海角大神

When one of the moms in my son鈥檚 pre-K class invited me to her聽cookie exchange party, I was at a loss for two reasons:

1. I鈥檝e never been to a cookie exchange and had to ask how it worked (how embarrassing!).

2. My family doesn鈥檛 bake cookies, at Christmas, or any time of the year.

So I did my research.

Turns out cookie exchanges can be serious business. There are rules: Bring 6 dozen cookies of one type to share (you鈥檒l go home with the same number but with a flavor assortment). Cookies must be made from scratch and holiday themed. Plus, everyone should actually bring cookies, not caramels, not truffles, not candy.

Thankfully the hostess in question was easy-going. Caramels are fine, a dozen cookies are fine, simple cookies are聽fine 鈥� anything goes, she said!

Not going was out of the question because I like the group of moms at my son鈥檚 school and it would be nice to chat with them outside drop-off and pick-up. So I started thinking about what cookies to bake.

A week before the party, I settled on dark chocolate cookies with white chocolate chips. That seemed like a safe and easy choice. I鈥檓 a white chocolate fan and who doesn鈥檛 like chocolate cookies?

Two days before the party, I still hadn鈥檛 done any baking. Another mom-friend had done her baking over the past weekend and I had one of her 鈥渃ookies鈥�: saltine toffee candy sprinkled with crushed peppermint candy canes. She doesn鈥檛 have a sweet tooth but she said these were her only weakness; I can see why. They were ridiculously good.

And most importantly, they were so her.

My chocolate cookies paled in comparison.

The more I thought about it, the more my cookies didn鈥檛 seem like me. I don鈥檛 know how important that is to a Christmas cookie exchange but I wanted a cookie that everyone would go, 鈥淎h, Pat baked these!鈥� Christmas cookies are about sharing a little bit of yourself with friends and family, right?

I thought and thought about it and then it came to me as I was rummaging through my pantry. cookies!

Then I second-guessed my choice. Would this group of moms even know what matcha was and would they try it, let alone even like it? Maybe chocolate was a better choice? I had visions of my dejected cookies being left behind after everyone had made their choices. It would be a sad, sad day if I had to bring home my own cookies from a cookie exchange.

However, the evening of the cookie exchange came along and I had nothing to worry about. My matcha cookies were cleaned out AND I won the prize for most creative cookie! Now that was a cookie exchange experience to remember.

Matcha cookies with white chocolate chips

These may not be everyone鈥檚 idea of a Christmas cookie but you could always make a red velvet version to pair with the聽green and you鈥檒l have a festive theme going. For聽my recipe, I used 聽as a base and added matcha powder and white chocolate chips to the mix. Matcha powder is available at specialty聽tea shops and Asian markets. Buy a good-quality Japanese matcha听辫辞飞诲别谤, and not green聽tea leaves.

Time: 30 minutes
Makes: About 4 dozen cookies

2 tablespoons matcha powder
聽2 cups all-purpose flour
聽2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
聽1 cup organic cane sugar
聽2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
聽Pinch of salt
聽1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
聽3/4 cup white chocolate chips

1. Sift the matcha and flour into a medium bowl and set aside.

2. Put the butter and sugar into a large mixing bowl and use a hand mixer (or a stand mixer, you lucky thing!) to beat at medium speed until well blended. Beat in the egg yolks, followed by the salt and vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour/matcha mix in batches, beating until just incorporated. At this point, it鈥檚 better to underbeat than overbeat. Fold in the white chocolate chips with a rubber spatula. If the dough is still crumbly and/or there鈥檚 still errant bits of flour/matcha at the bottom of your bowl, just work everything into a smooth dough with the spatula, or your hands!

3. Have two 15-inch pieces of plastic wrap ready. Divide the dough into half and shape/roll into logs about 8- to 10-inches long and 1- to 1-1/4-inch in diameter. Wrap each log tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or overnight. To prevent it from flattening at the bottom, I鈥檝e seen suggestions from rolling it out every so often to laying it in a bed of rice. I didn鈥檛 have a problem with flattening though.

4. Position your racks to divide your oven into thirds and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

5. Roll the logs on a counter a couple of times to smooth it out. You may have to let it sit for a few minutes until it becomes more malleable to reshape it. Cut into discs 1/3-inch-thick with a small sharp knife.

6. Arrange the cookies on the parchment-lined cookie sheets with about a 1/2-inch between them.

7. Bake the cookies for 12 to 14 minutes, swapping their positions halfway, until they are set but not browned. Leave them to cool on the cookie sheets for about 10 minutes (or they鈥檒l be too soft and break apart) before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.