Matcha (Green Tea) Shortbread Cookies

Akikobay's Note:

I love the flavor of green tea powder in baked European-style sweets. Lately, I've been searching for a few recipes and found this one on the internet. Typically, I use a really good quality green tea (from Toraya), but even I find the green tea flavor to be too intense, so I use the lesser amount of green tea and increase the amount of powdered sugar. For less expensive grades of tea, I just use the greater amount of tea. You can purchase green tea powder at the Japanese grocers, but it will come in a variety of grades. The lower grades will use dried spinach to boost the color, but the tea flavor will not be as intense. The cookies are bright green (like the color of spring grass); they smell lovely, but have a bitter edge to them because of the green tea. It's typically an "adult" flavor, but my kids really like them with a bit of vanilla ice cream.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 3 mins
• Prep Time: 45 mins
• Cook Time: 18 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 60 small c ...

• 2 cups bleached all purpose flour
• 1 -2 tablespoon green tea powder (matcha -- See Note 1)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter (unsalted at room temperature -- See Note 2)
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar (more if your tea is very intense)

Directions:

1. Sift the flour, powdered tea and salt into a bowl.
2. In a mixer bowl, beat butter and powdered sugar until fluffy.
3. Add flour mixture to mixer bowl and mix slowly until dough just comes together.
4. Pull dough together carefully in a log, approximately 2 inches in diameter.
5. Wrap dough log and place in freezer for 30 minutes or until dough has firmed to the touch.
6. Slice dough into 1/4 inch rounds and place on a parchment or Silpat lined cookie sheet, approximately 1 inch apart.
7. Bake in a preheated 325 degree F oven for 16 to 18 minutes (or until the cookies are just starting to turn golden around the edges), turning the pan halfway through the baking time.
8. Remove cookies immediately from the cookie sheet and cool on a wire rack.
9. Store in an airtight container or wrap well and freeze.
10. The well-chilled cookie dough can also be rolled out and cut into desired shapes before baking.
11. NOTE 1-- powdered green tea is not merely green tea that has been pulverized in a food processor or food mill, it's a special kind of tea that has been prepared to dissolve nicely.
12. NOTE 2-- don't use the microwave to soften the butter, room temperature butter is the correct consistency for this recipe.

Reviews

[Dina Cohen]

This is an amazing recipe, the taste of matcha is delicate and the texture just perfect. I used marjarine to make vegan cookies. Thank you for this great recipe!

[Happy_Housewife]

Excellent recipe! The texture was soft and moist and buttery. We added a bit more than 2 tbsp of green tea powder as we prefer stronger green tea flavour.