White Day Sakura Cookies

On the 14th of March in Japan is a day called White Day this is like Valentine’s Day but to day the girls get the gifts and on Valentine’s Day the men get the gifts. In celebration I made sugared Sakura cookies. In Japan the cherry blossoms are preserved using a special process using ume plum vinegar and salt. So as the cookies are not salty I soaked them in water then dried them . Hope everyone has a lovely White Day in Japan. 幸せなホワイトデー 自家製さくら、クッキー

First you need to wash and dry your Sakura flowers as shown

you will need

in one bowl

1 cup oat flour

2/3 cup almond flour ( meal )

1 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

in another bowl

1/4 cup of melted coconut butter / oil

1 tablespoon of flax meal

1/2 cup of rice malt syrup

1-2 tablespoons of water  add 1 to start with

caster sugar for decorating and Sakura flowers

if you are wondering how to find Preserved Sakura flowers out side of Japan check your Japanese super market in the tea section these ones were sold as Sakura tea . There is no tea leaves just flowers in salt . These flowers are often dunk as a salty tea in Japan for Hanami ( cherry blossom viewing season ) with a  wagashi Japanese sweet .

mix wet mixture into dry mixture if it seams to dry add more water mix well until a dough forms .

Roll your mixture out on parchment paper and cut out cookie rounds with a cookie cutter and transfer to a baking sheet lined with more parchment paper .

press a Sakura flower into each cookie and sprinkle with carter sugar

bake in a moderate oven until cookies are golden

leave to cool and enjoy .