Easy Sakura-Shaped Rice Flour Cookies For Sakura Viewing

Bring butter to room temperature.
Rub the excess salt off from the sakura flowers and chop it up finely.
Cream the butter with a whisk, then add the sugar in 4 goes and whisk until it becomes fluffy.
Then add beaten egg in 3 parts and mix.
Add the chopped sakura flowers and the vanilla oil and mix.
Then add the rice flour in 4 portions and fold in after each addition using a rubber spatula.
Dust a flat surface with flour and turn the dough out onto it.
Dust the surface of the dough as well and roll out with a rolling pin until the dough is about 3 mm thick.
Wrap the dough with a plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
Use your favorite cookie cutter to cut out the shapes.
Put the dough back into the refrigerator if the dough becomes too soft.
When you push the dough out of the cookie cutter, make sure to clean away any left over dough.
If you dust the inside of the cutter with flour as well the cookies will come out cleanly every time.
Line on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper with some space in between, and bake in an oven preheated to 170C for 15 to 20 minutes.
Once the cookies are cool enough to touch, transfer the cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Store in an airtight container.
I used fine rice flour for this recipe which can be found in the baking corners of most supermarkets.
You can't substitute joshinko as it is too coarse.
I have uploaded a related recipe, the Leaf-Shaped Cookies, at.