Miss Hangrypants: greentea

Showing posts with label greentea. Show all posts

Matcha Cinnamon Apple Scones

Whoa! It's been way too long since I updated the blog. Honestly when residency started, I thought I would never come back to it because on the little free time I had off I just wanted to veg on the couch or sleep. I'm now on night float so I've been able to make things during the day and werk, werk, werk all night.

I'm also updating just in time too for my favorite season! I love, love sweater weather and all things cinnamon and pumpkin spiced. For my comeback, I've made these matcha cinnamon apple scones that were adapted from King Arthur Flour.

Unfortunately the weather was rainy and dark, so these pictures aren't the best :(

Matcha Apple Scones

makes 16 mini scones

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup white sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp matcha (I used panatea culinary grade matcha)
1 stick cold butter (cut into pieces)
1/2 cup finely diced apple
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup apple sauce

turbinado sugar to top
Icing sugar mixed with a little milk

In a large mixing bowel, mix flour, sugar, salt, matcha, baking powder and cinnamon. Cut cold butter into dry mix until crumbly. You'll have some larger chunks of butter but that's okay!
In a small bowl, whisk eggs, vanilla and apple sauce. Add wet to dry ingredients, toss in chopped apple and stir until just moistened
Line pan with silpat or parchment paper. Flour surface and your hands. Divide dough, which is pretty goopy) in half and pat each half into a 6" circle about 3/4" thick
Brush each circle with milk and top with turbinado sugar. Cut each circle into 8 wedges and pull them apart from each other just a bit so there is some space
Place scones uncovered into freezer for 30 minutes. This is important for best texture and rise!
Preheat oven to 425F. Bake scones 20-24 mins or until edges are slightly golden brown
Cool briefly on pan before transferring onto rack.
I mixed some powdered sugar with a little milk to glaze on top

This post was sponsored by panatea matcha. I was provided products to use, but all opinions are my own.

Matcha Crinkle Cookies

So excited my favorite holiday is coming up! I especially love the cold weather, because I can layer and layer and layer clothing and you will never see how much weight I'll be gaining from all the Christmas treats :P. I can't tell if it's the cold weather that makes me so hungry, or I just get enticed by all the creative spicy and chocolate-y names people come up for xmas treats or how pretty they look.

The only thing I don't like about the holidays is that my birthday falls a few days after. Which means I only get ONE present for both christmas and my birthday :( I think I've been complaining about this every year since I was born (yes really, right out of the womb). Also, back in the days, I had to share a birthday with my twin, so my six year old self was obvi not too happy with only half the attention :P. Now that I'm super old and don't have parties with clowns and balloons like I used to, I'm totally cool with it (maybe, maybe not haha).

Anyway, finally time to get started on baking holiday cookies myself! It's been a while since I've added something to my matcha recipe list, so I added matcha to one of my fave chocolate crinkle cookies! They're really chewy and fudge-y and not tooth-achingly sweet. They keep pretty well in a sealed container and make beautiful presents for cookie-swapping.

Matcha Crinkle Cookies

adapted from bettycrocker
makes 2 dozen cookies

1/4 cup vegetable oil
2-3 oz white chocolate chips (~about 1/4 cup)
1 cup granulated sugar (minus about 2 tbsps)
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs, at room temp
1 cup + 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tbsp matcha powder (using Panatea culinary grade matcha)
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
powdered sugar (about 1/2 cup)

In a mixing bowl or large bowl, mix flour, matcha powder, baking powder and salt.
In a medium sized boil, melt chocolate chips over hot water. I have a lot of trouble melting white chocolate in a microwave. I don't know why it doesn't melt as easily as real chocolate. I guess fake chocolate is just annoying like that! So I place a medium boil over a small pot with water and melt it slowly like that. Let it cool for a bit, then add sugar, oil, vanilla and beat in the eggs
Stir in white chocolate mixture into the dry ingredients. Mix until well incorporated. But don't over-beat like crazy :P. Your batter may seem pretty goopy and you will even question if it is really a cookie batter and not a semi-cake batter. But trust me, it will stiffen in the fridge! Cover and refrigerate overnight (or at least 4 hours).
Line baking pan with a silicone mat or baking paper
Prepare a shallow bowl with powdered sugar. Roll about 2tsp of dough into a ball with your palms and drop into powdered sugar. Roll around powdered sugar to coat fully. Place on cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. These will really spread.
Place pan in the fridge for a bit while you preheat the oven to 350F. Once the oven is ready, bake for 11-14mins or until the edges barely get a little golden. Immediately remove the cookies from the pan. I simply slid my silicon mat off the pan and onto a wire rack.

