The Matcha Issue

Matcha mousse with salted vanilla cream and coconut sables plus a simple thumbprint cookie

🎉 Welcome to my newsletter, The Boy Who Bakes, a subscriber-supported newsletter, dedicated to all things baked. For more bonus posts, filled with exclusive recipes just like this one, you can become a paid subscriber for the weekly newsletter, Second Helpings. It costs just £5 a month and, as well as the weekly recipes, that also unlocks access to the full archive of past recipes. To subscribe, to either the paid or free newsletter, click the link below.🎉

The heat has really gotten to me this week. Turning on the oven for some big baking project? No, thank you! To be honest, I wanted to do nothing more than hide away from the heat and eat plenty of ice cream!

Instead of that, I’ve been drinking as many ice-cold drinks as I can to keep myself cool whilst trying not to overheat in a hot kitchen. One of my favourites this week has been a fig leaf latte, a fabulous way to use up the syrup from a couple weeks back. It’s like the perfect mix of a coconut and vanilla latte. I am also newly into drinking matcha (like the rest of the world, it seems). I’ve enjoyed the tea in baking for many years but only recently started to enjoy it as a beverage. Whilst I did drink a few matchas this week, I also made a simple (heat-friendly) dessert. And the dessert is actually inspired by the host of over-the-top matcha drinks that are all over social media.

Whilst I rarely order an overly complicated drink (vanilla iced matcha is my go-to), I have been tempted into trying a couple of the simpler matcha drinks, both of which I have loved. A classic iced matcha latte with a salted vanilla cold foam and also the coconut cloud matcha (a cold matcha foam served atop coconut water; it’s better than it sounds, I promise). I took inspiration from both of these drinks to make a matcha mousse with salted vanilla whipped cream and coconut sable cookies. If you wanted to take this idea a step further, you could also serve the mousses with some roasted strawberries hidden at the bottom of the glass or bowl.

For free subscribers I went down a similar route but ended up with a simple thumbprint cookie. Made with a crisp and slightly chewy coconut cookie, it is topped with a little dollop of matcha ganache and is a perfect little sweet treat.

Both recipes are below.

Matcha Coconut Thumbprints

Makes 20

Coconut Thumbprints

75g toasted desiccated coconut

100g caster sugar

1/4 tsp fine sea salt

200g plain flour

150g unsalted butter, diced and chilled

1/4 tsp vanilla bean paste

Matcha Ganache

30ml double cream

75g white chocolate, finely chopped

1/4 tsp matcha powder

This is a super simple cookie that is made in seconds and entirely using a food processor.

Add the coconut and sugar to the bowl of a food processor and process for about 30 seconds to break down the coconut into a fine powder. Add the flour and salt and pulse briefly to combine. Add the butter and vanilla and pulse until the mixture just forms a uniform dough.

Tip the dough out onto the work surface and roll into small balls of dough. Place onto a large parchment-lined baking tray and refrigerate for about an hour or until firm.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC (160ºC Fan).

Bake the cookies for about 16-18 minutes until the edges are golden around the edges. Roughly halfway through baking, remove the tray from the oven and use a tablespoon to press a small depression into the middle of each cookie. Place back into the oven and continue baking until golden.

Set aside to cool for a few minutes whilst you make the ganache.

To make the ganache, add the cream and chocolate to a small bowl and microwave until melted. Use short bursts, never longer than 30 seconds, to prevent the chocolate from burning. Stir the ganache until smooth, then add the matcha and stir until evenly combined. Spoon or pipe the ganache into the depression of each cookie and set aside until set.