Matcha + White Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

Delicate buttery green tea cookies brought together with sweet white chocolate filling.

Ingredients:

For the cookies:

• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon full fat milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons matcha (green tea) powder
• 2 sticks (225 grams) butter, softened
• if using unsalted butter add 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup (140 grams) sugar
• optional: a tiny bit of green food colour
• 2 cups (280 grams) all purpose flour

For the filling:

• 100 grams white chocolate broken into pieces
• 3 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1 cup (150 grams) icing sugar

– If using metric cups, reduce volume measures by 1 tablespoon for every cup of dry or liquid ingredients – 

Equipment:

• Standing or hand-held electric mixer
• Baking sheets
• Cookie press or piping bag with large star pastry tip

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 190C (375F). Mix the egg yolk, milk, vanilla extract and matcha in a small bowl. It won’t look great but that’s ok. Cream the butter on it’s own for a couple of minutes until it’s very soft and fluffy.

Add the sugar and cream together for another few minutes until the mixture is very pale and fluffy. It should be almost white. Add the matcha mixture and beat on medium until well combined. Add a tiny drop of leaf green food colour if you would like a slightly stronger green colour. Be very careful though – you don’t want them to look garish.

Add the flour and beat on low until just combined. Give the dough a fold by hand with a spoon to make sure the dough is evenly mixed.

Using a cookie press or piping bag, pipe cookies onto cookie sheets. I have found that the cookies spread less if they are piped onto baking paper, because it must absorb some of the melting butter. However it’s easier to pipe directly onto the cookie sheet because the paper can lift up when it’s stuck to a cookie. You can get around this by using a paperclip or laundry peg to clip the paper to the cookie sheet while you are piping.

Bake for 10 minutes, rotating the tray halfway through. The cookies should just be beginning to colour at the edges. Cool on the sheets for a few minutes so they can firm slightly, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

While the cookies are cooling, make the filling. Melt the white chocolate and cream together using the microwave. It should take less than a minute to melt. Let the mixture cool before mixing in the icing sugar. It should be a fairly firm icing and it will firm up further the more it cools. It’s important that it’s not too soft or it will squish out the sides when you bite into the cookies. Excess moisture will also soften to cookies too much.

Pair up the cookies with their most even matches ready for filling. Spread or pipe the filling onto half of the cookies. There is just enough filling for the cookies so don’t panic if it looks like it’s not going to make it. Sandwich the cookies together, squeezing gently to get the filling evenly to the edges.

Cook’s Notes:

• make sure the butter is soft, and don’t skip the extra creaming of the butter first, the dough needs to be soft so that the cookies can be piped easily.

 – The filled cookies will keep well at room temperature in an airtight container for 3 to 4 days – 

Adapted from The America’s Test Kitchen Family Baking Book.

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