If you are a beginner for Japanese desserts and not so sure about jumping into sweet red bean paste concoctions, Green Tea Cookies might be the perfect place to start. Most people are familiar with western-style cookies, and this is certainly in the same family. It just has less butter and more flour (two different kinds, cake flour and cornstarch). Because of that, the texture of the cookies is more powdery, and the texture might be a little different from what you are used to. Also it’s not overly sweet. Nonetheless, it tastes good (and Japanese)!
Matcha Green Tea Cookies
Cut-out cookies flavored with Matcha green tea
Servings: 4 servings
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Ingredients
- 5 Tbsp butter room temperature
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 Tbsp milk
- 3/4 cup cornstarch
- 3/4 cup plus 1Tbsp cake flour
- 4 tsp Matcha powder
- white chocolate
Instructions
- Sift cornstarch, cake flour, and green tea powder together. Set aside.
- Beat soft butter in a mixing bowl. Add powdered sugar and sugar and mix.
- Add yolks and milk and mix well. Add flour mixture and mix (don’t over mix).
- Let the dough rest for 30-60 minutes in the refrigerator.
- Roll out dough to 1/4″ thick and cut out with cookie cutter.
- Bake at 350F (175C) in preheated oven for 10-13 minutes.
- Cool completely on cookie rack, and decorate with chocolate if you want.
Video
Hanano
November 20, 2013 at 11:01 pmhello, is your powdered sugar US version? like the one mixed with corn starch?or is it the just plain powdered sugar? Because technically, powdered sugar is equivalent to icing sugar. How do you make the pink decoration that you had in the picture? also, do you have any idea on how to make matcha green tea sort of icing thing? Thank you!
Noriko
December 1, 2013 at 10:35 pmHanano,
it is American powdered sugar which contains corn starch in our recipe. We used strawberry chocolate for the pink decoration. However, you could use small amount of matcha green tea to mix with royal icing for decoration (we don’t have royal icing recipe on the site).
Wendy
December 20, 2013 at 5:49 pmHow many cookies do this recipes make?
Thank you! 🙂
Noriko
January 7, 2014 at 11:57 pmWendy,
depending on the size of a cookie cutter, but 2-3 dozen small cookies.
ngan tran
January 19, 2014 at 6:41 pmHello…Should not baking powder?
Noriko
February 1, 2014 at 12:03 pmngan,
no need.
Bella
February 10, 2014 at 10:59 amCan I subsitute the cake flour with all purpose flour? And can I reduce the amount of the recipe by half? Thank you in advance 😀
Noriko
February 10, 2014 at 1:11 pmBella,
you could, but the texture might become a little different (ap gives more structure). And yes, you can make 1/2 recipe.
Bella
February 10, 2014 at 11:36 pmThanks for the reply. I’ll give it a try
Justin
February 23, 2014 at 2:15 pmJust made this recipe today. Turned out great, even for a somewhat amateurish baking gent, such as myself. Not too sweet, but just sweet enough. I didn’t add icing (maybe next time). It was plain, but simple in appearance and with the use of a cat shaped cookie cutter, I suppose that gave them an understated charm. Looking forward to devouring some of them with my mocha! Thanks, Noriko.
Noriko
February 23, 2014 at 5:40 pmJustin,
you’re welcome, and come back for more recipes!
Tra Giang
March 2, 2014 at 7:56 pmDear Noriko ,
how to make stripping strawbeery chocolate to decorate on the top ?
Thank you.
Noriko
March 2, 2014 at 11:22 pmTra Giang,
melt chocolate, put it in a pastry bag, and then just squeeze it onto cookies.
Chloe
March 10, 2014 at 4:07 amI made the cookies today! They tasted sweet, but not too sweet, texture is powdery but the green tea flavour was not strong enough ><.. can I add in more green tea powder? Do I have to add more milk if I add more green tea powder?
Noriko
March 10, 2014 at 7:30 pmChloe,
you could of course add more Matcha green tea powder for stronger flavor. I don’t think you need any more milk.
