Peasreads- 108 Asian Cookies Not-Too-Sweet Treats from a Third-Culture Kitchen by Kat Lieu

 

It's hard to review a cookbook. This one is beautiful. The photos are beautiful, the food looks yummy. I reviewed a digital copy. So I don't know what the print copy looks like. Some of recipes are very unique. However some of them are just regular cookie recipes with a few ingredients that were changed to make a cookie "Asian" like the salt to miso or soy sauce, and added some MSG to some.

I liked the section on traditional cookies the best. So nostalgic.

All the photos were beautiful.

One note of warning, this book doesn't do well on the kindle app on your phone.

I will be attempting to bake some ube cookies this weekend.

Description

From the IACP award winner and bestselling cookbook author comes a first-of-its-kind collection of irresistible cookie recipes inspired by Asian flavors and techniques to excite home bakers.

Growing up as a Canadian-born Vietnamese Chinese American, Kat Lieu sought comfort in the flavors of her youth like taro and black sesame. But she struggled to find a home for herself as a third-culture baker in American bakeries, online, or in cookbooks. In the auspiciously titled 108 Asian Cookies Lieu honors the varied and rich tapestry of Asian cultures and ingredients that inspired these recipes. And along with members from Subtle Asian Baking, the online baking group she founded, are a diverse array of original and member-submitted drool-worthy recipes for cookies and bakes incorporating ingredients from the diaspora including gochujang, ube, miso, fish sauce, sambal, tahini, matcha, and MSG stirred into each batter and dough.

 

Bakers will learn how to whip up both classics and entirely new desserts such as:

 

Spicy chai cookies

Amaretti cookies with pandan and pistachios

Taiwanese snowflake crisps

Milk and cashew burfi

Salted egg yolk corn flake haystacks

Mochi brownies

Matcha and wasabi drop cookies

And even instant ramen and pho cookies!

 

At many Asian tables, “not too sweet” is the highest compliment one can give—so whether these recipes are comfortingly familiar or new discoveries, 108 Asian Cookies will be sure to delight even the most discerning “not too sweet” kitchens for years to come.

Find more book reviews here under Peasreads.

Amazon reviews Katereviews.

Goodreads reviews.

I received this egalley from NetGalley, Little, Brown and Company | VoraciousI was under no obligation to give a review. All opinions are my own. 

Percy Jackson Viewing Party

Confession. I have not read the Percy Jackson series. I want to but my to be read pile is very long. Maybe I'll read them this year. These photos were taken when we had a Percy Jackson viewing party Disney+ version.

The best sugar cookie recipe ever 

Recipe here.

I really enjoyed and have since enjoyed this series. My kids have read the books and they say the series is way better than the movies. 

My two oldest kids baked and set the party up while I was at work. All I had to do was come home with pizza. They did such an amazing job. I'm so happy that their friend's like to come over to our house and hang out. 

Coffee and hot chocolate bar ready to go 

The cutest cookies and cupcakes! 

 

Perfect Ginger Cookies

 These cookies are an old favorite. They are a little bit different than the Chewy Ginger Molasses cookies I have shared before. That post is a mess by the way and I need to update it. These cookies have a crispy edge but chewy center that still snaps. I think they are perfect. To give these cookies that crispy edge I use shortening, then I added butter for a chewy centers. You can use all butter but you'll have a softer cookie. All shortening will give you a crispy cookie. For the sugars I used both brown and granulated, I have two measurements for the granulated sugar because we like a less sweet cookie. These can be rolled in cinnamon sugar or in powdered sugar. The granulated cinnamon sugar will give you more of a caramelized crunch, the powdered sugar will give you a pretty crinkle cookie look.

Chocolate Chip Toffee Cookies (Chewy)

Rich, flavorful, chewy with crispy edges. I love chocolate chip cookies and this recipe has all the elements I just mentioned. The browned butter and dark brown sugar give these cookies a butterscotch toffee flavor and the dark brown sugar makes them chewy. I do have quite a few other recipes on this blog.  I can't help it. This one, the Gideon cookies, the Kiss Me  Chocolate Chip Cookies, so many yummy ones. Just pick one, the Skillet Chocolate Chip cookie is the easiest.

As far as this recipe I will definitely make them again. With or without the Toffee chips. I would love to put nuts in them, but my child can't eat nuts. I use less chocolate and toffee in these than most people would but we love the cookie like this.

This is a great batter to customize.

