Monster Peanut Butter Cookies recipe

I posted pictures of cookies I made a few days ago, but didn't put up a recipe. If you were waiting for it, sorry for the delay! This is actually a modified version and you can find the original recipe here: Smitten Kitchen Peanut Butter Cookies . I shared these cookies with friends and family and I've gotten a lot of positive feedback! They are really soft and chewy. I will be making them again.

Oven temperature: 350F (remember to preheat)
Bake time: 10-12 minutes
Dry ingredients:
1 1/4c all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Mix ingredients in medium sized bowl, set aside.

Wet Ingredients:
1/2 c (or 1 stick) softened/room temp unsalted butter
1c peanut butter (room temp, I used creamy)
3/4c white sugar
1/2c firmly packed, light brown sugar 
1 egg
1tbsp milk
1tsp vanilla extract

Cream together butter and peanut butter in a large bowl until fluffy. (I used an electric mixer, but you can do it by hand. Just make sure it's really fluffy). 
Add the two sugars and mix thoroughly.
Add milk, egg and vanilla extract.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet, being careful if you're using an electric mixer that it doesn't go everywhere. You can add in two or three increments if you'd like. 
Mix until just combined! (you will do a bit more mixing)

Goodies: (you can put anything you like)
 mini m&ms
 milk chocolate chips
pecans, crushed (~size of the m&ms and chips)

Add the goodies to the dough -- I suggest using a spatula so you don't crush the mini m&ms and you have control of how much you're mixing.
**I do not have measured amounts because I always eyeball this. Though you could try adding 1/2c of each and then add more accordingly. Since there were two chocolate components, be careful not to let it overpower everything else! 

Now line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. You can either roll out by hand, but I used an ice cream scoop to measure out the dough. Place them about an inch or so apart. 
These cookies will flatten out into nice, thick round shapes so you don't have to press them down! Leave them as a ball/ice cream scoop shape and it'll work out (well, it should).

Pop them in the oven and when you take them out, they may seem under cooked   but they will keep cooking for a bit! After a minute, transfer them to a baking rack to cool further.

Notes: I usually reduce the sugar amount in everything I bake by just a little (a few teaspoons less). If you've tried my cookies and want that amount of sweetness, just take one or two teaspoons out of the sugar amount. I also don't pack my brown sugar when I measure.

Now to get back to my assignment... 

Byebye~

-Yuen ah~

Weekend

On Saturday, my mom, boyfriend and I went to Kazoku restaurant which is owned by family friends. The Bang family is korean and the two son's were trained in Vancouver in sushi before coming to Winnipeg. Their restaurant serves sushi, ramen and korean food. Although they moved around a lot, they've established themselves and now have their own restaurant on Pembina. The restaurant is modern and simple. Though they did only recently open, so their menu is still under construction. They will be adding many different things both Japanese and Korean.
We ordered a lot and I forgot to take a picture of 5 guys and the spicy korean chicken :( I will have to order it again. 5 guys was good, and had a unique presentation. And if you like spicy, the spicy chicken is just for you! I recommend getting the sun flower roll or Philadelphia roll (or both) to ease the spice.

We ordered salmon sashimi. Nice large pieces and tasted very fresh.
We also ordered the Philadelphia roll. I like creamy rolls so this was really good! I also like it because it helps with quenching the spice from the other rolls.
The creepy roll is delicious. I really love raw salmon, tobiko and spicy. This had all three! It also had deep fried lotus root which is really different. The lotus root is sliced very thinly.
We also ordered caterpillar roll which tasted slightly different than usual. It had black tobiko and the unagi had a different texture but it still had delicious sauce.
Flame roll had deep fried salmon on top and was a mouthful!
Lastly we ordered the sun flower roll which is quite popular with my family and friends. It has deep fried yam on top, and has a slight sweetness to it from the tamago in the middle.


Kazoku restaurant location:
30-2583 Pembina Hwy, Winnipeg Manitoba R3T 2H5
Ph: 204-269-0042

Salmon sashimi


Top to bottom: Creepy roll, Flame Roll, Sunflower Roll

Left to right: Philadelphia roll, Caterpillar roll

Over view!

As for today, I made cookies from a new recipe. They're peanut butter cookies with mini m&ms, chocolate chips and crushed pecans. Oh baby they are good! They are chewy and soft with the flaky peanut cookie texture. I tweaked the recipe a bit though. I will post it later ;)

As for the science portion, I've been working on a group project for school. It involves testing the antimicrobial affects of cinnamaldehyde on bacteria. So far our results look good ;)

And for the dog part, introducing TaQ! A fluffy maltese. I took this picture a few days ago. He's almost 4 years old and is a hyperactive little fluff that barks a little too much...

Byebye~

-Yuen ah~