Makes 1 12″ diameter tart

Ingredients

Crust:

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus more room temperature for pan
• 2 and 1/2 cups mixed raw nuts (such as walnuts, blanched hazelnuts, pistachios, and/or almonds)
• 6 tablespoons sugar
• 3/4 teaspoons kosher salt

Ganache:

• 12 ounce bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into 1″ pieces
• Flaky sea salt

Directions

1. Make the crust

Place a rack in middle of oven; preheat to 350°. Lightly butter pan; line with a round of parchment paper cut to fit just inside pan. Pulse nuts in a food processor until finely chopped. Add sugar and salt and pulse again to combine. Drizzle in melted butter and pulse until nuts begin to clump together and mixture looks sandy. Using your hands, firmly and evenly press mixture into bottom and up sides of pan (it doesn’t need to come all the way up the sides). Bake crust until golden brown, 20–25 minutes. Let cool.

2. Make the ganache

Place chocolate in a medium bowl. Heat cream in a small saucepan until just beginning to simmer; immediately pour over chocolate. Let sit, undisturbed, 5 minutes. Add butter and mix with a heatproof rubber spatula until smooth and glossy.

3. Assemble

Scrape ganache into crust and smooth out any bubbles. Chill, uncovered, until set, at least 1 hour.

Remove tart from pan; sprinkle sea salt over. Slice into wedges with a hot knife.

Notes:

Do Ahead: Tart can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and keep chilled.

Makes 6-12 servings

Ingredients

• 200g white chocolate, finely chopped
• 65 ml heavy cream
• 12 g butter at room temperature
• 7 g matcha powder, for the chocolate mixture + 1 tablespoon for dusting the chocolates with

Directions

1. Combining the Matcha Powder and Cream

Sift the matcha powder into a saucepan to get rid of any lumps. Then mix the heavy cream into the matcha little by little. At first, the mixture will turn into a thick paste, but it will loosen up by the time you add all of the cream.

2. Heating the Cream Mixture

Warm up the matcha and heavy cream mixture over medium to low heat. Turn off the heat just before the mixture begins to boil. (You should start to see tiny bubbles forming around the edges of the pan.) If your mixture boils, there is a high chance that the chocolate will separate from the cream, and you won’t get the correct texture in the end. So please be careful.

Take the pan off the heat and transfer it to a different burner to let it cool. You want your mixture to be below 50℃ to prevent the ingredients from separating. If you don’t have a cooking thermometer to check the temperature, touch the cream mixture with your finger. If it’s not too hot to touch, it’s fine.

3. Adding in the White Chocolate and Butter

Once the mixture is warm, add in the chopped white chocolate. Mix the white chocolate into the cream until it completely melts.

Once the white chocolate is fully incorporated, add in a bit of softened butter and mix well. This will ensure that the matcha truffle mixture is soft and smooth. It will also provide a bit of shine to the mixture.

4. Cooling the Matcha Truffle Mixture

Pour the white chocolate mixture into a parchment paper-lined square or rectangular-shaped tray and refrigerate it for at least 3 hours.

5. Serving

When the matcha nama chocolate has set, remove it from the refrigerator and cut them into your desired size and shape pieces. Warm your knife in hot water beforehand for easier cutting. Finally, sprinkle with matcha powder, serve, and enjoy.

Note: Nama chocolate has a short shelf-life due to the use of heavy cream. Please consume within 4 days of making. It should also be properly stored in the refrigerator to prevent it from melting.

Makes 12 or 16 cookies

Ingredients

• 16 tablespoons of salted butter, at cool room temperature
• 113 grams confectioners’ sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 240 grams AP flour
• 2 grams salt

Directions

1. Prep

Preheat the oven to 300°F. Lightly grease the sides of a 9″ round or 8″ square cake pan and line the bottom.

2. Mix 

In a medium-sized bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, salt, and vanilla extract, then beat in the flour. Beat until a stiff dough forms. If necessary, dribble in up to 1 tablespoon of water to bring the dough together.  

Press the dough into the prepared pan and smooth the surface. Dock the dough.

3. Bake

Bake the shortbread until it’s a light golden brown across the top surface and a deeper golden brown around the edges, about 35 minutes.

Remove the shortbread from the oven and turn it out of the pans and onto a clean work surface.

Immediately cut the shortbread, while it’s warm. For rounds, cut the round into 16 wedges. For squares, cut each square into four smaller squares, then cut each of those into thirds to make a total of 12 strips. Transfer the shortbread wedges or strips to a rack to cool.