Brownie Batter Cookies

Today I have two cookies to share. Both are easy to make and require minimal ingredients, they are very similar but one will yield a thinner cookie, the other a thicker cookie. There's an Italian place here that makes these amazing thin brownie batter cookies and I have been meaning to recreate them for a while now and like some people during this shelter in place I have a little more time at home. My first batch of cookies came out like the last photo. Thicker, a bit chewy on the edges, just not thin. They were still delicious though and we will make them again. I just wanted thin, chewy in the middle and a bit crispy like brownies from the edge of a pan. The result is the cookie you see in the first and second pictures.
Which cookie do you think you'd like better? I like both, and it just depends if I'm in the mood for a thicker chewy cookie or a thinner crisp-edged cookie.

Copycat Gideon's Bakehouse Cookies

I have so many Chocolate Chip Cookie recipes on this blog, but let's face it, sometimes you want them chewy, cakey, extra chocolatey. Mood. Right? For extra chocolate richness, this is the recipe you want. If you've ever been to Gideon's Bakehouse or the Polite Pig at Disney Springs you may know about these cookies. Voted the best cookie in Florida they are really yummy. There's rich chocolate, vanilla, and a tender cookie that's a little underbaked but not raw. They are in my top two favorite cookies at Disney Springs, the other being the Jammy Dodgers at Cookes.

Khanom Dok Bua- Lotus Flower Cookies

 

This lotus flower cookie is called Khanom Dok Bua or Khanom Dok Jok. It's a crispy cookie that is deep fried, not baked. They are like Italian Rosettes. They are light and crispy. Not overly sweet, sesame seeds give them a great flavor, so does Pandan extract. The sesame seeds are what is more commonly used. I made these ones green and pink, Pandan and almond for our Christmas Cookie boxes in 2017. Which isn't really traditional, the almond flavoring that is.

Bunches of Berries in Bars

One of the fantastic things about our move is that I found a great wholesale fruit and vegetable source. I admit, typing that out it sounds lame. I'm okay with that though because this awesome place will have avocados by the case, 48 for $37.50, blueberries in 9 ounce packages 12 for $7-10, 12 ounce packages of raspberries 14 for $14, 10 artichokes for $8,  organic packs of produce that end up being $1 a pound. It's amazing and awesome. That's how these bars came about. We love fresh berries and were eating them by the handful. The kids were taking 14 ounce packs of raspberries for lunch.  I purchased 28 packs. Yes 28. In the end I had 3 packs that needed to be used up. We ate a bunch. I still have blueberries in my fridge that I can freeze for later also.

Christmas Cookies

 

I didn't share our Christmas Gingerbread cookies with you last year, so here we are Christmas in July. These are the gingerbread cookies the kids and I baked and decorated last year. It was so fun. We had some traditional winter and Christmas shapes. The most fun to decorate were the fandom, geekery cookies though.

These are gingerbread and I don't have the recipe up, but I'm sure you can google a recipe. I do have a fantastic Sugar Cookie recipe that you can find HERE. It's the best.

Fudgy Skillet Brownie

Fudgy Skillet Brownie.

Brownies. I like them crisp on the edges but fudgy on the inside. If they have that papery top, perfection. Easy is a huge plus, virtually no dishes makes it a winner. These brownies are rich and chocolaty. The edges get crisp, but they aren't dry or cake like. Perfect for an after school snack or dessert topped with berries and ice cream. Wrap them up for a tasty gift.
If you are looking for a fancier brownie, try these Fudgy Cheesecake Brownies.

Thin Mints Milkshakes And Other Girl Scout Cookie Shakes

We have a girl scout in house and it's cookie season! My favorite is the Thin Mints, I try not to eat too many of them. I could eat a whole sleeve in one sitting and I used to. But I've been really good, maybe it's because there's such an abundance of them around here. I decided to make the kids some milkshakes for an after dinner treat the other day. These are simple and quick to make. They are also very yummy.

Fortune Cookies, Not a Chinese New Year Tradition

Can you believe that Chinese New Year falls on January 28th this year? Earlier and earlier every year! I have very fond memories of Chinese New Year from my childhood. The day, the foods, the traditions are special to me. But most memorable is my mom's part in it. She would clean the house and cook an amazing spread. Family would come visit. She would often take us out of school, if not pick us up early.

2016 Let Them Eat Cake- Cookies and Cream Oreo Drizzle Cake

Oreo drizzle cake with cookies and cream chocolate, Oreo cookies, a chocolate macaron, and a chocolate "10".

A couple of weeks ago I shared a Lemon Raspberry cake that was for my oldest's birthday. This week I'm sharing this Oreo cake which my middle girl requested. She actually asked for Oreo, and I went with it. This is my first drizzle cake. It came out pretty good considering I didn't get the chocolate the correct consistency before I put it on the cake.

