If there is something we Americans have in common with the English, Japanese and Chinese, it's that we all are in love with tea. Black tea in its many forms is a major player in the beverage world, but it's green tea that has many of us reaching for desserts. Many of these desserts are now available due to the sheer exposure green tea has had as an international flavor over last 20 years.
There was a time when all foods made with green tea were new. Hip, even. As matcha dipped its toes in the global pool and gained exposure through "exotic" Japanese restaurants in the 1980s, riding on the coattails of sushi success in mainstream America, it crept ever so slowly into ice cream menus and from there to panna cottas and before you knew it, the trendy wave crested.
Where is green tea now? Everywhere, from our coffee shop shakes to toothpastes even. The coolness of green tea, it seems, has faded from repeated runs through the wringer. What used to be the cool-looking bookish yet shy pretty asian girl at the flavor prom has been turned into the outspoken overdone J-pop diva, putting out new product every few months but never really speaking to the soul.
It's time to turn that wild child around and make a green tea dessert that you can bring home to your parents. Perhaps people think that green tea is exotic, not only because of its origins, but because people tend to present it in such an overtly gourmet way.
To many people, the very word gourmet is synonymous for snooty, unapproachable, even pretentious food. This week's recipe for Green Tea White Chocolate Chip Cookies, on the other hand, is about as assimilated as green tea can get. What could be more familiar to Americans than a chocolate chip cookie? Go ahead, bring some home. Mom, Dad, this is matcha, and we're getting together, you can say. I guarantee after tasting these, they'll approve of your newfound tea relationship.
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Green tea white chocolate chip cookies
Ingredients: 12 oz. bag white chocolate morsels 2 ½ c. all-purpose flour 1 tsp salt 1 tsp baking powder 1 c. vegetable shortening 1 ½ c. white sugar 1 egg + 2 egg whites 2 tbsp cream 2 tsp almond extract 8 packets instant matcha powder (16g of tea, I used Lupicia's instant matcha packets)
1) Place the white chocolate morsels in a bowl and store in the freezer. Preheat your oven to 350°F.
2) Sift together flour, salt and baking powder into a large bowl and set aside. In your stand mixer, cream the shortening and sugar together at medium speed until fluffy.
3) In a small bowl, beat together the egg, cream, and almond extract. Once combined reduce the speed on your stand mixer and add the egg mixture slowly, allowing the mixture time to fully integrate. Then, add the matcha powder and increase the speed to thoroughly integrate the tea.
4) At low speed and pouring very slowly, add the sifted dry goods to the mix, scraping down the sides of the workbowl for even mixing. Retrieve your white chocolate from the freezer and pulse in a food processor until the morsels have broken up into rice-grain sized chunks, then add those to the dough on low speed to integrate.
5) Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake on the middle rack for 12 minutes, rotating the pan after 6 minutes. Remove from the pan and place the cookies on a cooling rack for at least 2 minutes before putting them in a jar.
Makes about 30 cookies.
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