Today Airy was in the mood for a treat so she decided to bake! Since it’s her first time baking she picked a nice, simple recipe to share with everyone – matcha shortbread cookies! Buttery, crunchy with a touch of matcha green tea – these are a nice treat with a cup of tea or as a snack. Be warned though – they are very addictive and not low-fat! (^__~)” [Note: full recipe at the bottom of this post.]

Here’s Airy combining the ingredients – she’s mixing together flour, matcha tea powder and pinch of salt.

In another bowl, mix together butter and sugar until it’s fluffy. Then slowly blend in the flour-tea-salt mix slowly until it becomes a dry dough – like this:

Next form the dough into a log and lay it on some cling film.

Roll up the cling film around the log of dough so that it looks like this. Now place the log into the freezer for 30 mins or so and go do something else (^__^)”

When the dough is nice and chilled, take it out of the freezer and slice it into 1/4″ pieces. The dough will be quite firm so you’ll need a good knife, and since Airy’s not allowed to handle sharp knives, I did this part for her. Then lay the cookies out onto a baking tray. The cookies won’t expand too much so you don’t have to worry about them being to squished on the tray. If you’re in the mood you can roll out the chilled dough and cut out shapes with a cookie cutter.

Bake the cookies in the oven for 16-18 minutes at 325° F – keep an eye on them so they don’t brown too much and lose the characteristic green colour!

When they are done, let them cool for a few minutes before serving. This is what they look like when they’re baked – yum! Airy’s not used to making such little cookies so they baked for a little too long (which is why they are brown) – but they sure are tasty!

Let’s share some with Saber Lily and see if she likes them.

おいしい! Saber Lily definitely approves of Airy’s baking skills.

Recipe for Matcha Shortbread Cookies:

– 2 cups all-purpose flour
– 3 tbsp matcha tea powder
– 1/2 tsp salt
– 1 cup unsalted butter (at room temperature)
– 1/3 cup sugar (icing sugar preferred, but granulated is fine too!)

[Note: if you don’t want your cookies to be too strong go with 2 tbsp tea powder and up the sugar to 1/2 cup. I prefer my shortbread cookies not too sweet.]

1. Sift the flour, powdered tea and salt into a bowl.
2. In another bowl, beat butter and powdered sugar until fluffy.
3. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and mix slowly until dough just comes together. The dough with be dry and crumbly.
4. Pull dough together carefully in a log, approx. 3 inches in diameter.
5. Wrap dough log in cling film and place in freezer for 30 minutes until dough is firm to the touch.
6. Slice dough into 1/4 inch rounds and place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet, approx. 1 inch apart.
7. Bake in a preheated 325° F oven for 16 to 18 minutes.
8. Remove cookies immediately from the cookie sheet and allow to cool.
9. Store in an airtight container or wrap well and freeze.