Cookwithus Week #7- Strawberry Matcha Cookies

I had a hard time deciding if I should make a chewy, crunchy, sandwiched or a bar cookie for this challenge @cookwithus. They are so many styles of cookies and they are all so good. Then I recalled this delectable dessert I had in Bangkok which is a Japanese sticky rice cake stuffed with a matcha flavored bean paste and a fresh strawberry. What made this dessert so unique was the slightest hint of jasmine in the matcha filling. It paired so well with the green tea and slightly tart strawberry. Using that as my inspiration I decided to make a cookie version with all of those flavor profiles.

I started with a short and buttery cookie base and I added some pulverized freeze dried strawberries to the dough. I like to use freeze dried fruits to flavor my baked goods because the flavors are concentrated and since there is no moisture content, it will not alter the final product of my baked goods. If you can't find freeze dried strawberries, you can always use strawberry extract.

Strawberry Butter Cookies

adapted from Little Miss Bento
100g unsalted butter, at room temperature
80g sugar
1 egg yolk
200g flour
pinch of salt
20g freeze dried strawberries, pulverized into a fine powder.
15g heavy cream
5g vanilla extract

Cream butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the egg yolk, pulverized strawberries, and vanilla extract. Mix until combined. Add in the flour and salt. On low speed, mix the flour with the butter mixture until small clumps appear. Add in the heavy cream and mix until the dough comes together. Gather the dough into a ball and flatten into a disc.

Wrap the dough with saran wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 1-2 hrs to chill the dough. This will help the gluten relax and the dough will be easier to roll. Place the chilled dough on a slightly floured surface and roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thick. Cut into rectangles or any other shape.

Place the cookies onto a parchment lined sheet pan and bake in a preheated 325F degrees oven for 10-15 minutes or until the cookies are slightly firm to touch. While the cookies are cooling, you can start on the filling.

Matcha Ganache

adapted from Little Miss Bento
80g white chocolate, chopped into smaller pieces.
4g green tea powder
40g heavy cream, heated
1/4 tsp Jasmine extract

In a small bowl combine all the ingredients. Let the mixture sit for a minute so the chocolate can soften. Using a whisk, slowly stir together the mixture, starting from the center and working your way out. This will prevent the ganache from splitting. If the ganache starts to break, you can whisk in a touch of cold heavy cream. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the ganache so a skin does not form while the ganache sets.

To assemble the cookies. Place a dollop of ganache in the center of half of the cookies and place remaining cookies on top. Gently press the tops of each cookie to squeeze the filling to the edges. I drizzled the tops of my cookies with some melted white chocolate mixed with some freeze dried strawberry powder.

These cookies came out quite tasty. The cookies were not too sweet and the strawberries added a tart element. The sweetness of the white chocolate paired perfectly with the slight bitterness of the matcha powder and the jasmine extract brought a floral note to the cookies. Thank you @offoodandart, @pandamama, and @chefsteve for organizing this competition and for coming up with such fun themes each week!