Matcha (Green Tea) Shortbread Cookies

"I love the flavor of green tea powder in baked European-style sweets. Lately, I've been searching for a few recipes and found this one on the internet. Typically, I use a really good quality green tea (from Toraya), but even I find the green tea flavor to be too intense, so I use the lesser amount of green tea and increase the amount of powdered sugar. For less expensive grades of tea, I just use the greater amount of tea. You can purchase green tea powder at the Japanese grocers, but it will come in a variety of grades. The lower grades will use dried spinach to boost the color, but the tea flavor will not be as intense. The cookies are bright green (like the color of spring grass); they smell lovely, but have a bitter edge to them because of the green tea. It's typically an "adult" flavor, but my kids really like them with a bit of vanilla ice cream."
 
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photo by Ashley Cuoco photo by Ashley Cuoco
photo by Ashley Cuoco
photo by Ashley Cuoco photo by Ashley Cuoco
photo by keejjj photo by keejjj
photo by Amanda C. photo by Amanda C.
photo by Michelle G. photo by Michelle G.
Ready In:
1hr 3mins
Ingredients:
5
Yields:
60 small cookies
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ingredients

  • 2 cups bleached all purpose flour
  • 1 -2 tablespoon green tea powder (matcha -- See Note 1)
  • 12 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup butter (unsalted at room temperature -- See Note 2)
  • 12 cup powdered sugar (more if your tea is very intense)
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directions

  • Sift the flour, powdered tea and salt into a bowl.
  • In a mixer bowl, beat butter and powdered sugar until fluffy.
  • Add flour mixture to mixer bowl and mix slowly until dough just comes together.
  • Pull dough together carefully in a log, approximately 2 inches in diameter.
  • Wrap dough log and place in freezer for 30 minutes or until dough has firmed to the touch.
  • Slice dough into 1/4 inch rounds and place on a parchment or Silpat lined cookie sheet, approximately 1 inch apart.
  • Bake in a preheated 325 degree F oven for 16 to 18 minutes (or until the cookies are just starting to turn golden around the edges), turning the pan halfway through the baking time.
  • Remove cookies immediately from the cookie sheet and cool on a wire rack.
  • Store in an airtight container or wrap well and freeze.
  • The well-chilled cookie dough can also be rolled out and cut into desired shapes before baking.
  • NOTE 1-- powdered green tea is not merely green tea that has been pulverized in a food processor or food mill, it's a special kind of tea that has been prepared to dissolve nicely.
  • NOTE 2-- don't use the microwave to soften the butter, room temperature butter is the correct consistency for this recipe.

Questions & Replies

  1. Can you substitute coconut oil for the butter and still achieve a shortbread?
     
  2. Where do I find green tea powder? I live I Fayetteville, NC & no one has it as far as I can tell.
     
  3. The picture of the Matcha green tea cookies seems to show they were half dipped in chocolate and the powder sugar looks to be green which would be great for,St Pats. But the instructions don't indicate either. What am I missing please?
     
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Reviews

  1. Excellent recipe! The texture was soft and moist and buttery. We added a bit more than 2 tbsp of green tea powder as we prefer stronger green tea flavour.
     
  2. I loved these matcha short bread cookies! I ended up making 3 batches. Although it was hard to roll them into a roll because it was so crumbly. The second time, I used a shot glass as a cookie cutter and it turned out prettier. Flavor is great still!
     
  3. Awesome cookie, thanks for the recipe. Nice balance of green tea and sweetness. It is not too sweet, which is just what I wanted. I added chopped pecan. The cookie does not spread out much in the pan, they looked almost identical in size when coming out. Got a lovely bright green colour - I used culinary-grade matcha powder from Yumomi, a green-tea distributor that I believe ships worldwide, if anyone is having issues getting a good powder (I am not affiliated).
     
  4. The flavour of this cookie is very good. The bottom of the cookie was very brown after baking? The cookie did not spread at all during baking...it looked exactly the same coming out of the oven as it did going in!? I did use a vegan butter tho?
     
  5. I love your recipe!!! It’s so easy to follow!! Thank you very much!!!!!!!!
     
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