Matt

Nothing makes me happier than people who are determined to learn how to cook or bake. My interactions with Matthew these days are largely through following his journey through Paul Hollywood's bakebook on Instagram and talking about cakes. Matt identifies as Northern European (specifically Swedish, Norwegian, German, and Danish). The first time I met him wassssss probablyyyyyyyy... at Hopscotch*, where Christy and I set up a double date so I could finally meet the one that stuck. He was by far the favorite.

So usually when I've asked people about their childhood foods, they tell me they gotta think about it. It took Matt two seconds to come back with the orange slices, which were the snack of choice at soccer tournaments. I could've pressed for more, but I was like I'm gonna make orange slices work. I wanted them to be front and center and so obvious that I'm trying to feed you an orange slice in dumpling form. And I thought I wanted it to be savory. And I should shape them like soccer balls!

Well the savory part didn't quite work out in the end. Which is fine because when I asked Christy and Matt to bring a bottle of white wine to have their heritagedinner with me, I thought a refreshing dessert dumpling would pair perfectly.

In my internal brainstorming sesh for soccer shaped dumplings, I thought about tang yuan. Tangyuan (or yuanxiao, depending on what region of China you're from) are drops of chewy sticky rice balls filled with a sweet paste-y filling (black sesame and peanut are my faves) and boiled or fried - making it part of the dumpling family in my book. They can be served in its own hot starchy broth, in a sweet syrup, or in savory soup, and they're traditionally eaten during the Lantern Festival around CNY, festivals in general, wedding days, or family reunions because they symbolize harmony and unity.

So I filled these dessert balls with roasted walnuts, butter, brown sugar, and a bit of orange extract, added in the zest of one orange into the glutinous rice dough, and juiced some oranges for the "broth" (with a couple ladles of starchy boiling liquid and gogi berries). And then upon plating, I just tossed in whole orange slices because what the hell, we're just gonna be literal here.

Served at room temp on a chilly evening, it actually tasted better than it looks. This, friends, is a refreshing dessert. I may or may not have drunken drank dranken drunk the broth like a light orange-y beverage the next day...

Things I would do differently: fold them less tragically so that the broth is not muddied by the exploded walnut filling.

Matthew's complete list:

orange slices - that's it, that's all I had to work with

:)

*Where I had the most amazing burger with griddled beef tongue and sesame aioli. Who decided to throw some tongue onto that patty? I appreciate your existence.