Kitchen Sink Chunk Cookies

The weather is getting cooler around here, it's a rainy morning so I'm sitting down to update. With a cup of tea at my side and cookies... you know, so I can taste the to make sure they are still yummy. To post, because I don't want to post cookies that aren't still yummy. I better have two just to make sure :). I let my kids have one after breakfast, two days in a row now. I'm cool like that.
How is the weather where you are? I'm so ready for fall. My parents are planning a visit. I can't wait. They will get to see the leaves change color, come to a couple soccer games. It'll just be nice having them here. Maybe I should makes some of this cookie dough to keep in the freezer. Because cookies.
I like this Kitchen Sink Chunk Cookie recipe because it doesn't require me to think ahead and soften butter. I think most of the Chocolate Chip Cookie recipes and cookie recipes that I like use melted butter. I will say I like cookies that are chewy, so I prefer using bread flour. You can swap out AP flour in equal amounts if you prefer, or if that's what you happen to have on hand. Adding oats would also be easy to do, swap out some of the flour for rolled oats, or use some as your mix-ins. This recipe is easily tweaked. See the notes below for variations.

I used dried tart cherries and chocolate bars for this batch, because I didn't have any chocolate chips in the house! Yikes.

Lemon Blueberry Oatmeal Cookies

How beautiful are these Lemon Blueberry Oatmeal cookies? Studded with plump blueberries and drizzled with a lemon glaze that give them just the right amount of sweet and tart. These cookies are soft and chewy, perfect with a cup of tea or for a sweet treat after a meal. I use frozen berries that we picked, but you can buy store bought berries. These cookies travel well and are the perfect reminder that spring and summer will soon be here.
Get your kids in the kitchen this is a recipe that they can either help with or do all on their own. I hope you all are having a wonderful week and as always, thank you for reading this little blog.

Candy Cane Kisses and Simple Sugar Cookie Dough

I know it's a little late in the game to be posting Christmas Cookie recipes but these would be great for Valentine's day also. You could use the Candy Cane Kisses or even the Cherry Kisses. Just don't put peppermint extract in the cookie dough, use almond. I used one dough for these cookies. The marbled pink dough was tinted and  I added Peppermint extract to it before kneading the dough to marble it. For the Candy Cane Kisses, Pixie pressed the candies into the cookies after they came out of the oven. Just remind little ones that are helping that the baking sheets are hot. Pixie helped me with the dough, unwrapping all the Kisses, and pressing the candies into the cookies.

These cookies are so easy to make and there's no thinking ahead since the butter is melted. The dough is versatile. The cookies can be rolled into balls, formed into candy cane shapes, formed into a log for slice and bake. It is a very forgiving dough.

Give Peas A Chance Simple Sugar Cookie Dough

1 cup melted unsalted  butter
3 eggs
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3 cups flour

Optional
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract OR 1 teaspoon almond extract

Beat the butter, eggs, sugar, and vanilla together.
Stir in the flour, salt, and baking soda.
Shape the cookies and bake.
Bake 375 degree oven for 7-8 minutes.

IF using candy kisses, press them into the cookies after baking, while they are warm.

To marble you cookies, separate half the dough. Knead a few drops of food coloring into half of the dough. Then knead both doughs together to marble. You can also shape the dough into strips, then twist them into candy canes, wreaths, or pretzel shapes.

Cookies can be rolled in sprinkles, cinnamon sugar,  or pumpkin pie spice and sugar before baking also.

The cookie dough can be frozen in tablespoon size balls or in log form. No need to thaw before baking. Slice and bake, or bake the dough balls from frozen. Add a minute to the baking time.

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Heirloom Cookie Sheet- Coupon Code

I have met some awesome people through blogging here on Give Peas A Chance. Jeannie from Heirloom Cookie Sheets has been one of those people. She started this company and is here in the US. But the story behind these sheets is pretty amazing. Her dad first had these stainless steel cookie sheets made for her mom. Jeannie and her mom baked and used these cookie sheets for 30 years, and they were workhorses, and stayed beautiful. That's the beauty of stainless steel, it stays so nice and works so hard. Jeannie's friends asked where she got her cookie sheets after borrowing them. That's when she knew to share these awesome cookie sheets.

 I had heard through another blogger that Jeannie was looking for some bloggers to partner with for the Heirloom Cookie Collection Cookbook. I'm so blessed that I was able to participate in this fun project. Because in doing so I discovered a beautiful product that is so well made.  I was able to make the amazing cookies pictured above for the cookbook. There are 20 other bloggers who partnered with Heirloom Cookie Sheets and these books would make a wonderful gift. 