Matcha Affogato (no-churn)

My arms are full of babies this week! I'm currently working a week at the newborn nursery, and I see tiny hands and feet all day. I'm not one for babies usually, but I see their scrunched up faces and rolling chubby folds in their arms and I just melt. Omgee, my womanly hormones must be finally kicking in. I'm learning so many life lessons every day from the nurses and residents (that is if I ever decide to have children), that I almost feel like a regular baby expert haha! Then I see the faces of exhausted mums and dads and they're so tired that even their words are slurring... and I think, yea... I have no idea what having a child is like :P

But seriously, all my friends are getting married or having babies. There must be something in the water, or I'm just becoming an old fart. Although, med school has me all tied up for the next gazillion years, so I better freeze my eggs now!

It's becoming almost unbearably hot and humid in Richmond. I get to the hospital at the crack of dawn and it is still so stiflingly hot. Sometimes I wish I had a gigantic ice cooler strapped to my chest while I walk to school. I just crave all things cold, so I've made this cooling dessert just for summer. It's a play on an Italian dessert called affogato (literally translates to "drowned"), where you take one scoop of cold vanilla gelato and then dump a shot of hot espresso over it.

This is my matcha take on the popular affogato dessert. A cold scoop of no-churn coconut matcha ice cream, topped with a shot of freshly whisked matcha!

Matcha Coconut Affogato
makes 6 servings

2 cans coconut milk or 1 can coconut cream (refrigerated overnight)
2 tsp vanilla
1-2 tbsp Panatea matcha (add to your discretion, I really like it strong so I even go up to 2-3tbsp)
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup honey (optional: adjust to taste)

Take out refrigerated coconut milk, open one side of the can and scoop out ONLY solid portion into a mixing bowl. Save left over coconut water for shakes or just drink it! Whisk on high speed until light and fluffy.
Whisk in vanilla, matcha and condensed milk. If it seems a little liquid-y, it's okay... it seems to freeze just fine!
Fill up a pint container, freeze overnight. When ready, allow to thaw outside a little so it is easier to use an ice cream scooper
Whisk 3 tbsp boiling water and 1 tsp of matcha powder in a small bowl. Scoop 1/2 cup ice cream into a short glass or small dessert bowl. Pour 1 hot matcha shot over ice-cream and serve immediately.

Disclaimer: This post is in partnership with panatea matcha. All opinions are my own.

Matcha Mochi Toast

Namaste! I'm back from the Himalayas! Before going to Nepal, I thought namaste was something only yoga instructors would say at the end of the class, but now I know that it's kinda like saying Hi (gosh, could I be any more ignorant?). Hiking the Himalayan range was so grueling and taxing. It didn't help that I had not moved a muscle for the past 3 months while studying, I didn't own a pair of hiking boots and I somehow caught the flu in Korea before my trek. Let's say that not being able to breathe through your nose while climbing 3000m in high altitudes and having coughing fits was pretty unpleasant. Also, on day 2, I knew I shouldn't have tried Yak cheese. I mean it was delicious, but dairy to my belly was like...Montezuma's revenge (haha, tmi?). Despite everything, I really would do it all over again...in maybe another 10 years when I've recovered the use of my legs :\

I didn't want to fill this post full of pictures, but I did add the Himalayan range from the highest point of my trek on Pooh Hill at the bottom. If you're thinking of going there, feel free to ask me any questions. My friend and I were seriously so unprepared, I'm still wondering how we even made it through. It would have helped to check the weather too, because I was freezing my buns off every night.

