It’s buttery and crunchy gluten free cat’s tongue cookie (langues de chat) recipe with matcha green tea powder. You can feel the fresh matcha flavor in every bite along with crisp texture. The sweetness of white chocolate filling goes great with a hint of the bitterness of matcha cookies. This recipe includes only 6 ingredients: matcha, flour, butter, sugar, egg and white chocolate. I used gluten free flour, but you can also use plain white flour instead. These cat’s tongue cookies are very easy to make and perfect light treat at home.
Since I shared Japanese authentic butter cookie recipe, I had always wanted to share matcha cat’s tongue cookies. So I’m happy that I shared this recipe today. I love this light texture that is nice to nibble. My ideal matcha cat’s tongue cookies look like this (famous matcha cookies in Kyoto). But I don’t have a rectangle silicone mold. So I just piped cookie dough on the parchment paper directly, then baked. I can’t say that they are beautiful shapes, though the taste is really good.
Tips for gluten free matcha cat’s tongue cookies
Add egg white little by little.
First step of this recipe is beating butter with sugar. Then add egg white. If you add the egg white at once, it would be separated from the butter mixture. So it’s important to add little by little. In this recipe, I added one-third of egg white at a time. Then whisk until incorporated after each addition.
Melt white chocolate over the right temperature of hot-water bath.
To be honest, I messed up white chocolate filling when I took this picture. I tried to melt roughly broken white chocolate over boiling water. Then it became completely crumble. After that, I found out that high temperature of hot-water bath causes crumble chocolate.
I did good to make glossy white chocolate on the second try. So let me share these tips.
- Chop white chocolate into small pieces with a knife to be melted evenly.
- Remove the hot-water bath from the heat right before boiling point, then place a bowl with the chopped white chocolate on it.
- Remove the bowl from the hot-water bath when the chocolate is about three-quarters melted.
Other than that, you should avoid making them in humid season. Because I think that humidity affects a lot to the crispy texture. In addition, once you make the cookies, the best to eat right away. If you need to keep them, pack in an airtight container and serve on the day.
Inspired by the recipe here. (Japanese)
Gluten Free Matcha Cat's Tongue Cookies
Ingredients
- 50 g butter softened
- 5 1/2 tbsp (50 g) powdered sugar / icing sugar
- 1 egg white
- 5 tbsp (50 g) all purpose gluten free flour sub. plain white flour
- 2 tsp (5 g) matcha green tea powder
- 100 g white chocolate bar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160 C / 325 F / Gas Mark 3. Line baking trays with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Place the butter in a large bowl and beat until smooth with a hand whisk. Then add the sugar and whisk until well blended.
- Add 1/3 of the egg white at a time and whisk until incorporated after each addition.
- Sift the flour and the matcha green tea powder into the mixture and mix until well blended with a rubber spatula.
- Transfer the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a 1 cm (1/2 inch) round nozzle. Plastic storage bag also can be used with a corner cut off.
- Pipe 3 cm (1 inch) circle of the dough on the parchment paper, leaving enough space around the dough.
- Bake for 8 minutes until slightly browned in the edges. Then leave them in the oven door closed for 5 minutes. Add a few extra minutes to the bake time, if it's not light golden-brown in the edges.
- Remove the trays from the oven and let them cool. While the cookies are cooling, prepare the white chocolate filling (follow the instructions below).
White chocolate filling
- Pour 6 cm (2-3 inches) of water in a large pan over high heat to make a double boiler.
- Chop the chocolate into small pieces with a knife, then place in a completely cleaned heatproof bowl.
- Remove the pan from the heat right before boiling point.
- Place the bowl over the hot-water bath and gently stir with a heat proof spatula.
- Remove the bowl from the hot-water bath when the chocolate is about three-quarters melted.
- Stir until smooth, then spoon the chocolate in between two cooled cookies.
