Nowadays, I’m learning how to make American food and desserts. It’s fun to bake. Unfortunately, one weird thing about me is that I don’t like sweet things: ice-cream, candy, cake, pie, or cookies except fruit flavor candy. But I love cooking, baking, and eating. Good grief, if I liked to eat desserts, my belly will be 10 times bigger than now. hehe … Plus, my honey loves desserts, so I can enjoy baking desserts and he can enjoy eating them. Anyway, I tried a cookie recipe from a baking book that I got recently. It is a 500+ page heavy duty book that got on sale for only 5 dollars. ASSA!!! The recipe was called “Raspberry Sandwich Cookies.” Since I didn’t have any raspberry jam, I used homemade strawberry jam that my sister-in-law made instead. It worked pretty good. Maybe it was because of her yummy strawberry jam? hehe My husband gave 4 stars out of 5 for this recipe. Here is the recipe for you, if you want…hehe

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup Almonds
• 1½ Cups Flour
• ¾ Cup (1½ Sticks) Butter, at room temperature
• ½ Cup Sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 Egg White
• 1/8 tsp Salt
• ⅓ Cup Chopped Almonds
• 1 Cup Raspberry Jam (or Strawberry Jam)
• 1 Tbsp Fresh Lemon Juice

Yield: About 30 Cookies

Directions:

1. Place the almonds and 3 Tbsp of the flour in a blender and process until finely ground. Set it aside.
2. Mix the cream, butter, and sugar together in an electric mixer until they are light and fluffy. Stir in the vanilla. Add the ground almonds and remaining flour. Mix well to form a dough. Gather into a ball, wrap in wax paper, and refrigerator for about an hour.
3. Preheat the oven to 325˚F. Line 2 cookie sheets with wax paper.
4. Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces. Roll out one piece of the dough to a thickness of 1/8 inch on a lightly floured surface. With a 2½-inch round cookie cutter (or a glass,) stamp out circles. Roll out the leftover dough again, and stamp out more circles. Continue until no dough remains.
5. Find something to stamp out the centers with – about ¾ inch. I used a tip used for icing. Only cut out the centers from half of the cookies. Place dough rings and circles ½ inch apart on the cookie sheets.
6. Whisk the egg white with the salt until frothy. Brush only the cookie rings with the egg white, then sprinkle the chopped almonds on top. Bake until very lightly browned – about 12-15 minutes. Let them cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheets before transferring them to a rack.
7. In a saucepan, melt the jam with the lemon juice. Brush the jam over the cookie circles and then put the rings on top.

DaShiMa (다시마) also called Kombu (konbu in Japanese or haidai in Chinese) are edible kelp from widely eaten in East Asia.
Read more from Wikipedia…

• Use:
  To make broth for soup, Fried Side-dish

• Storage:
  Keep in the cabinet.

• Short Korean lesson: *^^*
  Dashima (다시마)=Kelp

Red bean paste or Azuki bean paste is a sweet, dark red bean paste originating from China. It is used in Chinese cuisine, Japanese confectionery, and Korean cuisine. It is prepared by boiling and mashing azuki beans and then sweetening the paste with sugar or honey. The husk of the beans may be removed by sieving before sweetening, which leads to a smoother and more homogeneous paste.
Red bean paste is used in various Korean snack foods and desserts; including: Baram Dduk, BungEoPpang (붕어빵), HoTteok (호떡), PatBingSu (팥빙수), PatDanJa (팥단자), PatJuk (팥죽), PatTteok (팥떡)
Read more from Wikipedia…

• Use:
  Dessert (Filling, For rice cakes), Porridge

• Storage:
  Once it’s opened, keep it in the refrigerator.

• Types:
  Smooth paste for: filling
  Paste with red bean chunks for: PatGingSu, Porridge

• Short Korean lesson: *^^*
  Pat (팥)=Red Bean
  AngGeum (앙금)=Paste

Tofu is made by coagulating soy milk and pressing the resulting curds. Although pre-made soy milk may be used, most tofu producers begin by making their own soy milk, which is produced by soaking, grinding, boiling and straining dried (or, less commonly, fresh) soybeans.
Read more from Wikipedia…

• Use:
  Soup, Stew, Side dish, Ingredient for dumplings

• Storage:
  Keep in the refrigerator.

• Types:
  Soft: for salad, soup (SunDuBu)
  Normal: Soup
  Firm: Frying

• Short Korean lesson: *^^*
  Dubu (두부)=Tofu

In Korea, squid is often made into JeotGal (in Korean). Heavily salted squid is left to ferment, sometimes with its innards, for up to a month, and is sold in small jars. This salty, strong flavored item is served in small quantities as a side dish (BanChan), or an accompaniment to white rice or alcoholic drinks. In Korea, dried squid is also a popular accompaniment for alcoholic beverages, called AnJu. Dried squid is often served with peanuts. Squid is also served roasted, with hot pepper paste and/or mayonnaise as a dip sauce. Steamed squid, or boiled squid, is also a delicacy.
In Korea, live squid is freshly taken from a tank, killed, cleaned and served quickly. Unlike octopus served in a similar fashion however, squid tentacles do not usually continue to move for long enough to reach the dinner table. This type of fresh squid is called 산 오징어 (’san ojingo’) (also with small octopuses called nakji). The squid is served with wasabi/soy sauce, chili pepper sauce or sesame sauce with salt and often wrapped in lettuce or pillard leaves.
Read more from Wikipedia…

• Use:
  Side dish, Main dish, Soup, Stew, Frying (Snack)

• Storage:
  Keep in the refrigerator.

• Types:
  Dried, Fresh, Frozen, Salted

• Short Korean lesson: *^^*
  JakEun (작은)=Small
  OJingEo (오징어)=Squid