Hey all! Long time no see! For real. I haven’t been posting lately, and here’s why.
I contracted The Plague
I was on winter break and didn’t leave my bed except for the essentials, like candy and wine.
I started teaching two periods at a high school as part of my training, and emotionally, it’s hard. It’s really hard. Teachers have a hard job.
I’ve been learning a lot as a teacher over the past couple of weeks. Teachers have to be strict, even when they don’t want to. They have to assert themselves, otherwise their students will walk all over them. They have to make tough decisions about which students to engage and when, depending on the lesson and the day. Teaching is hard.
Surprisingly, Pocky is not hard! It’s actually quite simple to throw together. Pocky shows up everywhere in anime, and in Japan, and in manga, and, let’s face it, probably even your grocery store (check the Asian section, no kidding).
It’s cheap to buy, and tastes pretty good! Surprisingly (or unsurprisingly?) It tastes even better when you make it at home, and it’s pretty simple.
The Ingredients
1/2 cup flour
1 tbs sugar
2 tbs butter
2 tbs milk
Candy Melts or Chocolate
Made about 30 sticks for me!
To Make
First, combine all dry ingredients. Toss in butter and work into the dry ingredients with your fingers until mixture is sandy with small pieces of butter left.
Pour in the milk, and stir through.
Then, pull out some plastic wrap. Lay a piece on the counter, and turn out your dough on top of the plastic wrap. Wrap up, spread out into a roughly square shape, and let cool for 30 mins in the fridge or 10 in the freezer. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Once dough has cooled, unwrap, lay another piece of plastic over the top, and roll out into a rectangle until dough is maybe 1/8 inch thick.
Trim off the sides until you have a perfect rectangle.
And now, very carefully, (I used a pastry scraper), cut dough into sticks.
Try to get them as straight as possible. For perfection, use a ruler to measure out how long your dough is and to create perfectly portioned sticks. I just eye-balled it, but it’s up to you. Pop these onto a cookie sheet, and straighten them all out. They won’t move at all while they bake, but if you place them on crooked they will bake up to be crooked.
Bake until they just start to turn golden, about 13-15 minutes. Allow to cool on the sheet.
While they cool, melt your Candy Melts in a long, tall cup or jar. If you are using regular chocolate, you will have to temper it in order for it to harden completely on the stick. For this reason, I recommend using a fake chocolate, that is, chocolate without cocoa butter, and instead with a vegetable oil. This kind of chocolate you will not have to temper.
Prepare according to package instructions. When biscuits have cooled, dip them in carefully and twirl around to coat on all sides. Be very gentle! I accidentally broke a few sticks from being too rough. Lay back on parchment paper to harden up.
And now it’s done!
This snack was so easy and delicious to make, I highly recommend giving it a try! 🙂 As for me, with my new schedule, I’m not sure I’ll be able to post every week like I had been doing, but I will give it my best shot.
As always, feel free to leave questions or suggestions below. Like this if you love Pocky! Have a great day 🙂