These large and chunky matcha cookies are soft from inside and crunchy on the edges. They are perfectly flavored and paired with unique matcha powder along with butterscotch chips. These cookies have a beautiful vivid green color, surprisingly aromatic and amazingly delicious. If you love cookies, you’ll love my Orange Shortbread Cookies, Butter Pecan Cookies, Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies, Nankhatai, Southern Tea Cakes, Pinwheel Cookies, Lemon Crinkle Cookies, Peanut Butter Cookies and my Almond Flour Peanut Butter Cookies.
Table of Contents
What Is Matcha Powder?
I will be honest - while growing up I was not familiar with Matcha powder. It was not until a few years back that I got a chance to try matcha cookies at a friend’s place. I was amazed by the lively, beautiful and vivid green color of the cookies and the flavor just got me hooked on to it. It was earthy, grassy, nutty, fragrant, slightly bitter and green tea-ish. It was different in a unique good way.
Old Japanese Roots: Matcha powder is a special Japanese green tea with an earthy, grassy, little bitter and sweet flavor. The tradition to use matcha powder has its roots in Japan, where it has been used in the Japanese tea ceremonies for centuries going as far as 12th century.
Shade Harvest & No Sunlight: Matcha is from the green tea family but is slightly different than the regular green tea. The main difference between both green tea leaves lies in different harvesting methods. Green tea is requiring direct sunlight to grow, whereas matcha tea leaves flourish under the shade, giving it a subtle and slightly bitter taste, which is beautifully balanced with the sweetness packed in the tea leaves.
Steam, Dry & Ground Method: Furthermore, the matches leaves are taken and go through a process of streaming and then drying, which is crucial before putting the leaves in the grinder to get the powder.
Caffeine: Matcha powder contains caffeine, but its ratio of caffeine is less than the regular coffee or black tea.
Powerhouse of Nutrients: Matcha powder is a powerhouse of nutrients and has rich antioxidant catechins. It is great in protecting the heart and preventing cancer because of its cancer-fighting effects on the body.
Why This Recipe Works?
- Texture: These cookies have thin crispy edges and are gooey and soft in the inside.
- Easy to Bake: You need a few ingredients to put these cookies together in 30 minutes.
- Matcha Flavor: These cookies have the aromatic green tea flavor.
- Perfect Pairing with Butterscotch Chips: The unique matcha flavor pairs well with the butterscotch chips in this recipe. You may use any other chips of your choice as well.
Ingredients
Pro Tip # 1 - Room Temperature Ingredients
Always use room temperature ingredients (unless otherwise specified) for baking. Ingredients such as butter, eggs and other dairy ingredients like milk, sour cream, yogurt form an emulsion by trapping air inside the batter. The trapped air expands in the oven resulting in perfect baked treats.
- All Purpose Flour: helps with the structure of these cookies. Make sure to measure it properly to get best results. (See the pro tip below.)
- Baking Powder + Baking Soda: gives volume to the cookie and helps to lift.
- Salt: enhances the flavor of other ingredients.
- Corn Starch: helps to keep the cookies soft, crumbly, tender and chewy.
- Matcha Powder: the hero ingredient of this recipe. Use high quality matcha powder. It gives the sweet taste and green color to the cookies. I get mine from Amazon.
- Butter: use browning method (explained in step-by-step instructions) for intense nutty flavor.
- Castor Sugar: helps with browning and spread of the cookie and makes crispy cookies.
- Brown Sugar: helps with moist, tender and crumbly cookie.
- Vanilla extract: enhances the flavor of these cookies.
- Eggs: binding agent for this recipe.
- Butterscotch Chips: use high-quality butterscotch chips.
Pro Tip # 2 - Digital Scale
Use a digital scale to measure all-purpose flour and other dry ingredients. To measure with cup, fluff up the all-purpose flour container using a spoon, then scoop out the flour with spoon into the measuring cup. Never scoop out of the container. It may result in more flour than required resulting in dense bakes.
Instructions
These are basic process shots for this recipe. For detailed instructions refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- Take a saucepan and on medium heat brown the butter until it turns into golden yellowish in color. At this point transfer the butter into a small bowl and let it cool to room temperature.
2. In a bowl, whisk together the butter (at room temperature) with sugars, using an electric mixer cream it together for 2 – 3 minutes until it turns light and fluffy. Add eggs, matcha powder and vanilla extract to the batter and mix until combined.
3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix until combined.
4. Fold in the butterscotch chips. Leave the dough in the fridge for an hour.
5. Using an ice-cream scoop, scoop out the cookies on the baking tray at 2-inch distance from each other.
6. Bake the cookies in the middle rack of the oven at 350 C in a preheated oven for 10 – 12 minutes.
Variations
- Chocolate Chips: I use butterscotch chips for this recipe, but I have used chocolate chips in the past and they taste amazing as well. Replace the butterscotch chips with same amount of high-quality chocolate chips. However, do know that chocolate chips will add a powerful chocolatey flavor to the cookies, toning down the matcha flavor.
