NATWA II is selling Taiwan shaped cookie cutter molds this year! Stop by our table at the NATWA Convention in LA and buy one from us

The cookie recipe from Hanna Huang is posted below and can also be found at: http://fauxbana.com/matcha-taiwan-love-cookies/

These are my absolute favorite cookies to make! They are simply sugar cookies that I color mostly with natural ingredients and some gel food coloring if it needs an extra color boost. The rolled sugar cookie recipe is adapted from one of the most popular ones I have found on Allrecipes.

Matcha Taiwan Love Cookies

*makes approximately 4 dozen

adapted from The Best Rolled Sugar Cookies 

1 Taiwan shaped cookie cutter from Cheap Cookie Cutters

1 Small heart cutter (I bought a set of 3 different size heart-shaped cutters and used the smallest one)

1 1/2 cups butter, softened

2 cups white sugar (can substitute half of this with sugar-free substitute like stevia)

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

5 cups all-purpose flour (I use King Arthur unbleached white whole wheat flour when I can)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/8 cup or 2 tablespoons matcha green tea powder (I found a very large bottle of this at my local Korean grocery for a very reasonable price of $8.99. The Japanese brands can be much smaller amounts for a higher cost.)

5-6 drops Green gel food coloring

3-4 drops Red gel food coloring

(you can try to substitute w/ regular food dye, but I recommend the gel coloring because I find it easier to work with as well as it produces much more consistent results.)

• Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Cream butter and sugar together in a large bowl until mixture is even and smooth. Beat in eggsand extracts. Mix in flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside about a cup’s worth of dough, this will be reserved for use as the hearts
• Fold in the matcha powder as evenly as possible at this point. Feel free to add in extra for a stronger green tea punch! Depending on what kind of green you are going for, you will now mix in the gel coloring by using a spatula. Get it as streak-less and into a smooth color as possible. Use more gel as needed to desired color depth.
• Roll out dough into 2 sheets between 2 sheets of parchment paper to about the length of a standard cookie sheet somewhere between a 1/4 to 1/2 inch thickness. I like to stay on the thicker side since the shape of Taiwan tends to break easily if you want to ship or transport them longer distances.

• Use the Taiwan cookie cutter to cut out the shapes (while on parchment paper) but DO NOT REMOVE THEM from the sheet of dough yet. Transfer that entire sheet onto a cookie sheet and do the same w/ other sheets of dough. Stack them on each other with parchment paper separating the sheets to be chilled in the fridge at least 1 hour.
• Do the same for the dough reserved for the hearts. Don’t forget to add the red food coloring first!
• After the matcha dough has chilled, remove from fridge and cut out hearts in the middle of the Taiwan shapes. Place a heart shaped red-color dough in the opening that is left to complete the cookie and place on a parchment lined baking sheet to prepare for baking.

• Bake cookies for 5-7 minutes. Try not to let the edges get brown and too burnt. Cookies are done once you see a slight puffing to the dough. They are starting to become burnt once the edges start browning.
• Dough can be frozen and defrosted for use within the span of a week.

I’d love to see people’s pictures of their Taiwan shaped baked goodies! Feel free to ask me for advice if you have any questions as well.