“I love this part because in my mind, I’m like, this is taking forever. And then my hand kind of hurts. But then you guys always edit it to make it look so easy.” [MUSIC PLAYING] “Hi. It’s Eric. I’m a cooking columnist for ‘The New York Times.’ And it’s Cookie Week. Now we’re in year four. And this year this is a matcha latte cookie. The base is a really chewy, flavorful matcha cookie. And the frosting is this pompadour of vanilla and milk. It’s matcha and latte. It’s both. It’s matcha latte, matcha latte cookie. It was hard to get the flavor of the matcha to come through in a cookie. There was one version that was a really big, crinkly, chewy cookie. That tasted pretty good, but the concentration of matcha in that cookie was so high that all of my colleagues had heart palpitations that week. And so we were like, no, that’s not the way to go. I was thinking of it like this. In order to make a dessert taste of cherries, I love adding a little almond extract because that extract kind of mimics the flavor that real cherries provide. There’s dried oregano to make things taste like pizza. So I was like, there must be something for matcha. And then I remembered one idea. Our executive producer, Scott, very early on in the cookie process, he quietly was like, what if you added a little bit of peanut butter? And I was like, that’s a great idea, and then totally forgot about it until, of course, test 15. So I love this cookie because it took a crap ton of work, but also I think I really achieved what I was looking for, which was it tastes like a matcha latte. And people love matcha lattes. I am going to start with flour and baking soda in one bowl and whisking it together. The reason for this isn’t just dispersion. Dispersal? Dispersion? Disperse? Dispersion? Wow, that sounds really fancy. Anyway, it’s also to aerate the flour, make sure it’s not clumpy. And we’re going to do the wet ingredients. The matcha is important. And so because the matcha is — it’s a precious commodity, I think it’s really important to bloom it in alcohol. Rather than calling for an extra alcohol, I figured in the beginning it would make sense to just blend it with some of the vanilla extract. And I don’t know, there’s something about this that felt really good to me. I liked the way this brings out the flavor of the matcha in the end. And it smells good. Oh, that’s good. That’s good matcha. Also, don’t use a whisk for this. There’s a reason I wrote spoon. It’s good we’re showing this. Not everything’s perfect in life. We’re just going to cream the butter and sugars into this now. This is where the room temperature butter is really important. You also really need a little peanut butter. I’m telling you, it did not come together. It didn’t taste good enough to me until this, this, that’s it. All it takes is this sometimes, just one little idea from a friend. This is the part where I’m going to show you how to cream by hand. Use a rubber spatula or a wooden spoon, whatever you have. And you’re sort of rubbing the sugar into the butter. I mean, I didn’t even whip it, but see how airy it is? The sugar grinding up against the butter like that, those are little air pockets. [SLURPS]:” “It smells good. You want to smell it? Because they’ve been —” “Just hold it over the bowl.” “Oh, sorry, because I thought you came over here to smell this. OK, enough of that. Room-temperature egg — the point of the egg step is to create an emulsion between the fat and the liquid here. It’s those two things that create a beautiful, perfectly bound, chewy cookie. So I’m always like watching TV or ASMR or something, I’m always like in front of the TV like. [LAUGHS]:: And then when I get tired, and then I look down, and it’s a shade lighter. You can overdo this, but not by hand. That’s why I love cookies. We’re almost done. OK, the flour goes in. You might be like, oh no, it’s too much flour. But this will hydrate and become a nice, beautiful dough. I actually do think it’s a little easier to scoop when it’s been chilled just a teeny bit. While the cookie is chilling, you can — actually, is that in the recipe? Sorry. Oh, it is. I should get about 20 cookies here. This scoop, it’s pretty specific. It’s a number 40 cookie scoop. You can use two spoons. And I want to do just 10 per sheet pan. Yay, they’re so cute. 20 cookies. And if you can do arithmetic, then it’s three, four, three. OK, 12 minutes. It’s funny, usually with cookie baking, I often offer a range. But I was really confident this time. I said, 12 minutes. Yeah, they’re looking good. One minute. Whoa, perfect. Could not be more perfect. You’re taking them out when they look like this. So they are no longer wet on top, but if you really look in between the cracks, there’s a little moisture. Every time I develop a cookie recipe — oh my god, this is heavy — I like to make sure they can finish baking on the sheet pan. So as these cool, they will deflate. Now we are going to make the frosting. You could just do some powdered sugar over those cookies, and they’ll be really beautiful and taste amazing. But the frosting is really special. It’s the latte part of the cookie. I like the taste of dairy. And I think that’s what this frosting provides. I think some people call it a boiled milk frosting. It’s also called an ermine icing. I like to use sugar as an abrasive here to break up the flour. The sugar will dissolve so that you end up with a smooth roof. If it’s not perfectly smooth, it’s not the end of the world either because you’re just going to whip it all up anyway. Also, a pinch of salt. And then I’m going to stir in the milk. This is all off heat, by the way. No heat I just want it to combine first. And then we’re going to cook it. OK, medium flame. I personally think it takes exactly six minutes, four minutes to really come to simmer, and then maybe two more minutes to really finish cooking. OK, so now I’m starting to smell the flour. I’m starting to smell. It smells like, I don’t know, like if I were making a bechamel or starting a mac and cheese. This is good enough, but I’m going to follow the recipe. It hasn’t led me astray so far. It hasn’t led me astray yet. Eight seconds. Kill the heat. And we are good to go. That’s perfect, no lumps. Wow. I know it seems wild that this is going to turn into a frosting, but it does. See the steam rising from the depths of the bowl, wafting as one would say? You’re trying to cool it down now. So just let it go. You can use a hand mixer, but you’ll just be standing there for a little bit. Maybe turn on your favorite television show or your favorite ASMR video. So this next step, you’re just adding the butter gradually. And I like to go a couple tablespoons at a time. And again, you’re kind of creating an emulsion, right? You want the fat and the liquid to come together in a beautifully bound thing. It lets you have volume without an overpowering richness or sweetness. I want to incorporate 50 percent air. I’m really working on the machine, though. It’s kind of making some sounds. But I have yet to break something in the kitchen, so — I just love the way this looks. It’s so pretty. I don’t know how to explain it, but it kind of smells like butter, but it also kind of smells like milk. And now we just get to frost. So a transition. Oh, I forgot the vanilla, actually, a little vanilla. Vanilla just has that unknowable quality that makes things taste of themselves. Now, now we’re talking.” [UPBEAT MUSIC] “OK, so these are matcha latte cookies. One really special thing about this cookie, too, is I’m going to teach you a word. When there’s so much butter spread on a slice of toast and it leaves teeth marks, that’s called tandsmor. I don’t know if I’m saying that correctly, but it’s a Danish word. And it means tooth butter. It will leave teeth marks. And there’s something very satisfying about that. I think the best cookies are the kinds you need to lick your fingers in between bites. There’s nothing like a frosted cookie. That means special. It means like holidays. I think that’s what makes this matcha latte cookie worth writing home to. That’s an idiom, right? It’s so good that you’ll tell your parents about it. You’re like, Mom, this cookie had, it’s so good. You can find this recipe and many more at ‘New York Times’ Cooking. I love Cookie Week. Thank you guys for being here. And now we can all eat these. Wow. Look at us.”
