Thursday, December 31, 2009

New Year's Eve Means Baking a New Kind of Cookie!

I spent my entire last day of 2009 cooking new foods.  And, boy, it has been a jolly good day!
Fickle Foodie once baked some delicious matcha shortbread cookies for me when I came back from my Alaskan cruise.  I never forgot how much I loved it.  Anything with green tea is bound to be a favorite with me.  I'm in love with its calming, gentle floral scent.  It is quite simply sublime. 

After baking my first cookies this month for my office cookie swap, I have been hankering for some matcha cookies.  Since I liked the mint chocolate cookie dough alot, I thought that I can concoct a green tea version (with less sugar) and replace the peppermint extract and dark chocolate with pistachios and dried cherries!  Three of my favorite things to round out 2009 and kick start 2010!

Here's my recipe for my Matcha Cookies with Pistachios and Cherries:

Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp matcha powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/6 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 beaten egg
1/2 cup chopped pistachio nuts (unsalted)
1/2 cup dried cherries

(the dough and directions are adapted from Une Gamine dans la Cuisine's Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies)


Ingredients

Sift the flour, baking soda, matcha powder, and salt in a bowl.
In another bowl, beat the butter, brown, and granulated sugars together until light and fluffy, and add the beaten egg on low speed.  Add the flour mixture and beat until the ingredients are well combined. 

Fold in the nuts and cherries by hand until they are evenly integrated, and chill the dough for at least an hour. 


Cherries and Pistachio Nuts Added to the Dough

Preheat the oven to 375F.  Roll dough into small balls and bake on parchment lined cookie sheets for 12-15 minutes. 


Dough in Tablespoon Size Balls

These cookies will not expand like the mint chocolate chip cookies probably because of the much harder additions of nuts and cherries (and I added more than what I have recommended here).


Matcha Cookies with Pistachio Nuts and Cherries


Matcha Cookies with Pistachio Nuts and Cherries

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