dessert
Flavoured syrups are added to the mixture before it’s shaved and topped with various sweet ingredients. Passion Tree’s flavours include matcha, taro, cookies and cream, mango cheesecake and traditional red bean, also known as patbingsoo. Each are made using a lactose-free milk base to cater to a variety of customers. LAB Bakery Café in Strathfield is another popular haunt for bingsoo, which is made using a recipe of water, condensed milk and other ingredients to create the snowlike texture. Flavours include Oreo, mango, tiramisu and traditional red bean. “There has recently been a huge growth in demand for bingsoo in Sydney, especially in the non-Korean demographics,” says director Kevin Oh. “In our opinion, this is largely driven by the K-pop boom and the acceptance of Korean food and desserts from diverse cultures.” To make bingsoo, both cafés use custom machines from Korea that freeze the milk mixture instantly for quick service. “Making a bingsoo is relatively simple with the right know-how and tools in place,” says Oh. “First the liquid mix is created according to our LAB recipe, which is then fed into a machine that instantly freezes it before it shoots out fluffy, snow-like shaved ice.” Selling for up to $18 per serve, both cafés agree bingsoo is a profitable dessert. “It is a very popular product and profitable, but it is also quite cyclical as it is a cold dessert and tends to sell more over summer,” says Oh.
5. COOKIE DOUGH Straight from the United States, cookie dough is making its way across Australia and fast gaining popularity. Brothers and chefs Jasper Schreiber and Felix Tickner witnessed the booming cookie dough craze overseas and brought their version to Australia, opening 30 Hospitality July 2018
DoughLord in Brisbane late last year. While the cookie dough in the US was too sweet for their liking, the pair experimented until they found the right recipe. “When we first opened, we had eight flavours and we were testing the waters,” says Schreiber. “We’re doing six doughs right now: vegan tiramisu; vegan Oreo; plain vanilla dough; quad choc; salty sweet, where we use a salted caramel fudge and a standard choc-chip.” The store also have soft-serve ice cream on offer, which customers often use as a gateway before trying a whole tub of cookie dough. “The soft serve is the bridge — people are familiar with soft serve and it’s not too weird for them to have soft serve with cookie dough,” says Schreiber. However, commercially sold cookie dough has created controversy in the past due to the risks involved with raw ingredients. Schreiber says customers can be hesitant to try the dough if they think it contains raw flour or eggs. “You have to heat treat the flour, so we cook the flour in the oven for about 20 minutes and keep cycling it through so it doesn’t burn and we don’t use any eggs,” he says. “Essentially, the product is cooked but has the texture of raw dough.” Sugar and dairy products are added to the flour mix to complete the recipe. “At the end of the day, cookie dough is quite a basic thing, which is why you have to go further with premium ingredients,” says Schreiber. Made in-store daily, the cookie dough is served at two degrees Celsius, and while it can’t be served any higher than four degrees Celsius for food safety reasons, Schreiber recommends customers take it home and heat it in the microwave. “If it was served at ice cream temperature, you’d lose the flavour,” he says. “The warmer the dough is, the better the flavour.” n
Cookie dough at DoughLord
Bingsoo at LAB