Carrot Custard Buns
These Carrot Custard Buns are a Golden Sweet Treat
In order to create the “shifting sands” quality in these buns, it is important to use the correct proportions of sugar, butter, and salted egg yolk. Using twenty percent egg yolk, twenty percent butter, and sixty percent sugar will yield the best looking and tasting filling.
“Shifting Sands Golden Bamboo Buns”
With a shiny and bright appearance and sweet-tasting filling, carrot custard buns have developed a rather peculiar nickname. In Guangdong, people will often call carrots “jinsun”, meaning “golden bamboo shoots”; “shifting sands” refers to the glittering veins of yellow and silver that shine through from the bun’s filling. Hence carrot custard buns are also known as “shifting sands golden bamboo buns” in Chinese. The combination of unique appearance and sweet taste make this dish a hard one to forget!
Ingredients
- 4 cups (500 grams) all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup (50 grams) custard powder
- 1/3 cup (50 grams) cornmeal
- 1/3 cup (50 grams) powdered milk
- 10 ½ ounces carrots
- 5 salted egg yolks
- 4 teaspoons Three Flowers Evaporated Milk
- 2/3 cup (150 grams) butter
Seasonings
- 2 teaspoons (10 grams) baking powder
- 2 scant teaspoons (5 grams) yeast
- 1 ¼ cups (250 grams) white sugar
- 3/4 cup (150 grams) lard
Cooking Directions
Preparations
- Cook the egg yolks thoroughly, and crush into pieces with the back of a knife. Let the butter soften at room temperature. Peel, wash, and chop the carrots. Place into a juicer along with 4 teaspoons of water.
How to make carrot custard buns filling
- Mix the custard powder, powdered milk, salted egg yolks, lard, butter, and Three Flowers Evaporated Milk into the cornmeal along with 1 cup (200 grams) of sugar. After stirring, cover and place in the freezer for 30 minutes to create the “shifting sands” filling.
How to make the dough
- Mix together the baking powder, yeast, and 1/4 cup (50 grams) of sugar. Add in 1/3 cup of 95 ⁰F (35 ⁰C) water, and pour the mixture together with the all-purpose flour. Add in the carrot juice and stir with chopsticks in a constant direction until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to ferment for 2 hours, until the dough roughly doubles in volume. The dough should show an even honeycomb formation when broken open.
Put it all together
- Separate the dough into 15 small pieces. Roll them into balls and then flatten to a medium thickness. Add an appropriate amount of filling to the center of each piece of dough, and gradually pull the edges of the dough around the top of the filling. Be sure that there is not too much filling in each bun. Otherwise it is likely for filling to leak during the steaming process.
- Arrange the buns on oil paper or a damp cloth and place into the steamer, making sure to maintain a definite gap between each bun. Cover and let sit for 30 minutes. Add an appropriate amount of water into the steamer pot, and bring to boil under high heat. Turn down to medium heat and steam the buns for 15 minutes.
- Wait 3-5 minutes after steaming before opening the lid, otherwise the buns may become wrinkled, or cave in.
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