Matcha Azuki Bean Iced Gems

I have been wanting to try out Azuki Matcha combination for iced gems for quite a while but had been too busy to do so. Finally I got down to experimenting! Presenting my assortment of Azuki beans and Matcha iced gems!

I tried different combinations of biscuit base and royal icing. For green tea fans, the entirely Matcha one would be for you! The green tea flavour is lovely! I was afraid that adding too much red bean paste would affect the drying of royal icing so the flavour was noticeable but mild. I can imagine with increased amount of red beans, the Matcha Azuki combination would be superb.

You may increase the amount of ingredients by 2-4 times as this batch that I made was small. About 30 biscuits for each type of flavour.

Azuki biscuit base
Ingredients:
35g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
12g vegetable shortening
30g Azuki bean paste* (use more if you prefer stronger red bean flavour)
35g milk
1/8 tsp vanilla extract

*I used Tsubuan which has some whole beans. You may choose to use Koshian, which is a smooth paste. As the paste is sweetened, icing sugar should be omitted. I didn't and it was a tad too sweet.

Steps:
1. In a small saucepan, heat milk and mix in red bean paste. You don't have to bring it to boil. You may choose to strain it but I find that the red bean flavour is stronger with some small bits of red bean. You will only need about 15g of red bean milk or a bit more.

2. Sift together flour, salt and baking powder. Rub in the shortening until it resembles fine bread crumbs.

3. Gradually add red bean milk and vanilla extract until a ball of dough forms. Roll to thickness of about 3mm and cut out small circles (my cutter is about 2cm in diameter) and place on baking tray lined with baking sheet.

4. Bake in preheated oven at 170°C fan mode for 12-14 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on tray for 5 minutes before moving to cooling rack to cool completely. Store in airtight container if not icing immediately.

Matcha biscuit base
Ingredients:
34g plain flour
1g (1/2 tsp) Matcha powder (use high grade if possible)
1/2 tsp baking powder
10g icing sugar
Pinch of salt
12g vegetable shortening
14g milk (use more as necessary)
1/8 tsp vanilla extract

Steps:
1. Sift together flour, matcha powder,  baking powder, icing sugar and salt.

2. Add vanilla extract to milk. Rub in shortening with the flour mixture until it resembles breadcrumbs.

3. Follow steps 3 and 4 of Azuki biscuit base.

Cutting out circles from Azuki and Matcha dough. 

The plain biscuit bases are seriously good enough to eat on their own!

Azuki bean royal icing
20g Azuki bean paste (should increase to 30g. Use paste with some whole beans if you prefer.)
20g hot water
56g icing sugar
4g meringue powder

Matcha royal icing
1 tsp Matcha powder
20g hot water
56g icing sugar
4g meringue powder

Steps:
1. Dissolve Azuki bean paste in water. Do the same for Matcha powder. You may choose to strain the Azuki mixture but I find that bits of red bean in icing enhances the flavour without causing the royal icing to have difficulty drying. 

2. Sift together icing sugar and meringue powder. Gradually add Azuki water/ grean tea while whisking with a hand whisk. About 10-12g of liquid will do. Keep whisking continuously for 5-6 minutes until stiff peaks form. An electric mixer is not a neccesity. In fact, I have been using hand whisk instead of electric mixer to make royal icing for the past couple of months. Add more icing sugar if the icing is too runny. Add more liquid if it is too thick to whisk.

Important note: Under-whipped royal icing is very hard to bite. Over-whipped royal icing is porous and sandy-textured. I find 5-6 minutes of continuous hand whisking produces an icing texture that is about right. 

3. Transfer icing to piping bag fitted with a star tip. Pipe a dollop of icing onto the biscuit bases.

4. You may air-dry the biscuits but I prefer to oven dry at 70°C with fan mode to speed things up and keep the biscuit base crisp.

Store in air tight container when icing is completely dry and biscuits are cool.

I am submitting this post to Best Recipes for Everyone Jan & Feb 2015 Event Theme: My Homemade Cookies organized by Fion of XuanHom’s Mom and co-hosted by Victoria Bakes.

With love,
Phay Shing