I made a stop by Korea before heading to Nepal, and it gave me so many recipe ideas to share! There's a cafe called Osulloc, that specializes in all things Matcha. I was in heaven! They sold this Matcha milk tea spread, which was so divine that I just wanted to spread it all over my body. I'm pretty sure this cafe will come to LA, because we have all the best food chains come to Koreatown (Sorry for anyone not living in LA :P). But until then, I've made my own version of it.

Here, I spread the jam on some bread, throw on some almonds and place a thick layer of chewy mochi. It's a play on the popular 'Injeolmi toast' that's taking Korea by the storm. There's so many textures going on here! You get the crispy from the toast, a crunch from the almonds and then a dense chewiness from the mochi, all wrapped up in a sweet matcha filling! Oops drooling again :P

Matcha Mochi Toast
makes 1 sandwich

2 slices of buttermilk bread
1/4 cup sweet glutinous flour
2 tbsp hot water or milk
pinch of salt
handful of chopped/sliced roasted almonds
Jam of choice (I used matcha milk tea spread - recipe below)

Matcha Milk Tea jam
adapted from a korean site
1 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
3 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup matcha powder (using encha culinary grade matcha)

Making matcha jam

in a small pot add milk, cream, condensed milk and sugar. Simmer on medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring from time to time
It should be pretty thick at 20 mins and somewhat light tan color. Add or sift matcha powder into the pot and whisk vigorously to incorporate
Simmer for another 10-15 minutes until pretty darn thick. Pour into a glass jar and allow to cool before putting a lid on it. Keep in fridge.
It is pretty spreadable when left outside to thaw or spread onto hot toast (like peanut butter if you were to put it in the fridge)

Assembling mochi toast

In a small bowl, mix sweet glutinous flour and salt with hot water. You should be able to form a ball with your hands, and it will be a little powdery. Stretch or roll into the size and shape of your slice of bread (note: I didn't add any sugar because the jam was sweet enough. You can add a few tbsps if your spread isn't very sweet though)
Heat a small fry pan with a little bit of oil. Wipe with a kitchen towel to spread a thin film of oil over the base of the pan. Add your mochi square onto the pan and fry on medium heat for 2 minutes each side
Meanwhile, toast slices of bread
Spread matcha jam onto a piece of toast, sprinkle chopped almonds over it, place cooked mochi and another piece of toast on top
And there you have it!

We woke up at 4am and hiked uphill for an hour to watch the sunrise. There was a lot of people on the top, but not throughout the hike thankfully. I can't wait to tackle Mount Everest next!

Green tea Crêpe Cake

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Woah. I'm doing back-to-back blog posting. I never do this, but I made this crepe cake for friends-giving and wanted to just shout it out on the blogosphere :P. It's just like the ones you find in Lady M bakery (NYC) but obviously 100x less refined and 100x less pretty :( . Have I ever mentioned that I used to work at a boba shop that also sold crepes and hookah. Pretty strange combo, but I guess it worked out so well that it expanded all over LA and in Hong Kong! I was their very first employee AND I came up with the crepe recipe. At least I know, if med school doesn't work out, I'll be a crepe maker :P

I also made a christmas tree stencil for the cake, but I forgot to take a picture of it ughh. This took a whole day and a half to make, but I plopped my computer right next to the stove and made crepes and watched "The Mindy Project" for 2 hours. Yea... I now have carpel tunnel from twirling my frying pan and batter all over my keyboard. I really need to invest in a keyboard cover because when I type I hear a lot of crunching... too much snacking while studying (oops)

Green tea Crêpe Cake

makes one 8" cake

Crêpes
1.5 cups flour
1.5 cups milk
1 cup water
4 eggs
6 tbsp butter, melted
5 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp matcha powder
2 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt

Pastry Creme Filling
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1.5 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla

1.5 cups heavy cream
3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp matcha

