As summer winds down (scary that were getting into August already), every year I inevitably start thinking about my summer checklist:
- Have I gone to the beach? [not yet.. :( ]
- Did I go camping/hiking/fishing? [check! see my post here!]
- Have I had enough BBQ/grilled foods to last me through fall and winter? [burgers? lamb skewers? check, check!]
- What about watermelon? Corn? Cherries? [chuh-yeck! cherry hand pies, anyone? Ok, so I didn’t actually eat these, but I did with my eyes!]
- Have I eaten a grilled hot dog from our home butcher shop? [check!! It’s the once-a-year total abandonment of health consciousness. Say what you want about hot dogs, but it’s all about the natural casing. I realize that sounds mildly inappropriate. But y’all know what I mean!]
- Did I manage to make a few trips to local ice cream parlors for a real treat–not something from the supermarket frozen desserts aisle? [NOPE.]
Well, as you can see, lately I’ve been thinking that I seriously have been slacking on that last one. The only chances I’ve had at cold desserts this summer was a crappy impulse-buy ice cream sandwich from the Duane Reade during my evening commute and 2 entirely mediocre frozen yogurt experiences.
Something had to be done! So I thought that I’d at least live vicariously by requesting these Hong Kong-style icy, sweet, fruity desserts from the Beijing homestead. They’re actually copycat recipes from one of the most famous dessert chains in Asia, Honeymoon Dessert.
If you ever find yourself in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, or Indonesia, ya srsly need to go there. Got that? Good. We actually thought for a while that a Honeymoon dessert had opened up in Flushing, NY, but, alas, t’was a knockoff. They were sued, closed, and all of Flushing was much sadder in just a matter of several months.
:(
But. The silver lining is that these desserts are actually kind of a snap to make, with a little bit of TLC and planning ahead! To the point that an entire city was temporarily fooled! Plus, with all this amazing summer fruit around, I can’t even believe we waited this long.
:)
Onwards with these copycat Honeymoon Dessert recipes!
Recipe Instructions
Rinse the Thai black sticky rice and soak overnight in 2 1/4 cups of water. Pour the rice and the water it was soaking in into a rice cooker and add coconut milk and sugar. Stir everything together and turn on the rice cooker. You can also follow Judy’s directions on on how to pre-cook sticky rice.
This will likely look pretty grody when raw, but once it’s done, you’ll never look back. Set aside the rice to cool when your rice cooker chirps the signal that it’s done!
To make the mango dessert, combine the condensed milk, milk, and vanilla. Add a big scoop of sticky rice to 2 bowls, and top each bowl with a handful of shaved ice and diced mango.
Pour the vanilla sauce over everything and top each bowl with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. You can also layer everything in a glass to make it a bit prettier.
To make the blueberry dessert, combine the ice, milk, condensed milk, and vanilla in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour the mixture into two bowls.
Add a scoop of sticky rice to each bowl, a scoop of blueberry ice cream (you can substitute vanilla ice cream, if you want), and a handful of blueberries. That’s an Asian summer dessert party in your mouth, right there.
Thai Black Sticky Rice Dessert (Two Honeymoon Dessert Recipes!)
Ingredients
To make the black sticky rice:
- 1 cup Thai black sticky rice
- 2 1/4 cup water
- 3 tablespoons coconut milk
- 2 tablespoons sugar
For the Mango Version:
- 1/3 cup condensed milk
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 mangos (peeled and diced)
- 1 cup shaved ice
- vanilla ice cream
For the Blueberry Version:
- 1 cup ice
- 1 cup milk
- 1/4 cup condensed milk
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- blueberry ice cream
- 1 cup blueberries
Instructions
- Rinse the Thai black rice and soak overnight in 2 1/4 cups of water. Pour the rice and the water it was soaking in into a rice cooker and add coconut milk and sugar. Stir everything together and turn on the rice cooker. Once cooked, set aside to cool.
- To make the mango dessert, combine the condensed milk, milk, and vanilla. Add a big scoop of sticky rice to 2 bowls, and top each bowl with a handful of shaved ice and diced mango. Pour the vanilla sauce over everything and top each bowl with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. You can also layer everything in a glass to make it a bit prettier.
- To make the blueberry dessert, combine the ice, milk, condensed milk, and vanilla in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour the mixture into two bowls. Add a scoop of sticky rice to each bowl, a scoop of blueberry ice cream (you can substitute vanilla ice cream, if you want), and a handful of blueberries.
