Leprechaun Approved √
Delicious and they bring good luck? Say whaaa?! Well, maybe not intentional good luck, but the luck does lie within the great ingredients! These fluffy, four leaf clover stamped sugar cookies remind me of the holiday Pillsbury ‘slice and bake’ cookies I used to bake every St.Patricks day, Christmas, Easter, Valentines Day… you get it. Unlike those sugar cookies, these are filled with harmless ingredients allowing you to actually enjoy each one, guilt-free! Literally, your mind is at ease while eating these little treasures. I’ve mixed Matcha green tea powder with some coconut sugar for the four leaf clover sanding sugar.
Matcha contains L-theanine, an amino acid known to relax the mind. For this reason, Matcha is also known as a mood enhancer. Buddhist monks drank Matcha to assist in meditation, as Matcha’s amino acids, combined with caffeine, offer a sustained calm alertness over time. Amino acids are also what give Matcha a distinctive taste. They contribute to what is known as the fifth taste, or umami, characterized by a rich creamy mouth feel. It is rich in nutrients, antioxidants, fiber and chlorophyll. It is sugar-free, an ideal drink for diabetics and others wishing to reduce their sugar intake (like me). It is said that health benefits of Matcha exceed those of other green teas because Matcha drinkers ingest the whole leaf, not just the brewed water. One glass of Matcha is the equivalent of 10 glasses of green tea in terms of nutritional value and antioxidant content.
Inspired by Martha Stewart’s Clover Cookies, I created my own sugar cookie recipe and used her online template and DIY tips as a guide. Click here for a printable clover template. Although this recipe is not an overly sweet sugar cookie, which I prefer, it does have all the wonderful traits of a traditional sugar cookie– soft and chewy. yum! If you aren’t a fan of Matcha, you can always buy a clover cookie cutter, and instead of cutting out rounds, cut out clovers. The choice is yours, but as always…
Simply Enjoy!
- 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons almond flour
- 2 tablespoons coconut flour
- 1/2 cup + 3 tablespoons tapioca flour, divided *3 tablespoons are for roiling out your dough.
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup organic vegetable shortening
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon Green Matcha
- 2 tablespoons coconut sugar
- Take clover template (provided in post) and trace clover on a plastic lid. With an x acto knife, cut out clover.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Mix shortening, egg, honey and vanilla in a stand mixer. Mix for a minute or until well combined.
- Add all dry ingredients together with the wet ingredients and mix for another minute.
- After ingredients are well combined, place dough in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- While your dough is chilling, assemble your Matcha sanding sugar.
- Take dough out, place on a sheet of parchment paper and separate into 4 sections.*I do this because it is easier to work with the dough. Spread one tablespoon or so of tapioca flour on paper, and with your hands flatten dough into 1/8 inch thick rounds, and take a 3 inch cookie cutter, or mason jar lid, and cut out a round. Do this step until all dough is used. Place rounds on covered cookie sheet.
- Working with 1 round at a time, place clover stencil on top; and sprinkle surface with Matcha sanding sugar.
- Refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes, or until ready to bake.
- Bake, one sheet at a time, until edges just start to brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Let cool completely on sheets on wire racks. Store cookies in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
