By KAT LIEU, Voracious

At first glance, these Lychee-Frosted Sugar Cookies from my cookbook “108 Asian Cookies: Not-Too-Sweet Treats from a Third-Culture Kitchen” appear humble when unfrosted, like any other ordinary sugar cookie, like those you would find at the supermarket.

But don’t be fooled.

This cover image released by Voracious shows “108 Asian Cookies: Not-Too-Sweet Treats from a Third-Culture Kitchen” by Kat Lieu. (Voracious via AP)

These charming sugar cookies shine even on their own with their rich buttery base, tender crumb, bright refreshing citrus notes and a slight chew. Then, when topped with a luxurious buttercream infused with lychee extract, a bit of berry compote or jam, and finally crowned with chopped canned lychees, they undergo a bibbidi-bobbidi-boo moment. The more you bite into this layered and regal cookie, the more you’ll feel like royalty.

When pressing the dough portions, slightly wet the bottom of a glass or measuring cup, then dip into a shallow bowl of sugar to coat the bottom. For a variation you can skip the jam and add the lychees directly to the frosting. Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature, each separated by parchment paper, for up to 3 days.

This image released by Voracious shows a recipe for lychee-frosted cookies. (Voracious via AP)

Lychee-Frosted Sugar Cookies

Makes 9 large cookies

Ingredients

FOR THE COOKIES:

2 1/2 cups (300 g) all-purpose flour
2/3 cup (85 g) cake flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 cup ‘ 1 stick (113 g) unsalted butter, softened
6 tablespoons (90 g) neutral oil
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (120 g) granulated sugar, plus more for pressing the cookies
About 1/2 cup (60 g) confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon red miso
1 large egg
1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon lychee extract

FOR THE FROSTING:

6 tablespoons (85 g) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (140 g) confectioners’ sugar, divided
4 teaspoons (20 g) heavy cream
1 teaspoon lychee extract
Pink or red food coloring gel (optional, but if you use it, we want light pink, not a hot magenta pink)

FOR DECORATING THE COOKIES (OPTIONAL):

About 1/3 cup (110 g) store-bought strawberry jam
5 to 6 fresh or canned lychees, chopped
Edible pearl sprinkles or gold foil

Directions

1. Make the cookies. Whisk both flours, the baking soda and cream of tartar together in a medium bowl. Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, whisk, or spatula), cream the butter, oil, both sugars and miso together until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add the egg, lemon zest, and lychee extract and mix until well incorporated. Again, scrape the bowl as needed. Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed just until a dough forms. Cover and chill the dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes, or up to overnight.

2. About 25 minutes before baking, adjust a rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

3. Use a large cookie scoop to create nine portions of dough, each about 3.2 ounces (1/2 cup, 90 g), placing them 3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Press each ball with the bottom of a sugar-lined glass or measuring cup until the cookie edges begin to crack.

4. Bake the cookies one sheet at a time (while the other sheet chills in the fridge), until the edges are crispy and golden brown, about 12 minutes. Let the cookies set on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

5. Make the frosting. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the butter on high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape the bowl as needed. Add about half of the confectioners’ sugar and mix on medium speed until incorporated. Add the remaining confectioners’ sugar and mix until incorporated as well. Add the cream, lychee extract and food coloring, if using, and mix until combined and spreadable. Note that you will have just enough frosting for the nine large cookies. If you love the frosting, I recommend making more for these cookies.

6. Frost and decorate the cookies. Spread the frosting evenly over the cooled cookies. If you like, add about a teaspoon of jam on top and garnish with chopped lychees and edible pearl sprinkles or edible gold foil.

Related Articles

Five weeknight recipes to fit your mood(s)

Cookbook author dishes on Jewish-Mexican cuisine that is ‘kosherísimo’

Easy holiday snacks to kick off any party

How to make bouillabaisse, a French fishermen’s feast

This Tuscan flatbread is a colorful, gluten-free alternative to classic crostini

Kat Lieu is a food writer, recipe developer, content creator, and the creator behind Subtle Asian Baking, the largest global online group that focuses on Asian baking and fundraising for Asian American and Native Hawaiian-Pacific Islander communities. She lives in Renton, Washington.

Excerpted from “108 Asian Cookies” by Kat Lieu. Copyright (copyright) 2025 by Kathleen Lieu. Photograph by Charity Burggraaf. Used with permission of Voracious, an imprint of Little, Brown and Company. New York, NY. All rights reserved.

Firefighters who responded to a St. Paul house fire found a man inside and carried him out, but he was pronounced dead at the hospital soon after, according to the fire department.

Fire crews were sent to a single-family home in Payne-Phalen about 12:45 a.m. Thursday. They found heavy fire conditions on the front porch and inside on the first floor of the residence in the 400 block of East Cook Avenue. The fire had also extended to the second floor.

