Matcha Sablés

As I'm writing this, I'm feeling very very tired. Work's been pretty crazy plus I'm helping to plan for a children's camp that's coming in a month's time. Weekends are all packed and hardly leaves me time for my family, friends and my blog. Waking up early on Saturday and Sunday mornings are not on my list of favourite things to do, but I often had to do so. Hmmmm I look forward to the day when I can sleep to my heart's content on both weekend mornings! That'll be soooo cool :).

In the midst of all these, I'm also preparing for a soon-to-come baking session with my gal pals....so exciting! Normally, I love to bake alone as it gives me time and space to work and get a little messy. However, I'm looking forward to the bonding time with them as I'm sure it'll be much more fun and awesome with good company in the kitchen :).

Most of the spare time in the past week have been spent preparing for the session - buying ingredients, weighing and portioning them, cleaning up the kitchen and getting things in place. Hardly had time to explore and start on the various desserts that have been on my mind for some time! At the same time, I'm longing for some homemade treats that I can store away for that quiet snacking session when the craving strikes.

Recently, these cute matcha sables have been showing up all over the blogosphere - a sign that they are really really good! I first tried them when Chelle offered them to me sometime back. They were so delicious I made up my mind to make them one day. However, it took me many months before I really got down to it...haha.

In the end, I made two rolls of this, the first with the egg white glaze and the second one without. Conclusion is I definitely preferred the second one. It tastes more like sables and less like Chinese-style cookies. Also, I'll be sure to make these with coarse granulated sugar next time (used castor in this picture as that was the only sugar I could find at home) to increase the crunchiness in the cookie. Nevertheless, this recipe is for keeps! :)

Matcha Sablés

adapted from Okashi by Keiko Ishida

Ingredients:
240g plain flour – chilled
15g green tea powder
150g unsalted butter (room temperature)
130g icing sugar
a pinch of salt
2 egg yolks
Granulated Sugar

Preparation:
1. Sift flour and green tea powder twice, set it aside.
2. Cream butter, icing sugar and salt until soft and creamy.
3. Add egg yolks and mix well.
4. Add flour and green tea powder mixture and fold in with a spatula.
5. Cover dough with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for about 15 mins.
6. Divide dough in half and place both portions in 2 large pieces of parchment paper.
7. Shape into logs about 3.5cm in diameter. Wrap logs with parchment paper and refrigerate until firm.
8. If not using immediately, wrap with cling film and freeze.
9. Preheat oven to 150 degrees. Cut logs into 7mm thick rounds. Dip edges in granulated sugar.
10. Place cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
11. Bake for about 25 mins, remove and leave to cool on wire rack before serving.

Yields 32 cookies.