Ma Ti Gao (Water Chestnut Cake)

You can usually find this dessert at dim sum restaurants and they pan-sear it before serving. I didn't think the extra oil was necessary so I just served them after they were steamed.

You can find the recipe here: http://en.christinesrecipes.com/2013/01/water-chestnut-cake.html

I used canned chestnuts and one small can had about 16 chestnuts so I ended up making 3 batches!

Note: the tan/brown color comes from the sugar used

Bo Luo Bao (Pineapple buns)

This bread is one of my favorites. The best ones are fresh and hot out of the oven, with a slab of butter sandwiched in the bread, called bo luo yau. Mmmmmm...so tasty, my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

I used the recipe found here: http://www.morethanbread.net/2010/11/bo-lo-bao-pineapple-bun.html

If you don't have shortening, you can use butter instead, which is what I did.

Remember that the buns double in size when you let the dough rise so shape the buns accordingly, unless you want to make huge buns like I did...