Enjoy your afternoon tea with these buttery, crispy Green Tea Cookies with Matcha powder. The unique flavor of matcha in the cookies is surprisingly delightful!
I have always had a sweet tooth starting at a young age. As I got older, my taste bud for sweets has evolved and I’ve come to appreciate baked goods and confectionaries that have different tones of flavor and preferably not overly sweet. When comes to flavoring in the sweet department, my absolute favorite is matcha (Japanese green tea power). The earthy, slightly bitter taste with a sweet hint of vanilla-like aroma of matcha is utterly dreamy and alluring, which makes it a delightful ingredient to work with. It is subtle but unmistakable.
And good news for matcha lovers! You can now find every imaginable snacks and sweets available in matcha flavor. Specialty stores, mini markets and even food courts at the departmental stores in Japan are offering matcha flavored goodies with astonishing array of selection. Since I’ve been inspired to cook and bake with matcha, I’m excited to share one of my favorite butter cookies, Green Tea Cookies (抹茶クッキー) with you today.
Watch How To Make Matcha Green Tea Cookies 抹茶クッキーの作り方
Love butter cookies? Then you’ll love these homemade green tea cookies with decadent white chocolate.
What is Matcha?
Before I begin talking about these cookies, let me share a bit of info on Matcha with you.
Matcha is a type of tea leaf powder that has a beautiful vivid green color. However it’s different from the “green tea” that you drink with Japanese meals. That’s green tea too, but matcha green tea leaves are grown and harvested differently. The leaves are are grown under shade.
I found this beautiful video that explains a little bit about matcha and its making process, check it out if you wish to learn more about matcha.
BEGIN Japanology Mini – Matcha Powdered Green Tea
For those of you who want to try this recipe, I hope you can find 100% pure matcha powder in your local Asian grocery store. The good quality ones should have very beautiful green, not dull green. Japanese grocery stores around my area sell Maeda-En matcha and it’s around $8 for 1 oz (28.5g). It’s a bit pricey but matcha is expensive in Japan as well.
Green Tea Cookies with White Chocolate
These cookies are really delicious even without white chocolate chips (if you’re not a fan of white chocolate). However, I highly recommend it as the green tea powder brings its characteristic bitter flavor to the cookies, and the sweetness from white chocolate chips actually balance out the cookies quite well.
If you add regular chocolate chips, the milk chocolate can be too strong and it ruins the unique matcha flavor and fragrance so I don’t recommend it.
Without the chocolate, the cookies may not be sweet enough. I’ve also tried rolling the chilled cookie logs over white sparkling sugar (large sugar crystals) for this recipe before slicing the dough. To keep the recipe simple, I omitted the sugar for the blog. If baking with only white chocolate chips is not sweet enough for you, this is a great way to add some more sweetness to the cookies. The large sugar crystals will keep its shape and give a nice sweetness and sparkles to the cookies.
Buttery, Crispy, Green Tea Cookies
This type of cookies are known as butter cookies. They also go by shortbread cookies or sable cookies.
They are unleavened cookies, which means that leavening agents such as baking powder or baking soda is not used in the recipe.
The ingredients are simple: butter, sugar, and flour. They often include vanilla extract, but we can omit it for matcha flavor.
I am often asked by JOC readers about the texture of these cookies. They are crisp rather than chewy or soft. If you have tried and love shortbread cookies, you can expect the same crispy texture.
Another FAQ (frequently asked question) I get about butter cookies recipe is whether we need to chill the dough. I know it’s an extra step and it’s not fun to wait around. However, the chilled dough will give clean, sharp edges for the cookies and holds its shape better in the oven. So before baking, make sure to chill the dough (in a log shape) and slice into rounds (or roll out the dough, chill, and cut out).
I hope you enjoy making this matcha flavored Green Tea Cookies recipe. They are perfect for a cozy afternoon snack or for your cookie swap during the holiday season! If you try it, don’t forget to share your picture on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter with #JustOneCookbook. Thank you so much for reading, and till next time!
