VEGAN peanut butter and coconut oatmeal cookies

Peanut butter is soooo yummmmyy.  Can you believe I hated it as a kid?

It was so thick, creamy, and clung and stuck to the roof of my mouth like no tomorrow.
But now, I am guilty of buying jars and jars of peanut butter and stashing them at home.
How can you not when there are so many different kinds at the supermarket?

After months of hearing my dad complain about my jars taking up all the room in the fridge, I set out on a mission to find a cookie recipe to try to use up some of the PB.

On the day I decide to bake however, my flour had already expired and there was none left in my pantry.  Still keen to bake, I remembered we had oatmeal at home (for my mom's breakfast every morning).  I took my trusty blender and pulsed the rolled oats into a fine oat flour, and substituted it for all purpose flour.

Therefore, these cookies are GLUTEN FREE totally by accident, so good news if you are gluten-intolerant!

Also, I recently stumbled across a few vegan youtubers and have been watching their videos, so I wanted to see if I could make some tasty vegan cookies too.

Since it is quite hard to screw up cookies with the usual butter, eggs...etc., I was up for the challenge.

A recipe that doesn't harm animals at the same time?  Win win! :)

INGREDIENTS (yields around 24-26 cookies):

Prep time: 25mins

Baking time: 15-20mins

Dry

250g      rolled oats (or oat flour if you have it already)

3/4tsp    baking powder

1/2tsp    baking soda

3/4tsp    cinnamon

1/2tsp    salt

50g        shredded coconut (optional)

Wet

1/2cup   coconut oil

3/4cup   peanut butter (of your choice)

100g      coconut sugar

75g        brown sugar

1/2cup   cashew milk (or any other non-dairy milk)

All the main ingredients you will need!

STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius (around 375 degrees Fahrenheit)

2. Use any blender or food processor to blend the rolled oats into a fine powder

3. Mix all the ingredients from the "Dry" list together

4. In a bigger bowl, mix together the ingredients from the "Wet" list

5. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients

6. Mix it together with a spatula

7. It should look something like this!

8. Since these cookies are quite delicate, I have learned that it is best to shape them into 1-inch balls

9. Sprinkle additional salt and coconut sugar on top before baking

10. Bake in the oven for around 15 mins, take out and let it cool down

11. Transfer to a storage box/plate if you're eating it right away!

So so easy to make and yummy too!!!

These cookies are quite forgiving, so even if you over bake them slightly, it won't be too dry.

BUT I'm not saying go ahead and bake them for an hour and still expect them to be soft and moist hahaha...you know what I mean.

You can definitely use this recipe as a cookie base and then add in chocolate chips/dried fruit or nuts...get creative!!!

Let me know if you try it out, tag me on instagram @maxinechann!

Sepa Bacaro Veneziano

Luckily got a reservation here one saturday night so I decided to come here with my dad.  Although we had to eat at 6 and return the table by 7:30, I really wanted to try this place out, so we decided to go with it.  Their menu is quite small, but my dad told me that this is usually a good sign since they focus on dishes they do well, and he was right!

The restaurant is super cute and cosy.  The ceiling has a bunch of Venetian masks hanging down, and the whole feel is just very home-style italian.  Please excuse my photos, the restaurant was quite dark and so the quality came out so-so...(but trust me, its worth trying for sure)
Our server told us that their dishes lean towards the small side, and that usually people order around 4-6 dishes depending on how hungry you are.  We decided to go with 5 savory dishes, and see if we have any room for dessert afterwards :)

Sepa al nero

We started off with Sepa al nero ($158) cuttlefish in squid ink sauce, potato foam.  The server suggested we order their foccacia to mop up the sauce, but we also ordered their bomba, so we didn't want to be too stuff with carbs since there were too many dishes we wanted to try!  The portion of cuttlefish is quite small, but it makes for a nice starter.  The potato foam was really good! tastes like a super light and airy version of mashed potatoes.

Mortadella ricotta "bomba"

The next to arrive was the Mortadella, ricotta cheese, black truffle bomba ($138) - the bread was quite yummy! it was dense but paired well with the creamy ricotta and the cold cut.  I accidentally ate all the toppings with the first bite, but that left me with bread to dip the squid ink from the previous dish which was perfect!

Veal cheek ravioli

Our Veal cheek ravioli ($148) came next: veal cheek stuffed inside, with a buter and thyme sauce with parmesan.  This was really nice!! the pasta might be slightly thick, but it worked well since the veal is super hearty and flavorful, and needed more pasta to balance it out.

