Ingredients:

• 8 oz Butter (It needs to be cold, cut into cubes) （牛油，要冷的）
• 5 oz powdered sugar （糖粉）
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 12 oz pastry flour (aka cake flour) （低筋面粉）
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 oz finely chopped pecans (or walnuts)

Directions:

1. Use a mixer with its paddle attachment to cream together (high speed) the butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. 用搅拌机高速将牛油和糖粉搅匀(十分钟左右）。

(left side is the paddle attachment；用左边这个搅拌件)

2. Mix in vanilla and scrape down.

3. Mix the flour, salt, and chopped pecan together and add to the butter mixture. Mix at a low speed until just combined. （单另混合面粉，盐，和打碎的核桃仁，一起加入搅拌机里，低速搅匀成面团状。）

4. Roll dough into little balls （1-1.5inch in diameter). Be careful not to roll too tight. Roll the balls in powdered sugar and place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. （用手将一块块面团撮一寸圆团，千万不要揉得太紧。将小圆球在糖粉中打个滚。）

5. Bake in an oven preheated to 325 degrees for 15-20 minutes until the surface looks sightly golden with cracks. （在烤盘上铺上烤箱纸，放上圆球，入预热325华氏度的烤箱15至20分钟，直至表面金黄分布小裂纹。）

(I forgot that they expand and crowded them too much in my batch) （注意小球加热过程中会膨胀，所以事先不要像我这样排得过紧。）

6. When baked and cooled, roll in powdered sugar. （烤好晾凉后再在糖粉中打个滚。）

I followed the Chinese recipe online by  盈_盈.

Dry ingredients:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp yeast

Wet ingredients:

•  1 cup milk
• 1/3 cup butter (semi melted)
• 1/3 vegetable oil (I used olive oil)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 large egg

Directions:

1. Mix all the dry ingredients in one large bowl.

2. Mix all the wet ingredients except the egg in separate glass bowl. If there are a lot of lumps of butter, put the bowl in a microwave oven and nuke for 30 seconds. Then whisk the egg in.

3. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and fold until uniform. Be careful not to over mix

4. Pour the mixture into a parchment paper lined 8" baking pan.  Let it sit for an hour or so until it rises in volume by a third.

5. Sprinkle raisins (or other dried berrie) on top and press in a little.

6. Bake in oven preheated to 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

It makes a good coffee cake in my opinion.

日本南瓜

Japanese Squash. [Mei: I don't know if we have Japanese Squashes in our markets here, but I personally believe any squash that look similar will do.]

[Edit: Debby pointed out that these are called kabochas in English and they are fairly common in grocery markets.]

切开来是这样的

It looks like this once cut open.

只用了四分之一，切成丁丁

I only used a quarter of the squash. Dice it.

加点水放微波炉转五分钟

Add a little water and microwave for five minutes. [Mei: Don't ask me how much is "a little". Hey, you are dealing with a Chinese recipe here. ]

用叉子压成泥

Mash it with a fork

加小半包糯米粉，二大勺糖

Add less than half a bag of sticky rice flour and 2 TBSP of sugar. [Mei: The Chinese markets I go to seem to carry limited selection. I think what many people get is the Erawan Brand (the logo shows three elephants) Glutinous Rice Flour.]

揉成面团

knead the dough

将豆沙撮成小团子（注意只有这种红黄颜色的罐装冰糖红豆沙才足够干，能撮出小团子！）

Shape the red bean paste into little balls. Please notice that some other canned red bean paste is too watery. Look for the can shown in the picture. It's dry enough that you can shape it. [Mei: If you end up getting the watery ones, I believe you can place it in a non-stick pot on low heat and let the water vaporize a little, although I have not tried myself.]

像包汤团那样将豆沙包到南瓜面团里

Fill the red bean paste into the squash dough like when you make sticky rice balls. [Mei: I bet many people feel lost reading this instruction. Basically you roll a small amount of dough into a round pancake, put a red bean paste ball in the middle, and lift up the edge of the pancake and close it on the top. Because there is sticky rice flour in the dough, you should not have trouble sealing the top.]

蒸锅架里铺上一张淋湿后挤干了水的paper towel，将南瓜团稍微压扁点，然后用小刀背压出几道南瓜痕迹。蒸锅水开后放蒸锅架大火蒸6分钟。

Wet a paper towel under water and wring it, and then flatten it onto a steamer. Put the filled and sealed squash balls on to the steamer and press them down a little. Then use a little knife to press the groves as in real squashes. After the water boils, place the steamer on the boiling water and keep it boiling on high for 6 minutes.

稍微凉点后，手上沾点油取出，放到底下抹了油的Cup Cake 纸杯里。南瓜头上用小糖粒装个小把。

Grease the bottom of some paper cups (e.g. for muffins). After the mini squashes cooled down a bit, brush your hands with cooking oil and take them out of the steamer and place them into the paper cups.

南瓜美人就是这样造就的

Here it is. Pretty, isn't it?

吃一口！中看也中吃啊！

cross section after one bite

Mei's final notes:

1) From what I was told, these squashes can be made a day or hours before. You just need to place them in a greased box and reheat in a microwave for 30 seconds or better yet, re-steam (probably not as long as 6 minutes) before serving.

2) The author didn't say what she used to make the stem, but I guess that's where you can get creative. M&M? Or I think any green stem will work, for example, Chinese celery cut into little pieces should work well.