Add the color of life to your cookies naturally:
Matcha cookies for St. Patrick’s Day and Easter
This year, St. Patrick’s Day falls on Saturday, March 17, and Easter is Sunday, April 1. You might be planning to have a fun gathering with your friends and family. Matcha green tea gives a soft, natural minty green hue to cutout cookies, the perfect treat to share with your guests. “Green food may mean party time in America, where St. Patrick’s Day has long been an excuse to break out the food dye,” as National Public Radio says.
The History of Green
According to NPR, green colored food was not welcomed in Ireland. Green color used to be associated with the dark history of the Irish Potato Famine during the 1840s, when at least 1 million Irish died in the span of six years. Desperately, people had to resort to eating grass. Kinealy, an Irish historian, says, “In Irish folk memory, they talk about people’s mouths being green as they died.” Now Ireland is known as the Emerald Isle. This lush green country sits between 51.5 and 55.5 degrees north latitude, the same latitude range as the much colder and snowier Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada. Thanks to the ocean current known as the North Atlantic Drift, Ireland is embraced by its mild climate. Pictures taken from satellite show Ireland as one of the greenest places on Earth. Irish nationalists and republicans adopted the green color in the 19th century. This was likely to distinguish themselves from the reds and blues that were then associated with England, Scotland and Wales.
Spring Blessings
Let’s count the blessings surrounding us while we celebrate spring. ~Irish blessing for good luck May you always have Walls for the winds A roof for the rain Tea beside the fire Laughter to cheer you Those you love near you And all your heart might desire It is fun to prepare home baked cookies using cute shapes for special occasions. Green is the sign of life. Let’s use Matcha green tea, a natural and nutritious way to put spring color for the celebrations.
Matcha Green Tea Cookie Recipe
Ingredients:
⅓ cup Butter, unsalted
⅓ cup Shortening
¾ cup Sugar
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 Egg
1 tsp Coconut Extract
2 cups Flour
2 tsp Edible Green Sencha or Matcha Powder
1 cup Powdered Sugar
1 Lime, zest finely ground and juice
½ cup Pistachios, chopped
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 375° F.
- Beat butter and shortening. Add sugar and baking powder. Beat till combined.
- Beat in egg and coconut extract. Stir in flour and Edible Green® Sencha or MATCHA green tea powder. (The dough is dry so mix the dough by hand until butter and shortening becomes soft and binds the dough together–the warmth of your hand will help butter and shortening get soft.)
- Roll a handful of dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/4 inch thick. Using a 3 to 4 inch biscuit cutter, cut into rounds. (Or, use a Shamrock shaped cookie cutter for St. Patrick’s Day. Use bunny and duck shapes for Easter.) Place 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Repeat until cookie sheet is fully loaded.
- Bake 7 to 8 minutes. Let cool.
- If frosting (this is optional–the cookies are delicious with or without frosting.), mix lime juice and finely ground lime zest with powdered sugar
- Frost the cooled cookies with the powder sugar mixture and sprinkle with chopped pistachios.
Matcha Green Tea Cookie
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup Butter, unsalted
- ⅓ cup Shortening
- ¾ cup Sugar
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 Egg
- 1 tsp Coconut Extract
- 2 cups Flour
- 2 tsp Edible Green Sencha or Matcha Powder
- 1 cup Powdered Sugar
- 1 Lime, zest finely ground and juice
- ½ cup Pistachios, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375° F.
- Beat butter and shortening. Add sugar and baking powder. Beat till combined.
- Beat in egg and coconut extract. Stir in flour and Edible Green® Sencha or MATCHA green tea powder. (The dough is dry so mix the dough by hand until butter and shortening becomes soft and binds the dough together–the warmth of your hand will help butter and shortening get soft.)
- Roll a handful of dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/4 inch thick. Using a 3 to 4 inch biscuit cutter, cut into rounds. (Or, use a Shamrock shaped cookie cutter for St. Patrick’s Day. Use bunny and duck shapes for Easter.) Place 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Repeat until cookie sheet is fully loaded.
- Bake 7 to 8 minutes. Let cool.
- If frosting (this is optional–the cookies are delicious with or without frosting.), mix lime juice and finely ground lime zest with powdered sugar
- Frost the cooled cookies with the powder sugar mixture and sprinkle with chopped pistachios.
Read the differences between Sencha and Matcha here.
Find more green tea recipes here.
How about home made corned beef for St. Patrick’s Day? See our friend’s article: “How to cure your own corned beef when it’s grassfed”
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Meet the Author: Kiyomi
