Matcha Checkerboard Cookies 抹茶チェッカーボードクッキー

What is Matcha?

Matcha (pronounced “ma(t)-CHA” 抹茶) is a finely ground powder made from dried green tea leaves and is not only used for drinking, but also often used for flavouring in baking and cooking. Matcha is packed with antioxidants and has a plethora of health benefits, such as being wonderful at detoxifying your body, enhancing the immune system, aids in losing weight, and improving bodily functions and protection.

The cultural significance of matcha has been very valued in Japan and has the special leading role in the Japanese tea ceremony. Matcha is correlated to many Japanese and buddhist beliefs, ideologies, and ways of living. It symbolizes simpliciy, being one with nature, acknowledging impermanence, and spiritual journeys. Traditional matcha-making tools and techniques that are used in Japanese tea ceremonies can also be used to make an everyday cup of matcha in order to attain the highest quality taste and texture. A matcha tea set usually includes four items; a bowl (chawan), a bamboo whisk (chasen), a tea scoop (chashaku), and a tray (natsume).

Matcha can be used in a wide variety of foods and drinks. It's really used everywhere as a flavoring in things such as lattes, baked goods, mochi, smoothies, cooking, sauces, breads, and many more!

  • Total Time:: 1 hour and 10 minutes
  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Chill Time: 30 minutes
  • Cook Time: 20 minutes
  • Yields: approximately 30 cookies

Ingredients

  • 100g unsalted butter
  • 90g caster sugar
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 195 g all purpose flour
  • 5g matcha powder

Making the Cookie Dough

  1. 1. Measure and sift 100g of all purpose flour and set it aside. Then, measure and sift together 95g of all purpose flour as well as 5g of matcha powder in a seprate bowl.
  2. 2. In a bowl, preferably with an electric mixer with a whisk attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until it becomes a white and creamish color.
  3. 3. Seperate the egg yolk from the egg white and set it aside. (The egg white will be used later as glue when forming the checkerboard pattern.) Add the egg yolk to the butter and sugar and blend on low for about a minute until fully incoorperated.
  4. 4. Divide the creamed butter mixture in half, but leave one half in the electric mixer. Replace the whisk attachment with a paddle attachment and gradually add 100g of all purpose flour while mixing on low speed.
  5. 5. After the flour is combined, the dough should become crumbly. Take it out and transfer it into saran wrap and shape the dough into a 2cmx4cmx20cm rectangular/board shape

Creating the Checkerboard Design

  1. 6. Transfer the other half of the dough into the electric mixer and gradually add in the matcha, flour mixture on low speed and repeat step #5.
  2. 7. Then, take out both dough from the saran wrap and place onto a clean work surface. Slice the dough in half using a sharp knife. Brush the cut surfaces of the dough using the egg white that had previously been set aside. Rearrange all four cut pieces so the plain dough and matcha dough alternate to create the checkerboard shape.
  3. 8. Place the newly formed dough block into a new piece of saran wrap and gently press together to ensure the dough is stuck together. Place in the fridge to cool for at least one hour.

Baking

  1. 9. Line a baking tray with a baking sheet. Take the cookie dough out from the fridge and place onto a cutting board.
  2. 10. Remove the saran wrap. Using a sharp knife, slice the dough into about 5mm thick pieces and place them onto the baking tray.
  3. 11. Bake the cookies for about 20 minutes. Note that they should not start to brown, so take them out of the oven before they start to do so.
  4. 12. Remove the baking tray from the oven and let the cookies cool on a cooling rack.
  5. Yay! Your cookies are done and ready to be eaten! ٩(^ᗜ^ )و