Chinese New Year Cake – Neen Go
Pan Fried Chinese New Year Cake
Growing up, the Neen Go (Chinese New Year Cake) is pretty much one of the many star items on the dining room table. I was never attracted to the look and the taste of the cake. For such a simple and dull looking cake, as a child, I simply could not fathom why it was such an important item to have before the starting of the lunar new year. There are so many other delicious cakes, like the prosperity cupcakes, but none of them are as important as this neen go.
Neen go, which literally translated in Cantonese, “Year High” or in another words, highly prosperous year, is one of the many items offered the day before New Year’s to the Kitchen God. Yes the Kitchen God and this is the widespread belief. The new year cannot kick off to a fresh new and prosperous start without this cake. And so, a week before the new year, I decided that I would like to make this cake. I did come across with a few snafus, recipe problems not the user’s fault, and then I found the light at the end of the tunnel with the help of my dear co-worker Mei-Ling who offered me a foolproof recipe. The attempt to take on the responsibility of making this VIP cake has befuddled my sweet mother. She could not take me seriously and decided that it is better to use her inexperience hands over mine to make the cake.
Now here is the now infamous recipe from Mei Ling:
Favorite Brand Name Recipes: Chunky Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
In another installment of the cake mix cookies series, today I will be featuring the Chunky Oatmeal Raisin cookies recipe that I got from my Cake Mix Cookie book published by Publications International, Ltd.
Chunky Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Trust me, the cookie actually tastes better than it looks. I didn’t take better pictures because I was exhausted from baking at 11pm at night time.
Recipe:
Ingredients:
- 1 package (approximately 18oz) yellow cake mix
- 1 1/2 cup of oats
- 1/2 cup of all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
- 1 pinch of grounded cloves (I added this to the original recipe)
- 1/2 cup of packed brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 1 cup (2 sticks) of melted unsalted butter
- 1 cup of raisins
- 1 cup of walnuts pieces, toasted
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Combine cake mix, oats, flour cinnamon and cloves in a large bowl until well blended. Beat brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla in a medium bowl until well blended. Add egg mixture and melted butter to dry ingredients; stir until combined. Fold in raisins and walnuts.
3. Drop tablespoonfuls (I use a cookie scooper) of dough 2 inches apart onto prepared cookie sheets. (Make sure to spray PAM cookie oil onto the sheets) Bake 14-16 minutes or until bottoms are golden brown. Remove to wire rack; cook completely.
Yield 4 dozen cookies.
To get the cookies to look a little flat, just take two fingers and press on top of the dough so it flattens a little. I made 3 dozen cookies with my cookie scoop, but I’m sure I could have made 4. I don’t like small cookies so these cookies worked out well for me. The cookies are soft like a cake, and chewy like how a cookie is supposed to be. The combination between raisins and oats are heaven to me. I only used 1/2 cup of walnuts because I’m not a big fan but I appreciate the texture in the cookie.
Anyways, good luck if you choose to use this recipe. It is so easy to make, but difficult to make it look nice!
Chunky Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Close up of chunky oatmeal raisin cookies
Until next time,
<3, FCG
Happy Birthday with an Oreo Ice Cream Cake!
Dear Loyal Readers of Finechinagirl,
I simply must apologize for not updating the website at all! I have been busy recently and have not had the chance to touch my computer. Funny how time flies and flies and flies! I have gone to a few restaurants which I will post sometime in the near future. But for now I would like to share with you and oreo ice cream cake that I made for my brother’s birthday this past January 14th.
As a busy girl living in New York City, I just don’t have time to make ice cream, even though I have a nice ice cream maker. So, I scoured the web trying to find a simple, and I stress verry simple ice cream cake recipe, which I found through video.about.com. Click on the link to find the recipe on this.
Oreo Ice Cream Birthday Cake
Chinese Steamed Cupcakes – Faat Go/Prosperity Cakes
:Edit:
If you happen to live in New York City and you want to try this faat go recipe, I suggest that you take a visit to Chinatown and purchase a bag of homemade “wet” rice flour which is low-gluten. I can honestly tell you that I don’t know how to make this flour but I can tell you where to buy it. Having the right kind of flour is key to your prosperity cakes.
Fong Inn Too, Inc.
Fong Inn Too Menu
Now in Cantonese it is called, “Zhi mai fun.” Once you tell the clerk that you want this, he will give you a bag of rice flour which is shown below:
Hong Kong Rice Flour
Notice that this flour is clumpy and not dry like most flours. My mother tells me that this flour is essentially rice and flour that has been fermented for two days. Unfortunately I do not possess the know how, but I can tell you how it was made.
Good luck!
***
It all started with an obsession with Chinese cupcakes. AKA faat go (or huat kueh) as you say in Cantonese. My good friend Sally over at the tastyconfection and I wanted to learn how to make Chinese cupcakes because we have always eaten them. These special cupcakes are only available in Chinese bakeries during the time of Chinese New Year since they represent prosperity and success. There’s an old Chinese proverb which my mother always says that translates, “The more the cake blossoms, the more prosperous your year will be.” Something along the lines of this. Sally and I can care less about the superstitious properties that these cakes hold and wanted to eat them whenever we wanted to. The journey to find the most successful recipe was a frustrating one.
Complicated and non-traditional prosperity cupcake recipes disappointed me. I was amazed how I could not find a good old fashion Chinese recipe. There are many Malaysian and Singaporean recipes, but they’re not the ones that I am used to having. Sally tried learning the recipe from her grandmother, but unfortunately the cupcakes’ corners did not form which is why she is uncomfortable with sharing the recipe.
Now one day, my mother decided to make these cupcakes for my father’s birthday. She got the recipe from my aunt and then a couple of hours in the kitchen, she makes this:
Steamed Chinese Cupcakes aka Faat Go
Paula Deen’s Old Fashioned Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
Paula Deen's Old Fashion Cupcakes w/Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
Easy, simple and your back-to-basics old fashioned cupcakes. I am not one that possesses many skills in the art of baking, but luckily there are recipes that simplifies it so everyone can bake anything. Making cupcakes seems pretty simple, but nowadays people jazz it up with all sorts of fancy decorative frosting which to me is admirable and way too challenging for me. Fortunately, the people whom I love to bake for which includes my family and friends like it light and simple. I think I can speak for most of the older Chinese adults because they cannot handle too much sweetness. So I am pleased to show you the cupcakes which I baked and the chocolate frosting that I specifically made for my friend who loves chocolate! This frosting is not a Paula Deen recipe and I probably understand why because it doesn’t contain a lot of butter! Haha, bad joke.
