Cookies & Chemistry

The last smidge of summer was filled with bittersweet (mostly sweet – literally) moments.

Exhibit A: this dessert plate that featured chocolate banana “ice cream” à la Tom Daley, peanut butter tofu pie, and chocolate almond banana bread (on my Recipe page) with coconut yogurt and nut butter. Mmmmm.

Tofu haters – I promise you won’t taste the tofu. This is a super satisfying dessert that’ll be sure to cure any sweet-salty cravings. One of my all-time favourite recipes, and it’s a hit with guests, too!

Vegan Peanut Butter Cup Pie

Makes 8 slices

NOTE: requires chilling coconut milk overnight, requires 30 minutes out of freezer before serving

INGREDIENTS

Crust

• 1.5 to 1.75 cups of crushed graham crackers (about 10-12 crackers)
• 4.5 tbsp melted coconut oil, or more if needed

Pie

• 12 oz silken tofu
• 1/2 cup creamy salted natural peanut butter (125 g)
• 1/4 cup maple syrup or honey
• 1 14 oz can of full-fat coconut milk, chilled overnight so the liquid and cream separate (do not shake)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• salt, if needed

Topping

• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (175 g)
• 1/3 cup milk (almond, dairy, or coconut are fine)
• roasted salted peanuts, chopped, if desired for decoration

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Lightly oil glass pie pan.
3. Process graham crackers until you achieve a fine meal. A little texture is okay. Add melted coconut oil and pulse to combine.
4. Press the crust into the pan and push down to flatten.
5. Bake 10 minutes, or until golden brown. Set aside.
6. Add tofu, peanut butter, maple/honey to a blender. Blend until smooth. Scrape down sides as needed. Add more maple/honey for added sweetness, or more salt if the peanut butter is not salted enough.
7. Scoop out the cream from the coconut milk can. Whip into whipped cream in a large, chilled mixing bowl. Add vanilla.
8. Fold peanut butter-tofu mixture into whipped coconut cream.
9. Pour filling over cooled crust. Freeze to chill. After one hour, prepare ganache.
10. Add chocolate chips to a bowl. Heat milk to a simmer. Pour over chocolate chips. Do not touch for 5 minutes, to allow it to melt.
11. Stir gently with spoon until a smooth ganache forms. If it doesn’t melt, heat it in microwave for 10 seconds until smooth.
12. Spoon over top of pie. Spread evenly with knife. Work quickly. I drizzled mine on, then swirled with a knife.
13. Top with peanuts, if desired. Cover with plastic wrap. Freeze to set.
14. 20-30 minutes before serving, remove from freezer and serve.

The last bit of summer was filled with Mom’s incredible cooking. This is my favourite type of fried rice, which is made with dried and rehydrated scallops, green onions, egg white, and more. Shiitake mushroom chicken broth, too. Isn’t that a colourful salad on the side?

This was my last meal in Coquitlam, BC, so Mom made all my favourites! Tomato scrambled eggs with shrimp, red bean pancakes with sesame seeds, broccoli-carrot stir-fry with mushrooms and cloud ears, and leftover scallop fried rice.

Something similar, but this was on a totally different day: peri peri chicken, the same tomato scrambled eggs, stir-fried veggies (this time with chestnut) and plain rice.

I love Mom’s cooking so much. More of those red bean sesame pancakes, along with cauliflower and not-too-spicy mapo tofu for my pathetic spice-wimp taste buds.

This meal, actually, was followed by an MRI to screen my pituitary gland. Lying completely motionless inside the little pod (for ~50 minutes) was eerie and unsettling, yet strangely meditative. Except for the needle, it was a neat experience.

Another day, Mom and I made spaghetti bolognese with fresh ground beef, mixed it with al dente shells, and layered/topped it with an entire log of mozzarella cheese.

Served with garlicky green beans, this dish was a massive hit in the Wei home! I credit that incredible fresh mozzarella.

This summer, I challenged myself to bake a whole bunch of things. Most of the “whole bunch of things” never got baked because of busyness laziness, but these flaky feta-chive scones did! I think you’ll like them as much as my family did.

