Broken Glass, Lollipops, and MORE Lollipops!!!

Its taken me a while to get to posting something because I've been soooo smashed.  I've entertained family from Seattle, supported my daughter in her dance recital, and survived a garage sale.  Throughout these events, I've still managed to cook.

While Uncle George was in town, I had family over one evening for dinner.  Although I cheated and catered most of the food from Kanoa at Aloha Mondays (mahalo nui, Kanoa), I did manage to make a killer dessert, Broken Glass Dessert.

I used red, green and yellow jello for the "glass" and poundcake from Costco for the crust.  I realized I didn't have pineapple juice so I improvised with orange juice.  I find this recipe less complicated than other recipes since it uses Cool Whip. 

Before I had time to breathe, I had to get ready for D1's dance recital.  Without the luxury of favors from Southeast Asia (hair clips, hair pins, scrunchies, coin purses, etc.), I had to think of something.  D1 suggested lollipops.  I made 4 batches of lollipops for her to give away.  The tutti-frutti flavored li hing lollipops were shaped like kittycat heads (the other choice was hearts). 

The white thing in the middle is a li hing mui.  I fretted over how to attach labels to them (give credit where credit is due), and then I remembered something D2 had made at a Children's Day festival. It was a simple strip of scrapbooking paper with 2 holes@each end, which allowed a piece of ribbon to be threaded through.  I printed "Sweet Dancing!" and the important information (name of the giver) on the opposite end.

The finished product!

By the time the garage sale rolled around the following weekend, I had the lollipop process down.  This time, I made melon margarita li hing lollipops using the heart molds.

Now that I'm officially on vacation, I think I'll tackle some projects I've been meaning to try:  xiao long bao, scallion cakes, scallion buns, etc.  I've been getting lots of ideas from the Cooking-Of-Joy blog and the Appetite for China blog.  Joy and Diana have lots of ono food and gorgeous pics on their blogs.

And I before I sign off to go find my recipes, I had to post a pic of our newest family members, Sammy and Rain, English Mastiff puppies.  This picture was taken when they were 11 weeks old.  They are now 14 weeks old and full of fun.  I'm sure you'll be seeing more of them in the future.

click on recipe title for printable recipe
Broken Glass Dessert

3 small boxes flavored gelatin

4 1/2 c boiling water

1 pkg. unflavored gelatin

1/4 c water

1/4 c orange juice, heated to boiling

8 oz Cool Whip

1 loaf cake, sliced into 1/2" slices

Dissolve each box of flavored gelatin separately in 1 1/2 c boiling water.  Pour into separate square pans and chill until firm.  Line a 9 x 13" pan with cake slices, filling in gaps.  Soften unflavored gelatin in water.  Add orange juice and stir until gelatin is completely dissolved.  Cool 10 minutes.  Cut flavored gelatin into  1/4" cubes.  Set aside.  Fold orange juice mixture into Cool Whip.  Fold in flavored gelatin cubes.  Spread over cake slices.  Chill until set.

Lollipops

2 c sugar

1/2 c water

1/2 c light corn syrup

1/2 tsp flavoring oil

2-3 drops food coloring

li hing mui, optional

pam cooking spray

Combine sugar, water and corn syrup in a saucepan.  Heat on high, stirring until sugar dissolves.  Continue heating until a candy thermometer register 300 degrees (hard crack stage).  While waiting for candy to come to temperature, spray marble slab with Pam.  Prepare 20-26 lollipop molds, place on marble slab, spray molds with Pam, then insert sticks.  Arrange so outer edges of molds are very close/touching each other.  When candy reaches 300 degrees, remove from heat, add flavoring and food coloring.  Stir for 2 minutes.  Pour into molds, placing a li hing mui into molten candy before it hardens.  Remove from molds when cool and wrap individually.

Its taken me a while to get to posting something because I've been soooo smashed.  I've entertained family from Seattle, supported my daughter in her dance recital, and survived a garage sale.  Throughout these events, I've still managed to cook.

While Uncle George was in town, I had family over one evening for dinner.  Although I cheated and catered most of the food from Kanoa at Aloha Mondays (mahalo nui, Kanoa), I did manage to make a killer dessert, Broken Glass Dessert.

I used red, green and yellow jello for the "glass" and poundcake from Costco for the crust.  I realized I didn't have pineapple juice so I improvised with orange juice.  I find this recipe less complicated than other recipes since it uses Cool Whip. 

Before I had time to breathe, I had to get ready for D1's dance recital.  Without the luxury of favors from Southeast Asia (hair clips, hair pins, scrunchies, coin purses, etc.), I had to think of something.  D1 suggested lollipops.  I made 4 batches of lollipops for her to give away.  The tutti-frutti flavored li hing lollipops were shaped like kittycat heads (the other choice was hearts). 

The white thing in the middle is a li hing mui.  I fretted over how to attach labels to them (give credit where credit is due), and then I remembered something D2 had made at a Children's Day festival. It was a simple strip of scrapbooking paper with 2 holes@each end, which allowed a piece of ribbon to be threaded through.  I printed "Sweet Dancing!" and the important information (name of the giver) on the opposite end.

The finished product!

By the time the garage sale rolled around the following weekend, I had the lollipop process down.  This time, I made melon margarita li hing lollipops using the heart molds.

Now that I'm officially on vacation, I think I'll tackle some projects I've been meaning to try:  xiao long bao, scallion cakes, scallion buns, etc.  I've been getting lots of ideas from the Cooking-Of-Joy blog and the Appetite for China blog.  Joy and Diana have lots of ono food and gorgeous pics on their blogs.

And I before I sign off to go find my recipes, I had to post a pic of our newest family members, Sammy and Rain, English Mastiff puppies.  This picture was taken when they were 11 weeks old.  They are now 14 weeks old and full of fun.  I'm sure you'll be seeing more of them in the future.

click on recipe title for printable recipe
Broken Glass Dessert

3 small boxes flavored gelatin

4 1/2 c boiling water

1 pkg. unflavored gelatin

1/4 c water

1/4 c orange juice, heated to boiling

8 oz Cool Whip

1 loaf cake, sliced into 1/2" slices

Dissolve each box of flavored gelatin separately in 1 1/2 c boiling water.  Pour into separate square pans and chill until firm.  Line a 9 x 13" pan with cake slices, filling in gaps.  Soften unflavored gelatin in water.  Add orange juice and stir until gelatin is completely dissolved.  Cool 10 minutes.  Cut flavored gelatin into  1/4" cubes.  Set aside.  Fold orange juice mixture into Cool Whip.  Fold in flavored gelatin cubes.  Spread over cake slices.  Chill until set.

Lollipops

2 c sugar

1/2 c water

1/2 c light corn syrup

1/2 tsp flavoring oil

2-3 drops food coloring

li hing mui, optional

pam cooking spray

Combine sugar, water and corn syrup in a saucepan.  Heat on high, stirring until sugar dissolves.  Continue heating until a candy thermometer register 300 degrees (hard crack stage).  While waiting for candy to come to temperature, spray marble slab with Pam.  Prepare 20-26 lollipop molds, place on marble slab, spray molds with Pam, then insert sticks.  Arrange so outer edges of molds are very close/touching each other.  When candy reaches 300 degrees, remove from heat, add flavoring and food coloring.  Stir for 2 minutes.  Pour into molds, placing a li hing mui into molten candy before it hardens.  Remove from molds when cool and wrap individually.