I Can't Stop Making These "Monster" Cookies That Use 1 Genius Ingredient For Next-Level Flavor
You're telling me I've been creaming my sugar and butter together WITHOUT this ingredient?
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I'm a sucker for a cookie with a little — or a lot of — flair. Sure, a chocolate chip cookie will always have my heart, but if I'm going to go through the effort of busting out my hand mixer, measuring cups, and cookie sheets, I want a sweet treat that'll absolutely rock my world. That's exactly what I found in these Matcha, Macadamia Nut, and White Chocolate Monsters from Kat Lieu's cookbook, 108 Asian Cookies.
They live up to their "monster" name, too. Inspired by Levain's ultra-thick flagship cookies, they're monstrous in size (the perfect Halloween-y treat, too, FYI!) and vibrantly green thanks to the addition of culinary-grade matcha powder.
To make them, you'll whisk together your dry ingredients: all-purpose flour and cake flour for the best-ever texture, baking powder, and culinary-grade matcha.
The real magic happens when you cream your butter, white sugar, and brown sugar together. Kat's recipe adds a tablespoon of red miso to the mixture, which combines with the sugars and butter until light, fluffy, and full of umami goodness. If you start adding red or white miso to all your cookie doughs from now on...I wouldn't blame you. It lends the perfect subtle pop of flavor that salt alone can't accomplish.
Kat's book, 108 Asian Cookies, employs all sorts of staple ingredients from Asian cultures in her recipes, too, from a dash of MSG in peanut butter cookies, black sesame seeds in seriously irresistible rice krispies treats, and puppy chow with a kick from a drizzle of sriracha.
Once you've added your eggs and combined the wet and dry ingredients, you'll finish by incorporating chocolate chips — white and semisweet for balance — and a handful of chopped macadamia nuts for a buttery crunch in every bite.
Chill for 15 minutes in the freezer, which is a key step to ensure they don't spread too far.
The recipe makes eight large cookies, but for cookies that are more poppable and bite-size-friendly, double the number you scoop out; for 16 smaller cookies, each will use around 2 tablespoons of dough. For the standard size, each of the 8 gargantuan cookies will be about 1/4 cup.
(Optional but recommended: Roll each dough ball in a bowl of extra chocolate chips to ensure the ideal chocolate-to-dough ratio.)
Finally: Bake. They're ready when the edges are golden brown but the middles are just-set and perfectly soft.
Aside from being absolutely gorgeous, these cookies have that rare combo of comfort and sophistication: They're cozy enough for a Sunday afternoon but fancy enough to impress as the final sweet bites of a dinner party with friends.