Dorayaki with Green Tea Cream Filling

Today was one of the slowest days I've had in a very long time. I hadn't slept well last night and woke up pretty early for no particular reason...after all, it wasn't like I had any pressing issues to address. Anyway, I woke up, ate breakfast (I think I'm starting to OD on fiber, what with FiberOne cereal for breakfast and lunch, and dinner consisting mostly of purple rice and vegetables), and decided to pass the morning making Japanese dorayaki, or sweet pancakes.

Traditionally, dorayaki contains a filling of adzuki (red bean) paste, but Dad doesn't really like it, and we didn't have any in the house. Oh, did I mention that the temperature sky-rocketed to about 95F today? I didn't really feel like leaving my front door, never mind driving to the market. So, anyway, I did some research, and apparently, people have started putting all kinds of fillings inside - peanut butter, custard cream, even nutella! I found a recipe for the custard cream and decided to tweak it a little with our leftover matcha (green tea) powder.

I also happen to have a heart-shaped cookie cutter (not the one from my doughnuts, but same idea), and I thought it would be cool to make heart-shaped pancakes, just to liven things up a bit. The molds were a little hard to use, but after a few mishaps, I got things going pretty smoothly. They actually came out a lot prettier than I expected. Dad's on a business trip, so he didn't get to eat any (well, he's in Vegas, so he's probably not lacking in the food department), but I found that freezing them actually tastes pretty good too. It's like eating an ice cream sandwich...sort of?

Dorayaki with Green Tea Cream Filling (recipe originally found here)

Ingredients:

-Flour 11.6 oz
-Baking powder .88oz
-Sugar 6oz
-Honey 2 tablespoons
-Egg 3
-Salad oil 1/2 cup
-Milk 0.8 cups
-A few drops vanilla extract
-Green Tea Cream Filling (see below)

1. Sift the flour and baking powder.
2. Mix sugar and eggs. Add in honey, salad oil, and milk.
3. Add in the flour/baking powder mixture and stir.
4. Heat a flat pan over medium/low heat. Pour the batter in a mold and cook until you see bubbles on the uncooked side's surface.
5. Carefully remove the mold (you may want to use tongs or chopsticks because it will be hot), and flip the pancake over with a spatula.
6. Leave on the stove for another 2-3 minutes, then remove. 

Green Tea Cream Filling

Ingredients:

-flour .88oz
-sugar 2.3oz
-milk 0.8 cups
-egg yolk 2
-1 tsp matcha powder
-butter .5oz

1. Mix sugar, flour, and egg yolks in a large bowl.
2. Gradually add milk and matcha powder until the mixture is pasty.
3. Heat on low, stirring continuously until the mixture thickens (Be careful! It can transform in an instant!)
4. Remove from heat, add butter, and incorporate.
5. Allow to cool, then sandwich between 2 pancakes (or you can split a thick pancake in half).