Matcha cookies are buttery green tea cookies -- soft and chewy or crisp and shortbread-style -- that get their jade color and gentle grassy-sweet flavor from culinary matcha, and they pair beautifully with white chocolate. This is a straightforward matcha cookie recipe: cream the butter and sugar, sift the matcha in with the flour so it never clumps, chill the dough, then bake just until the edges set. Get those steps right and you end up with tender green tea cookies that actually taste of matcha rather than plain butter.
What makes matcha cookies work
Matcha is a stone-ground whole green tea leaf, which is why even a spoonful tints a whole batch of dough and adds a soft vegetal bitterness that balances the sugar. For the full background on the powder itself, see our guide to what matcha is. For baking you want culinary-grade matcha, not the pricier ceremonial stuff you would whisk into a drink -- culinary grade is made for color and flavor in food, holds up to heat and sugar, and costs far less. If you are unsure which tin to reach for, our buying matcha powder guide walks through grades and freshness. The one rule that matters most: buy a bright, vivid green powder. A dull, yellowish, or brownish matcha will only look worse once baked.
Ingredients
This makes about 18 soft, white-chocolate matcha cookies. Amounts are given in grams and cups so you can weigh or scoop; weighing gives the most consistent result.
| Ingredient | Grams | Cups / spoons | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unsalted butter, softened | 170 g | 3/4 cup | Room temperature, not melted |
| Granulated sugar | 100 g | 1/2 cup | |
| Light brown sugar | 100 g | 1/2 cup, packed | Adds chew and softness |
| Egg + extra yolk | -- | 1 large egg + 1 yolk | Room temperature |
| Vanilla extract | -- | 1 tsp (5 ml) | |
| All-purpose flour | 250 g | 2 cups | Spooned and leveled |
| Culinary-grade matcha | 12-15 g | 2-3 tbsp | Sifted; more matcha = stronger, more bitter |
| Baking soda | -- | 1/2 tsp | |
| Fine salt | -- | 1/4 tsp | |
| White chocolate, chopped | 120 g | about 3/4 cup | Chopped bar or chips |
For a shortbread version, drop the eggs and baking soda, cut the sugar to about 90 g (use confectioners' sugar), keep the butter and flour, and add 2 to 2.5 tablespoons of matcha (see the variations below).
How to make matcha cookies, step by step
- Cream the butter and sugars. Beat the softened butter with both sugars for 2 to 3 minutes until pale and fluffy. This aeration is what keeps the cookies tender.
- Add the egg, yolk, and vanilla. Beat in the whole egg, the extra yolk, and the vanilla until smooth. The extra yolk adds richness and chew.
- Sift the dry ingredients -- especially the matcha. Sift the flour, matcha, baking soda, and salt together into a bowl. Sifting is non-negotiable: matcha clumps easily, and an unsifted clump turns into a bitter dark speckle in the finished cookie. Sifting also spreads the color evenly for that clean, uniform green.
- Combine. Add the dry mix to the wet and fold or beat on low just until no flour streaks remain. Overmixing develops gluten and toughens the crumb. Fold in the chopped white chocolate.
- Chill the dough. Cover and refrigerate for 30 to 60 minutes. Chilling firms the butter so the cookies hold their shape, deepens the flavor, and helps stop the matcha from over-browning.
- Shape. Scoop roughly 40 g balls (about 1.5 tablespoons) and space them well apart on a parchment-lined tray -- they spread. For shortbread, roll the dough into a log, chill, and slice into rounds instead.
- Bake. Bake at 175 C (350 F) for 9 to 11 minutes, until the edges are just set and the centers still look slightly soft and puffy.
- Cool. Let them firm up on the tray for 5 to 10 minutes -- they finish cooking from residual heat -- then move to a rack.
Doneness cues: pull them early
The single biggest mistake with green tea cookies is baking them to a golden-brown edge like a chocolate-chip cookie. Matcha's color dulls and browns with heat, so a fully browned matcha cookie has lost the green that makes it special. Pull them when the edges are set but still pale and the tops look barely underdone. They will look almost too soft; that is correct. If your cookies keep coming out olive or khaki, your oven may run hot, your powder may be old, or you simply baked a minute too long.
Variations
- White-chocolate-chip matcha cookies: the classic pairing (used above). The sweet, milky white chocolate offsets matcha's slight bitterness -- chopped bars melt into pools better than chips.
- Matcha crinkle cookies: make a slightly cakier dough, roll the balls in granulated sugar and then a thick coat of confectioners' sugar, and bake so they crack open to show bright green against the white "crinkle."
- Matcha sandwich cookies: bake flat, even rounds and sandwich them with white-chocolate ganache, vanilla buttercream, or a thin matcha cream.
- Matcha shortbread: the eggless, crumbly, buttery version -- ideal for slice-and-bake logs and cut-out shapes.
- Add-ins: a handful of toasted macadamias, black sesame, or a swirl of strawberry all play nicely with green tea. If you would rather bake a coffee-forward treat instead, our coffee cookies guide is the sibling to this one.
Tips for the best green tea cookies
- Use culinary matcha, and sift it. Ceremonial grade is wasted in a hot oven; sifting is what prevents both clumps and speckles.
- Buy vivid, fresh powder. Matcha fades and oxidizes with age and light -- store the tin sealed, cool, and dark. Faded powder bakes brown.
- Do not overbake. Underbaking slightly is the trick to keeping cookies soft and green.
- Weigh the matcha. Two tablespoons gives a gentle, sweet green tea flavor; three makes it bolder and more bitter. Start on the lower side if you are new to matcha.
- Chill if the dough feels warm. Soft, greasy dough spreads into thin, dull cookies.
- Use up the rest of the tin. An open matcha tin is best used quickly -- a matcha latte is the easy way to finish it.
Matcha cookies reward a light hand and a watchful eye more than any special skill: sift, chill, and pull them from the oven before they brown. Once you have the base down, the powder, the mix-ins, and the shape are all yours to play with -- a shortbread log for slicing, crinkle tops for a party, or the white-chocolate batch that most people fall for first.