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
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
43 Comments
hello, 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!
Hanano,
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).
How many cookies do this recipes make?
Thank you! 🙂
Wendy,
depending on the size of a cookie cutter, but 2-3 dozen small cookies.
Hello…Should not baking powder?
ngan,
no need.
Can I subsitute the cake flour with all purpose flour? And can I reduce the amount of the recipe by half? Thank you in advance 😀
Bella,
you could, but the texture might become a little different (ap gives more structure). And yes, you can make 1/2 recipe.
Thanks for the reply. I’ll give it a try
Just 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.
Justin,
you’re welcome, and come back for more recipes!
Dear Noriko ,
how to make stripping strawbeery chocolate to decorate on the top ?
Thank you.
Tra Giang,
melt chocolate, put it in a pastry bag, and then just squeeze it onto cookies.
I 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?
Chloe,
you could of course add more Matcha green tea powder for stronger flavor. I don’t think you need any more milk.
How 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.
Winny,
one cup = 240ml.
Hi, 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 🙂
helen,
thanks for trying our recipes!
What ingredient is the “3/4 cup plus” referring to?
Theresa,
cake flour.
I tried it without the white chocolate today. It was good, not too sweet. Thank you for sharing !
brittany,
glad you liked the recipe!
could 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!
Bonnie,
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.
I 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 🙁
Ting,
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!
Is there a substitute for corn starch and cake flour?
Mikayla,
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.
Thank you so much for your recipe, it s very convenient when you measure your ingredients in both tbspoon and gram.
Ngoc,
glad we can help!
Thank 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!
Matt,
thanks!
How many days can the cookies last ( with chocolate icing) ? Thanks
mandy,
3-4 days in an air tight container.
I think I might try to make this one day, once I get the necessary ingredients.
Iam,
good luck!
The dough I made was not dry like yours but sticky. Is that because I over mixed the ingredient? Thank you
Tea,
it doesn’t get sticky by over mixing. Did you measure ingredients right? No substitutions?
I 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?
Felicity,
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.
This recipe different with shortbread cookies5?
Hi,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?