Matcha checkerboard cookies

Photo: Just One Cookbook

The one people will ask how you did. Nami stacks plain and matcha dough into a checkerboard log, slices it, bakes it. It's a project, but the logs freeze, so you can do it in two sittings.

From Namiko Chen at Just One Cookbook · @justonecookbook

A crisp butter dough split in two, one half with matcha, rolled flat, stacked and cut into a checkerboard log, chilled, sliced and baked.

You need

• 7 tbsp (100 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup (60 g) powdered sugar
• 1/8 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 large egg yolk (about 9 g), beaten
• 2 tbsp (14 g) almond flour
• 1/2 heaping cup (70 g) cake flour, for the plain dough
• 1/2 cup (60 g) cake flour, for the matcha dough
• 5 tsp matcha powder
• 1 egg white, lightly beaten, for gluing

How to make it

1. Beat the butter until smooth, add the powdered sugar and beat until pale and fluffy. Beat in the salt, then the half yolk, then the almond flour.
2. Weigh the dough and split it evenly between two bowls.
3. Sift the plain cake flour into one bowl and fold until crumbly, then press it into a ball. Whisk the matcha into the other cake flour, sift it into the second bowl and fold the same way.
4. Put each dough in a sandwich bag and roll it flat to fill the bag, about 5 mm (1/4 inch) thick. Chill both at least 1 hour, until firm.
5. Cut the bags open. Brush the matcha sheet with egg white and lay the plain sheet on top. Cut the stack in half, brush one half with egg white and stack the other on it: four alternating layers.
6. Cut the block into 1 cm strips. Lay three strips side by side, flipping the middle one so the colors alternate, brushing egg white between them; stack three more on top the same way to make a checkerboard log. Make a second log with the rest.
7. Wrap the logs and chill at least 1 hour (or freeze for up to a month).
8. Heat the oven to 350°F. Slice the logs 1/4 inch (7 mm) thick, turning the log as you cut so it stays square, and set the slices on parchment.
9. Bake 13 to 15 minutes, until barely golden underneath. Cool 5 minutes on the sheet, then on a rack.

For a swap: Crisp and sturdy. Bring the box open so people see the pattern.

Written in our own words from Namiko Chen's recipe, with their quantities. The original: Matcha checkerboard cookies, Just One Cookbook.

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