{"id":2912,"date":"2014-12-12T11:07:45","date_gmt":"2014-12-12T16:07:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/?p=2912"},"modified":"2014-12-13T19:52:48","modified_gmt":"2014-12-14T00:52:48","slug":"matcha-green-tea-cookies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/matcha-green-tea-cookies\/","title":{"rendered":"My First Cookie Exchange Party and Matcha Green Tea Cookies"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Green<\/a>

This buttery matcha green tea cookie tastes like a green tea latte in shortbread form.<\/p><\/div>\n

When one of the moms in my son\u2019s pre-K class inivited me to her\u00a0cookie exchange party, I was at a loss.<\/p>\n

Number 1: I\u2019ve never been to a cookie exchange and had to ask how it worked (how embarrassing!).<\/p>\n

Number 2: My family doesn\u2019t bake cookies, at Christmas, or any time of the year.<\/p>\n

So I did my research.<\/p>\n

Turns out cookie exchanges can be serious business. There are rules: Bring 6 dozen cookies of one type to share (you’ll go home with the same number but with a flavor assortment). Cookies must be made from scratch and holiday-themed. Plus, everyone should actually bring cookies, not caramels, not truffles, not candy.<\/p>\n

Thankfully the mom\/hostess in question was so easy-going and promised she wasn\u2019t a cookie nazi. Caramels are fine, a dozen cookies are fine, simple cookies are\u00a0fine\u2026 anything goes, she said!<\/p>\n

Not going was out of the question because I like the group of moms at my son\u2019s school and it would be nice to chat with them outside drop-off and pick-up. So I started thinking about what cookies to bake.<\/p>\n

A week before the party, I settled on dark chocolate cookies with white chocolate chips. That seemed like a safe and easy choice. I’m a white chocolate fan and who doesn\u2019t like chocolate cookies?<\/p>\n

Two days before the party, I still hadn\u2019t done any baking. Another mom-friend had done her baking over the past weekend and I had one of her \u201ccookies:\u201d saltine toffee candy sprinkled with crushed peppermint candy canes. She doesn\u2019t have a sweet tooth but she said these were her only weakness; I can see why. They were ridiculous, ridiculously good that is!<\/p>\n

And most importantly, they were so her!<\/p>\n

My chocolate cookies paled in comparison.<\/p>\n

The more I thought about it, the more my cookies didn\u2019t seem like me. I don\u2019t know how important that is to a Christmas cookie exchange but I wanted a cookie that everyone would go, \u201cAh, Pat baked these!\u201d Christmas cookies are about sharing a little bit of yourself with friends and family right?<\/p>\n

I thought and thought about it and then it came to me as I was rummaging through my pantry. Matcha green tea<\/a> cookies! I had wanted to make Yoda-shaped matcha sugar cookies for my son\u2019s birthday earlier this year but decided against it. I didn’t think the parents would have appreciated me introducing their 4-year-olds to caffeine.<\/p>\n

Anyway, this cookie was different, it was perfect, it was so me!<\/p>\n

Then I second-guessed my choice. Would this group of moms even know what matcha was and would they try it, let alone even like it? Maybe chocolate was a better choice? I had visions of my dejected cookies being left behind after everyone had made their choices. It would be a sad, sad day if I had to bring home my own cookies from a cookie exchange.<\/p>\n