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- 240 g all purpose flour (240 g = 2 cups) (See Notes if you use cup measurement)
- 15 g matcha green tea powder (15 g = 2 1/2 Tbsp) (1 Tbsp matcha is 6 g)
- 170 g unsalted butter (170 g = 3/4 cup) (softened)
- 130 g confectioners’ sugar/powder sugar (130 g = roughly 1 cup)
- pinch Kosher salt
- 2 large egg yolks
- 50 g white chocolate chips (50 g = 1/4 cup)
Gather all the ingredients.
- Combine 240 g (2 cups) all-purpose flour and 15 g (2 ½ Tbsp.) matcha green tea powder in a large bowl.
- Sift the flour and the matcha powder.
- In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat 170 g (3/4 cup) unsalted butter until smooth and creamy. It’s important to soften the butter ahead of time.
- Add a pinch of salt and blend.
- Add 130 g (roughly 1 cup) powder sugar and blend until soft and light. Scrape down the bowl as needed.
- Add 2 large egg yolks and mix well until combined.
- Gradually add the flour and matcha green tea powder mix and blend until the dough is smooth.
- Add 50-65 g (1/4-1/3 cup) white chocolate chips and blend well.
- Cut the dough in half and shape into 2 cylinders, about 1.5 inches (4 cm) diameter, 7" (18 cm) long.
- Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator until firm, at least 2 hours (or overnight). Optional: you can place the logs on a bed of rice while chilling. It’ll keep the dough in nice cylindrical shape, so your cookie slices won’t be flat on one side.
- Preheat the oven to 350F (175C) degrees. Line the baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking liner. Remove the dough from the plastic wrap, and with a sharp knife, slice the dough into ⅓ inches (7 mm)-thick rounds. Place them on the baking sheet, leaving about 1” (2.5 cm) between rounds.
- Bake the cookies at 350F (175C) degrees for about 15 minutes, or until the edge of the cookies starts to get slightly golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes; then carefully transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely. If you pack the cookies in an airtight container, they will keep for at least 4 days.
- You can also freeze the unbaked logs of dough, wrapped in plastic wrap, for up to 2 months. Let sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes before cutting and baking. Do not let the dough fully defrost.
A properly measured cup of all purpose flour weighs 4.25 oz (120 g). The weight for 1 cup of all-purpose flour varies depends on how you measure it. When you measure flour by volume, please follow the methods below. I’ve tested this method many times, and if you do it properly, 1 cup is VERY close to 120 g each time.
1. Fluff up the flour several times with a spoon.
2. Using the spoon, sprinkle the flour into your dry-cup measure (the one that measures exactly a cup at the top).
3. Scrape off the excess with a knife.
Recipe is slightly adapted from A Food Lover's Journey, originally from Okashi Treats by Keiko Ishida.
Editor’s Note: The post was originally published on November 11, 2011. Since then the post has been updated with new video, new pictures, and updated recipe in July 2016.
Nami, this green green cookies are fabulous!!! So good and so green … a great present for Christmas 🙂
I have to try this matcha tea! 🙂
These look so pretty! Wow I love how bright the green is. The green tea powder I use is Taiwanese and my bakes with green tea always turn out brown :p
Enjoy your little holiday!
these look great!
Beautiful green and love the white chocolate chips in this cookies!
Nami, your green tea cookies look so eyes appealing and gorgeous! I love the green and and extra bits of white chocolate chips in them. Can almost smell the fragrant green tea aroma here… yummy!
They look very attractive and delicious. Would have never thought of a green tea and white chocolate combination, very intriguing
Your cookies look gorgeous and are a lovely colour.
What? Nami posting a cookie recipe?! Just kidding! 🙂 These are prettt and look tasty. I struggle with taking pictures of muffins. Lol Your pics are delightful as always!
I know, your response was what I was expecting! Hehee. Yep I made cookies…and will make another kind soon after challenged by Erin @ Dinners, Dishes and Dessert!
