My absolute favorite dessert flavor is anko, sweet red bean paste. To make it, first soak some beans, I usually do about a half liter by volume and cover them with a few inches of water. They'll expand as they soak so use a big enough container with enough water. Let them soak overnight and then sometime the next day strain the beans and put them in a pot with plenty of water to cover them. bring the pot to a rolling boil for 15 or so minutes then reduce to a simmer. Cover the pot and let them simmer away for another hour maybe two. You want to really cook the beans until they're very very soft. Once a bean can be easily mashed when pulled from the pot it's time to make a choice. You can either choose to make smooth bean paste (こしあん), or chunky bean paste (粒あん). Chunky is much faster and easier but the texture doesn't suit everything.
To make chunky bean paste, using a potato masher or spoon, smash the undrained beans then add some sugar to taste. For a half liter of beans I start with a pinch salt and around 2 cups of white sugar and then start to simmer off the extra water. I prefer to do it this way vs straining the beans and adding back water because cooking the sugar if done slowly can bring out some nice caramelized flavors. Reduce to the consistency you like, keeping in mind it'll thicken a little as it cools, then take it off the heat and eat it however you like. It's great on ice cream, inside an anpan, taiyaki or mochi. get creative with it, don't let me limit you.
To make smooth bean paste mash the undrained beans still in the pot as best as you can then using a fine mesh sieve, slowly strain the bean skins out of the mixture. Mash them a bit more in the strainer if they don't look like they've fully given up their insides, then return your now starchy broth to the stove where again, I like a pinch of salt and around 2 or so cups of white sugar. Reduce this while stirring often over a medium low to low heat until it's reached a nice pasty consistency. Enjoy how you like.
You'll need a taiyaki press for this one. Sorry.
I worked at a sourdough bagel shop for a little bit where I made all of their dough. This isn't their recipe,this is the recipe I wish they'd used instead, but scaled down to a more reasonable 6 bagels from like... 800 or so.
First off, you want ripe well risen and mature starter. If you don't have a starter, ask around someone you know might have some, otherwise mix an equal but small portion of flour and water by weight and leave it for a day. It probably won't look like much has happened the first day. Put 5g of your day old starter in a new container and add 50g each flour and water and mix completely, leave it for another day. Repeat this process for a few weeks; you're looking for your starter to take about the same amount of time to double or more in height each day. Once it's consistent and has a nice, sour but yeasty smell, it's ready to give it a test. Again, this should take a few weeks, not a few days.
Next up, start with 207g of water, the temperature of which will depend on how fast of a fermentation you're looking for. To this water add 92g of starter along with a teaspoon or so of your sugar source of choice. I like honey, but malt syrup, maple syrup, or just sugar itself would work here. Give that a quick mix and then add 460g of flour and 9g of salt and stir to combine, then knead until smooth and elastic and it passes the window pane test. Flour choice here matters some. Bread flour will require less kneading than AP flour but at this low of a hydration any sort of flour should work. I like a mixture of 25% or around 120g of a local red fife whole wheat flour and the other 75% bread or AP flour, i don't notice a huge difference.
Once your dough can pass a window pane test, divide it into 6 equal pieces, they should each weigh around 4.5oz, and form them into balls. Cover your dough balls and allow them to rest 20 minutes, then using your thumb and forefinger, pinch a hole through the center of the dough ball. Using your fings in a sort of spinning motion, open the hole of the bagel up until you could fit an american half dollar through the hole and place on a pan lined with greased parchment paper to proof. Lightly cover with greased plastic wrap. How long you'll need to proof the bagels depends on your ambient temperature. You're looking for the hole to be around the size of a quarter and for the bagels to feel pillowy soft. You might consider putting them in the fridge once they've proofed a little more than halfway and allow them to finish proofing overnight to develop more flavor.
Once your bagels are fully proofed it's time to boil them. Pre-heat your oven to 450F. In a large pot, bring 3-4 qts of water to a boil and add a quarter cup or so of your same chosen sugar that you used in the dough, then boil the bagels for a minute per side. How many bagels you can boil at once depends on the width of your pot. Once your bagels are done boiling it's potentially time to top them, though that sort of depends on your choice of topping. My favorites are everything seasoning or a slice of swiss cheese and right before baking is the perfect time to apply either of those. These bagels can be baked for 25 or so minutes until they're well browned. Minced garlic or onion you're better off baking them a bit first, then remove them from the oven, spray with water and sprinkle with garlic or onion, then return the bagels to the oven until the garlic or onion is deeply browned but not burned.