Matcha Sablés

Matcha Sablés

When I met up with Catty from The Catty Life for lunch last month, I thought "Hey, what a good excuse to bake something!" Knowing that she's a bit of a matcha fiend, I turned to my copy of the gorgeous Japanese baking book: Okashi, by Keiko Ishida. I love the Japanese style of French patisserie, and this book is so super-cute! I totally want to make the pound cake, the green tea tiramisu, the mont blanc, the beancurd cheesecake, the dark brown sugar Swiss roll... 

But for this occasion, the matcha sablés seemed like the perfect choice: super cute, easily transportable, and full of matcha! (N.B. in the book they're titled: "Green Tea Sablé Cookies" - my adapted recipe is included below).

I made a few little adaptations to Keiko's recipe, first of which was that I doubled the matcha powder!

Flour and matcha powder

I also used salted butter - I had some Président La Motte salted butter in the fridge (I'd just bought it at the supermarket), and really like it for baking! (And eating...) I think it's quite cute that little water droplets come out when you slice into it.

President La Motte butter with fleur de sel

As you can see, it creams up beautifully!

Creamed butter

With everything mixed up, the dough became a rather serious, malevolent dark green.

Matcha log!

The finished biscuits are prettified by rolling the edge of the log in caster sugar, slicing it into even rounds....

Raw Sablés 

...and pressing a few little green tea leaves into each one. It takes a bit of time, but looks so pretty! Totally worth the effort, especially if you already have some green tea leaves lying around.

Decorated with green tea leaves

And here they are, baked!

Matcha Sablés

Matcha Sablés

They had a lovely short texture, and were nice and buttery. Perfect with a cup of coffee, or a cup of green tea if you just can't get enough! I personally found the matcha flavour a little overwhelming (although Catty said she liked it, as did my friend Amelia), so I've included a range of quantities for the matcha in the recipe below. Start with 7 grams if you like matcha, and go up to the full amount of 15 grams if you really, really love it!

Matcha Sablés
(Slightly) adapted from Okashi by Keiko Ishida

Ingredients
120 grams plain four
7-15 grams matcha powder
75 grams butter (unsalted or salted, depending on your taste), at room temperature
65 grams icing sugar
A pinch of salt
1 egg, separated
Extra caster sugar for rolling
Green tea leaves for decorating

Method
Sift flour and matcha powder together. Set aside.
Cream the butter, icing sugar and salt until soft and creamy. Add egg yolk and mix well. Fold in the matcha powder and flour. Cover dough with cling wrap and refrigerate for 15 minutes or so.
Place the dough onto a large sheet of cling wrap, and form into a log 3.5 centimetres in diameter. Wrap the log in the cling wrap, and refrigerate until firm.
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Sprinkle the caster sugar onto a chopping board or other flat surface. Place the log on the sugar and roll to coat the edge of the log in the sugar. Slice into rounds about 7 millimetres thick. Place the rounds onto a lined baking tray. Brush with the reserved egg white, and press a few green tea leaves into each biscuit. Bake for about 25 minutes, then allow to cool on a wire rack to firm up before serving.
Makes about 25

Matcha Sablés

When I met up with Catty from The Catty Life for lunch last month, I thought "Hey, what a good excuse to bake something!" Knowing that she's a bit of a matcha fiend, I turned to my copy of the gorgeous Japanese baking book: Okashi, by Keiko Ishida. I love the Japanese style of French patisserie, and this book is so super-cute! I totally want to make the pound cake, the green tea tiramisu, the mont blanc, the beancurd cheesecake, the dark brown sugar Swiss roll... 

But for this occasion, the matcha sablés seemed like the perfect choice: super cute, easily transportable, and full of matcha! (N.B. in the book they're titled: "Green Tea Sablé Cookies" - my adapted recipe is included below).

I made a few little adaptations to Keiko's recipe, first of which was that I doubled the matcha powder!

Flour and matcha powder

I also used salted butter - I had some Président La Motte salted butter in the fridge (I'd just bought it at the supermarket), and really like it for baking! (And eating...) I think it's quite cute that little water droplets come out when you slice into it.

President La Motte butter with fleur de sel

As you can see, it creams up beautifully!

Creamed butter

With everything mixed up, the dough became a rather serious, malevolent dark green.

Matcha log!

The finished biscuits are prettified by rolling the edge of the log in caster sugar, slicing it into even rounds....

Raw Sablés 

...and pressing a few little green tea leaves into each one. It takes a bit of time, but looks so pretty! Totally worth the effort, especially if you already have some green tea leaves lying around.

Decorated with green tea leaves

And here they are, baked!

Matcha Sablés

Matcha Sablés

They had a lovely short texture, and were nice and buttery. Perfect with a cup of coffee, or a cup of green tea if you just can't get enough! I personally found the matcha flavour a little overwhelming (although Catty said she liked it, as did my friend Amelia), so I've included a range of quantities for the matcha in the recipe below. Start with 7 grams if you like matcha, and go up to the full amount of 15 grams if you really, really love it!

Matcha Sablés
(Slightly) adapted from Okashi by Keiko Ishida

Ingredients
120 grams plain four
7-15 grams matcha powder
75 grams butter (unsalted or salted, depending on your taste), at room temperature
65 grams icing sugar
A pinch of salt
1 egg, separated
Extra caster sugar for rolling
Green tea leaves for decorating

Method
Sift flour and matcha powder together. Set aside.
Cream the butter, icing sugar and salt until soft and creamy. Add egg yolk and mix well. Fold in the matcha powder and flour. Cover dough with cling wrap and refrigerate for 15 minutes or so.
Place the dough onto a large sheet of cling wrap, and form into a log 3.5 centimetres in diameter. Wrap the log in the cling wrap, and refrigerate until firm.
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Sprinkle the caster sugar onto a chopping board or other flat surface. Place the log on the sugar and roll to coat the edge of the log in the sugar. Slice into rounds about 7 millimetres thick. Place the rounds onto a lined baking tray. Brush with the reserved egg white, and press a few green tea leaves into each biscuit. Bake for about 25 minutes, then allow to cool on a wire rack to firm up before serving.
Makes about 25