INGREDIENTS

Matcha Gingerbread

• ¾ cups vegan butter (or real butter softened)
• ½ cup packed brown sugar
• ⅓ cup molasses
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp orange zest
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2¼ cups all-purpose flour (or gluten free 1 to 1)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp Culinary Grade Matcha
• 1 tsp dried ginger
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp clove

Matcha Royal Icing

• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 3 Tbsp meringue powder
• ¼ cup warm water
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp vanilla + ¼ tsp Culinary Aiya Matcha powder (for two colors of Matcha, or just 1 tsp for !1 color)

Decorations & Supplies

• Large tree cookie cutter, or cutout template.
• Piping bag(s) fitted with large star tip -such as 4B or 6B
• Powdered Sugar
• Sprinkles of choice

DIRECTIONS

Gingerbread Cookies

1. Mix flour, baking powder, salt, Culinary Grade Matcha powder, ginger, cinnamon, and clove in a bowl until combined and set aside.
2. In the bowl of the stand mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes) Then slowly stir in molasses, egg, orange zest and vanilla, mixing until fully combined.
3. Add the flour mixture to the wet mix until fully combined and the dough attaches to the paddle. The mixing bowl will be clean when the dough is ready.
4. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
5. Roll the dough out onto a parchment lined surface to ¼ ″ thick.
6. Cut gingerbread dough into 9” tree shape, or festive shapes of choice.
7. Bake for 6 minutes (for large cookies 4-5 for small.)
8. Transfer to cooling rack to cool fully.

Matcha Royal Icing (Stiff Consistency)

1. Place meringue powder and half of the water in the bowl of an electric mixer.
2. Whisk on high for about 2-3 minutes until the meringue mixture gets light and frothy.
3. Switch to a paddle attachment and mix in the powdered sugar and vanilla on medium for 2-3 minutes until well combined.
4. For this cookie you’ll be using a star tip and stiff royal icing, which is thick and similar to the consistency of toothpaste.
5. Mix in Culinary Grade Matcha powder until desired green shade is achieved (1 tsp).
6. OR for two tones of matcha icing, divide icing into two bowls and add 1 tsp Culinary Grade Matcha to the first bowl of icing stirring until combined.
7. Add ¼ Culinary Grade Matcha powder to the second bowl of icing, stirring until combined.
8. Transfer matcha infused icing to piping bag(s).

Decorating

1. Since the gingerbread cookie is already brown, the trunk of the tree can be left bare.
2. Starting at the bottom tier of the tree, create the branches by piping the stiff icing onto the gingerbread cookie, squeezing the icing, then pulling upwards until the icing reaches the bottom of the second tier.
3. Piping the icing until the entire third tier is filled in.
4. Stiff icing dries quickly, so add sprinkles or decorations to the bottom tier once piped.
5. Repeat steps for section two, using either the same color, or the lighter color of icing for dimension. When piping, be sure to overlap the icing on the tier below to cover any imperfections.
6. Pipe the entire second tier.
7. Decorate second tier with sprinkles.
8. Repeat steps for the top two sections, alternating the colors of icing, making sure to overlap the icing on second tier.
9. Decorate remaining tiers with sprinkles.
10. Set aside to dry for at least 2 hours
11. Serve the giant tree cookie, by cutting or break into pieces and enjoy!