Winny
April 4, 2014 at 1:27 pmHow many ml is your cup? I find out that there are different sizes of cups. Usually is one cup is 240ml but I also see 250ml or 234ml in the store.
Noriko
September 14, 2014 at 3:56 pmWinny,
one cup = 240ml.
helen
April 14, 2014 at 1:08 amHi, I am from Bulgaria and living in Stockholm, and I have never been to Japan. But I am very inspired by your recipes, they work very well. these cookies turned out great! I have tried also the ice cream and now I will cook your curry 🙂 post more healthy dishes without sugar please… we are a no-sugar no-fat family 🙂
Noriko
April 14, 2014 at 11:04 pmhelen,
thanks for trying our recipes!
Theresa
April 23, 2014 at 9:39 amWhat ingredient is the “3/4 cup plus” referring to?
Noriko
April 28, 2014 at 10:06 pmTheresa,
cake flour.
brittany
April 29, 2014 at 11:52 pmI tried it without the white chocolate today. It was good, not too sweet. Thank you for sharing !
Noriko
May 3, 2014 at 5:17 pmbrittany,
glad you liked the recipe!
Bonnie
May 23, 2014 at 8:39 amcould adding more green tea powder affect the taste of the cookie? 🙂 also, what is the difference with using cake flour and all purpose flour? thanks!
Noriko
June 2, 2014 at 11:58 pmBonnie,
you could increase the amount of green tea some, but too much would make the texture different.
All purpose flour has more gluten in it; therefore it becomes heavier texture.
Ting
June 1, 2014 at 7:05 amI tried making these cookies today according to your recipe but the crust turned out really hard but it did retain the powdery texture. Are the cookies supposed to be like this? Or what did I do wrong 🙁
Noriko
June 2, 2014 at 11:04 pmTing,
it is not soft cookies, but you could over-bake them, too. You can try baking a minute or two less next time. Thanks for trying our recipe!
Mikayla
June 7, 2014 at 12:21 amIs there a substitute for corn starch and cake flour?
Noriko
September 14, 2014 at 3:04 pmMikayla,
You could use all purpose flour instead, however, please keep it in mind that will change the texture and flavor. Substitution always has risk of altering recipes.
Ngoc Tram
June 29, 2014 at 3:34 amThank you so much for your recipe, it s very convenient when you measure your ingredients in both tbspoon and gram.
Noriko
September 13, 2014 at 10:23 pmNgoc,
glad we can help!
Matt
July 11, 2014 at 12:00 amThank you for your youtube channel and all the hard work you put in to teaching us how to make these beautiful and delicious Japanese dishes. I really enjoy them, keep up the Awesome work!
Noriko
September 13, 2014 at 5:32 pmMatt,
thanks!
mandy
July 31, 2014 at 8:27 amHow many days can the cookies last ( with chocolate icing) ? Thanks
Noriko
September 13, 2014 at 1:40 pmmandy,
3-4 days in an air tight container.
Iam
August 24, 2014 at 11:08 amI think I might try to make this one day, once I get the necessary ingredients.
Noriko
September 8, 2014 at 9:39 pmIam,
good luck!
Tea
September 14, 2014 at 8:24 amThe dough I made was not dry like yours but sticky. Is that because I over mixed the ingredient? Thank you
Noriko
September 14, 2014 at 12:52 pmTea,
it doesn’t get sticky by over mixing. Did you measure ingredients right? No substitutions?
Felicity
October 4, 2014 at 9:36 amI am going to be making these today for a school project about Japan. But is it ok if i use all purpose flour instead of cake flour? And if they’re dipped in chocolate will the green tea flavor still come through?
Noriko
October 11, 2014 at 4:43 pmFelicity,
the texture will be different if you use a substitution, but the flavor is the same. As long as you don’t use too much chocolate, you can still taste green tea flavor.
Lyde
November 27, 2016 at 12:49 amThis recipe different with shortbread cookies5?
Clyn Rissielyn
February 3, 2017 at 3:00 amHi,i was wondering how long can this cookies stay good? I was thinking about sending some to my friends and other friends which is in another country ,will it not spoil?