I was also able to use the Heirloom Cookie Sheet. I'll be honest, I got rid of all of my cookie sheets years and years ago. They were flimsy, they warped, some were coated. They were more of a pain than helpful to me. Still to have something without the "lip" on all my pans would be awesome, something with no aluminum? Even better. I was very pleasantly surprised but the weight of  the Heirloom Cookie sheet. Sturdy and strong because they are made with 100% stainless steel (Heirloom Cookie Sheets are made from Type 304, food grade USA stainless steel with a Chromium content range between 18 – 20 and a Nickel content range between 8 – 10.5) . That's right, there's no aluminum. STRONG. They are also made in the USA. I've used this sheet to bake cookies and also pizza. Because there's no "lip" on the sheet I could fit a whole pizza on there with ease. Because stainless steel heats a little slower, but conducts heat so evenly, baked goods are evenly baked on the bottom, it takes a few minutes of extra bake time, but it's not a big deal. 

Here's more about this great  product

Professional Construction
The Heirloom Cookie Sheet is made of heavy duty, 18-gauge stainless steel. That’s it … no toxic coatings. No coatings at all – and yet, it’s virtually non-stick!
One of the 12″ sides is turned up slightly to provide a handle, so it’s easy to maneuver in and out of the oven and store in your cabinets. The 15″ sides lay flat to allow heat to circulate unrestricted across the entire baking surface, which results in even baking.
There is no need to use cooking spray or liners when baking with an Heirloom.The natural light color of stainless steel encourages even baking to help you avoid burning your cookies.
Best of all, the Heirloom is Dishwasher Safe! If you do need a little “extra” cleaning help, especially after broiling with the Heirloom at a high heat, we recommend using a small amount of a non-abrasive powder cleanser.
First Impressions
Quality! Ask anyone who has seen an Heirloom Cookie Sheet, and “quality” is their first impression. Its mirror-like finish combined with ultra sturdy construction makes the Heirloom a beautiful piece of professional bakeware.

These cookie sheets would make a wonderful addition to anyone's kitchen. With the discount code below, gift giving is made easy! 

**10% off Discount Code**

GPCNOV13 good until 12/15/13.

This code is good for 10% off of 2 or more sheets (limit 10)

Find Heirloom Cookie Sheets on Facebook

Disclaimer: I was provided a free sample/s of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose.  Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product. All pictures are from the companies site, unless noted.

Giveaways on GPAC found HERE.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Snickerdoodles

I took these pictures with my phone, sigh. Oh well, the cookies though? The cookies are AMAZING. DH's favorite cookie I think is the Snickerdoodle. I'm a pumpkin fanatic so you know how that goes. Give a little, take a little, then add cheesecake. Why not? Match made in heaven. Tender cookie, smooth cheesecake filling...

Go, make these now. Bookmark and/or pin them for all those cookie exchanges coming up this season.
More PUMPKIN recipes can be found HERE.

Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie

This is the EASIEST QUICKEST cookie ever. It's so very easy. It's a little crisp on the edges but chewy on the inside. I love that it makes one skillet, that's it. Not dozens and dozens. I don't mind freezing dough for later, but then the temptation is there to bake them up in my little toaster oven. Too much, too tempting. Sure the skillet is one big ol' cookie but it's gone faster than say 5 dozen cookies. Another thing about this is all I have to wash is a spatula and the skillet. I admit that fact alone pretty much promoted it to best cookie ever status like real quick.

Since this is a MAniC MoNdAy post, you can find the original post HERE on Give Peas A Chance. I also cut and pasted the recipe below.
You do need to use a scale, but this is perfect for children learning weights :)

Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie

350 degrees 13-18 minutes

1 stick/8 tablespoons unsalted butter

3-3/4 ounces (108 grams) granulated sugar

3-3/4 ounces (108 grams) brown sugar

6-1/2 ounces (184 grams) All purpose flour

1 egg

1 tablespoon vanilla, I didn't weigh this. Just pour it in.

pinch kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

6 ounces (170 grams) chocolate, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place a well seasoned 11 inch cast iron skillet on the stove over medium high heat, add cold butter. Let the butter melt, moving it around to coat the entire skillet and sides. Turn the heat off. Let the butter cool for a bit, so the egg doesn't scramble when you add it.
Add the sugars and vanilla to the butter. Mix well until butter is incorporated. Mix in the egg.
Stir in the flour, soda and salt. Make sure you scrape the sides and bottom of the skillet so there is not dry flour there. Stir in chocolate.
Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes until the edge are golden brown.

Variations

Almond extract, dried cherries, pistachios, white chocolate chips.

Orange zest, dark chocolate pieces.

Macadamia nuts, white chocolate chips.

Add chopped pecans, walnuts, or other nuts to the original.
Add 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder for a puffier/cake like cookie

I finally took some measurements of this- rough measurements, not exact
it's about
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/4 cup of flour

Manic Monday- Super Sugga Cookies

I know I just posted these on May (the) Fourth (be with you). BUT here are more pictures, and the link to the only Sugga Sugga Cookie recipe I use here on Give Peas A Chance.

Have a wonderful MaNic MonDaY!!
Find more "ManIc MoNdaY" posts here.