Notes:

To make drop cookies: After mixing, drop the dough by teaspoonfuls onto a lined baking sheet. Flatten each ball of dough to about 3/8″ thick. Bake the cookies for about 25 minutes in a preheated 300° F oven, until they’re set but not really beginning to brown. Remove them from the oven, and cool on the pans or on a rack. Yield: about 4 dozen small (1 3/8″) cookies.

Makes about 18 large cookies or 24 normal ones

Mom’s recipe

Every ingredient should be at room temp

Ingredients

Wet Mix:

• 12 teaspoons butter, melted and cooled
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Dry Mix:

• 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons of AP flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 to 1/2 cups of semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Prep

Preheat the oven to 325 and line two large cookie sheets with silpats.

2. Mix the dry

Whisk flour, salt, and baking soda together. Mix in chocolate chips and set aside.

3. Mix the wet and combine with the dry

Cream butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in egg, yolk, and vanilla extract until combined. Add dry and stir until just combined. Place the dough in the refrigerator to cool for at least 30 minutes.

4. Shape and bake

Roll a scant 1/4 cup of dough into a ball. Holding dough ball in your fingertips of both hands, pull into two equal halves. Rotate halves 90 degrees and, with jagged surfaces facing up, join halves together at their base, again forming a single ball, being careful not to smooth dough’s uneven surface. Place formed dough onto cookie sheet, leaving 2 and half inches between each ball.

Bake on the middle racks, rotating baking sheets about halfway through. Bake until cookies are golden brown, about 12-15 minutes. After baking cool the cookies on a cooling rack until the cookies are firm.

Makes 12 to 16 cookies

Ingredients

Dry Mix:

• 2 and 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon salt

Wet Mix:

• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted and cooled
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• • An additional ~1/2 cup granulated sugar to for rolling the cookies in

Directions

1. Mix the dry

Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl and whisk together.

2. Mix the Wet and Then Combine

In a separate large bowl, cream together the cooled melted butter, the brown sugar, and 3/4 cup of granulated sugar until fully combined and just slightly fluffy. Add the peanut butter, egg, and vanilla and mix until combined. Pour the flour mixture into the wet mixture and quickly mix with a baking spatula until no clumps of flour remain. Make sure not to over-mix or your cookies will be puffy.

3. Shape the cookies and chill them

Portion the dough into 1/4 cup balls and roll them in granulated sugar. Line two large baking sheets with silpats. Every space the dough balls on the baking sheets and then gently press down on the tops with your palm to flatten slightly. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

4. Bake the cookies

Uncover and bake the cookies for 12 minutes, or until just set around the edges but very soft and puffy in the middle. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet fully without disturbing them to finish setting. Repeat with any remaining dough.

Makes ~20 3-inch biscotti

Ingredients

• 85 grams (6 tablespoons) butter
• 131 grams (2/3 cup) granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 large eggs
• 240 grams (2 cups) all purpose flour
• Chocolate for melting

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F

2. Prepare dough

Using paddle attachment, beat together butter, sugar, salt, vanilla extract, and baking powder until smooth and creamy. Add in eggs one at a time, beating after addition. Add in flour and mix at low speed until mixture is smooth. It will be sticky.

Wet your hands and scoop half of the dough onto a lined baking sheet. Pat the dough into a 10 x 2 inch rectangle that is approximately 1 inch high. Repeat the process with the second half of the dough. Note that the biscotti will expand during baking, so leave about 3 inches between the two halves.

3. First bake for approximately 30-40 minutes until golden brown

Depending on oven, it will take longer. Once done baking, remove from oven and drop oven temperature to 325F.

Let biscotti logs cool slightly before carefully transferring to a cutting board. After the logs are cool to the touch, spritz with some water and let sit for 5 minutes. Use a serrated knife to slice into 1/2 to 3/4 inch biscotti. Make sure to not press down while slicing, but rather cut by drawing knife back and forth. This will prevent crumbling of biscotti.

4. Second bake for additional 30-40 minutes

Transfer sliced biscotti to baking sheet, standing them up with about 1/2 inch between each. Bake until dry and golden. Remove from oven and transfer to a cooling rack.

5. Add toppings

Melt chocolate in a double boiler and dip in cool biscotti. Transfer to a cooling rack until the chocolate sets. Once set, store in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.

Experiments to try

• Reduce amount of sugar to 100g
• Use only 1 tsp of vanilla and add in 1/2 cup sliced almonds