\"cookie<\/a>

A beautiful table of cookies!<\/p><\/div>\n

However, the evening of the cookie exchange came along and I had nothing to worry about. My matcha cookies were cleaned out AND I won the prize for most creative cookie! Now that was a cookie exchange experience to remember.<\/p>\n

~~~<\/p>\n

Slice-and-Bake Matcha Cookies with White Chocolate Chips<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"green<\/a><\/p>\n

These may not be everyone’s idea of a Christmas cookie but you could always make a red velvet version to match(a!) the\u00a0green and you\u2019ll have a festive theme going! For\u00a0my recipe, I used Smitten Kitchen’s\u00a0slice and bake cookie recipe<\/a> \u00a0as a base and added matcha powder and white chocolate chips to the mix. Matcha powder is available at specialty\u00a0tea shops and Asian markets. Buy a good-quality Japanese matcha powder<\/em>, and not green\u00a0tea leaves.<\/p>\n

Time: 30 minutes
\nMakes: About 4 dozen cookies<\/p>\n

2 tablespoons matcha powder
\n2 cups all-purpose flour
\n2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
\n1 cup organic cane sugar
\n2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
\nPinch of salt
\n1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
\n\u00be cup white chocolate chips<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Sift the matcha and flour into a medium bowl and set aside.<\/li>\n
  2. Put the butter and sugar into a large mixing bowl and use a hand mixer (or a stand mixer, you lucky thing!) to beat at medium speed until well blended. Beat in the egg yolks, followed by the salt and vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour\/matcha mix in batches, beating until just incorporated. At this point, it\u2019s better to underbeat than overbeat. Fold in the white chocolate chips with a rubber spatula. If the dough is still crumbly and\/or there\u2019s still errant bits of flour\/matcha at the bottom of your bowl, just work everything into a smooth dough with the spatula, or your hands!<\/li>\n
  3. Have two 15-inch pieces of plastic wrap ready. Divide the dough into half and shape\/roll into logs about 8 to 10 inches long and 1 to 1-1\/4-inch in diameter.\u00a0Wrap each log tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or overnight. To prevent it from flattening at the bottom, I\u2019ve seen suggestions from rolling it out every so often to laying it in a bed of rice. I didn\u2019t have a problem with flattening though.<\/li>\n
  4. Position your racks to divide your oven into thirds and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.<\/li>\n
  5. Roll the logs on a counter a couple of times to smooth it out. You may have to let it sit for a few minutes until it becomes more malleable to reshape it. Cut into discs 1\/3-inch-thick with a small sharp knife.<\/li>\n
  6. Arrange the cookies on the parchment-lined cookie sheets with about a 1\/2-inch between them.<\/li>\n
  7. Bake the cookies for 12 to 14 minutes, swapping their positions halfway, until they are set but not browned. Leave them to cool on the cookie sheets for about 10 minutes (or they’ll be too soft and break apart) before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    When one of the moms in my son\u2019s pre-K class inivited me to her\u00a0cookie exchange party, I was at a loss. Number 1: I\u2019ve never been to a cookie exchange and had to ask how it worked (how embarrassing!). Number 2: My family doesn\u2019t bake…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2919,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[438,24,44,14],"tags":[313,617,620,619,616,621],"class_list":["post-2912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-baking","category-fusion","category-japanese","category-sweets-desserts","tag-christmas-cookies","tag-green-tea","tag-green-tea-cookies","tag-holiday-cookie-exchange","tag-matcha","tag-white-chocolate-chips"],"yoast_head":"\nMy First Cookie Exchange Party and Matcha Green Tea Cookies - Pickles and Tea<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/matcha-green-tea-cookies\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"My First Cookie Exchange Party and Matcha Green Tea Cookies - Pickles and Tea\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When one of the moms in my son\u2019s pre-K class inivited me to her\u00a0cookie exchange party, I was at a loss. Number 1: I\u2019ve never been to a cookie exchange and had to ask how it worked (how embarrassing!). Number 2: My family doesn\u2019t bake...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/matcha-green-tea-cookies\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pickles and Tea\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-12-12T16:07:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-12-14T00:52:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2014\/12\/green-tea-cookie-41.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"533\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@SmithsonianAPA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"My First Cookie Exchange Party and Matcha Green Tea Cookies - Pickles and Tea","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/matcha-green-tea-cookies\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"My First Cookie Exchange Party and Matcha Green Tea Cookies - Pickles and Tea","og_description":"When one of the moms in my son\u2019s pre-K class inivited me to her\u00a0cookie exchange party, I was at a loss. Number 1: I\u2019ve never been to a cookie exchange and had to ask how it worked (how embarrassing!). Number 2: My family doesn\u2019t bake...","og_url":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/matcha-green-tea-cookies\/","og_site_name":"Pickles and Tea","article_published_time":"2014-12-12T16:07:45+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-12-14T00:52:48+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":533,"url":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2014\/12\/green-tea-cookie-41.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@SmithsonianAPA","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/matcha-green-tea-cookies\/","url":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/matcha-green-tea-cookies\/","name":"My First Cookie Exchange Party and Matcha Green Tea Cookies - Pickles and Tea","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-12-12T16:07:45+00:00","dateModified":"2014-12-14T00:52:48+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/#\/schema\/person\/a00f6dcfcb279c75f3f992ad2919d51d"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/matcha-green-tea-cookies\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/matcha-green-tea-cookies\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/matcha-green-tea-cookies\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"My First Cookie Exchange Party and Matcha Green Tea Cookies"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/#website","url":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/","name":"Pickles and Tea","description":"Adventures in Asian American Cooking","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/#\/schema\/person\/a00f6dcfcb279c75f3f992ad2919d51d","name":"Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/79b5f08575e8962bd00388cd126d374b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/79b5f08575e8962bd00388cd126d374b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/@SmithsonianAPA"],"url":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/author\/riemert\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2912"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2912"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2925,"href":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2912\/revisions\/2925"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}