Taiwan Eats, Part VII and Fin: Sweets (100th blog post!)

And for the finale to this tasty travelogue, I give you the conglomerate of the sweets I tasted and happened to take pictures of during this trip.

Starting with ice cream! I previously posted about the Turkish ice cream we had in the streets of Lugang after seeing the Mazu Temple, but here is a common sight at any department store food court in Taiwan: Asian-Italian gelato. Italian in style, Asian in flavors.

The flavor combo I chose was passion fruit (left, with the seeds!) and milk (right), which I ate in combination to create an Asian creamsicle. It was quite yummy.

And of course, Mister Donut. This chain was originally American, then bought by Dunkin Donuts and basically shut down in the US. A Japanese company then got the franchising rights later and the chain has been making it's way through Asia slowly. It has opened in Taiwan as a joint venture between the Japanese company and Uni-President, the scary-successful conglomerate in Taiwan that also owns 7-Eleven and Starbucks (which are also both EVERYWHERE and well-marketed) and popularity of donuts has exploded in the last 5 years or so in Taiwan as a result. When stores started opening, lines were out the door with waiting times of HOURS. While the lines are not that long anymore, the stores I saw were still very busy. The flavor combinations are both classical and Asian-interpreted, with green tea and red bean paste making common appearances.

It looks like a lot of options, but many of them were represented in the case twice.

Lena and Jess got these bubbly-looking pon de ring donuts that were surprisingly chewy. My guess is that there's mochiko (glutinous rice flour) in the dough and makes it reminiscent of mochi cake or bread.

A chocolate version. The icing on these is more stiff and waxy than the icing found on donuts in the States, probably for the simple reason that it's very hot in Taiwan and American-style icing would melt and dribble everywhere. Think Pocky icing.

I ordered a French cruller-style donut. The inside was very light and moist.

A later visit resulted in this purchase. [suspenseful music]

The bear did not meet its end prettily.

My family visited a favorite steakhouse of ours, and the finishing sweets for our set meal were either this panna cotta...

...or this flan.

As mentioned before, we took some time to sit down at a tea cafe dear to my heart, Rose House, and with our pot of milk tea, we had a slice of their cake of the day. These cream and sponge cake layered desserts are more French-Japanese in style and much more common as a dessert/bakery item in Taiwan than in the US.

And finally, the sweets I brought back with me. These guys are Taiwanese traditional pastries that keep for a decent amount of time, and so I brought back a stash with me to eat slowly. From the top, we have a pile of wrapped pineapple cakes (鳳梨酥), one "sun cake" (太陽餅), and some "pine nut cakes" (松子酥).

The pineapple cake is actually a stiff core of pineapple jam enveloped in a flaky shortbread-style pastry. In some versions, the crust is more crumbly like soft shortbread cookies; the one pictured above is more on the pastry side of things. Funny anecdote: when I was in kindergarten, I got it in my little head to bring these treats into class for my birthday sweet, rather than the normal cupcakes or whatever American kids bring. My parents went along with it, and I brought 20-some pineapple cakes in on my birthday. All the kids were like, "What are these things??" and tried a bite, but most of them did not like it and tossed them. I remember trying a bite and saying "Mmm, tastes fine to me" to a group of horrified-looking classmates who shook their heads at my defense for the freak dessert. Unfortunately, I must have come out of that experience somewhat scarred because I did not like pineapple cakes growing up. Only recently have I started enjoying this treat again.

And this is my lovely, darling "pine nut cakes." These are one of the things I always try to get my hands on when I go back. A core of red bean paste stuffed with buttery pine nuts, a thin layer of mochi enveloping it, and a thin flaky pastry outside to finish it off. I don't know who was the genius who thought this up, but they deserve lots of money. The one bakery that my family knows of that sells this stuff is pretty successful, so chances are they know they created a good thing.

And with that I come to the end of my food pictures from this trip. So many things eaten, and yet I still wish I had enough time for a couple more rounds of laobing and pudding milk tea from Crazy Sue's. Oh well. There will hopefully be a next time, and for the most part a lot of these institutions are successful enough that I am sure they will be around for another taste a few years down the line.

Incidentally, this is also my 100th post! It seems fitting that it happens to fall upon a post dedicated to desserts from the place I was born. Here's to many more tasty posts, and many more years of tasty treats from Taiwan!