Nami, your cookies are awesome! They are so beautifully grass-green and look extremely luscious (I almost feel it’s Spring!). They remind me a bit of “palets bretons”, delicious butter biscuits I make with salted butter. You are an excellent baker! Now you cannot deny it.
Have a lovely weekend!
I shall call myself “rookie baker” now. 😉
The color is amazing! They would look so lovely for Christmas 🙂
Gorgeous cookies! That combination is really divine.
Cheers,
Rosa
I knew you could do it!! Your pictures came out great and the cookies are real beauties. Maybe a green tea cake could be next? Have a great get-away and enjoy your extra treat.
Nami, these are just adorable! Delectable, too. Rich in antioxidants are a plus, of course.
Yay!! You baked cookies and the looks great Nami 🙂
Your photos are also fabulous 🙂 Such a gorgeous green colour!
These are beautiful! Love the combination – what a great combination.
Those are beautiful, I can see why you wanted to make them!
These are lovely cookies Nami. Happy Holiday to you and your family.
Great to see u bitten by the baking bug 🙂
Love the green of the cookies. Green tea & white choc are so wonderful together!
Oh, these are gorgeous cookies…I can’t resist anything with white chocolate chips! Mmmmmmm. Enjoy your family time this weekend, Nami!
These are such pretty cookies! I love the presentation of the stack of cookies tied with the twine!
You did a great job with the photos Nami, the cookies look very provocative. Not sure if I can find green tea powder is the quality you have, but I start looking of it in Asian stores. Thanks for this post.
These cookies sound SO good! I love the color 🙂
Your cookies look stunningly good and I like the simple string tie effect. I’m a real fan of matcha in baking, but I haven’t tried cookies yet – have bookmarked this recipe and will be giving it a go.
These look very adorable and it’s always great to get a dose of anti-oxidants! I love the composition in the second photo. The red really makes the green cookies pop.
Nami, these look SOOOOOOO Good! The photos really look good, even without ribbons! 🙂
We were suppose to go on a weekend trip to the Texas hill country this weekend also, but Jon and I decided against it because the last month we incurred way too many expenses. Hopefully we’ll get to enjoy the weather in Houston, it’s finally fall weather here and I am excited! Hope you and your family have a blast on your trip, can’t wait to see the photos!
Hi Nami! Everytime I visit your blog I am aw strucked by your pictures. Today u showed me the prettiest cookie ever. This green is my favourite colore. Whats is Matcha made of? I dont doubt that it i good. =)
Matcha is finely-milled green tea. Have you heard of Japanese tea ceremony? We use the matcha powder to make special tea (not regular green tea that we normally drink). We use these powders for snacks, soba noodle, etc.
I love these cookies Nami – such a fantastic idea and great use of flavours!
🙂 Mandy
Nami – These are just my kind of cookies! Definitely adding to my Christmas baking. I have made your green tea ice cream twice now and really enjoyed it.
These are beautiful cookies and the white twine sets off that vibrant green colour. I’m going to have to buy some matcha powder to use in my madeleines so I’m going to keep an eye open for the brand you mentioned.
Nami, I finally got around to trying these cookies. Unfortunately, my results weren’t quite as aesthetically pleasing as yours. The brand of matcha powder I use gave the cookies a much darker colour and I think I overbaked them a bit in my oven as they got a little too brown. 🙂 I still have a log in the fridge so I’ll try to bake those a little less.
Nami, I am so glad you made these: they look fabulously tasty and what a wonderful colour! Great presentation, too.
I wish you could send me some of these over here…!! I have never tried matcha cookies before, but I KNOW that I will love them for sure. I think adding white chocolate is also a genius idea, the flavours of matcha and white chocolate together must be heavenly!!
Nami these are so beautiful. You did such a lovely job with the pictures too. Stunning and eye catching. I’ve never had green tea cookies. Think I must try them.
Those look so divine. the colour, the twine… when you opening your restaurant??
The cookies look delicious Nami, and your pictures are lovely! Great idea with the cooking twine!
Have a wonderful weekend!
those look divine. little art pieces. the colour, the twine…when you opening your restaurant?
