Hojicha White Chocolate Cookies with Sesame Toffee

These cookies are flavoured with matcha’s underrated cousin, hojicha. When combined with white chocolate and studded with bits of sesame toffee, they deliver a delicious balance of sweet, toasty flavours and a texture that’s both crisp and chewy.

Matcha has been all the rage over the past few years, but I don’t think hojicha gets nearly enough attention. This may be an unpopular opinion, but I actually prefer hojicha’s flavour. As a roasted green tea, it has a certain depth and nuttiness that works so well in desserts. I’ve experimented with a hojicha creme caramel and basque cheesecake, both of which need a bit more work.

This is a take on my favourite gluten-free cookie recipe, with the addition of hojicha powder. The sesame toffee is adapted from Justine Doiron’s rhubarb cookie recipe, and provides such as nice savoury crunch.

As usual, there are some important notes in regards to the flour blend, resting time and baking temperature:

• This recipe comes together easily by hand since it uses melted butter. Whilst browning the butter can provide a deeper flavour, I personally do not think this is necessary.
• The ratio of brown sugar to caster sugar is pivotal in providing that crisp edge and chewy interior.
• These cookies use a combination of brown rice flour, potato starch and tapioca starch. I find that brown rice flour is highly variable depending on the brand. The original recipe I developed had almost double the amount of brown rice flour. However, when I purchased a different brown rice flour, that recipe did not work as the flour was finer and more powdery, and the dough was far too dry. This particular recipe is based on the finer brown rice flour, so I hopefully it works for you.

Baking notes continued:

• The most important part of this recipe is refrigerating the dough for at least 3 hours. This is because it allows the flavour to develop but also affects the appearance and texture of the cookies. If time permits, I recommend resting the dough overnight. If the dough is not cool enough and feels quite greasy, then you will end up with a flat and crinkly cookie. After the dough is rolled into balls and placed onto a tray, I recommend putting the tray in the refrigerator whilst you portion the remaining dough. They would then be ready to bake.
• Before these cookies are baked, I like to add some extra white chocolate on top of the balls of dough. This is to ensure you can actually see chocolate chunks.
• I find that gluten-free cookies tend to brown quite quickly on the bottom. Other recipes typically involve the usual oven temperature of 180°C or even 200°C. However, I find these temperatures to be far too high and recommend baking these at 160°C (conventional oven). It might be different for your oven and could take some experimentation to find the ideal temperature. Also, I’ve tried baking them on the middle rack, but find the lower rack of my oven works the best.

The dough can be rolled into balls and frozen for up to 2 months. The same baking instructions apply, but I like to place the balls on a tray and leave them at room temperature for about 30 minutes as the oven preheats. This is because if the dough is too frozen, the bottom will brown before the cookie has a chance to spread. Also, I like to bake them on two baking trays to prevent over-browning.

Have a great week, and please let me know if you have any questions!

Hojicha White Chocolate Cookies with Sesame Toffee

Makes 24-26 medium cookies. Sesame toffee recipe adapted from Justine Doiron.

Ingredients

Cookies

• 125g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 110g brown sugar
• 40g caster sugar
• 1 egg and 1 egg yolk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 100g brown rice flour
• 50g potato starch
• 20g tapioca starch
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
• 3 tsp hojicha powder
• 200g white chocolate, roughly chopped
• Flaky salt

Sesame Toffee

• 100g caster sugar
• 1 tbsp water
• 15g unsalted butter
• 25g sesame seeds
• 1/4 tsp salt

Method

1. In a medium bowl, combine the melted butter, brown sugar and caster sugar. Whisk until well-combined; it won’t be homongenous at this stage.
2. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract. Whisk vigorously until the mixutre is slightly lightened and pale in colour, about 1-2 minutes.
3. In a seperate bowl, sift together the brown rice flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, baking powder, baking soda, salt, xanthan gum and hojicha powder. Add the dry ingredients to the butter and egg mixutre, folding until almost no streaks of flour remain.
4. Add the chopped chocolate and fold until evenly incorporated. Reserve about a quarter of the chocolate for topping the cookies later.
5. Cover and refrigerate the dough for at least 3 hours, but preferably overnight.
6. For the sesame toffee, combine the sugar, water and butter in a medium saucepan. Place this over medium-high heat and let it bubble, untouched, for 3-5 minutes, or until the edges turn lightly golden. Once it reaches this stage, swirl the mixture and add the sesame seeds and salt. Mix this quickly before pouring the caramel onto a tray lined with parchment paper. Set aside to harden, then break into small chunks.
7. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 160°C. Line 2-3 baking trays with parchment paper.
8. Roll about 2 tablespoons of dough into balls and place them onto the prepared trays, leaving around 5cm in between each. Top each ball with the remaining chocolate.
9. Bake the cookies for 11-14 minutes, until the cookies are golden brown on the outside but still soft and slightly underbaked in the centre.
10. Whilst the cookies are still warm, immediately press chunks of the sesame toffee into the top of each. Finish with flaky salt. Allow the cookies to cool completely on the tray.