| Green Tea Icing |
Author: Nancy Baggett
A couple of things to remember about this recipe: First, I decided upon a royal frosting (an icing based on egg whites) because it does a particularly good job of setting and preserving the fairly fragile color pigments in green tea. This helps ensure that the colors don’t fade much as the cookies are stored. If you are going to make the cookies ahead, it’s also best to stash them in the freezer; this will ensure that the colors stay bright and don’t blur together.
Second, to avoid any of the food contamination issues associated with eating raw eggs, this recipe relies on commercial meringue powder or egg white powder. (Either will do fine.) Many discount department stores stock the Wilton brand of meringue powder with cake decorating supplies. Supermarkets and nutrition stores sometimes carry the Deb El “Just Whites,” product or another brand of pure dried egg whites in their baking or nutritional foods aisles. To liven the slightly flat taste of dried whites, be sure to add some vanilla or almond extract as called for in the recipe.
Also, this particular royal frosting is easier to make than some traditional versions: In contrast to most recipes, it needs to be beaten only a couple of minutes until well blended and slightly thickened, not until very stiff, dry and fluffy. So, a hand-held mixer is satisfactory for the job.
Finally, note that the recipe makes a relatively small quantity, so you can ready the pale green, yellow-green, and bright green batches without ending up with too much. Used together as shown here the three batches will yield enough icing to decorate about 45 medium-sized cookies. Of course, the recipe can be doubled or tripled if you wish to prepare only one or two colors instead of all three.
Second, to avoid any of the food contamination issues associated with eating raw eggs, this recipe relies on commercial meringue powder or egg white powder. (Either will do fine.) Many discount department stores stock the Wilton brand of meringue powder with cake decorating supplies. Supermarkets and nutrition stores sometimes carry the Deb El “Just Whites,” product or another brand of pure dried egg whites in their baking or nutritional foods aisles. To liven the slightly flat taste of dried whites, be sure to add some vanilla or almond extract as called for in the recipe.
Also, this particular royal frosting is easier to make than some traditional versions: In contrast to most recipes, it needs to be beaten only a couple of minutes until well blended and slightly thickened, not until very stiff, dry and fluffy. So, a hand-held mixer is satisfactory for the job.
Finally, note that the recipe makes a relatively small quantity, so you can ready the pale green, yellow-green, and bright green batches without ending up with too much. Used together as shown here the three batches will yield enough icing to decorate about 45 medium-sized cookies. Of course, the recipe can be doubled or tripled if you wish to prepare only one or two colors instead of all three.
Ingredients
- 1⅓ cups powdered sugar, sifted after measuring if lumpy
- 1 tablespoon commercial meringue powder or dried egg white powder
- ¼ teaspoon (for a very pale green ) up to 1½ teaspoons (for a bright green) Matcha green tea powder
- ½ teaspoon light corn syrup
- ⅛ teaspoon almond extract, vanilla extract, or lemon extract
- About 2 tablespoons water plus more as needed, or for a yellow-green frosting use frozen (thawed) orange juice concentrate instead
Instructions
- For each batch or color of icing, in a deep, medium bowl thoroughly stir together the sugar, meringue powder or egg white powder, and green tea: for a pale green frosting add ½ teaspoon or less of tea powder; for a medium yellow-green frosting add up to ¾ teaspoon tea powder; and for a bright green frosting add 1 to 1½ teaspoons of tea powder. Stir until very thoroughly mixed.
- For the pale green and bright green batches, add ½ teaspoon corn syrup, ⅛ teaspoon extract, and 1½ tablespoons water to each bowl of powdered sugar mixture. Beat each with a mixer on low, then medium speed until well blended. If necessary, gradually beat in more water to yield a fluid, spreadable consistency. Continue beating on medium-high speed until each frosting thickens, lightens in color slightly, and just begins to increase in volume. Place the batches in individual work bowls. Cover immediately to prevent them from drying out during standing.
- For the green-yellow batch, add ½ teaspoon corn syrup and ⅛ teaspoon extract to the sugar-meringue-tea mixture exactly as for the pale green and green batches. Then add 1½ tablespoons thawed orange juice concentrate (instead of water) to the bowl. Proceed exactly as directed above, except gradually add in more orange juice concentrate to adjust the consistency as needed.
- Use the three frostings immediately or refrigerate for later use for up to a week. (Stir well and let come back to room temperature before using.) If decorating with the “wet on wet” piping method, place the icings in piping bags, parchement cones, or baggies, so they will be ready as soon as the desired base layer of icing is spread on a cookie. Immediately add all piping details–which don’t need to be at all perfect to look attractive–and let the cookie stand on a rack set over paper until the frosting is completely dry, at least 3 hours and preferably 6 hours. Store the finished cookies airtight in a cool spot for up to a week; or freeze for up to a month.
Notes
Tip: For the prettiest cookies, choose interesting cutters and try for tidy, cleanly cut shapes. The shamrocks at left were prepared using the method demonstrated in the short how-to video here and called for in a good, all-purpose sugar cookie dough recipe here.) Basically the technique involves rolling out the dough using baking parchment or waxed paper, which, as the video shows, has a number of definite advantages, including easier dough handling and minimal kitchen mess.
Recipe by KitchenLane at http://kitchenlane.com/2013/02/shamrock-cookies-with-green-tea-icing.html