WCER Colleagues After Work: An-Chieh Angela Chang
August 1, 2023 | By WCER Communications
Feast your eyes on the beautiful, Taiwanese-style sweet and savory breads made by An-Chieh Angela Chang, who works in the Business Office as a pre-award specialist. An-Chieh likes to cook and bake in her off-hours, especially the breads and treats she made when she ran a local tea shop with her spouse and some friends before joining WCER in 2022. She still does some home-based catering for former tea shop regulars.
An-Chieh also wrote the following captions describing each bread or sweet treat and its place in the culture of her native Taiwan. Thank you for sharing your off-work pursuit with us, An-Chieh!
Taro Pastry (upper row, left) – This is one of the most popular souvenirs you can get from Taiwan! It is made with puff-pastry-like dough with sweet taro root filling in the center. Taro is similar to sweet potato and yucca, turning light purple after being cooked. It is very common to see it in Taiwanese desserts and savory dishes.
Pineapple Bun (upper row, right) – This was my personal favorite growing up, and it is still my favorite. The crunchy, sweet, and buttery shortbread top is often carved to mimic the look of pineapple, although no one actually prepares this with pineapple or pineapple flavor. The fluffy bread wrapped in the shortbread does not often come with a filling but makes a great contrast in texture. It is almost like Mexican concha! Usually the bread does not come with the tiny green crown when you find it in bakeries, but I decided to add a piece of matcha shortbread cookie to make it more pineapple-like just for fun.
Taiwanese Sweet Buns (lower row, left) – Taiwanese sweet buns (from left: pineapple, taro, red bean) are very popular as breakfast, lunch, afternoon snacks, and maybe desserts after dinner. These are usually made with enriched sweet dough combined with sweet or savory toppings or fillings.
Chocolate Roll (lower row, right) – A layer of dark chocolate was built into these swirls. I tried the recipe to practice shaping—and find a good excuse to enjoy more chocolate!
