外公的秘方黑芝麻花生餡年糕

過年了，吃年糕，發紅包，都是為了討一個彩頭。紅紅火火，一年更比一年高的意思。

記得剛到美國來的時候，整天忙活著對付學分，為了找份工作拚死拚活，那來閑情逸致去享受生活和中國的傳統習俗。到頭來，美國人的節日，我們覺得跟咱們不沾邊。中國人自己節日又好象沒有太多心情去打理。到最後，成了不過節的孤家寡人。

後來，生活穩定了，有了自己的小窩，再加上遇到CHRIS，開始過些中西結合的日子。今年，突然來了心情，要把咱們老主宗的傳統揀回來。那就從黑芝麻花生醬年糕開始吧.

這款年糕，香甜軟糯，非常好吃。有一絲淡淡的牛奶攙雜著椰子的香味，用外公的秘方做的黑芝麻花生餡又錦上添花。我一邊切年糕塊，一邊忍不住吃了兩三塊。拿到舅媽家，大受歡迎。連舅舅都說比外麵買的好吃。

Chinese are notorious for being superstitious. I guess it’s OK of being a bit this way, especially sometimes, it provides us excuses to enjoy our favorite food. It’s the Chinese tradition to have the rice cake for the Chinese New Year dinner. The rice cake symbolizes the wish that the next year will be more prosperous than this year.

Ingredients for the Flour Mix
1) 1 bag of Sweet rice flour （454g
2) 1/2 cup sugar (I used 1/2 sugar; 1/2 splenda)
3) 1/4 cup threaded coconut
4) 1 tsp baking powder
5) 1 tsp salt

Tip: Many recipes call for condensed milk. I replaced it with threaded coconut. This way, the rice cake still has the nice coconut flavor but the fat and calorie is much reduced.

Ingredients for the Batter
1) 3 large egg
2) 1/4 cup veggie oil
3) 2 1/2 cups skim milk

Assembly
1) Mix all the ingredients for the flour together
2) Beat the ingredients for the batter together
3) Spray the baking pan with some cooking oil
4) Add 1) into the batter
5) Pour 1/2 of the batter into a 9 inch baking pan
6) Put a think layer of black sesame mix or red bean mix on top
7) Cover with another 1/2 of the batter

Tip: I made my own black sesame mix. The red bean mix is available in any Asian market.

Bake
1) Preheat the oven at 350F
2) Bake covered for about 60 min (double check just like how you check for cake)
3) Turn to boil. For 2 min till the top is browned
4) It's done when you stick a toothpick into and are able to take it out with nothing on it

Tip: You want to spray some oil on the foil before covering the baking pan with it.

Cool Down the Rice Cake
1) Cool down uncovered for about 15min
2) Cool down it for another 60 min covered; This will keep cake moist.

Tip:The cake tastes great if you microwave it the next day for just 10 seconds.

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TheCoconutHead