Manju

This entry should be samuraisna and mommy bake, instead of samuraisna bakes. :)

Yaki Manju
(From Women of Nu`uanu Centennial Cookbook Itadakimasu)

2 1/2 cups AP flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup oil
6 tablespoons cold water
1 cup tsubushian
evaporated milk/egg yolk

Combine flour, sugar, and salt. Blend thoroughly. Add oil and water; mix well. Shape dough into small balls. Flatten dough to make circles. Place tsubushian in each circle and pinch edges together to seal. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Brush top of manju with evaporated milk or egg yolk. Bake at 400 degrees F for 30-35 minutes.



We didn't use the tsubushian. Instead, mom made a filling with okinawan sweet potato because we had a lot of it in the house. Recipe for filling as follows:

Okinawan Sweet Potato Filling

1 block butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups okinawan sweet potato, cooked and mashed
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 teaspoon salt

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and mix. Gradually mix in mashed sweet potatoes. Add evaporated milk, vanilla, and salt. Mix well.

Mom didn't add all the evaporated milk because this recipe is actually for a dessert filling. Leaving out some liquid allowed us to form the filling into balls to put into the crust.



Also, when making the crust, we used two small balls for each manju...one for the top and one for the bottom. Make sure you seal them well, or they will open up in the oven.



I had some dough left over when we were out of filling, so I made some square ones with blueberry preserves in them. :)