Daily Archives: January 9, 2026

Travel/Food

Peanut Butter Blossom recipe review

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By: Norah Hoglund

Peanut butter blossom cookies are one of my favorite types of cookies. I really like the taste and I also think they are super cute! I am going to be reviewing a recipe from preppy kitchen.com

Here is the link to the recipe: link

Review

Taste

The combination of peanut butter and chocolate is perfect in these cookies. Peanut butter adds saltiness and the chocolate adds the perfect flavor to complement it. It is one of my favorite flavor combinations. I find it best to eat these cookies fresh out of the oven so that the chocolate is still melted. I also like how these cookies are rolled in sugar because it adds a nice texture on the outside. I would rate the taste a 10/10.

Baking Process

These cookies were quick to make and they didn’t have to bake for very long. You can also fit quite a few of them on a pan since they are small and they don’t expand too much. The only tricky part is that you have to have all the Hershey Kisses you need unwrapped so that you can put them on the cookies right after they come out of the oven. I would rate the process an 8/10

Overall, I would rate this recipe a 9/10 and would definitely make these cookies again.

Recipe

Ingredients

  • ¾ cup creamy peanut butter (188g)
  • ½ cup unsalted butter softened (113g)
  • ½ cup granulated sugar plus more for rolling (100g)
  • ½ cup packed light brown sugar (110g)
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 large egg room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1½ cups all-purpose flour (180g)
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • 36 Hersey’s Chocolate Kisses unwrapped

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the peanut butter, unsalted butter, sugars and salt. Cream together by beating on medium speed until well combined. Add the egg and vanilla. Beat until well combined. Scrape down the bowl. Add the flour and baking soda and beat on low speed just until combined.
  3. Scoop the dough and roll into 1-inch balls. Coat in additional granulated sugar if desired. Place on the prepared baking sheet 2 inches apart.
  4. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until the cookies look puffy and cracked and the bottom just start to turn brown. Immediately press a chocolate kiss into the center of each cookie. (The cookies will crack and that’s okay!) Allow the cookies to cool completely on the pan, until the chocolate is set. Serve or store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
Books/Art

‘The Leavers’ review

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By: Siri David

*Warning: This review contains spoilers

The novel ‘The Leavers’ is written by Lisa Ko. This novel is about a boy named Deming Guo who grows up in New York City with his mom Polly. Polly works at a nail salon and one day never comes home. Throughout the novel we learn about Polly’s backstory and how she gets detained by immigration services, while also learning about how this affects Deming and how his life changes.

In the start of the novel we learn about Deming’s childhood as he grew up with Polly and the struggles they went through. Polly had a hard time making enough money to support her family, so she was frequently taking out loans and trying to work as many hours as she could at the nail salon. All while this was happening Deming is going through school and he hates it. He is a very unmotivated kid and had no desire to learn or go to school. During this time they are living in an apartment with Polly’s boyfriend Leon. Leon’s sister Vivian and her son Micheal are also living with them. This helped Polly a lot as it was easier to find someone to watch over Deming if she was working.

One day when Polly goes to work she doesn’t come home. She is taken by ICE and Deming is left alone with Leon and his family. None of them knew what happened to Polly and they were all left in confusion. After some time Vivian decided to put Deming up for adoption, and he was adopted by a white couple in upstate New York. Their names are Peter and Kay.

They struggle a lot to connect with Deming due to him being adopted as an older kid, but also because he comes from a different cultural background. They try to change Deming to help him fit in more by changing his name to Daniel. This causes Deming to lose his sense of identity as he gets older. He also just feels disconnected because he still doesn’t know what happened to his mom.

Later on in the story when Deming grows up he gets reconnected with Micheal and Micheal helps him get in contact with his mom. He calls Polly and she is shocked to hear from him, we then get her whole side of the story. She was detained and was held by ICE for months and then was sent back to China. Once in China she got married and got a job, and she didn’t tell anyone about Deming. They reconnect and she finally tells her husband and he is shocked.

Deming then flies out to China to meet Polly. They reconnect but at the end of the book decide that it’s best for Polly to stay in China and for Deming to go back to New York, and they go their separate ways.

This novel represents the struggles that immigrants and children of immigrants face everyday. The raw emotions and feelings that Ko explains in the novel is what many immigrants face. Ko has a good way of bringing all perspectives into this book and changing the way I perceived the adoption process and program in America as she showed how unaware and innocuous Peter and Kay were when it came to Deming’s ethnic background.

This is a well written novel that shows problems that are very relevant in our world right now. It will take you into what immigrants face and it is truly heartbreaking. I recommend this novel to all who feel strongly about what’s happening in our nation and want to understand better or make a difference.