Firefighters quickly brought the fire under control and, as they were searching, they found the man in the second-floor bathroom. He was in cardiac arrest and St. Paul-Fire EMS transported him to a hospital while providing resuscitation efforts, according to Deputy Fire Chief Jamie Smith. The man was pronounced dead soon after arriving to the hospital.

The St. Paul fire department is investigating the fire’s cause. A preliminary investigation found a space heater near the fire’s origin, which was the first-floor living room in the front of the house, Smith said.

“Officially, this cannot be ruled a fire fatality until all investigations are complete,” Smith said in a media statement.

The Red Cross is providing resources for three men and a woman who were displaced by the fire.

There have been five fire fatalities in St. Paul this year. The city averages less than three fire fatalities annually, according to Smith.

Related Articles

ACLU of Minnesota sues ICE, alleging it violated rights of observers

St. Paul: Mayor Melvin Carter, Russ Stark, Fire Chief Inks honored

St. Paul officers won’t be charged in fatal shooting of man who pointed gun

Student sent threatening message to Savage school staffer in ‘attempt to get out of school,’ district says

Diane Goldstein: When policing becomes political, public safety suffers

At long last, Kevin Garnett is coming home.

After a decade of abstaining from organizational relationships as the result of a tiff with then majority owner Glen Taylor, Garnett is set to join the Timberwolves and Lynx in an “all-encompassing role involving business, community and fan-engagement efforts and content development,” ESPN reported Thursday morning.

Garnett’s relationship with Taylor twice soured — once during his career, and once after following the death of Flip Saunders. He was not present at Target Center or in the team’s practice facility outside of rare media obligations, leaving Minnesota unable to celebrate the best player in franchise history with the retirement of his famed No. 21 jersey, much to the chagrin of local fans.

That will now change. The ownership transition from Taylor to Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez has paved the way for Garnett to return to Minnesota in numerous capacities, as the new owners have made strong efforts to strengthen bonds with the former NBA MVP.

ESPN reported a jersey retirement is expected either this Timberwolves season or next.

Related Articles

Timberwolves, again, show that a lack of ball movement leads to losses

Frederick: Chris Finch making young Wolves earn minutes

Short-handed Timberwolves again strike brilliant offensive balance in win over Kings

Timberwolves player net ratings through 25 games: Donte DiVincenzo is still king

Without Anthony Edwards, Timberwolves still top Warriors

By Nada Hassanein, Stateline.org

Zoe Clarke became a hospital registered nurse two and a half years ago, following in the footsteps of her mother and grandmother.

Clarke, an ICU nurse in Asheville, North Carolina, wants to get her master’s degree to become a nurse practitioner or a certified registered nurse anesthetist — occupations in high demand — and eventually work toward a doctoral degree.

But new borrowing limits on federal student loans may hinder her from reaching that goal.

A provision in the federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the tax and spending law enacted this summer, overhauls the federal student loan program for graduate students in an effort to simplify the loan process and discourage colleges from raising tuition.

To comply with the new law, the U.S. Department of Education recently issued a draft rule that would impose limits on how much graduate students can borrow — up to $20,500 per year and $100,000 in total for most students, but up to $50,000 a year and $200,000 in total for students in a new “professional” category. The category includes people studying to be medical doctors, dentists, veterinarians, pharmacists and lawyers.

Students pursuing advanced nursing degrees, however, are not included in the professional category.

Advanced practice nurses, hospital associations and other health groups say the rule will make it unaffordable for many nurses to advance their careers — disproportionately affecting communities, especially rural ones, that rely on them amid physician shortages.

Advanced nurses can provide primary care, deliver babies as nurse midwives and anesthetize surgery patients where there aren’t enough physicians to go around. They can also write some prescriptions. Advanced practice nurses also serve as college faculty in community colleges and nursing schools.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates the nation will employ an additional 134,000 nurse practitioners, nurse midwives and nurse anesthetists in the next decade, 35% more than there are now. In high demand, nurse practitioners are one of the fastest-growing occupations in the nation, the bureau says.

“We depend heavily on nurse practitioners,” said Sandy Reding, a president of the California Nurses Association and vice president of National Nurses United. “But if they don’t have access to getting further education, we’re not going to see additional nurse practitioners come into the field.”

Tuition, combined with living expenses, can far exceed $50,000 a year for many post-bachelor’s nursing programs.

“Potentially, this could devastate a whole generation of nurses getting their advanced practice degrees,” Clarke said.

Zoe Clarke, a registered nurse in Asheville, North Carolina, said new proposed student loan caps may disrupt many nurses’ plans, including her own, to become nurse practitioners. (National Nurses United/National Nurses United/TNS)

Some education advocates fear that losing a pipeline of advanced nursing practitioners to serve as college faculty also could lead to fewer registered and advanced nurses and other caregivers with two- and four-year degrees, because there would be fewer people to teach them.