Filling: In a medium pot, add yolks, flour, sugar, milk and vanilla. Whisk together and heat over medium fire. Keep whisking until it is pretty thick...probably about 5 mins. Take off heat and let it cool. Whip the heavy cream until soft peaks form. Whip in the sugar and matcha powder until medium-stiff peaks. Fold into the cooled down custard and keep in the fridge until ready to assemble.
Crepes: In a blender, add all the ingredients. Pulse for 15-20 seconds. Refrigerate it for at least an hour to overnight. This helps to get rid of the bubbles so that it is less likely to tear while making them
In an flat 8" non-stick frying pan, heat on medium and melt about 1/2 tbsp of butter. Work with less than 1/3 cup (between 1/4-1/3 cup) of the batter and pour into your frying pan. Immediate tilt the batter to cover the bottom of the pan
Wait until the bottom is slightly brown (about 2-3mins), flip with your hands. I found this a lot easier than trying to use a spatula. Heat the other side for 1 min
Lay over wax paper and continue with the rest of the batter. I didn't stack them up because they can steam and make the other crepes soggy. I spread them out and would stack them when they cooled down.
Assembly: In a 9 or 10" freeform cake pan, wrap the bottom tin with plastic wrap. Lay a crepe on the bottom (your largest and prettiest one). Spread thin layer of filling and stack with another crepe. I added way too much creme and it kind of oozed everywhere. Make it as high as you like (but keep some filling left over to spread the top)! I think I stacked 20 crepes.
Lay your last one over and let it set in the fridge with plastic wrap on top overnight. This will stiffen the cake up some so the layers don't slide everywhere. The cake is best left to develop the green tea flavor and soften the crepes for 1-2 days!
Get a pretty plate and invert the cake onto the plate. Cover the top with the leftover creme and dust with matcha or powdered sugar

Matcha Brioche Braided Loaf

Hello to the weekend from my lovely bed with another cardio exam under my belt! I didn't quite mind learning about the heart. Although, I don't know if I can finely distinguish between normal heart sounds or the sound of a hole in your heart :P I am in awe of some of these cardiologists. I keep listening to different heart sounds and they all sound the same to me. Maybe I need to clean out my ears haha.

After doing some serious sleeping and resting this weekend, I hope I won't be feeling so burned out for my next exam. Spending some quality time with my buds and bf, eating good food and being active certainly helps.

Matcha Brioche Braided Loaf

makes 2 loaves

1 batch of brioche dough (or half to make 1 loaf)

Matcha filling
1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temp
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup raw cane sugar (coarse demerara sugar)
1 tbsp matcha powder

1 large egg beaten + 1 tbsp milk for egg wash

Baked Mini Mochi Donuts

Having been sedentary for so long, my body feels like it's 80 years old and on fire after running 3 miles today! I have set myself back from years of training for all the triathlons, marathons and races I used to do before med school D: I know a lot of students find time to do intramurals, exercise religiously and actually have a life during the academic year. But I am definitely not one of them. I procrastinate like no one else. Before I even try to start studying, I have an itch to tidy my room, organize my desk and lay out all my pens in order of color. If my laziness is really bad, I will even go ahead and clean the toilet! Anything to get out of studying :P

I have been improving over the year though, so don't you worry about me. I need to graduate and start bringing my gazillion negative bank balance to at least a few negative hundreds. You know?! Drives me nuts. Anyhoo, other than thinking about my lack of money and muscles, here is a donut recipe made of mochi. They are so wonderfully soft with a little chew and not too sweet (my kind of dessert!).

They do look a little funky shaped because I left my donut pan in Richmond, so I had to Macgyver one out of my muffin pan and foil. Clearly doesn't look as great. Oh well.. This recipe is a keeper so I will definitely make them when I'm back in school!

Alsooo, congrats to Melanie for winning Joanne Weir's Cookbook. I hope you enjoy it!

