Chewy Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

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The Dish
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This is a recipe I modified from a recipe I found at "Heart Healthy Cooking". The cookies are nice and chewy and not too sweet. I only made 18 rather than 30, as suggested by the original recipe.

All purpose white flour - 6 oz
Whole wheat flour - 6 oz
Quick cooking rolled oats - 1 cup
Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp

Light brown sugar - 3/4 cup
Butter - 6 tbsp = 3/4 of a stick
Skim milk - 1/4 cup = 2 tbsp
Creamy peanut butter - 3 tbsp

1- Mix the first 5 dry ingredients and set aside in a bowl.
2- Whipped butter, sugar, milk, and peanut butter until well mixed.
3 - Add in the dry ingredients and mix it well
4- Make small walnut size ball of dough with your hand and a small spoon.
5- Place the dough ball on a greased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart.
6- Gently press the dough with the back of a fork.
7- Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350 F for about 20 minutes.
8- Make about 20 cookies.



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The Ceramic
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I was lucky enough to have gone to Kaori's open studio at Wandsworth, London last summer. I never tire of simple glazes on understated ceramic forms. The patina of the clay comes through on the edges and gives the wares extra dimensions.

"East and West are sensitively bought together in the work of Kaori Tatebayashi"
Ceramic Review, Issue 236 March/April 2009. P.40

Chinese Turnip Pudding

Kung Hai Fat Choi. I hope you like the new format I am implementing for 2009. I think it would be better if there are more in-progress photos.

For the Year Of The Ox, I will be making a Chinese Turnip Pudding - a recipe from my mum.

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The Dish
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Chinese Turnip Pudding

The Pudding:
Chinese Turnip - 3 lbs = shredded
Chinese Rice Flour - 1 cup
White Pepper: a pinch
Salt: a pinch

The Topping:
Chinese sausage - 3 = sliced
Reconstituted Shiitake Mushroom - 8 = chopped
Reconstituted dried shrimp - 4 tbsp = chopped
Scallion - 2 = chopped
Soy Sauce: 2 tbsp

The left is the pudding ingredients and the right is for the toppings

1- In hot pan, saute Chinese sausage, shiitake mushroom and dried shrimp until brown, add in soy sauce. About 8 mins
2- Turned off stove and add in scallion. This will be the topping.
3- Heat shredded turnip in a pot without water for about 2 - 3 minutes.
4- With the heat off, add in rice flour into the half-cooked turnip. Mix well. Add in white pepper and salt.
5- Fold in about 3 quarter of the toppings into the flour turnip mix.

6- Fold the flour mixture into a greased 9" shallow bowl. Arrange the remaining topping on top.

7-Steam for 1 hour or until a chopstick comes out clean when stick into the pudding.

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The Ceramic
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N.B. This is a 'soft' version of the turnip cake unlike what you would eat at a dim sum restaurant. I eat it with some soy sauce and hot oil and a spoon! It makes a nice food gift if package in a Chinese porcelain tea set. Add a gold and red tie and there you have it.