Talida Bakes

I’ve made the matcha spritz cookies dozens of times, but for some reason, I never thought to work from a different butter cookie base recipe until now. I started with a basic icebox recipe from Martha Stewart’s archives, and added my standard tablespoon of matcha, and voilà: it’s a completely different cookie.

Coincidentally, Tim and I recently had a conversation about the important role refrigerators play in our life. I remember going to a student’s apartment in China where the kitchen didn’t have a fridge. They didn’t cook much because it’s extremely hard to with that kind of limitation, but also because cheap (and great!) food was plentiful on every corner of every street. Well, I am grateful for my fridge and that it’s advanced far from the old icebox. Technically, these cookies should be called Refrigerator Cookies, but I guess it’s just one of those things that are still named after obsolete technology. Like a stock ticker. Wow, that’s the best I could come up with, but I know there are other things we still call by their obsolete origins. Help?

Matcha Icebox Cookies
adapted from Martha Stewart

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 Tablespoon matcha
1 cup cold unsalted butter, cut in pieces
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Sift together flour, confectioners’ sugar, matcha and salt in a large bowl.
2. Use food processor or hands to mix butter into flour mixture until mixture is the texture of coarse meal.
3. In a small bowl, lightly beat egg yolks and vanilla; add to . Process just until a dough forms
4. Divide dough in half; form into two 2-inch square logs, each approximately 5 1/2 inches long. Wrap logs in waxed paper; refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours. You may also freeze dough up to 2 months.
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Slice dough crosswise, 3/16 inch thick; carefully transfer slices to baking sheets.
6. Bake until edges are firm (not brown), 10 to 15 minutes. Cool 1 to 2 minutes on baking sheets; cool completely on a rack.