Green Tea Sables Food

FRENCH SABLES

Steps:

• Cream the butter and sugar. Add egg yolk and vanilla and beat thoroughly. Combine flour and salt. Add to the butter mixture and blend until the dough is smooth. On a very lightly floured surface, shape the dough into cylinders about 1 to 2 inches in diameter. Wrap in waxed paper or plastic wrap and chill for at least an hour.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush refrigerated logs with beaten egg and roll in crystalline sugar. With a sharp knife, slice the dough into rounds about 1/3-inch thick. Place 1-inch apart on a parchment covered baking sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes or until the cookies are slightly colored around the edges.

GREEN TEA SABLES

Steps:

• Remove the butter from the refrigerator and leave it on the counter while prepare the other ingredients. You want the butter to be cool but pliable.
• You can crush the tea with a mortar and pestle or you can put it between pieces of parchment or wax paper and crush with the bottom of a glass. Any way you do it, you want to end up with enough crushed tea to measure 1 1/2 teaspoons.
• Put the tea, sugar and salt in a large bowl and, using your fingertips, rub the ingredients together until you smell the aroma of the tea. Add the flour and stir everything together to mix well.
• Cut the butter into 16 pieces. Drop them into the bowl, toss with your fingertips just to coat the pieces and then set to work rubbing the butter into the flour mixture to make a soft dough that will stick together when you press it between your fingers. Knead the dough gently to work it into a ball and then divide the ball in half.
• Shape each piece of dough into a log about 7 inches long. Take care that the logs are solid-it's easy to end up with hollows (you can feel them), which will turn into holes in the cookies. Wrap the logs and refrigerate them for at least 3 hours, or freeze for at least 1 hour.
• When you're ready to bake: Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
• Sprinkle some raw, sanding or granulated sugar on the counter and roll the logs in it, just to coat the exterior. Trim the ends of the logs if they're ragged, then slice into rounds that are 1/3 inch thick. Put the cookies on the baking sheets, at least 1 inch apart.
• Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, rotating the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point, or until the cookies are golden brown on the edges and bottom but still pale on top. Let the cookies cool on the sheets for a few minutes, then transfer them to racks to cool to room temperature.

GREEN TEA SODA

Steps:

• Combine all ingredients in a 1 1/2 or 2 quart pitcher. Stir.
• Serve over ice in chilled tall glasses. Garnish with a sprig of fresh mint.

SABLE COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Line baking sheet with parchment.
• In mixer cream together butter, sugar and salt. Add the eggs and blend well. In a large mixing bowl, sift together flour and baking powder. Add the flour mixture all at once to the butter mixture and stir until just blended.
• Turn the dough onto a lightly floured pan and pat it out to 3/4 inch to 1-inch thick. Cover with plastic wrap and chill thoroughly. Using dough in small amounts, roll cookie dough onto a floured work surface. Roll dough to desired thickness. Cut cookies with a heart shaped cookie cutter. Place cookies on prepared baking sheet about 2-inches apart. These cookies do not spread. Bake for 12 to 18 minutes depending on size. Cool on baking sheet.
• Melt white chocolate snaps, divide melted chocolate into thirds. Place black food coloring in 1/3, red in another 1/3, leaving 1 without food coloring. Take cookie and dip in white chocolate for a base. Place black and red chocolate into separate pastry bags. Design a heart on cookie with red white chocolate and pipe "I Love New York" on cookies with black chocolate.