Matcha Coconut Almond Cookies

It’s a long time since I have updated any entries here. Long story short, I’m now a married, middle-age cat lady with a very routine, normal life. But! There are always some things to be excited about on any day. Things ranging from getting hitched and making our dream nest real last year to thinking about what to have for dinner on a daily basis make me really happy.

So my entry today is on something delightful, at least for me, so happy that I have this pedo smile on my face while typing this.

I've caught the baking bug!



It all started with my man attempting to make some bread from scratch... he tried and experimented with different techniques and turned out with a lot of bread, a little more than what we can chomp off in a week.

Well, what has his bread-making adventure has got to do with mine then... I wanted to join him in the kitchen, make something and contribute my fair share of ingenuity (*smiley). However, I prefer to avoid all forms of strenuous activities such as "prolonged periods" of dough kneading, punching and smacking. However, I do admit that it is good therapy if one is terribly enraged and is looking for safe ways to let out the steam... go punch a bratty looking dough.

Hence, I made a smart choice and started on cookie baking! It's straight-forward, relatively easy and most importantly, I get to see the result really quickly. As all amateurs do, I am still picking up the new skill and is in no position to give anyone lessons or tips on baking. I am just glad that some recipes that I churned out from my perpetually whizzing mind actually worked and thought that it's a good idea to start recording it somewhere for my own future reference.

Since the day I made my first batch of cookies, I wanted to make some for my parents as I still can’t fathom why the diabetic-friendly ones over the counters are often pocket-unfriendly. To me, the only difference is that sugar substitutes are used.
If you are interested in making some diabetic-friendly cookies, which I made to score brownies points from my parents (Nah! Because I love them...), feel free to take a look at how I made them!


Matcha Coconut Almond Cookies


Number of servings: 30 cookies

Ingredients:


100g unsalted butter at room temperature
5 tbsp. of Splenda
For the diabetic-unfriendly version, you may replace Splenda with 50g of brown sugar. Please remember to study and ensure all ingredients for diabetic-friendly recipes should not contain sugar. 
1 egg at room temperature
Vanilla seeds from 5cm of vanilla pod or 1/2 tsp of sugar-free vanilla extract
160g of all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. Matcha green tea powder
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
40g of desiccated coconut meat
40g of chopped almond

Steps:
 
1. Cream the butter in a large bowl. Add Splenda and mix until you get a smooth and creamy consistency.

2. Add the beaten egg little by little, and mix well. Add vanilla and mix well. 


3. Sift in flour, Matcha powder, salt and baking powder.


4. Add in desiccated coconut and chopped almond and mix well with a spatula.

5. Wrap in plastic wrap and cool in the fridge for about 30 minutes to set.


6. Divide the dough into 30 pieces. Roll into small balls. Then press the centre of the ball gently with your finger to make it flat (approximately ½ cm thick). Not to worry if the dough appears to be crumbly, packing and rolling the balls with the warm palm of your hands should do the trick.

7. Place all the shaped cookies on the baking tray, bake at 170C for 10 minutes. Make sure to cool the cookies on a wire rack before packing.

My cookies turned out quite well, slight golden brown around the edges. The rich, nutty aroma got more distinct the more we chewed on the crunchy goodness. The almond gave the cookies some interesting bite and texture as well. Good job! Self-praise is entitled at times... I can't wait to send these yummy morsels to my parents tomorrow.