DECORATED MATCHA BISCUITS

With delicate cherry-blossom piping, these iced matcha biscuits have all the ‘wow’ factor of a showstopper, but take less than half the time of a full-on biscuit challenge!

WHAT YOU WILL NEED

7-8cm round or flower-shaped biscuit cutter; 2 baking sheets lined with parchment; icing nozzles (No 3 x 1; No 2 x 1; No 1 x 4); a medium piping bag; 5 small piping bags; a toothpick

Makes 20

For the biscuits

385g (13½oz) plain flour

10g (¼oz) matcha tea powder 200g (7oz) caster sugar

225g (8oz) unsalted butter, diced 1 egg

1tsp vanilla extract

For the icing

500g (1lb 2oz) icing sugar

80g (3oz) pasteurised egg white Brown, pink and green food colouring paste

STEP 1 Mix the flour, matcha powder and caster sugar together in a large bowl. Add the butter and rub in with your fingers until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs (see tip, below).

STEP 2 Beat the egg and vanilla extract together, then add to the dry ingredients. Bring together to a soft dough, then turn out onto a lightly floured worktop. Knead for 1-2 minutes, until smooth and evenly coloured, then wrap in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes.

STEP 3 Unwrap the dough and roll out on a lightly floured surface to 3mm thick. Using the cutter, stamp out 20 shapes and place 10 on each baking sheet. Chill for 15 minutes. Heat the oven to 180°C/ fan 160°C/gas 4.

STEP 4 Bake for 11-12 minutes, until just golden around the edges. The biscuits will harden during cooling, so don’t over-bake as they should be green. Remove from the oven, leave to cool on the sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

STEP 5 For the icing, sift the icing sugar into a bowl, add 70g egg white and beat to a fairly thick, glossy icing. If it’s too thick, it’ll be hard to pipe, so add more egg white if necessary.

STEP 6 Halve the icing. A drop at a time, add 1-2tsp of water to one portion, to create a pourable consistency. Spoon this into a medium piping bag fitted with a No 3 nozzle and set aside.

STEP 7 Divide the remaining icing into 5 bowls. Spoon one portion into a small piping bag fitted with a No 2 nozzle and another into a small piping bag with a No 1 nozzle. Colour the other portions brown, pink and green, then spoon each into a piping bag with a No 1 nozzle.

STEP 8 Using the white icing with the No 2 nozzle, pipe an outline around each biscuit, ½cm in from the edge. Use the white icing with the No 1 nozzle to pipe small loops around the outline (see picture A).

STEP 9 Pipe flooding icing (the bag with the No 3 nozzle) inside the outline to cover the biscuit (B). Use a toothpick to spread the icing evenly (C). Gently shake to smooth the icing.

STEP 10 While the flooding icing is still wet, use the brown icing to pipe on a tree trunk and branches (D). Leave at room temperature to set.

STEP 11 Once set, using pink and green icing, pipe pink blossom (E) and green leaves on the branches (F). Set at room temperature.