Manju Recipes?

So I was a little desperate to find a good baked manju recipe, and ended up using an old recipe from a friend of my grandma's. And I've used that recipe to a ridiculous degree by now, but I dunno. The outside is really thick tasting, like... a biscuit or something, you know? It doesn't rise well, despite all the baking powder.

This might be a bit of a stretch, but does someone know of a good recipe for the outside dough to share? Thank you so much!

The biggest difference might be...
Your grandmother=>steamed her manju
You==========>bake your manju

It's specifically a baked manju recipe, and the consistency of the dough is more like... a cookie. It doesn't have that bread-ish consistency of a steamed manju.

Is it a local thing, then? Where I live (Hawaii), the food is like... it's always deviating from tradition.

fake_plastic201 said:

It's specifically a baked manju recipe, and the consistency of the dough is more like... a cookie. It doesn't have that bread-ish consistency of a steamed manju.

Is it a local thing, then? Where I live (Hawaii), the food is like... it's always deviating from tradition.

Click to expand...

Could be... Considering Hawaii's multicultural environment, it may be a non-Japanese recipe given a Japanese name.

JFYI, the only real Japanese "manju" recipes I can think of offhand calls for steaming and not baking, as pipokun said. In fact, baking is a method of cooking that became popular with the spread of Western-style cuisine.

Also, what is the "manju" you have in mind? In Japan, manju traditionally has sweet bean filling and is eaten as snack or dessert.

I wonder if the "baked" manju here is either kuri-manju or momoyama...?
I don't know what the cookie like dough could be, though.

http://recipe.gourmet.yahoo.co.jp/U010083/
kurimanju (the dough is a bit like scone)

http://recipe.gourmet.yahoo.co.jp/B003969/
momoyama (the dough is soft like the filling inside.)

fake_plastic201 said:

It's specifically a baked manju recipe, and the consistency of the dough is more like... a cookie. It doesn't have that bread-ish consistency of a steamed manju.

Is it a local thing, then? Where I live (Hawaii), the food is like... it's always deviating from tradition.

Click to expand...

What's inside? Was it always sweet like anko? If not, it sounds like "Oyaki".

Google

If she was originally from Gunma Prefecture,

Hey, non-Gunmanians, this is what we call "Baked Manju"!
伊勢崎は『ヤキマンの町』らしい :: デイリーポータルZ
1. Skewered
2. Manju itself is steamed ones
3. Grilling manju with sweet miso paste
4. It becomes extremely firm when cold
5. Some contain anko paste even if it is sweet miso flavored

Click to expand...

I did not know this until today, so there must be real baked manju you want to know somewhere in Japan.

Mushi Manju

I found a recipe in my notes.

3 cups biscuit mix
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup salad oil
3 egg whites
1 1/2 cups tsubu an (anko)

Combine biscuit mix with sugar. Combine next 3 ingredients, blend thoroughly. Add liquid to dy ingredients and stir only until dry ingredients are moistened. Knead dough 3-4 times on lightly floured board.

Shape dough into balls ,using approx. 1 tbsp of dough. Flatten dough to form circles. Place a tspn of tsubu an in center; pinch edges together to seal. Steam in waxed paper lined steamer. Time: 15 min. yield- about 3 doz.

My dad's family is all from Fukuoka, but the recipe itself is probably about 20 or 30 years old, and definitely from Hawaii - so the region of Japan isn't even an issue, really. It's definitely a 'local style' recipe, but yeah, the filling is still made of anko. The 'cookie-like' description probably made it sound weirder >.<

It's a weird taste, not at all like a steamed manju. Maybe us in Hawaii have lost it =) You rarely see steamed manju in stores. It's all baked.

What I've found is actually pretty close to what I've been talking about, without the walnuts: japanesefood.about.com /od/ japanesecake/ r/ walnutmanju. htm (sorry my low post count didn't let me link to the page properly...). The outside also looks similar to the Momoyama manju that undrentide posted - at least in color and texture, from what I can tell.

Maybe I should branch out on my quest for better manju instead. All of the steamed manju I make are very plain - but I'm guessing I would have better luck looking for a better recipe of that variety =)

Thank all of you guys for the replies! (And I never would've thought to use biscuit mix in a recipe like that...)