Matcha Sugee Cookies

Matcha Sugee Cookies

Sugee Cookies are among the many things that I gorge myself on during the Chinese New Year. And they were also one of the first cookies that we learnt how to make during Home Economics (but the no-semolina flour sort). Very easy, melt-in-the-mouth and fattening stuff.

Today, I sent off the Teenager on his school trip to Munich, but am grounded for the week as Baby Boy had taken a turn for the worse this morning after seemingly having recovered from his flu (?) over the weekend. He seems to be down with a secondary infection that usually occurs after recovery from influenza and truth be told I'm quite nervous as I've read that this is what usually kills after a flu.

To take my mind off this for a while and calm down, I decided to make a batch of Matcha Sugee Cookies as the boy took his nap. I love green tea and this recipe that requires little manoeuvre and cooking brings out the refreshing taste of the powdered green Matcha tea. Zen...and you either like it or you don't. Hub and the children don't. Matcha is an acquired taste.

Matcha Sugee Cookies (makes 50) :

200g Plain Flour (sifted)

100g Icing Sugar (sifted)

100g Powdered Matcha

1/2 Tsp Baking soda

1/4 Tsp Salt

130ml Vegetable Oil or Ghee (clarified butter)

Preheat oven to 150°C.

The dough

Mix the flour, icing sugar, baking soda, salt and matcha powder together. Pour in the vegetable oil or ghee (ghee would be richer and tastier and one can simmer butter to obtain the ghee if you cannot find it in your local store) and knead e.g. with your hand till you get a uniform paste which is almost instantly. Once the oil touches the flour mixture, the green intensifies, it's quite lovely to watch.

Before baking

Roll the dough into small balls and bake in the oven (at the lower shelf) for 15 minutes. I love the powdery green colour of the matcha cookies and also the cracks that appear in them when they are baked.

After baking

Cool before storing in airtight jars.

It is the time of the year when I go around asking the other moms for food donations to the Winter Fair buffet. One has to be quite thick-skinned about it, though I am lucky that the majority of moms usually quite nicely reply that of course they would love to make something for the buffet. Then I have those precious wonderful few who actually contacted me before I even contacted them, asking if they could make me a dish or 2! Finally, there is that minority who actually rolled their eyes or shudder when I approached them, though they usually wouldn't say no either, so I'm still grateful, I guess. I will probably make at least 2-3 dishes as usual. One has to lead by example.