Green Tea Langues de Chat/Cat`s Tongues

I hope you all are enjoying this week! Today, I am sharing with you all green tea Langues de Chat! Or, cat's tongue cookies. :P

There`s a story behind these cookies (isn`t there always? Don`t I bore you guys enough with my stories?!?). Sorry, I am such a bad storyteller (why do I blog about food then?! Uh, what`s with the questions today?).

SO. My roommate introduced me to this one Asian bakery somewhat near my university campus one day when we went out for lunch. I`ve been to many Asian bakeries, but this one will be one I will always visit. All because of these cookies.

Of course, I had ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA what they were called when I bought them. I saw them and read the tag and all it said was "Green Tea Cookies". I thought to myself, "Oh, I love green tea flavored desserts! There`s only like 20 pieces inside and they cost like 4 bucks, but I want to try them!"

I bought them.
Loved them.
No, seriously, I loveee them.

I knew I could make them at home so I don`t have to go out and buy them whenever I crave for some. Unfortunately, I didn`t know the exact names for these cookies, so I couldn`t find any recipe that described these cookies. I googled and searched for green tea cookies, green tea butter cookies, green tea shortbread, etc, but no hope.

I even went back to the bakery to look at the tag (and bought 2 bags of them) to double check on the name!   Still, no luck. For, like, a month. I told everyone about how yummy they were and how I wanted to make them SO BADLY. My roommates, my boyfriend, and my sisters!

One day, I`m not sure what I did, but I stumbled upon this cookie picture that looked JUST LIKE THEM. Except, they weren`t green tea. Still, hope!

With my eyes twinkling, I read the name: Langues de Chat. BOOM!

Crtl+T >> Googled Langues de Chat >> discovered that they`re also called cat`s tongues >> Googled Green Tea Langues de Chat. Ah, recipes! BAM! Happiness.

I told my boyfriend the name since they`re French cookies and he lived in France and all...you know what he said? "OH, I know what Langues de Chat are! It means tongues of cats."

I`m like, "WHAT. Why didn`t you tell me the name of these darn, delicious cookies when you knew the name all along?!"

"I never made the connection." Since these were green tea flavored.

Seriously. Boys.

I used a different green tea powder for these cookies than the ice cream: (Sorry, I do not know the brand since everything was in Japanese.) You can use any brand, I just wanted to show you guys different green tea powder containers, so you guys can look out for them if you don`t know what they look like. :)

Green Tea Langues de Chat/Cat`s Tongues

Adapted from: Chocolate and Zucchini

Yields: about 22 cookies (depends on size of each)

Level: Easy

Total Time: ~25 minutes + 40 minutes chilling time

(Print Recipe)

Materials Needed:

-          1 Large bowl with electric mixer attachment/stand mixer

-          1 tall cup

-          1 pastry bag/sandwich bag

-          Scissors

-          parchment paper/baking mat

-          baking sheet/cookie sheet

Ingredients:

§  1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

§  1/4 cup superfine/bakers sugar (you can substitute with granulated sugar)

§  2 egg whites

§  1/2 cup all purpose flour

§  1/4 teaspoon salt

§  2 teaspoon green tea/matcha powder

Directions:

1.      In the bowl of your stand mixer/electric mixer, combine the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

2.      Add the egg whites and mix until combined.

3.      Add the flour, salt, and green tea powder and mix until combined until batter is smooth.

4.      Place the pastry bag into the tall cup and fold the top of the bag over the edges of the cup.

5.      Transfer the batter into the pastry bag.

6.      Place the batter (along with the cup) into the freezer for 30-40 minutes. (Or put it the refrigerator for an 1 hour)

7.      Preheat oven to 400°F ten minutes before you remove batter from fridge.

8.      Line your baking sheet with parchment or a baking mat

9.      Cut the tip of your pastry bag (about 1/5 inch).

10.  Squeeze batter onto baking sheet as a line about 2  1/2 inches long and 2 cm thick, spacing the cookies about 1 inch apart.

11.  Bake for about 6-7 minutes, or until edges are slightly brown.

12.  Cool on baking sheet for a minute or so, before removing to cool completely on a cooling rack.