I have to begin this post with a disclaimer: I don’t know anything about Star Wars, but I do know how to make a good, crisp shortbread cookie. That is why we’re here today.
I got these cookie cutters on a whim a while back (probably more than 5 years ago) and never remembered to use them for May 4th or Christmas (they’re marketed as Star Wars Gingerbread Cookie Cutters). Despite my lack of Star Wars knowledge, this is surprisingly my second set of Star Wars-themed cookie cutters. Even though I don’t know much about the franchise, I do love these cutters, especially the Chewbacca cutter.
If you’ve been following on this blog for some time, you’ll already know that I love having more than one flavour in a cookie (exhibit a: matcha neapolitan cookies and exhibit b: matcha neapolitan cookies 2.0). And when it comes to shortbread, the same rule applies: why just have one flavour in the cookie when you can have three. These crisp shortbread cookies are flavoured with matcha, black sesame, and vanilla. Matcha will always be my favourite so 50% of the dough is flavoured with it while the remaining dough was divided into halves and I folded in whole toasted black sesame seeds into one of the portions. I used whole black sesame seeds because I wanted the texture of the whole seeds in the cookie with a subtle sesame flavour. Obviously, you don’t need these exact cutters for your shortbread cookies. The cookies will taste just as good even if you decide to use a ‘normal’ cookie cutter.
Matcha, Black Sesame & Vanilla Shortbread
Ingredients
Matcha Dough
- 113 g (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 55 g (1/2 cup) powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 120 g (1 cup) all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp matcha powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
Black Sesame & Vanilla Dough
- 113 g (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 55 g (1/2 cup) powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 120 g (1 cup) all-purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp whole toasted black sesame seeds
Instructions
Matcha Dough
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and powdered sugar on medium speed until mixture is smooth, about 1 minute. Mix in vanilla.
- In a small bowl, combine flour, matcha powder, and salt.
- Add dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix on low speed until just combined, about 45 seconds to a minute.
- Set matcha dough aside.
Black Sesame & Vanilla Dough
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and powdered sugar on medium speed until mixture is smooth, about 1 minute. Mix in vanilla.
- In a small bowl, combine flour and salt.
- Add dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix on low speed until just combined, about 45 seconds to a minute.
- Portion out the dough into two equal portions. Fold in black sesame seeds into one of the potions
Assembly
- Take small portions of each dough (about 2 tablespoon portions) and place them next to each other on a large piece of parchment paper. You want the dough to look like a mosaic.
- Place a second piece of parchment on top of the dough and gently flatten the dough with your hands.
- Using a rolling pin, roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness.
- Using cookie cutters of your choice, stamp out shapes. (At this point, I like to transfer the cookie cutouts to the freezer for 10 minutes. Baking frozen cookie cutouts help them retain their shape!)
- While cookie cutouts are chilling, preheat oven to 350F.
- Bake cookies until golden brown on the edges, about 11 – 13 minutes.
Bakeries in Vancouver’s Chinatown
If you aren’t too familiar with Chinese bakeries, especially the ones in Vancouver’s Chinatown, I created a very short and sweet guide to help you savour and enjoy all the treats Chinatown has to offer.
Fudgey Mini Egg Brownie Cookies
These rich, fudgey chocolate cookies are tender in the centre and crisp on the exterior. They are studded with mini eggs and dark chocolate. The espresso is optional but adding it deepens the chocolate flavour immensely and I highly recommend it. A few flecks of salt to finish makes these cookies so perfect.
Carrot Cake Cream Puffs & How To Plan the Perfect Easter Afternoon Tea Party
These cream puffs take everything I love about a classic carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and packages it nicely inside choux pastry. Golden choux pastry with craquelin is filled with a spiced pastry cream, topped with a velvety whipped cream cheese white chocolate ganache, and studded with chunks of carrot cake.
Taro Coconut Sago Dessert Soup (椰汁芋頭+芋圓西米露)
This creamy coconut milk-based “soup” has many treasures in it: cubes of taro, sweet potato, and purple yams, homemade taro and yam balls (tong yuen), sago pearls, and grass jelly. One of my favourite things about Chinese dessert soups is that you can add any toppings you like — these are some my favourites!
Valentine’s Day Strawberry Lychee Mille Feuille
This mille feuille is everything I want it to be. Between the layers of puff pastry is vanilla pastry cream, whipped strawberry ganache, and fresh lychee fruit. It is inspired by the Isaphan croissant my mom and I enjoyed on the sunny day spent at Jardin du Luxembourg.
Lunar New Year Cookie Box
This Lunar New Year cookie box is inspired by a ‘Chinese New Year Tray of Togetherness’ (全盒), a goodie box imbued with symbolism. For my cookie 全盒 this year, I made different cookies with flavours I’ve enjoyed growing up: black sesame wreaths, black sesame linzers, shortbread oranges, as well as kinako cookies
Osmanthus Flower Jelly (桂花糕)
A lightly sweetened osmanthus scented jelly studded with goji berries. It is a common dessert at dim sum (one of my favourites) and we’re making it in a koi fish-shaped mold for Chinese New Year!
Grilled Chewy Rice Cake (燒餅)
These rice cakes only have two Chinese characters for its description, 燒餅, and the best translation for it would be ‘grilled rice cake.’ What the simplicity of the name doesn’t tell you unfortunately is what truly makes these grilled rice cakes so special – it uses glutinous rice flour instead of regular rice flour, which produces a mochi-like texture. Grilling or frying these mochi-like cakes give them an extra layer of flavour and texture compared to traditional steamed mochi.
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