Matcha Green Tea Cookies

ATTLING THE DESIRE to gorge on sweets has become a bit problematic for me lately. Every meal has felt incomplete unless it ended with dessert. For instance, I made some green tea cookies, and as soon as they had cooled, I ate 6 of them, one after the other. The takeaway from this is that I am not to be left unattended with cookies.

Since I am embracing this physical dependence on sugar, or at least attempting to make a gradual departure from it, I made semi-healthy green tea cookies. Green tea has antioxidants, you can look it up. ;-) The first step to all of this is making little matcha chip morsels, which is so easy a task you will be dreaming of all sorts of infusions.

MATCHA CHIP INGREDIENTS

• 2 1/2 cups white chocolate chips (I like Ghiradelli)
• 2 tbsn. matcha powder

DIRECTIONS

1. Melt your white chocolate using the double boiler method (i.e. place a bowl over a pot of hot water, making sure to form an airtight seal). Once the white chocolate shows the first signs of melting, reduce the heat and stir until smooth.
2. Add 2 tablespoons green tea powder. You can purchase food grade matcha powder online. Otherwise it becomes very expensive.
3. Transfer everything into a bag and pipe chips onto a piece of aluminum foil. Put them in the freezer for about 35 minutes or until hardened.

Matcha Chips

Piles of cookies, waiting to be devoured.

COOKIE INGREDIENTS

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter (softened)
• 1/4 cup green tea (brewed 1 tablespoon green tea to 1/4 cup water)
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 1/2 cups matcha chips

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
2. Combine sifted dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt). Beat butter and sugar until well combined, then egg, vanilla, and green tea until light and creamy.
3. Using a wooden spoon, stir matcha chips into dough.
4. Place cookie dough on sheet (with cookie dough balls having 1" diameter) about 1" apart. For pillowy cookies, leave as is. For slightly flatter cookies, press down with your palm.
5. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until cookies are golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

What other teas would you like to try this with?

Enjoy!
Margaret

Needle and Thread Mother's Day Cupcakes

Just dropping in to share some Mother's Day cupcakes I whipped up:

Sew cute, right?

I chopped up peel-able Twizzlers to imitate stitches of thread and used a toothpick to look like a needle. Don't remember where I saw the idea, but it's an easy one to execute and a definite mom-pleaser. :) Enjoy your Mother's Day!

MARGARET

Alice in Balletland

Today I'm straying from my usual food-related post to bring you an awesome photoshoot I stumbled upon. For the most part I am pretty neutral about ballet, even though I can surely appreciate it as an art form and the fact that you need to have amazing self discipine to do it. I definitely prefer musicals over dance-focused productions, but the graphical and sartorial styling for this Alice in Wonderland show at The Washington Ballet really caught my eye. So tempted to see it for the costumes alone!

And if you're looking for some inspiration on how to throw an Alice in Wonderland-themed party, get some ideas from the one I worked on here. Also be sure to check back again soon for a cookie post that you'll need in your recipe repertoire!