Sweet corn chicken

Next came the chicken dish that was on the specials board; Chicken thigh with corn emulsion, chicken liver pate and caramelized onions with mushroom ($168).  I enjoyed this dish so so much.  The chicken thigh was juicy, the skin provided a nice smokey flavor while the corn puree gave the dish a refreshing sweetness that prevented it from being too heavy.  The chicken liver pate just made the dish feel super luxurious.  The pearl onions are cooked in the chicken jus, and they were so yum.  I loved every element of this dish and writing about it now just makes me want to have it again.  They should keep this on the regular menu.

Crispy veal cheek

Lastly came the Crispy veal cheek with potatoes and their secret sauce ($248).  This dish was more expensive but it is probably because it was also the biggest dish of the night.  The veal cheek was sooo tender the meat just fell apart as I was cutting it.  The potatoes are seriously a work of art.  There are soo many layers they are like flakes!  The outside is crispy and caramelized but the inside is cooked.  I am usually not a big fan of potatoes because they make me quite full but I gladly ate these ones...I cannot stress how good they were.  You just have to try them.

So I actually really wanted to try the ricotta cake even at the start of our dinner, but by the 5th course my dad and I were so stuffed we felt like it wasn't fair to try the cake when we were so full since we wouldn't fully enjoy it.  Knowing that we will be back soon enough to try the rest of their dishes, we decided to leave dessert for next time so that we don't have to stuff ourselves to the brim.

Haven't had such fantastic food in a while, and I was really surprised by the execution of the food here tonight!  I really hate it when I go to places that are overhyped or that look tasty but isn't actually (which happens quite a lot actually).
They don't serve super fancy food here, but its definitely hearty and comforting.  The background music is a little loud, but still a nice place to sit and chat either with friends or family :)  I can't wait to come back.

Ginza Iwa 銀座いわ

Ever since I was a little kid, I loved eating.  I was definitely a lot more picky when I was young, but come on, who isn't?

Only recently did I start to notice it has developed into some sort of addiction...(okay by recently, I mean the past 2 years).  I go to sleep looking forward to waking up for meals and I get excited planning to try out new restaurants with my friends and family.  Scrolling through my Instagram feed makes me drool (yes, I follow a lot of foodies), and pretty much all the photos I take are of food.  I am not even kidding.  My entire Instagram feed, my digital camera, my iPhoto albums are filled...seriously, I'm addicted.

Anyways, I have decided to start sharing photos of food I'm eating so that more people can go and enjoy good food too!

This first post will be about Ginza Iwa 銀座いわ! It is an outlet of the 1 Michelin Star restaurant back in Tokyo, run by head chef Daisuke Suzuki (an apprentice of Iwa-san for over 8 years).  Located on the 30/F of Asia Pacific Centre on Wyndam Street, its right above its sister restaurant Ginza Iwa Sumibi, which mainly serves teppanyaki.  However, in order to get to the restaurant you have to take the elevator to the 29/F, where the staff will then take you upstairs.

The interior of the restaurant is bright and minimalistic, nothing overly fancy, but I liked the use of wood since it was pretty relaxing.

Both times I came here were during lunch; The first time was with my two highschool friends.  Because one friend only eats salmon and tamago, we phoned in advance to tell them.  They proceeded to tell us that they could accomodate her needs which was very nice of them.  My other friend and I decided to get the Haru Set Lunch (春), which was $450 and included salad, 8 pieces of sushi, 1 roll, miso soup, steamed egg and dessert.

I was super excited because I saw a lot of instagram pictures, and the food looked incredible.

The first thing that came was the salad.  Just simple greens with wakame, sesame seeds doused in a dressing that tasted like soy sauce but a little more tangy.

This was what the don that they prepared for my friend!  I think she paid around $230 for this, which I find is a really good deal.  Also, I liked how they included a variety of items and not just pieces of salmon.  It had ikura, finely minced salmon toro with negi (in the middle), salmon sashimi, seared salmon as well as finally chunks of tamago.

I tried a little bit of hers and it was really good.  The different textures really transformed an otherwise ordinary "salmon tamago don" into something completely moreish.  My friend loved it as well and polished everything in the bowl.

I love how clean the table is, everything is so neat!  We were just waiting for our food.  Although they give you a plate of soy sauce, all the sushi already comes with nikiri (blend of soy sauce) brushed on top, so unless you really enjoy salty food, I would recommend eating the sushi on its own (you can taste the fish better that way too!)

Our first piece was hamachi/yellowtail.  This was mild and refreshing and you could tell the fish is super fresh.  The flesh was nice and chewy and firm.  The fish to shari (rice) ratio was also perfect.  The rice had more vinegar than the other types of sushi I've had, but I didn't mind and actually enjoyed it.