Flaky, Buttery Feta Chive Biscuits

Makes approx. 12 small scones

Recipe inspired by Joy the Baker

INGREDIENTS

• 3 cups all-purpose flour (360 g)
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2.5 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp freshly-cracked black pepper
• 3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes (170 g)
• 1 egg
• 3 tbsp very cold water
• 3/4 cup cold sour cream, or cold plain yogurt
• 1/3 cup chopped chives
• 3/4 cup large crumbles of feta cheese
• 1 beaten egg for egg wash, with a splash of milk if needed
• coarse sea salt, cracked black pepper, and paprika for topping

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Place rack in centre/upper third of oven.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
3. Line two baking sheets with parchment.
4. Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and black pepper. Use two knives/forks, or a pastry cutter to cut in the cold butter, until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Dough should have buttery pea-sized chunks throughout.
5. In another bowl, lightly beat egg, sour cream, and water, with a fork.
6. Add wet mixture into flour mixture all at once. Stir enough to make soft, shaggy dough. Use fork to scrape from bottom to top of dough.
7. Add chives and feta.
8. Dump mixture on a clean counter to knead dough together. Mixture should come together in 10-15 kneads.
9. Roll or pat out into a 1-inch thickness. Cut into 2-inch rounds, using biscuit cutter. You can also roll the dough into a rectangular shape, and cut the biscuits into triangular shapes. Reshape and roll dough to create more biscuits with excess scraps. Place on prepared baking sheet. Brush with egg wash, and sprinkle with coarse sea salt, black pepper, and smoky paprika.
10. Bake for 15 minutes. Serve warm. Biscuits are best eaten on the day they are made, but will last up to two days.

We froze some of them!

These prune blondies were also whipped up. My mom enjoyed them, and I really liked the chewy texture that reminded me of glutinous rice.

Prune Blondies

Makes 12 blondies

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup pitted prunes, softened in 2 tbsp boiling water
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar (150 g)
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 large egg
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp mixed nuts, toasted/chopped

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line 8×8 pan with parchment paper.
2. In blender, combine prunes and water. Process until smooth. Add brown sugar, oil, egg, honey, and vanilla. Set aside.
3. Sift flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
4. Add wet ingredients to dry. Fold with a spatula until just combined, then pour batter into prepared pan. Top with nuts.
5. Bake for 25 minutes, then cool in the pan on a wire rack before cutting/serving.

I also made a large list of books that I can’t wait to get my hands on (some of them, for the second time). Have you read any of them?

Books to Read

• Boo
• The Female of the Species
• Unnatural Deeds
• With Malice
• And the Trees Crept In
• A Mother’s Reckoning
• What Happened to Ivy
• Red Rain
• Burning
• The Cellar
• Confessions About Colton
• Run
• The Letter
• Her Fearful Symmetry
• The Hour I First Believed
• The Little Friend
• My Name is Memory
• Mystic River
• She’s Come Undone *
• We Were the Mulvaneys
• White Oleander *
• The Shipping News
• Change of Heart
• Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
• The Book of Ruth
• Mystic River
• Black and Blue
• Everything I Never Told You
• Visitation Street
• The Vanishing Season
• Elsewhere
• The Afterlife (cool)
• Shine
• Before I Die
• Where I Want to Be (cool)
• Falling Into Place (cool)
• The Age of Miracles
• The Virgin Suicides
• The Giver
• A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
• Eat When You Feel Sad
• To the Lighthouse
• 300 Million
• 1 Dead in Attic
• An Invisible Sign of my Own

Seline, my sister, also wrote a special poem inspired by the stunning rocky hills on Salt Spring Island. She actually has her own poetry blog, which, by the way, looks a lot prettier than my unplanned collages of unfiltered (i.e. ugly) iPhone photos.

Rocks

The rocky path

Illuminated by a simple

Ray of sun

No one beside

In front

or

Behind

As I glide down the hill,

wood chips sticking in my shoes.

I trot

down

the trail.

I jump

Left

to

Right,

Hopping from one rock,

to another.

Finally reaching my destination

on top of

the rock

for all to see.

And that’s it, everyone! Have a glorious rest of the week.