Onion Zest is an ingredient first used in Papa’s Scooperia to make seasonal cookies for OnionFest.

You will first need to peel off the outer skin of the sweet onion and cut off the roots and stem. Then, take a fine cheese grater and make 1/2 a cup of shredded onions. Expect lots of tears.

After that, take your 1/2 cup of shredded onions and dump it onto two squares of paper towels. Wrap up the ball of shredded onion and squeeze out the juice.

You’ll want to preheat your oven to 400°F. Take a small cookie tray and line it with parchment paper. Spread out the shredded onions over the parchment paper, avoiding large clumps of onions.

Bake for 6 minutes and 30 seconds.

Take it out of the oven and let it cool.

Pour the baked shredded onion into a small bowl and add 1/4 cup of granulated sugar and mix with your hands.

If you want, put rubber gloves on to avoid dying your fingers. Then mix in a few drops of purple food coloring (blue+red+pink if you don’t have purple). Evenly mix the color throughout the sugared onion shreds.

Preheat your oven to 330°F. Spread your candied onion shreds over a small cookie sheet that is lined with parchment paper. Cook for 4 minutes.

The onion zest should be sticking to the parchment paper. Carefully place the parchment paper and onion zest in the freezer for two hours.

Take the onion zest out from the freezer, and break it apart into small bits.

Mix with your favorite cookie dough recipe, and bake accordingly. You can mix it throughout the dough, or simply sprinkle it on top of the cookies before baking.

We placed the onion zest on top of a sugar cookie dough and added some sugar crystal sprinkles.

Enjoy this special treat with your friends and family as you celebrate the magical holiday of OnionFest!

Botamochi is a unique treat from Japan made of sweet rice and Azuki paste. We first introduced Botamochi in Papa’s Cupcakeria HD.

First you will need to find two 15oz cans of Azuki Beans. They also go by several alternate names including Adzuki, and Aduki. Not the dry bag of beans, but the cans. If you can only find dry azuki beans, you will have to prep them a bit different.

Empty the contents (beans and liquid) of the cans into a medium saucepan. Mix in the brown sugar. Boil the mixture for 45 minutes while stirring occasionally.

Then pour the contents into a mixing bowl, and blend until it is a mash potato like consistency.

Let the bean paste cool down. Then place it in a container, cover, and place it in the refrigerator until cold.

Pour in the Glutinous Rice and the White Rice into a strainer and rinse it 2-3 times. Let the rice sit in the strainer for about 30 minutes.

Pour the rice into a Rice Cooker. Fill with water until water is 1 inch over the top of the rice. Cook at the “White Rice” Setting (around 30 minutes).

When the rice is done, mash it with a wooden spoon into a mushy consistency.

If you  do not have a Rice Cooker, you will need to cook the rice on the stove top.

First, place a sheet of cling wrap on a scale. Place 2 oz (56.7 g) of Azuki Paste on the the cling wrap. Flatten it out into a disk.

Roll a 1.25 oz (25.4g) ball of rice and place it on the center of the Azuki Paste disk.

The sheet of cling wrap will act as a barrier between your hands and the bean paste. Encapsulate the rice ball with Azuki Paste by folding up all the corners and edges of the cling wrap around the rice. Twist the ends of the cling wrap together so it packs the rice and paste together nicely.

Now you have a perfect Botamochi. Unwrap, place it on a dish, and try to make some more.

In a small bowl, whisk the egg and water together. Pour it into the flour mixture, and blend them together.

On a clean surface, sprinkle flour, and roll out the dough into a large flat disk. Spray the pie pan with cooking spray and place dough in it. Firmly press the dough against the bottom and sides of the pan, and trim any overhanging dough from the rim of the pie pan. Using your fingers, flute the dough around the perimeter of the pan.

Pour the pie filling into the dough-lined pie pan. Cover the top of the filling with all of the Streusel mix.

Bake the pie for 40-45 minutes or until the pie crust and streusel are golden brown. Then, take the pie out of the oven and allow it to cool down.

Once it is cooled, spray whipped cream around the inside edge of the pie, slice, and enjoy!

On the stovetop, melt the butter in a small saucepan while continuously stirring so it doesn’t burn. Then add the flour while still whisking. Once the flour is fully blended in, then add the warmed beef broth.

Bring the gravy to a boil, then turn off the heat and remove it from the stovetop.

Take your baking pan and line it with parchment paper.

Spoon out dollops of the mixture on top of the melted milk chocolate, spaced out evenly. Then take your butter knife or wood skewer and start swirling the pink chocolate into the milk chocolate. You don’t want to mix it completely, but just enough that you get a nice swirly pattern throughout the chocolate.

Place the dough back in the bowl, cover it with plastic wrap, and let it sit for an hour or so. By that time, the dough should have doubled in size thanks to the yeast. Dust your work surface with flour, and pour out the dough. Roll the dough around and into a nice ball shape and let it sit. After 15 minutes it should be ready to go.

In a second large bowl, mix the brown sugar and the butter until the mixture is fluffy. It helps to have a hand mixer. Then add the egg, vanilla extract, and molasses and mix thoroughly.

Finally, add in the dry mixture from the first bowl slowly until everything is completely blended with no lumps and stuff.

Dust your cookie cutter in flour and start cutting out as many gingerbread men as you can. This should make about 2 dozen depending on the size of your cutter.

Let the cookies fully cool down after they are done baking. Once cool, decorate them with your icing, sprinkles, and any other festive toppings you like!

First step is to preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C) so it’s all ready to go by the time you’re ready to put them in the oven. At this time, you can also place the 12 cupcake wrappers in the Muffin Pan.

In a second mixing bowl, add the sugar and the butter. It helps if the butter is soft and close to room temperature. Whisk the butter and sugar together until it’s fully mixed and creamy. Then add the 1 egg and mix it in thoroughly, then add the second egg and do the same. This is followed by adding the buttermilk and vinegar and whisking them until fully blended with the rest of these wet ingredients. Finally, add the vanilla extract and red food coloring and mix it some more.

Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients bowl and whisk until the batter is velvety smooth.

Once the oven is pre-heated, bake the cupcakes for 20 to 25 minutes. You’ll know they are done if you poke a toothpick into the center, pull it out, and it’s clean.

In a large mixing bowl, add butter (soft and room temperature), cream cheese, vanilla extract, and lemon juice. Using a hand mixer, blend until everything is nice and smooth.

Then add the Confectioner’s Sugar to the mix and keep blending until the frosting is fluffy. Refrigerate the frosting for 30 min to allow it to firm up before putting it on the cupcakes.

Frost the Cupcakes and dust with the Red Sugar Sprinkles. If you are planning on making the Cream Cheese Frosting, I find it helps to put the finished frosting in a small ziplock bag. Then cut one of the bottom corners off the bag to make an easy frosting dispenser. Simply squeeze the frosting through the hole and onto the cupcakes.

For extra holiday flare, we will be using a hollowed out “Pie Pumpkin” as the dipping bowl. A “Pie Pumpkin” is a small pumpkin that is grown for eating rather than display.

First thoroughly wash the pumpkin, then using a large knife, carefully cut a large section of the top off so as to make a nice bowl for the dip. Then, scoop out all the seeds and stringy innards using a large spoon. Why not paint a jack-o-lantern face on it before you get started.