Many advanced-degree nursing faculty are retiring. Nursing schools reported more than 2,100 full-time faculty vacancies in 2022, according to the American Nurses Association — leading to roughly 80,000 students being turned away.

States are already grappling with workforce shortfalls caused by exhausting work conditions that have led many nurses to burn out and leave the field, or leave bedside care to teach, nurses told Stateline.

In response to an uproar from nursing associations and others in health care, the Department of Education released a rebuttal last week defending its proposal, saying it is not a “value judgement about the importance of programs.”

It also said it may make changes in response to public comments. The new limits would take effect July 1, 2026.

Rural and underserved communities

Advanced practice registered nurses, known as APRNs, fill gaps in rural communities where there aren’t enough clinicians. For example, nurses needed for surgeries — nurse anesthetists, or CRNAs — make up 80% of anesthesia providers in rural counties. About a fifth of APRNs nationwide worked in rural areas in 2022, according to one survey of more than 18,800 APRNs.

“The nurse practitioners, APRNs, are a needed lifeline to help fill those gaps,” said Heidi Lucas, executive director of the Missouri Rural Health Association and former director of the state’s nurses association. “Putting barriers in the way to keep [nurses] from getting degrees — that’s just going to exacerbate the problems that we already have.”

She said Missouri will be short about 2,000 physicians next year.

Related Articles

Nebraska plans to be the first state to implement Trump’s new Medicaid work requirements

Teen drug use remains low, but survey finds small rise in heroin and cocaine use

When measles hit West Texas, school absences soared and it wasn’t just sick kids who were out

Like many holiday traditions, lighting candles and fireplaces is best done in moderation

Former NIH scientist sues Trump administration, claims illegal firing over research cuts

The new rule cutting options for federal student loans would only worsen staffing shortages amid tenuous rural hospital budgets, said state-level observers. Hospitals already are grappling with millions of dollars in looming Medicaid cuts over the next 10 years, said Rich Rasmussen, president of the Oklahoma Hospital Association.

Nurse practitioners often serve as primary care providers, writing prescriptions and managing patient care. About 80% of them see Medicaid and Medicare patients, according to the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, citing federal data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

The proposal to deny advanced practice nurse practitioners the more generous loan options ignores the nation’s needs, said nurse practitioner Valerie Fuller, president of the association.

“At a time when America needs more health care providers, we can’t afford to put more obstacles in place for nurse practitioner students who want to go on and further their education and take care of the patients that need care,” said Fuller, former president of the Maine Nurse Practitioner Association. “We know it’s going to harm our workforce.”

‘Clipping the wings’

Rasmussen, of the Oklahoma Hospital Association, said he is concerned about the effect the rule will have on the pipeline for certified nurse midwives and the state’s already dwindling rural maternal health care options.

“We are clipping the wings of rural [obstetrics] to be able to blossom in our state if we’re going to put these types of restrictions on the borrowing capability of nurses who want to pursue obstetrical services in nursing as well,” he said. He added that the rules will force nurses to seek private sector loans — which don’t qualify for federal loan forgiveness programs that encourage clinicians to come work in rural areas.

Teshieka Curtis-Pugh, executive director of the South Carolina Nurses Association, is also concerned about nurse midwives. South Carolina is expected to see a shortage of 3,200 physicians by 2030.

“We also live in a state that has very poor maternal outcomes, especially for women of color. So think about, how does that impact them?” she said. “That means we don’t get the certified nurse midwives who are masters prepared, some of them are doctorally prepared, who are able to fill that gap for birth in that area.”

Diversity and opportunity for students from marginalized groups could also take a hit, said Curtis-Pugh, a registered nurse with a master’s of science in nursing. And for those going back to school while juggling parenting, federal loan dollars can help beyond tuition, she noted.

“They help that mom be able to supplement child care for their child, so that they can have child care while they go to school,” she said. “There’s tuition, there’s books, there’s keeping the lights on. They’re feeding the family they’re getting to and from.”

The exclusion from the higher, “professional” category of student loan options is especially galling after nurses’ work during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Reding, of National Nurses United.

“We were all heroes in 2020. Now, what are we?” Reding asked. “It’s a slap in the face to the nurses that go to work every day doing our very best to care for our patients, even under very adverse conditions and even facing deadly viruses.”

Clarke, the registered nurse considering a post-bachelor’s degree, said nurses’ pandemic-era devotion influenced her own career path.

“When I saw the nurses and the health care workers really working hard for their communities and sacrificing a lot, I was really inspired by that,” Clarke said. “And that’s why I went to school.”

Stateline reporter Nada Hassanein can be reached at nhassanein@stateline.org.

©2025 States Newsroom. Visit at stateline.org. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.