Enjoy your afternoon tea with these crisp and buttery Matcha Cookies. The unique flavor combination of matcha and white chocolate is surprisingly delightful!
I have always had a sweet tooth starting at a young age. As I got older, my taste bud for sweets has evolved and I’ve come to appreciate baked goods and confectionaries that have different tones of flavor and are preferably not overly sweet. When comes to flavoring in the sweet department, my absolute favorite is matcha (green tea powder). The earthy, slightly bitter taste with a sweet hint of vanilla-like aroma of matcha is utterly dreamy and alluring, which makes it a delightful ingredient to work with. It is subtle but unmistakable.
And good news for matcha lovers! You can now find every imaginable snack and sweet available in matcha flavor. Specialty stores, mini markets, and even food courts at the departmental stores in Japan are offering matcha flavored goodies with an astonishing array of selections. Since I’ve been inspired to cook and bake with matcha, I’m excited to share one of my favorite butter cookies, Matcha Cookies (抹茶クッキー) with you today.
What is Matcha?
Before I begin talking about these cookies, let me share a bit of info on Matcha with you.
Matcha is a type of tea leaf powder that has a beautiful vivid green color. However, it’s different from the “green tea” that you drink with Japanese meals. That’s green tea too, but matcha leaves are grown and harvested differently. The leaves are grown under shade.
For those of you who want to try this recipe, I hope you can find 100% pure matcha powder in your local Asian grocery store. The good quality ones should have very beautiful green, not dull green. Japanese grocery stores around my area sell Maeda-En matcha and you can also get it on Amazon. It’s a bit pricey but matcha is expensive in Japan as well.
Adding White Chocolate Chips
These cookies are really delicious even without white chocolate chips (if you’re not a fan of white chocolate). However, I highly recommend it as matcha brings its characteristic bitter flavor to the cookies, and the sweetness from white chocolate chips actually balances out the cookies quite well.
If you add regular chocolate chips, the milk chocolate can be too strong and it ruins the unique matcha flavor and fragrance so I don’t recommend it.
Instead of white chocolate chips, I’ve also tried rolling the chilled cookie logs over white sparkling sugar (large sugar crystals) before slicing the dough. This is a great way to add more sweetness to the cookies. The large sugar crystals will keep their shape and give a nice sweetness and sparkles to the cookies.
I’ve also seen JOC readers adding macadamia nuts instead of white chocolate chips. Great idea!
Buttery and Crispy Texture
This type of cookie is known as butter cookies or icebox cookies. They also go by shortbread cookies or sable cookies. They are unleavened cookies, which means that leavening agents such as baking powder or baking soda are not used in the recipe.
The ingredients are simple: butter, sugar, and flour. They often include vanilla extract, but I omit it because it’s too strong for matcha flavor.
These cookies are crisp rather than chewy or soft. If you have tried and love shortbread cookies, you can expect a similar crispy texture.
Don’t Skip Chilling the Dough!
Chilling the dough intensifies the flavor of the dough and retains its shape in the oven (so the butter in the dough doesn’t melt fast). Hold tight for just 2 hours. You can clean up the kitchen and preheat the oven during this time.
If you like to cut out the cookie dough, roll the dough into a large disk, chill, then roll it out again before cutting it out into shapes.
I hope you enjoy making this Matcha Cookie recipe. They are perfect for a cozy afternoon snack or for your cookie swap during the holiday season!
More Cookie Recipes
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Matcha Cookies
Video
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (plain flour) (weigh your flour; for weights, click the Metric button; or use the “fluff and sprinkle“ method and level it off)
- 2½ Tbsp matcha green tea powder (1 Tbsp matcha is 6 g)
- ¾ cup unsalted butter (softened, at room temperature)
- 1 pinch Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 130 g confectioners’ sugar (1 cup + 2 tsp)
- 2 large egg yolks (at room temperature)
- ¼ cup good-quality white chocolate baking chips
Instructions
Before You Start…
- Please note that this recipe requires a chilling time of 2 hours. Gather all the ingredients. I highly encourage you to weigh your ingredients using a kitchen scale for this recipe. Click on the “Metric“ button at the top of the recipe to convert the ingredient measurements to metric. If you‘re using a cup measurement, please follow the “fluff and sprinkle“ method: Fluff your flour with a spoon, sprinkle the flour into your measuring cup, and level it off. Otherwise, you may scoop more flour than you need.