- White Chocolate Chips: Use 1:1 ratio of white chocolate chips to butterscotch chips for this recipe.
- Walnuts/Pecans/Peanuts/Cashews: Add any sort of nuts to the dough such as walnuts, pecans, peanuts, cashews or macadamia nuts for crunch. Use ½ cup of nuts in the dough.
Substitutions
Gluten-Free: Use gluten-free all-purpose flour to make these cookies gluten free.
Expert Tips
Brown Butter: Use brown butter in this recipe to get the nuttier flavor and get the crispy edges and gooey center in cookies. Heat the butter on the saucepan at medium heat and wait until it starts showing brown particles in the bottom of the pan. This is the point where you want to stop and set it aside until the butter cools down a little.
Allow the Butter to Cool Completely: It is important to let the butter cool once you have put it aside from the burner. Do not add hot butter in the cookie or the dough will become too greasy.
Chilling is Important: Do not forget to chill the cookie dough in fridge for at least one hour before baking the cookies. The chilling will help the flour to absorb the liquids and to harden the butter so that it will not melt quickly (expanding cookies too much) when you place the cookies in the oven.
Do not Over-Bake the Cookies: Keep an eye on the cookies while they are baking in the oven. The baking time may vary from 9 – 12 minutes but you want to make sure to take the cookies out when the edges turn light brown.
Use an Ice-cream Scoop: Use the ice-cream scoop for uniform sized cookies set like a line of soldiers on the baking tray.
Frequently Asked Questions
The reason is simple – brown butter helps with crispy cookies that are chewier in texture from inside. It also adds a nuttier flavor.
Absolutely. You can make and keep the dough in fridge for a day or you can freeze the cookie balls for up to 3 months. Be sure to freeze the cookie balls separately on a baking tray (until solid) before placing them in an airtight container or a plastic bag. This will prevent sticking of the dough balls.
It can be hard to find match powder in local grocery stores but you should be able to get it easily on Amazon. Here is the link to my match powder that I use in my bakes.
The three different matcha grades are culinary, premium and ceremonial. As the name suggest the culinary matcha is used for cooking and baking purpose (easily available in market or amazon). The ceremonial matcha is the top quality matcha powder and is basically used for drinking by whisking it in hot water, while the premium grade matcha is made of the premium leaves from the first tea harvest.
The shelf life of matcha tea powder is short. You should consume the opened matcha powder within 30 days of its first use for best optimal results. Otherwise, the tea powder can rancid and taste bitter in baking.
Equipment
- Electric Mixer: Use a hand electric mixer to mix up the cookie batter conveniently.
- 2 Mixing Bowls: You will need two medium sized bowls to prepare the batter.
- 2 Baking Sheets: This recipe requires two baking trays.
- 2 Silicone Sheets or Parchment Paper: Use two silicone sheets to spread on the cookies sheets. In case you do not have silicone sheets, use parchment paper.
- 1 (3 tablespoon or #20/1.6 oz) Ice-Cream Scoop: The best convenient way to get equal sized cookies, use an ice-cream scoop.
How To Store
- These cookies will keep fresh in an airtight container for about 3 – 4 days.
- The cookies will stay fresh in the refrigerator for up to a week.
- Wrap each cookie in a plastic wrap and add a layer of foil. Stash the cookies together in a plastic bag and place in the freezer for up to 3 months.
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Recipe
Matcha Cookies
Equipment
- 2 Baking Trays
- 1 electric beater
- Measuring Cups and Spoons
- Rubber Spatula
- Mixing bowls
Ingredients
- 2 cup all-purpose flour (240 g)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder (4 g)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda (3 g)
- ½ teaspoon salt (3 g)
- 2 teaspoon corn starch (8 g)
- 1 ½ tablespoon matcha powder (9 g)
- ¾ cup unsalted butter (185 g)
- ½ cup castor sugar (100 g)
- ½ cup brown sugar (100 g)
- 2 eggs room temperature
- ¾ cup butterscotch chips (128 g)
Instructions
- Take a saucepan and on medium heat brown the butter until it turns into golden yellowish in color. At this point transfer the butter into a small bowl and let it cool to room temperature.
- Take a medium-sized bowl and combine all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and corn starch. Whisk and set aside.
- In a large sized bowl, whisk together the butter(at room temperature) with sugars, using an electric mixer cream it together for 2 – 3 minutes until it turns light and fluffy.
- Add eggs, matcha powder and vanilla extract to the batter and mix until combined.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until combined.
- Fold in the butterscotch chips to the batter.Let the dough rest in the fridge for an hour.
- Pre-heat the oven at 350 F and line two baking trays with silicone sheets or parchment paper.
- Using an ice-cream scoop (I use 1.5 oz or 3 tablespoon size) and scoop out the cookies on the baking tray. Remember to keep at least 2-inch distance between the cookies.
- Bake the cookies for about 10 – 12 minutes until the edges turn light golden in color.
- Let the cookies cool on the baking tray for about 5 – 7 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
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