Baked Mini Mochi Donuts

adapted from lafujimama
makes 15 mini donuts

1 1/3 cup mochiko
2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
1/4 cup agave or honey (I used agave)
2/3 cup coconut milk (or whole milk)
2 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp butter, melted

variations
2 tsp matcha or 3 tsp cocoa powder

toppings
ganache - 1/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips and 2 tbsp coconut milk (or heavy cream)
sprinkles

Preheat oven to 350F and grease mini donut pan
Mix dry ingredients (first 3) in a large bowl. In a medium bowl, mix wet ingredients: butter, milk, vanilla, agave and eggs
Combine dry and wet mix and stir well. If you want to make some plain vanilla ones, fill 4 donut molds
Split the rest of the batter, stir matcha into one and cocoa powder into the other. You can also just double up variations if you want to just make one type. Fill the rest of the mold
Bake for 12-15 mins. Let cool a bit in the mold and then flip them out onto a rack
Meanwhile, make the ganache. I just microwave the chocolate chips and coconut milk for 15-30secs. Stir vigorously to mix. Dip donuts into the ganache and then into sprinkles of your choice

Matcha Macarons with White Chocolate Ganache

I am absolutely obsessed with Korean dramas right now. It's so bad for my health because I stay up all night watching them. I just finished a 20 episode one today, that are 1 hour long each in 2 days! My eyes are about to shrivel up and die in its sockets. I bet I'm going to sleep through my bus stop today, which I have done too many times and walked home to spare the bus fare back to my original stop :(

I can't even explain why I watch them. The love triangles drive me crazy, the acting is terrible, it makes me cringe when they try to speak English, the overdone story of rich boy gets poor puppy eyed girl drives me nuts.... I could go on forever but I just can't stay away from them!! Somebody pull me away from the TV!!!

Now that I don't have my trusty KA mixer, I'm not in much of a mood to bake. I want to bake bread but the thought of kneading makes my arm willy-nilly :P Here's a macaron recipe I did before I left for LA (tweaked from Piña Colada Macarons). My macaron feet looks soo good now.

Also I have a giveaway (click!) this week. Don't forget to enter!

Matcha Macarons with White Chocolate Ganache

makes about 25 macarons
notes below ***

Macaron Shells
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup finely ground almonds
2.5 tsp matcha powder
2 large egg whites, ages 2 day in fridge and 1 day at room temp
5 tbsp granulated sugar

White Chocolate Ganache Filling
6oz white chocolate, chopped (or use chips, roughly 1 cup)
5 tbsp heavy cream

Filling:

Heat heavy cream in a small pan until it is just about to simmer. Pour over chopped white chocolate (in a bowl) and let that sit for 1 min
Then mix until you have a nice creamy consistency. Let it cool until okay to touch
Fill a piping bag and place into the refrigerator until ready to pipe

Macarons:

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon mat and get a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch plain tip prepared
In a food processor pulse almond flour, matcha powder and powdered sugar until mixed and fluffy
In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat egg whites with the whisk attachment on medium low for 2 mins, gradually adding in the sugar.
Increase speed to 7 to whip for another 3 minutes and then at 8-10 for another 4 minutes. You should be getting a stiff meringue that you can make soft peaks with. Try not to over beat.
Fold the dry ingredients in 2 batches with a rubber spatula and make smooth sweeps to the bottom of the bowl. You do want to deflate the meringue and after about 40-50 foldings it should look glossy and when you drop some from your spatula to the batter, it takes about 10 secs for it to mold back into the mix. Don't over mix or it will a runny and watery mess!
Fill your pastry bag and pipe batter onto the prepared baking sheets in 3.5cm circles, spaced 1" apart.
Rap the baking sheet a few times about 1 inch above the counter top to flatten the macarons and to get rid of bubbles. Let them rest at room temp for 45-60mins. The tops should be dry and nothing should stick to your finger if you poke them.
Preheat your oven to 310 F. Bake for 16-18 mins each pan separately and rotating pans halfway. You can check they are done by lifting one macaron you can sacrifice. If the feet comes off, leave it in longer. You always want to overbake than underbake.
Let cool completely before removing them from the paper. Line up similar sized ones and pipe the chilled filling onto 1 shell. Sandwich together.
Let them sit in the fridge in a sealed container for at least 1 day before serving. Seriously!! They taste 100x better when the insides of the macaron shells soften a bit and the filling flavors come together

