These pretty green matcha sugar cookies feature soft thick centers and lightly crisp edges. The subtle matcha flavor is complemented by sweet white chocolate.
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Match green tea powder brings a unique flavor and a gorgeous green hue to these matcha cookies, perfect for matcha lovers. It is earthy with a slightly bitter taste.
It's a great way to naturally color sugar cookies and matcha's unique flavor and earthy tones bring a new layer of flavor to a classic sugar cookie. Finish the cookie with a drizzle of white chocolate.
What matcha to use
In recent years it has become very popular to add this fine powder to all sorts of foods and drinks. Many grades of matcha powder are available, but the quality of the matcha differs. Not all are created equal.
Usually, they are roughly split into two groups - ceremonial matcha and culinary matcha. Ceremonial grade matcha powder tends to be the highest quality powder, with better matcha flavor and a more bright green color. This is the tea powder used in tea ceremonies. Culinary matcha is lower quality, in terms of the age of the leaves picked or the quality of leaves.
Matcha is grown in a very specific way. It requires the tea leaves to be shaded for 3 weeks before they are harvested to generate chlorophyll in the leaves. This is what gives Matcha its beautiful green color.
The good news is that culinary-grade matcha powder is still excellent to use in baked goods, matcha lattes, and smoothies, where the high quality isn't as important as in a tea ceremony but it still brings the green tea flavor.
Sugar cookie
This matcha sugar cookie recipe is for soft-cut-out cookies. They hold their shape well and don't spread in the oven. They are perfect cookies to decorate with royal icing or to dip in white chocolate.
Chill the dough prior to cutting out the cookies. It's easiest and fastest to roll it out into a ¼ inch slab and chill that. Cut the cookies when the dough is cold and firm.
Matcha and white chocolate
The finished baked cookies are drizzled or dipped in melted white chocolate. Sweet white chocolate complements the bitter notes and earthy flavor of the green tea well.
Ingredients
Find the actual ingredient amounts for these matcha sugar cookies in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post. For these cookies, you will need -
- All-purpose flour
- Matcha powder
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Granulated white sugar
- Unsalted butter, room temperature
- Large egg
- Vanilla extract
- White chocolate
Step-by-step instructions
Matcha cookie dough
In a small bowl combine the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. Sift in the matcha powder.
Whisk it together well to remove any matcha powder lumps.
In a separate bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, add the room temperature butter and granulated sugar.
Beat it with a handheld electric mixer or the paddle attachment on your stand mixer at medium speed for around 2-3 minutes until creamy.
Add in the egg and vanilla and beat for another minute.
Tip in the dry ingredients.
Use a fork or spatula to combine them into a rough green dough.
Switch to using your hands to press it all together until a sticky and soft dough forms.
The dough will feel very soft but it will firm up once chilled.
Rolling
Place a sheet of parchment paper on a work surface and sprinkle with flour. Add the dough on top, then sprinkle the top of the dough with a little more flour. Add a second sheet of parchment paper over top.
Roll the dough out between the two sheets of parchment paper until it is ¼ inch thick.
Keep the dough covered with parchment paper and chill it in the fridge for at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours. If you're chilling it for longer than an hour, it pays to wrap the dough in a plastic wrap too to stop the edges from drying out.
Baking
Heat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Remove the cold cookie dough from the fridge and take off the top sheet of parchment paper. Use cookie cutters to cut the dough into shapes. Re-roll any remaining dough and continue cutting until all is used.
Arrange the cut cookies onto the baking tray, spaced around 2 inches apart.
Bake the cookies for around 10 minutes or until just coloring at the bottoms of the cookies. You don't want the cookies browning or you'll lose the green matcha color.
Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
Dip or drizzle with melted white chocolate once cooled.
White chocolate coating
In a microwave-safe bowl, melt the white chocolate in 15-second increments, stirring after each time. When the chocolate has nearly almost melted, stop microwaving it and keep stirring it until it's completely smooth. Use a spoon or fork to drizzle white chocolate over each cookie.
Alternatively, dip half of each cookie into the white chocolate. Place the coated cookies on parchment paper and let the chocolate harden at room temperature or in the fridge.
Storing
Enjoy these matcha cookies as a morning or afternoon tea snack. Store leftover green tea cookies in an airtight container and stored at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
The cookies can also be wrapped and frozen for up to 3 months.
More cookie recipes
Matcha Cookies with White Chocolate
These pretty green matcha sugar cookies feature soft thick centers and lightly crisp edges.
Ingredients
- 188g (1 ½ cups*) all-purpose flour plus more for dusting
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 ½ tablespoons matcha powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 113g (½ cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 100g (½ cup ) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla paste
- 170g (6oz) white chocolate for dipping
Instructions
- In a small bowl combine the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. Sift in the matcha powder. Whisk all the dry ingredients together well to remove any matcha powder lumps.
- In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, add the room temperature butter and granulated sugar. Beat it with a handheld electric mixer or the paddle attachment on your stand mixer at medium-high speed for around 2-3 minutes until creamy.
- Add in the egg and vanilla and beat for another minute.
- Tip in the dry ingredients and use a fork or spatula to combine them into a rough and crumbly dough. Switch to using your hands to press it all together into a soft dough. The dough should be soft, but if it is too sticky, add in another tablespoon of flour.
- Place a sheet of parchment paper on a work surface and sprinkle with flour. Add the dough on top, then sprinkle the top of the dough with a little more flour. Add a second sheet of parchment paper over top.
- Roll the dough out between the two sheets of parchment paper until it is ¼ inch thick.
- Keep the dough covered with parchment paper and chill it in the fridge for at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours. If you're chilling it for longer than an hour, it pays to wrap the dough in a plastic wrap too to stop the edges from drying out.
- Heat the oven to 350°F (177°C) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Remove the cold cookie dough from the fridge and take off the top sheet of parchment paper. Use cookie cutters to cut the dough into shapes. Re-roll any remaining dough and continue cutting until all is used.
- Arrange the cut cookies onto the baking tray, spaced around 2 inches apart. Bake the cookies for around 10-11 minutes or until just coloring at the bottoms of the cookies. You don't want the cookies browning or you'll lose the green matcha color.
- Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
White chocolate
- In a microwave-safe bowl, melt the white chocolate in 15-second increments, stirring after each time. When the chocolate has nearly almost melted, stop microwaving it and keep stirring it until it's completely smooth. Use a spoon or fork to drizzle white chocolate over each cookie.
- Alternatively, dip half of each cookie into the white chocolate. Place the coated cookies on parchment paper and let the chocolate harden at room temperature or in the fridge.
Notes
*These are US size cups. These are smaller than metric cups. For best results, use grams.
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