It was followed by kinmedai.  I don't have this type of fish often but I really liked this.  This fish is also more on the lean side, but had a really nice crisp and firm texture.

When we were eating our first piece of sushi, Chef Suzuki already started marinating this piece of akami in soy sauce.  Before serving, he took it out of the sauce and patted it down with a paper towel.  I love how every piece of fish was so fresh, it was truly amazing.  Comparatively, the red tuna was softer and took less effort to chew.

I did find this a little bit salty though, but my palate is quite sensitive to salty/sweet foods, even when other people find things okay, I tend to find them overly salty/sweet (I'm quite used to bland food!!).  To be honest, even the other pieces were also a little too salty for my liking, but thats okay.

Next up was ika.  It was served with a touch of salt on top.  I remember my dad first got me to try squid by telling me it was like chewing gum.  The texture of this blew my mind.  It was clean but at the same time sooo chewy.  Probably one of my favorite pieces.

This was my first time trying kohada...it was good!  Taste-wise it reminded me a bit of saba, but at the same time it doesn't really taste like saba haha.  Its hard to describe.

Omg, looking at this makes me crave it again.  This was Aji/Horse Mackerel.  The dark blob on top was negi, and boy, this was my favorite of the bunch.  The flesh was firm and was just super flavorful.  When my friend and I ate this, we just stared at each other in silence...it was that good.

The waitress then brought out our steamed egg/chawanmushi.  It was silky smooth, and had pieces of crab, mushroom, chicken in it.

Our next piece was ikura, each roe was plump and separated from one another.  They simply burst in your mouth like a popping wonderland upon the slightest pressure from your tongue!!

I have never really appreciated anago much, and usually prefer unagi.  However, the anago here really makes me think twice...it was buttery, fatty and fell apart so effortlessly...again another amazing piece.

Because two people beside us were also having sushi, Chef Suzuki made us 4 different rolls.  From left to right it was akami, kanpyo, cucumber and negitoro.  My favorites were the kanpyo and the negitoro.

We were then served dessert: my friends got the black sesame ice cream, but because I can't eat cold stuff, I asked if they could give me something else.  My friends said the ice cream was good, but nothing mind blowing.

I was served some type of mochi made with some type of leaf and dusted with soybean powder.  This was sticky and not too sweet, not bad.

We were all full at this point, but not to the point where we had to unzip our pants and go into a food coma afterwards.  It was a nicely portioned.

Because the people next to us got toro and uni (which looked really good), I came here less than 2 weeks later with my dad to try out the Aki Set Lunch (秋).  This was more expensive, at $800.  It included salad, 12 pieces of sushi, 1 roll, miso soup and dessert.  For some reason, my dad and I only got 11 pieces??  Not sure....hm...(some pieces are the same as the ones from my last visit!)

The first piece was kinmedai

Then hamachi

Akami

This piece of ika was different from the one I had last time, but even better.  It was super chewy and lets just say I really really enjoyed it.

Next we had chu-toro.  This was super fatty, and the fish oil just coated my tastebuds...they sure were happy campers!

Aji again.  Still so good.

This next piece was baby white shrimp.  The flesh was sweet and slightly sticky like amaebi.  Sooo fresh!

My dad and I first thought that this piece of hotate was cooked...and so I wasn't extremely excited.  But it wasn't, probably just marinated.  This was super sweet and tasty too.

Can't say no to ikura again.

Next up was uni :)  My dad and I were just transported to uni heaven for a little bit there.

Anago again, love love love it.

Kanpyo roll

So happy I got to try the tamago here.  This wasn't like the typical egg at other restaurants; it reminded me more of a sweet egg custard, kind of like a pre-dessert.  I really enjoyed it though.  I want more of it right now.

Anyways, I really enjoyed both my trips to Ginza Iwa (although I am still confused about where my 12th piece of sushi went).  Both times I requested to be served by Chef Suzuki, but he doesn't really speak english or cantonese so if you wanted to talk to your chef about the food or what not,  you should probably go with the local chefs.  If I were to pick one lunch set though, I would choose Haru.  The pieces of sushi served weren't that much different, but the price is pretty much double.

I would definitely come back again in the future though.

Rating: ★★★★☆

30/F, Asia Pacific Centre,8 Wyndam street, Central 

中環雲咸街8號亞洲太平洋中心30樓

http://www.openrice.com/english/restaurant/sr2.htm?shopid=149641&reviewlang=en%2Chk