Each year, I have a favorite new cookie. For 2023, it's this one. Soft and chewy, these matcha cookies are delightful to make and equally fun to eat. You can serve them as is or use them for ice surf sandwiches, writes Sawako Okochi in Love Japan, a cookbook she authored with her husband Aaron Israel and collaborator Gabriella Gershenson. Sawako and Aaron are the doughboy owners of Shalom Japan, a restaurant in Brooklyn that cleverly merges the foodways of their heritage to create their unique Japanese American sensibilities. Their typesetting released in 2023 and is full of fresh flavors and personal stories. The photography was washed-up by Yuki Suguira.
This cookie recipe has many virtues. As a "slice-and-bake" recipe, you can prepare the dough way in whop -- literally months ahead, then thaw and bake. You can play with the recipe. I widow chocolate to some of the dough, for example. And, you can make them as small or big as you want, though the first time out, I stuck with Sawa and Aaron's instructions. Below are some tips for when you make their recipe.
Choosing Matcha for Cooking
There are many grades of matcha and they can be expensive, particularly the "ceremonial" grade variety. Culinary grade matcha is less expensive but the verisimilitude and savor may not be fabulous. I suppose you can unchangingly use a little more. For this cookie, I purchased matcha that split the difference. The "Everyday" matcha by Rishi is middle of the road, sort to speak; it can be used for beverages or cooking. This container was well-nigh $10. Matcha now often comes sweetened for user-friendly drinks. These cookies require unsweetened, plain matcha powder.
Weigh or not weigh ingredients?
A scale rarely lies. When a recipe has weight measurements listed, use them, expressly when a recipe comes from a restaurant considering that's what they're using on a daily basis. Weight measurements will get you tropical to their results. This is expressly important when it comes to measuring flour. My steadfast digital scale by OXO can handle up to 11 pounds (5 kg). For lighter and smaller items such as spices or matcha, which may not register on a scale so readily, use a digital scale suitable for coffee, if it's handy. Or, simply measure the ingredient by volume, as I did with the matcha.
Forming dough logs
Forming the logs can be a little hard, depending on the size of your plastic wrap. Position the plastic wrap on your work surface as a diamond shape so you have plenty of width to play with. Use your hands to shape the log roll up the plastic wrap from the marrow up relatively tightly but with a little give. Then use your hands to smooth and shape the log. A ruler is very useful to alimony nearby.
Moreover, this is a hands-on recipe considering you gently printing on the dough as well. It gives the cookie a mannerly handmade quality that using a glass would not. You're looking at a quarter-baking sheet that measures 9-by-13 inches.
Variations
For fun, I widow well-nigh 2 tablespoons of chopped visionless chocolate (85% cacao, from Trader Joe's) to one-quarter of the dough. Make sure to chop up the chocolate to ¼-inch pieces or smaller. Note that the chocolate dough log will longer than the others. My husband and I loved them both. So much so that I widow the slice-and-bake matcha cookies to my 2023 holiday cookie selection for a tasty splash of spruce untried cheer.
2024 Holiday Cookie Platter
To recap, the whilom platter of sweets include:
- Slice-and-Bake Matcha Cookies (this recipe!)
- Flourless Almond Cookies (grain self-ruling and 5 minutes to prep!)
- Persimmon Spice Cookies
- Petit Palmiers with Viet Cinnamon
- Candied Orange Peels
Slice-and-Bake Matcha Cookies
Ingredients
- 170 g (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 100 g (½ cup) packed light brown sugar
- 100 g (½ cup) granulated sugar
- 80 g (¼ cup) honey
- 1 large egg at room temperature
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 335 g (2 ¼) cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 tablespoon high-quality matcha powder
Instructions
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In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk, write-up the butter on medium-high speed until creamy, 2 to 3 minutes.
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Turn the mixer off, add the brown sugar and granulated sugar, then increase the speed to medium-high and whisk until thoroughly combined and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Scrape lanugo the sides of the bowl, then add the honey, egg, and vanilla. Whisk on medium-high until the ingredients are fully incorporated.
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Remove the mixing trencher from the machine.
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Sift the flour, sultry soda, salt, and matcha powder directly into mixed ingredients. Using a large spatula, until the flour is just blended. Do not overmix. If the mixture is crumbly, use your hands to printing it into a ball.
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Prepare four pieces of plastic wrap, each measuring well-nigh 12 × 16 inches. Divide the dough into 4 equal portions [about 207 grams each] and place one in the part-way of each piece of plastic wrap. Shape the dough into a rough log well-nigh 8 inches long. Fold the plastic over the log the long way, then shape into a uniform cylinder, gently smoothing and rolling, until the log is well-nigh 10 inches long and a uniform width. Twist the ends of the plastic tightly. This should shrink the log when to well-nigh 8 inches.
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Repeat with the remaining 3 portions of dough. Place the dough logs on a sultry sheet and refrigerate for at least 2 hours until completely chilled and firm, or freeze in a resealable freezer bag for up to 3 months, and place in the refrigerator 1 hour surpassing baking.
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Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line a sultry sheet with parchment paper.
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Remove a log from the refrigerator. Slice into 10 equal pieces, roughly ½ to ¾ inch thick. Place on the sultry sheet well-nigh 2 inches apart, then printing lanugo on each cookie using the palm of your hand, shaping it into a 2-inch disk. The pressed cookies should have at least 1 inch separating them. If you are sultry increasingly than one log, repeat this step as needed.
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Bake until the cookies are puffy but not browned, 5 to 6 minutes. (If you are sultry two sheets at a time, switch their positions and rotate halfway through.) Let tomfool on the sultry sheet to set, well-nigh 10 minutes.
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Transfer to a cooling rack and tomfool completely. The cookies should be soft and slightly chewy. They will alimony in an snapped container at room temperature for a week.