Red Bean-Stuffed Green Tea Cookies

Happy Chinese New Year, everybody! In honor of the Year of the Ox, I decided to make a truly Asian-inspired cookie. I can't take all of the credit, though. My fellow Grub Clubbers--Pam, In-Young, and Jon--along with a dessert of green tea ice cream and red bean pancakes at Hagi, encouraged me to take on this more-savory-than-sweet challenge. (Thanks, Pam, for picking up the can of beans for me!)

I made a green tea cookie exterior and used my standard stuffing technique to fill the the cookies with sweet red adzuki beans. If you can't find the beans in your local grocery store, or if you're not sure you're ready to experiment with a new ingredient, feel free to make the dough and skip the stuffing part. Who's looking, anyway?

I used bagged green tea, but make sure the tea you use is finely ground so that you don't end up with big honkin' twigs in your cookie. If your bagged tea is coarse, try giving it a whirl in your food processor or running your knife through it a couple dozen times until you're left with a finely chopped, powdery pile of tea. You'll get all the flavor and color but none of the twiggitude. (In all, I used about a dozen or so tea bags.)

Green tea, oats, and red beans. That's a snack that's so healthy you'll age in reverse--Benjamin Button style!

Makes 2 dozen cookies. (To see this recipe in process, check out Picturing Red Bean-Stuffed Green Tea Cookies.)

Filling	Approx. 1/2 can sweet red adzuki beans
Creamables	1 stick butter 1/2 cup white sugar 1/2 cup dark brown sugar 2 tablespoons finely ground green tea
Wet Ingredients	1 egg 1 teaspoon vanilla 2 tablespoons cooled, brewed green tea
Dry Ingredients	1 1/4 cups finely ground oatmeal 1 1/4 cups flour 1/3 cup finely ground green tea 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Open the can of sweet red adzuki beans, pour contents in a bowl, and place in the refrigerator to firm up until Step 7.
2. In your Kitchen Aid or a large mixing bowl, cream together the creamables.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients and then add to the creamables. Mix together until smooth.
4. In another large mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients. Using a spatula, fold together until evenly distributed. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the creamables and wet ingredients. Mix until evenly combined.
5. Shape dough into balls—about 2 tablespoons each.
6. Preheat oven to 350º.
7. Remove the filling from the refrigerator and stuff each dough ball with 1 teaspoon of beans. Put the stuffed dough balls in the freezer for 5 minutes to firm up.
8. Place chilled dough balls about 2 inches apart on Silpat- or parchment paper-lined cookie sheets.
9. Bake at 350º for 10-12 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are firm and golden brown. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and let stand for 2 minutes. Then place cookies on wire racks to cool.

Comments

[Brownie]

Happy Year of the Ox! These cookies look awesome! I can't wait to try.
And I totally wish they had that reverse aging effect :)

[Brownie]

Hi OCG!

I tasted one of these this morning and it was delicious! I love the subtle green tea/nutty taste of the outside and the slight sweetness of the red bean filling. The textures work really well together too. Overall, these cookies are total yummers. They are definitely less on the sweet side and more of an adult/sophisticated cookie. I'll have to exercise restraint and ration them out so I don't run out too quickly :) Thanks!!!

[Organic Green Tea]

wonderful tea with some cookies!!!!!!!