Okay, so hearts shouldn’t be jealous. They also probably shouldn’t be green. But when it comes to these crisp matcha cookie sandwiches, with their creamy honey vanilla filling, I really do think that the natural result will be thus. Whosoever does not possess a matcha cookie sandwich will have a jealous heart.
On the other hand, making a batch of these cute green matcha cookie sandwiches couldn’t be simpler. And then nobody needs to have a jealous heart.
Of course the inspiration for these cookies is the home of matcha and peerless champion of matcha baking Japan. It was unsurprisingly the first placed I ever sampled matcha anything, including tea, cookies, cake, waffles, and I think sweet bread (I am a fanatic sampler). It was also the first place I ever had a honey soft serve ice cream. So while I was reminiscing about Japan one day I go to thinking… Matcha, honey… Matcha honey. The rest is sandwich cookie history.
Jealous Heart matcha cookie sandwiches
Makes about 18
Crisp matcha cookie dough
ingredients
115g butter, softened
50g caster sugar
150g flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp matcha powder
Coloured sprinkles for decoration, if desired
mixing
Beat the butter and sugar together until light and creamy. Mix in the flour, matcha powder and baking powder to form a smooth dough. Roll the dough out between two large sheets of bake paper to about 3 mm thick. Cut heart shapes with a 5cm cutter. Gently place the cut shapes into a baking tray lined with bake paper. Reform the offcuts of the dough into a ball and roll out again. Repeat the process of cutting shapes and reforming the offcuts until all the dough is used. You should have about 36 heart shapes.
Bake the cookies at 175 degrees Celsius for about 8 minutes – the cookies will just be starting to colour. Cool on the tray. Don’t be tempted to move them while they are warm because they will still be brittle.
Pipe about a 4mm thick layer of buttercream over the surface of half of the cookies. Gently press the top cookies down over the buttercream. If desired, while the buttercream is still soft, dip the edges of the cookies into sprinkles before refrigerating the cookies to set.
Honey vanilla buttercream
ingredients
80g unsalted butter, softened
80g icing sugar
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
mixing
Beat the butter until pale and creamy. Add the icing sugar and mix to combine. Add the honey, vanilla and salt, and beat until very light in colour and fluffy and texture. Load the buttercream into a disposable piping bag and snip a 5 mm hole in the tip.