To Make and Chill the Dough
- Combine 2 cups all-purpose flour (plain flour) and 2½ Tbsp matcha green tea powder in a large bowl.
- Sift the flour and the matcha powder.
- In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat ¾ cup unsalted butter until smooth and creamy. Tip: It’s important to soften the butter ahead of time. Leave the butter out on the counter for 1 hour or microwave it in 5-second increments until it‘s softened.
- Add 1 pinch Diamond Crystal kosher salt and blend.
- Add 130 g confectioners’ sugar (1 cup + 2 tsp) and beat well until soft and light. As you blend, stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl occasionally.
- Add 2 large egg yolks and mix well until combined.
- Gradually add the flour and matcha mixture and mix until just combined.
- Add ¼ cup good-quality white chocolate baking chips and mix until just incorporated.
- Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a cylinder about 1½ inches (4 cm) in diameter and 7 inches (18 cm) long.
- Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator until firm, at least 2 hours. Tip: You can place the logs on a bed of uncooked rice while chilling. It’ll keep the dough in a nice cylindrical shape so your cookie slices won’t be flat on one side. To Freeze for Later: You can also freeze the unbaked logs of dough, wrapped in plastic wrap, for up to 2 months. To bake, let sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes before cutting and baking. Do not let the dough fully defrost.
To Bake
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF (175ºC). For a convection oven, reduce the cooking temperature by 25ºF (15ºC). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking liner. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and unwrap the plastic wrap. Use a sharp knife to slice the dough into rounds about ⅓ inch (7 mm) thick. If the dough is too hard to slice, wait 5 minutes or so before slicing. Place the sliced dough on the baking sheet, leaving about 1 inch (2.5 cm) of space between the rounds.
- Bake the cookies at 350ºF (175ºC) for about 15 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies start to get slightly golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes; then carefully transfer the cookies to a wire cooling rack and let them cool completely before serving.
To Store
- You can keep the cooled cookies in an airtight container and store them at room temperature for at least 4 days.
Notes
Nutrition
Editor’s Note: The post was originally published on November 11, 2011. Since then the post has been updated with a new video, new pictures, and an updated recipe in July 2016.
Hi
please advise how best to store baked cookies for more than a week.
can they be kept in the freezer after baking?
thank you
Hi Grace! Thank you for trying Nami’s recipe.
Yes. You may keep them in an airtight container and store them in the freezer.
Hope this helps!
This is a great recipe thank you so much for sharing. Having a Macadamia Tree in the backyard I am pretty lucky to sub in these instead of white choc they are great with a green tea or oolong. Have you ever thought about subbing in Hojicha powder instead of Matcha? I wonder how it would go?
Hi, Mark! Thank you for trying Nami’s recipe.
We’ve never tried this recipe with Hojicha powder, but it sounds intriguing. If you attempt it, please let us know how it goes!
Hi Naomi
Well I gave it a try and its not too bad just subbed in matcha with Hojicha powder. If I had to choose between, I would choose your matcha design. Definitely a talking point when sharing with friends but when sipping with my Oolong I’d reach for the Matcha first followed by this as a close second!!!
Hello Mark! Thank you for the update and feedback!😃
My matcha powder was less green so it didn’t look that nice. Will buy some in the Japan Centre in London as two of my daughters live there and it’s not far from Ireland where I live (I’m a German having learned Japanese in Germany). The taste of the cookies is lovely and for my Irish neighbours it’s better to be less Greenish as they don’t know Japanese food. I will reduce the amount of sugar next time though.
Good idea. I tasted the dough a bit and they are far too sweet.
Also I’m under the assumption she wanted us to mix the sugar in with the butter and egg yolks as we were mixing them since she doesn’t specify at all what to actually ‘do’ with the sugar.
She also says to ‘weigh your flower’ but then doesn’t provide any actual weight so there’s no point in weighing 2 cups of flour.
Hello Derp! Thank you for trying Nami’s recipe.
2 cups of flour equals 240 g. The weight can be viewed by clicking the Metric measurement. We hope this helps!🙂
Hi Waltraud! Thank you for trying Nami’s recipe and sharing the experience with us!🤗
These turned out beautifully, and pack a nice matcha punch. I drizzled melted white chocolate over the tops instead of baking the chips inside. Easiest recipe ever, although I went to three grocery store to find the matcha.
