Green cookies.
Matcha green tea shortbread cookies...
I know, it sounds strange, but it works!
If you are a fan of matcha powder (a big thing in the health world right now,) then you will love these cookies! I know the cookies themselves are not very healthy (hello, butter!) but it is a great way to get the matcha powder into you if you don't care for tea or smoothies. I used my basic shortbread cookie recipe and added the matcha powder to it. The base recipe is so good I knew these had to turn out. Plus, I always make shortbread cookies at Christmas and I now believe I have found a cool alternative to the Grinch Christmas cookies! These cookies have a lovely shade of green with no added food coloring, so keep that in mind!
📖 Recipe
Matcha Green Tea Shortbread Cookies
These matcha green tea shortbread cookies have an impeccable taste and makes them perfect for a green "Grinch" cookie for X-mas with no food coloring.
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter, room temperature
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour (1 tbsp. removed.)
- ½ cup confectioners' sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 2 tbsp. matcha powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, add all of the ingredients and mix until well combined. Measure out 1 tablespoonful sized portions and roll into balls. Press down slightly on each cookie ball.
- Bake for 10-13 minutes, or until bottom of cookies are lightly brown (do not over bake!!)
- Cool on pan for about 5 minutes and then move to wire rack.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 24 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 106Total Fat: 8gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 20mgSodium: 61mgCarbohydrates: 8gFiber: 0gSugar: 2gProtein: 1g
I saw on another site where someone rolled their uncooked cookie dough in granulated sugar before baking. I tried that with a couple but found we stilled preferred the "plain" cookies. Give it a try though, it does add a nice crispiness to them.
Thalia @ butter and brioche
Never eaten a matcha shortbread cookie before.. great idea Kacey, curious to know what they taste like!
Kacey
Thanks Thalia, I will say this: matcha is an acquired taste 🙂 Thankfully we love it!
Karen
I made these cookies and I think there is an error in the amount of flour.
Should it not be double what is indicated? or at least 2 cups ?
I looked at other shortbread recipes I have , and 1/2 cup butter with 1 1/2 cups flour.
Could you please verify ?
Kacey
Hi Karen. The recipe listed is the one I have used for years and have never had any trouble. The recipe I based these shortbread cookies off of calls for 1 cup butter and 1 1/2 cups flour. Are you including the confectioners' sugar as well? I know many people will chill their cookies before baking if that helps.
Gayle
How many cookies will this recipe make?
Kacey
The recipes makes approximately 24 cookies (when measuring out 1 tablespoon-sized portions.)
Olivine
These look delicious and I might give them a try tomorrow. Will 2 tbsp of the matcha powder be enough to give the cookies a noticeable matcha flavour? Thanks.
Kacey
I would say it depends on your matcha flavour tolerance. I thought they were just right, but find matcha can be overpowering at times. Others, who had never had matcha before, were kind of thrown off by the flavour (don't blame them, it is an acquired taste, but delicious!) Perhaps start off with two tablespoons and give the raw dough a taste to see if it needs more for your liking 🙂
Olivine
Thanks! I ended up using the 2 tbsp and it was fine. I found that the flavour was even more apparent when drinking milk while eating the cookies 🙂 Delicious!
Kacey
That is great! Glad you enjoyed them.
Julie
Unfortunately these didn't turn out for me 🙁 I thought I followed the recipe exactly, so I'm not sure what wrong.
Kacey
Did they not rise? Or did they spread out? This recipe is an adaptation of my shortbread cookie which has been made dozens of times with no issues 🙂 I plan to revisit this recipe since we loved them so much (only have had the chance to make them twice!)
Miss Ng
These were wonderful and so easy to make! My friend and I are utterly delighted with them. We added chocolate dragees in some of them and the sweetness worked so well with the bitterness of the green tea that we were just sold. Thanks so much for the recipe. Do you have other recipes that are similarly foolproof? (our baking experiments do not have a consistently positive outcome)
Kacey
Ah! I am so sorry, I am just seeing this comment now! Glad you loved them so much and put your own spin on them 🙂 I actually find any of my shortbread recipes to be super easy and you can customize them to your liking. I just made these matcha cookies with half coconut oil and half butter, with toasted coconut and lime zest in them (instead of the matcha powder itself!) Should be posting them this week! Thanks again for the kind words 🙂
LeAndra
These look so good! Definitely making these with my matcha.
Kacey
Yay!! Matcha-lovers unite!