 Tbsp. margarine or butter
• 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp. corn starch, dissolved in 2 Tbsp. water

Ingredients for pastry shell:

• 1 package of puff pastry squares (5″ x 5″- usually sold in packages of 10 pieces each)

Instructions:

1. Heat margarine or butter over medium heat in a wok or frying pan. Stir in sliced bananas and cook for about 2 minutes.
2. Add sugar and lemon juice, then cook for another 3 to 4 minutes over low heat until the texture becomes slightly creamy. Add the corn starch, dissolved in water, to the mixture. Once the filling is creamy with chunks of banana, turn off the heat.
3. Defrost the puff pastry and place the dough squares on a smooth surface or on wax paper. Put 2 to 3 heaping tablespoons of filling in the center of each square and fold in half diagonally to make a triangle. Use a fork to press the edges firmly closed and to also make a decorative pattern. Arrange the turnovers 2 inches apart on a cooking sheet or in a baking pan lined with foil.
4. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Brush the turnovers with an egg wash, consisting half of water and half of eggs. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown.

The batter for the pastry filling looks lumpy. Does it need to be mixed more?

The pastry filling should be creamy, but it may also be lumpy because of the banana. This is what the filling should look like when it’s ready.

How do I know when the pastries are ready to be taken out of the oven?

A well-cooked puff pastry is brown, dry and flaky. The turnovers will be ready when the puff pastry is ready. Here is a picture of the type of puff pastry I used in this recipe, as well as a picture of fresh turnovers out of the oven.

This recipe is a great summer dessert that can be prepared quickly and inexpensively. Bonus: since it requires no eggs, this recipe is friendly for those with egg allergies. Makes two cheesecakes.

Ingredients

• 2 envelopes of unflavored gelatin
• 2 nine inch graham cracker pie crusts
• 3/4 cup sugar (or more sugar if using fresh mango instead of mango juice)
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 eight ounce package of softened cream cheese
• 1 mango or 1-2 cups of kern’s mango juice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions.

1. Puree mango in a blender.
2. Add cream cheese and vanilla and blend until mixture is smooth.
3. Mix gelatin and sugar together, and add boiling water to the dry mixture until the gelatin completely dissolves. If the gelatin doesn’t completely dissolve, microwave the mixture.
4. Pour the gelatin-sugar mixture into the blender.
5. Blend the mixture until it is smooth and pour it into the crust.
6. Refrigerate for 3 hours or until firm.