Do you have leftover ingredients for patbingsu (팥빙수; shaved ice with sweetened red beans and mini rice cakes) still sitting in the refrigerator? Well, I did. After making it all summer long, it's become too cold all of a sudden to enjoy patbingsu every day.
So I autumn-mized patbingsu my way. I guess the name is a bit misleading, since there is no ice in the patbingsu cupcake. But I couldn't come up with a better name for these cupcakes that incorporate the essential patbingsu ingredients of sweetened red beans, mini rice cakes and condensed milk. The cupcake itself is soft and moist from using oil and yogurt instead of butter. The patbingsu ingredients are reminiscent of summer, but the warm, gooey-stickiness from melted rice cakes in the cupcakes has finally helped me transition my mind to autumn. Sweet red beans in soft cake also takes you a step closer to the winter street snack of bungeo bbang (붕어빵; fish-shaped cake filled with sweet red beans).
To make 12 cupcakes)
Dry Ingredients) 1 1/2 C flour and 1 1/2 ts baking powder sifted together
Wet Ingredients) 2 eggs, 1/2 C low-fat Greek yogurt, 1/2 C neutral vegetable oil, 1/3 C sugar, 1/4 ts salt and 1 ts vanilla extract, whisked to mix together.
1/2 C mini rice cakes for patbingsu (available in packages in Korean grocery stores)
1/4 C plus more for garnish on top, sweetened red beans (available in cans in Korean grocery stores)
1 C condensed milk
Preheat the oven to 350F degrees.
Fold in the dry ingredients in the wet mix. Fold in mini rice cakes. Do not overmix the batter.
Scoop the batter in the cupcake mold or pan, only half-full. Drop 1 teaspoon of sweetened red beans in the middle of each cupcake. Fill the rest of the cupcake mold with the batter.
Bake the cupcakes for 25 minutes, or until the top turns golden. Remove from the oven and cool to room temperature.
If you're like me, you'll be very tempted to take a bite of a cupcake right out of the oven. Be careful because the melted rice cakes are hotter than the hot cupcakes, which results in easily buring your mouth. That's the lesson of the day provided by my own experience.
Condensed Milk Frosting) While the cupcakes are in the oven, place condensed milk in a pot and reduce it over low heat for about 10 minutes. Stir constantly with an wooden spoon so it doesn't burn on the bottom. When you see that milk is thickening, remove from heat. Cool to room temperature. The milk will continue to thicken as it cools. If it thickens too much, you can always warm it up for easier handling.
Depending on the consistency of condensed milk you want, you can drizzle it over the cupcakes or spread it on top.
KOREAN WORDS
condensed milk 연유 (yeon yu)
milk 우유 (wu yu)
