INGREDIENTS

• Matcha Black Cocoa Sugar Cookies
• • ¾ cups vegan butter (or regular butter)
• • 1 cup sugar (½ cup confectioners sugar & ½ cup granulated sugar for soft cookies)
• • 2 eggs
• • 1 tsp vanilla
• • 1 tsp Aiya Culinary Grade Matcha Powder
• • 2¼ cups flour
• • ¼ cup Dutch processed all natural black cocoa powder
• • 1 tsp baking powder
• • ½ tsp salt
• Matcha Royal Icing
• • 2 Tbsp meringue powder
• • ¼ cup warm water
• • 2 cups confectioners sugar (sifted)
• • 1 tsp Aiya Culinary Grade Matcha Powder
• • Additional warm water a few drops at time
• Supplies
• • Tipless piping bags
• • Small open star piping tips
• • Edible gold dust
• • Parchment paper
• • Seasonal cookie cutters

DIRECTIONS

• Matcha Black Cocoa Sugar Cookies
• 1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
• 2. In a glass bowl, mix together flour, black cocoa powder, baking soda and salt until combined. Set aside.
• 3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugars until combined.
• 4. Pour eggs, vanilla extract and Matcha powder into the butter and sugar mixture.
• 5. Mix on med until fully combined.
• 6. Then pour the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder) into egg, sugar and butter mixture.
• 7. Mix together on medium until fully combined.
• 8. You'll know your cookie dough is ready when the bowl is clean and most of the dough sticks to the paddle.
• 9. Place a sheet of parchment paper onto a solid surface and lightly dust with flour.
• 10. Roll dough out onto the parchment and flour-dusted surface (until about ½ inch thick.)
• 11. Cut cookie dough into shapes with cutters of choice.
• 12. Remove excess dough from around the cutout cookies and transfer the cookies on the parchment paper directly to a baking sheet.
• 13. Bake for 4-5 minutes.
• 14. Cookies should be soft with a nice crumb texture – not crispy.
• 15. Place on a cooling rack.
• 16. Roll out dough onto parchment and repeat steps for remaining cookies.
• Matcha Royal Icing
• 1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk meringue powder and half of ¼ cup warm water together on medium for 2-3 minutes, until thickened and well combined.
• 2. Switch to a paddle attachment and pour in the Aiya Matcha powder and confectioners sugar.
• 3. Mix on medium until well incorporated to create royal icing.
• 4. At this point the icing will be very thick. Add a few drops of the remaining warm water a few splashes at a time until the frosting is the consistency of toothpaste. This is consistency you’ll need for piping the icing onto the outside edges of the cookies.
• 5. The color of the thick icing will be a soft Matcha green. Add more or less Matcha to achieve desired icing color.
• 6. Then spoon out ¼ of the toothpaste-like piping icing to a tipless piping bag and tie or seal closed.
• 7. Add the rest of the warm water to the remaining royal icing and mix on medium until thoroughly combined. The consistency of this icing should be runny.
• 8. The thinned out icing is for flooding the cookies.
• 9. If you run a spatula through the icing it should take 5-6 seconds for any lines in the icing to disappear. That's when you know it's ready!
• 10. If the flood icing is still too thick add additional drops of water one at a time and mix in between to achieve the desired icing consistency. Note that a little bit of water goes a long way!
• 11. Transfer flood icing to a piping bag and immediately seal closed so it doesn’t dry out.
• Decorating the Cookies
• 1. Place fully cooled cookies on a piece of parchment or a clean working surface.
• 2. Snip the tip off the outline icing piping-bag.
• 3. Slowly outline the edges of each cookie with the paste like Matcha icing.
• 4. Then snip the tip off the flood icing-bag.
• 5. Squeeze the thin flood icing onto each cookie using a toothpick or scribe to spread it evenly around the surface of the cookie, until fully covered in icing.
• 6. Quickly poke away any air bubbles you find using a toothpick or scribe.
• 7. Repeat steps so all cookies are fully covered in icing.
• 8. Gently set each flooded cookie aside to dry. (Drying takes approximately 60 - 90 minutes.)
• 9. Then details can be added with thick outline icing.
• 10. Once cookies have dried, add the decorative details.
• 11. For ghosts add black eyes and outline the edges of the flooded cookie with thick icing. For pumpkins, use small star tips and thick piped icing to make rosettes.
• 12. Finish with a dusting of edible glitter, or Matcha powder.
• 13. Allow two hours to fully dry.
• 14. Enjoy!
• 15. Store completed cookies in an airtight container for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 6 months.