Chef Kryssie Tinsay shares a dessert recipe
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KRYSSIE TINSAY’S UBE ALMOND COOKIES
INSTRUCTIONS
Ube Almond Cookies
Ingredients:
- 16 oz almond flour
- 12 oz ube jam (aka ube halaya) (i use “Pamana” brand from Seafood City but it can be any ube halaya brand)
- 2 tsp ube extract or purple food coloring if extract is not available
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 flax eggs (2 tbsp ground flax seeds + 6 tbsp water)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- sliced almonds for garnish
Equipment:
- rubber spatula
- measuring cup
- electric mixer
- portion scoop (i am using a 3/4 tbsp portion scoop)
- baking tray
- parchment paper
Preheat your oven at 350F
- In a mixing bowl fitted with a paddle, add all of your ingredients.
- Mix until well incorporated
- Using a portion scoop, scoop your cookie mix onto a parchment lined baking sheet leaving 1 inch space in between
- Top with a sliced almond
- Bake at 350F for 15 minutes
- Let cool and enjoy!
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:
Karl Schmid
For the past 10 years, Filipino native Kryssie Tinsay was working as a sous chef in a Los Angeles hotel, but to help supplement her income, in 2015 she launched her own culinary company, Kitchen 1726.
Chef Kryssie Tinsay
I started doing pop up dinners, and I wanted to make my own bread. A couple years ago, a coffee shop contacted me in LA asked me if I wanted to make cookies for them.
Karl Schmid
But Kryssie didn’t always, enjoy the baking process.
Chef Kryssie Tinsay
When I was going to culinary school. I hated baking. I’ve always just been a saver shop, baking sort of was not something that I patient to do because you don’t realize you’ve made a mistake until after you’ve spent all this time like cooking it.
Karl Schmid
But when the tourism industry slowed down due to the corona virus pandemic, chef Kryssie was furloughed with no other option, she focused her time and her energy on her baking company.
Chef Kryssie Tinsay
I can’t just wallow and not do anything, productive, right? So I figured I was gonna go and do this full force.
Karl Schmid
The Filipino inspired delicacies of cookies, breads and cakes bringing instant hit.
Chef Kryssie Tinsay
Before I knew it, it was Easter and I was really busy. Like every day I was getting phone calls, emails, messages saying they wanna order stuff, they want this, they want me to cook for them and stuff and it just kinda blew up.
Karl Schmid
To her american clients, Kryssie baked goods were unique. The pastries became known for one ingredient that’s native to a home country, the Ube.
Chef Kryssie Tinsay
The Ube, it’s a purple sweet potato that’s native to Asia and Filipinos we use it in a lot of desserts. I wanted to corporate it in baked goods because you don’t really see that a lot.
Karl Schmid
The purple delicacies were a hit amongst her buyers who were sheltering in place.
Chef Kryssie Tinsay
People get excited about, big goods and stuff because you can’t go out, you are in quarantine, you don’t wanna go anywhere. So getting something because it’s purple, like everything I make is purple. It’s something for people to look forward to.
Karl Schmid
Chef Kryssie has also become known for her cake decorations.
Chef Kryssie Tinsay
I really don’t know what they’re gonna look like, to be honest, because I’m not like a professional like pastry chef, sometimes a client will send me pictures. And usually I’ll be honest with them, and be like, I don’t know that this is gonna look exactly like you want it, but it’s gonna be pretty.
Karl Schmid
She gives credit to her mom for influencing her cooking and her culinary career.
Chef Kryssie Tinsay
A lot of all the things that I do if it’s, if it’s not from memory, it’s just from me researching it talking to my mom cause my mom, sometimes my mom is my inspiration. She tells me Okay, We used to do this. We used to do that. So, this could be a start of something. I’m gonna show you guys how to make, my favorite vegan cookies. They’re called Ube almond cookies. They’re vegan, they’re gluten free, and they’re super delicious. So we’re gonna start by putting together our ingredients in the mixing bowl. So I have my Kitchen aid mixer right here, put 16 ounces of almond flour into the bowl. It could be any type of almond flour that you guys buy. And then we’re gonna use Ube, jam you can buy this at any asian grocery store. We’re just gonna put everything together. Then we’re gonna also do a little bit of oil, so about a quarter cup, two tablespoons, it’s just to give it a little bit of moisture, so it’s not so dry. And then in place of eggs, I’m actually using flax seeds. And, so the ratio for the flaxseeds would be one tablespoon. We also need some vanilla extract. Just make sure you use like real vanilla extract instead of imitation. And then we’re gonna do sugar, which is gonna be one cup of sugar. And if you wanna make it sweeter, you can make it sweeter but the almonds, almonds are actually sweet enough. And then we’re also gonna put baking powder, baking powder helps it rise and makes it soft, one tablespoon of baking powder. And then you’re also gonna need Ube extract. It’s just to fortify the flavor of the Ube and also giving it color. I work with it so much that I kind of know like, how much to use, but in this recipe, you’re probably gonna use, a teaspoon or two, depending on how purple you want it. One more thing, don’t forget to add the salt. I know it’s, it’s sweet, but you always wanna salt it because it kinda balances out the sweetness of it and it kinda actually brings out the flavors of what you’re making. So probably like a teaspoon of salt just close in there. And you just wanna mix it until it’s fully incorporated. And this is what it’s gonna look like. I’m just gonna get my sheet pan. It’s lined with parchment paper so it doesn’t stick. So I’m using this scoop, this is about three quarters of a tablespoon of scoop, but you can really use any scoop. We got too much scoops, these won’t spread, these cookies won’t spread out, because we didn’t put any baking soda in it. Baking Soda helps it spread, but because it’s just baking powder, it’s just gonna pop, and it’s gonna be nice and soft. One more scoop and then we’re done. I like to just garnish it with like, a little bit of sliced almond on the top, just so that people know that they are on the cookies. I just put a little bit of flour on them and now we’re gonna take them to the oven. You wanna pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees, and it’s gonna be for about 15 hours. That’s it, these are, what they’re gonna look like. You can even tell that they’re vegan and gluten free. I hope you’ll enjoy these Ube almond vegan cookies as much as I do.