8 is apparently a lucky number in Chinese culture, so instead of 100, we get 108 Asian Cookies: Not Too Sweet Treats from a Third-Culture Kitchen. For me personally, this one is going to be more of a read for info and interest (and also local library summer reading challenge [adults can play too!]) for two reasons: 1) quite a few of the recipes are a little chef-ier than I personally like my baking to be, and 2) I don’t like grocery shopping online which I would have to do to source quite a few ingredients (no big Asian markets within roughly 75 miles of me).
Firstly, the third-culture element means the author is Canadian, born to Chinese and Chinese-Vietnamese parents, so growing up in one, surrounded by two other cultures. Secondly, a lot of recipes include alternatives not only for flavoring but also for vegan and/or gluten-free versions. Thirdly, read the ingredients review; even if you’re familiar with Asian cuisine in general, you’re going to run into things you may not recognize, especially in the baking context. I’ve never seen/heard of baker’s amonia, haw flakes, or furu; also would never have expected to see hoisin or laksa paste in a cookie book.
Even though I don’t think the author is a trained chef, things like “Chocolate Sandwich Cookies with Thai Basil” read “chef-y” to me. Especially when the chocolate cookie for the sandwich part has 11 ingredients (including Thai basil) and the chocolate filling has 6 (including Thai basil), and the optional toppings include (more) Thai basil and edible gold leaf. Similarly, guess how many things are in the oatmeal cookie recipe (not counting the sesame seed-sugar coating)? 14, including two spices, both white mulberries and raisins (golden), AND (optional) chocolate chips. In both cases, it sounds tasty, but that’s a lot of stuff for a basic cookie, which to me raises them above “common every-day cookie”.
The one thing I might actually try before this goes back to the library is not even actually a cookie. It’s the “Cookie Dough Milk Bread”. What makes it “cookie dough”? A chocolate chip stuffed bun with a few chocolate chips on the outside, that’s what. They are meant to sort of “look” like cookies, not taste or be like cookies to eat. I’ll bet you could make it slightly cookie-dough-esque if you added some malted milk or custard powder to the bread dough; no vanilla though. There’s actually no vanilla in any recipe; instead (there’s an explanation for this somewhere) recipes will call for Japanese whiskey.
