Chrysanthemum Flower Tea Jelly 菊花茶凍

Like  a moment frozen in time, so does this little jelly capture the beauty of the delicate chrysanthemum flower.  This little dessert is a riff on the classic relaxing and rejuvenating Chinese Chrysanthemum Tea (click link to check out how to brew some!) which is beloved by young and old.  

For myself, the joy of the chrysanthemum tea has always been the fact that flowers, yes! actual flowers, are used in the tea.  Dried, twisted and wrinkled flowers, that, once blessed with hot water, will blossom to the full of their original, delicate, dancing beauty.  Fascinating!

We capture the beauty of this tea, of that moment of blossoming, with our Chrysanthemum Flower Jelly 菊花茶凍, where the delicate taste of this flower tea can be enjoyed against the full glory of the flower's beauty.

Rose Dragon Eye Jelly 龍眼玫瑰茶果凍

This delicate little jelly is actually inspired by my one of my attempts at a super fancy type of cake, known as 'entremet', which pretty much gobbled me up and spit me right back out.  Delicious but, ouch, not much to look at.  Oh well, live, try, fail, and try again, amirite?  

But one thing that I took away was this utterly delicious rose infused jelly.  Oh my gosh darn!  What a taste!  The delicate heavenly scent of rose (I LOVE the scent of roses!) captured in a cool quivering jelly state contrasted oh so sweetly with the clear fresh sweetness of the dragon eye fruit, also known as longan.  So good had to share!

Osmanthus Flower Jelly 桂花糕

Chinese Mid Autumn Festival 中秋節 is coming around the corner!  It's the time of the full harvest moon, glowing lanterns held aloft by small hands, long nights of gazing longingly at Chang-O 嫦娥, lovely ethereal goddess of the moon, and stuffing of bellies to bursting point with delectable mooncakes, perfectly round to symbolize reunion.  

Fruit Jelly Candies

One never quite believes how much your own child can "love, love, love" candies, as my little daughter puts it.  With tender mother's concern you scheme that you will specially prepare for your kid all kinds of delicious nibbles and treats that will teach them to love candy less.  Which of course doesn't really work as well as you had hoped cuz your kid still "loves, loves, loves" candies.  

So with that humble pie lesson in mind I have been thinking that I can perhaps make candy that is a bit healthier than the candy you buy.  And so, with my little girl's help, we made these surprisingly delicious real fruit jelly candies.  She really loved the fact that she was making candies!