Hi, Brian! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe!
We’re glad to hear you found the matcha and baked the tasty cookies!
hello! Can it be done without using a mixer?
Hello, Grace. Thank you for trying Nami’s recipe!
Yes, a whisk and spatula can be used. We hope this helps!
These cookies are fantastic! The perfect flavor and texture! Matcha heaven with these! I am wondering if there’s anyway to make a similar cookie without the matcha for my non matcha loving friends and family?
Hello, Alyssa. Thank you for trying Nami’s recipe.
We’re happy to hear you enjoyed the cookies.
We hadn’t tried it before, but what about replacing the match with cocoa powder? It might work!
Alternatively, try this similar cookie recipe. https://www.justonecookbook.com/meyer-lemon-cookies/
I hope this helps! 🤗
Hello. Can’t wait to try these as I will make them for a reunion of our group that recently travelled to Japan. I even bought matcha! Question: I don’t like white chocolate and so wonder if I could instead add nuts? Would the addition of slivered almonds work? Would you suggest some other nut?
Hi, Alexandra! Thank you for trying Nami’s recipe.
We’ve seen JOC readers adding macadamia nuts instead of white chocolate chips. Since it is less sweet than white chocolate, you might want to modify the sweetness balance to your liking.
We hope everyone enjoys the cookies!🤗
I had to leave this comment because I had to search if anyone else had the same problem – crumbly dough. I made this twice before and this never happened. After deciding to start over, I then realized that I didn’t use enough butter. The first 2 times I weighed everything but this time decided to just cut the butter stick according to the wrapper. That’s where I made the mistake. So if I just weighed it like the previous times, it would have been fine. I think those who had the same problem were short on butter.
But after correcting it, they came out great! Everyone loves these!
Hi, Gail! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe and sharing your baking experience with us! 🤗
Hi, just wondering if i can chill the dough overnight in the fridge? Thank you
Hi, Kim! Thank you for trying Nami’s recipe.
Yes. You may chill them overnight. We hope you like the cookies!🤗
These are absolutely delicious! Just the right amount of sweetness with the white chocolate chips, easy to make, and thoroughly addictive. Perfect especially for folks who might not want a sugary sweet cookie.
Hi Chris, we’re glad you enjoyed Nami’s recipe! 🥰
Japanese cookies are usually less sweet, so you might enjoy Nami’s other cookie recipes too. We hope you try them out!
https://www.justonecookbook.com/miso-butter-cookies/
Happy baking!
We recently came back from a family holiday in Japan, which we loved! I made these to take into my work in New Zealand and they were wonderful! My colleagues loved them.
Hi Heather! Happy New Year!
Thank you so much for trying Nami’s Matcha Cookies recipe and sharing the joy with everyone. Happy Baking!🤗
Hi Naomi,
Thank you so much for sharing your great recipes with us. I just need a precision as I don’t live in the US. A stick of butter in my country weighs 250g. How many grams of butter do you put in this recipe? Or how many grams is the stick of butter you use? I’m looking forward to making the matcha cookies and I don’t want to make any mistakes in the quantity of the ingredients.
Season’s greetings!
Hi Mei, Thank you so much for taking the time to read Nami’s post and try her recipe!
She used 170 grams of unsalted butter. When you click “Metric” on the recipe card, the weight of the ingredients will be displayed.
We hope this was helpful! 🙂
hi! would i be able to use whole wheat flour instead of normal AP flour?
Hello, Ashley! We haven’t tested it using whole wheat flour, but you’d need extra eggs to make the cookie dough. The cookie texture will also be different and denser.
Thank you for experimenting with Nami’s recipe!
This is my all-time favorite cookie recipe. Matcha isn’t very popular in my country, so these always satisfy my cravings for it. And I get a ton of smiles when I hand them out too. I like making mine with and without the white chocolate, because they taste nice either way. Even non-matcha fans like these.
I don’t usually leave reviews, but I’ve made these so many times, I simply had to at this point. Though I would add; whatever you do, do use quality matcha. I promise, it will come through in these cookies.
Hello there! Thank you very much for reading Nami’s post and trying her recipe!
We are so happy to hear everyone enjoyed Matcha Cookies!
Thank you for your kind feedback. Happy Baking! 🤗