***

I let the egg whites sit in the fridge longer (2 days) and let them rest outside for 2 days too
I baked them at a longer temperature. But if you bake them too long, they will turn brown and won't keep green. You may want to use green food coloring
It could be difficult to lift the macarons from the paper. When it has cooled for about 5-10mins, sprinkle some water on the baking tray under the parchment paper. The steam helps them unstick but peel them off quickly or they might get soggy

Matcha Cream Puffs

Quick post before I go have brunch and walk around gardens and doing lazy things like that. The weather is so nice in Richmond today...but it will be below freezing tomorrow. Yay :(

I never knew cream puffs were so easy to make!! I also made custard filled one during spring break and the custard WAS SO DELICIOUS. Will have to make it again for my peeps here. Maybe after anatomy though. Can't be smelling like cadavers and handing out sweets :x

Matcha Cream Puffs

adapted from Chowhound
makes 20-25 mini cream puffs

pâte à choux
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp white sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup flour
4 large eggs, at room temp

green tea cream filling
1 1/4 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup whole milk
1/3 cup instant vanilla pudding
1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp matcha powder
1 tsp vanilla extract

pastry puff: heat oven to 425F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper
In a medium-large pot, heat butter, milk, water, sugar and salt until the butter has melted and the mix comes to a boil
Reduce to low heat, dump in the flour and vigorously stir with a wooden spoon until it forms a large shiny ball (about 5 mins)
Take off from heat and let cool for 10 mins. Beat in eggs 1 at a time with a wooden spoon or a kitchen aid (I did it by hand, not sure why though :/). Completely mix in the egg before you crack in the next one. The dough might separate but put in some elbow grease and it will come together. The dough will become quite hard to mix...or I have weak biceps...but should look smooth, sticky, yellow and glossy
Transfer dough into a gallon sized ziplock bag, snip a 1/2" hole and pipe 1.5" mounds on the lined baking sheets 2 inches apart. Using wet fingertips, smooth the top of each mound.
Place baking sheets in oven, reduce the temp to 350F after 1 min and bake until puffs are golden brown (~40-45mins). DON'T open door while baking or all the puffs will deflate! Let cool completely before filling
green tea filling: In a small bowl, whisk instant pudding mix, powdered sugar, matcha powder. In a stand mixer, whip up the cream and milk and vanilla extract until soft peaks form
Add the dry mix and whip until desired texture.
Assembly: You can snip a small hole and fill in the hollow space with a pastry bag and tip. Or you can be lazy like me and use a sharp paring knife and slice off the tops. Spoon to fill!
Dust with powdered sugar and serve immediately

If serving hours later, keep puff and filling separately so they don't become soggy.

Matcha Green Tea Shortbread Cookies

Done with my last exam for the semester. Only 999999 more exams in my life to go (yipee). I'm going to go run, relax and de-stress. Have my mum cook for me, go snowboarding, and then hibernate for 2 weeks. Yes!! I hope everyone has a wonderfully lazy Christmas too!

Here are some cookies I made to give to my bf's parents for xmas. Gawd, I am such a parent pleaser :)
These are mildly sweet cookies, with a buttery green tea aroma. Perfect for fancy gift giving.

Matcha Green Tea Shortbread Cookies

makes 2 dozen cookies

1 cup + 2 tbsp flour
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, cup into pieces
1.5 tbsp matcha powder (good quality makes greener cookies)
1/4 cup white sugar
3 tbsp raw sugar

Beat butter ~3 min on medium high speed (used my mixer) until creamy. Add matcha and sugar gradually on high until fluffy
Stir in flour and salt on low or by hand. Don't overmix! Just until blended
Gather into a ball with your hand. The dough may seem dry but if you work at it and knead it a few times it will come together
Roll out onto lightly floured parchment to 1/4" and cut out desired shape. Sprinkle sugar over the tops and press in lightly
Refrigerate for at least 1 hour - overnight
Preheat oven to 325F and bake 17-22 mins. Watch carefully because you don't want them turning brown!

*If cutting out is too much work, you can also roll the dough into a cylinder, roll it in some raw sugar to coat it. Seran wrap and refrigerate. When you're ready to bake, slice it into 1/4" rounds and bake!