Oh Nami, these cookies are so pretty, I just love the green color and your presentation!
Have a great weekend!
A girl in my off is Japanese and loves green tea anything. She has been begging me to bake something for her. I am so making these cookies this weekend. Thanks for the recipe!
I love the looks of these! I think the white chocolate would work really well with the matcha. Now I must try it!
yay it’s Friday! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Oh Nami, these look beautiful!! You know, it’s funny you mentioned the ribbons, because one of my first thoughts was how perfect the twine is for these matcha cookies. It looks so simple yet gourmet. You did a wonderful job with the photo too! I wish I could try some now!
Oh this one is so bookmarked, I am a fan of recipes with matcha. They look awesome as I am sure they taste awesome too. Great job with the twine I think!
Hi Nami! I’ve been MIA for a while now and I’ve been missing some of your wonderful posts. I need to catch up with everyone and hopefully I’ll have more time this weekend. Your green tea cookies look amazing!! The color is so bright! I’ll catch up with you soon, but in the meantime have a great weekend!
This is absolutely perfect! You know I do not like sweets much, but matcha and white chocolate is a match made in heaven ;-).
Thank you, Nami! And the photos are gorgeous as always! I love Maeda-En, too!
Nami! Look at you baking! I’m so proud of you. These cookies sound and look outstanding! Hope you have a great weekend!
I love cookie, the green tea gives really nice vibrant colour!
See, you can bake, Nami! It’s not so tough. I’m so glad you baked these too, I can’t wait to try them! love, love, love white chocolate!
They’re just lovely! I do like the twine 🙂
I love the color on these!
I could feel your excitement even with the taking of these beautiful photos. The cooking twine looks perfectly fine… i mean it’s even better than those pretty satin ribbons i suppose… well no offense meant to those who do but yeah sometimes it works best with what just you have right… happy weekend Nami and these green tea with white chocolate chip cookies are a great way to start it off!
emjoy,
Malou
wow~looks so yummy!
I love everything with matcha!
Thanks, Nami!
Thanks for this lovely Matcha Cookies. I bet it must be yummy. Not very often seeing you baking cookies and hopeful there will be lots more surprises from you.
i just love how vibrantly green the cookies are! must be really fresh green tea powder?! (i find that they turn dark over time in my pantry?!)
these are perfect as afternoon tea snacks…now i am hoping to make some cookies this weekend 😀
delicious looking colourful cookies
LOL It is funny how all food bloggers end up stacking up their cookies and tying them up with a ribbon. I think yours came out beautifully. I’ve made green tea cookies before, but not with white chocolate chips. The white against the vivid green is definitely striking looking. 😉
lovely colour
Hooray for a new dessert recipe!
I’m so going to make these cookies! LOVE the color!
These are stunning! I always forget to tie the cookies up with a ribbon…and it’s such a cute way to display them! I can see how it would be tricky to slice them with chocolate chips, but yours are just lovely!
Nami these are so pretty. I love the bright lime green. Plus the way you packaged them is so unique. I wish I could taste one, I know they’re delicious! I guess I’ll just have to make some myself!
Nami-for someone that does not make desserts, you make fabulous cookies…among other things, I’m sure!
Love the green tea cookies, especially with the white chocolate chips! So colorful, and yummy!
xoxo
The color is amazing!! I think you did a fab job snapping the pics, love the natural lok of the twine. great sweet treat!
I’ve always struggle to make cookies look interesting in photos, but you’ve done it! Such a beautiful color too, wish I could have one.
I really try to resist cookie recipes because cookies in this house go really fast and then take a long time to work off. 🙂 BUT – I don’t know if I’ll be able to resist these. Matcha is a great ingredient. I love matcha ice cream so I can only imagine how delicious these cookies are. Love the pictures and the twine. 🙂
These look delightful! And green tea and white chocolate are such a good match together Nami! 🙂
Hmmm…. I love your variation on adding green tea in your cookies!!!! 🙂 LOVE this post, thanks for sharing Nami.
Aww! I love these pretty green color cookies you baked and also how you presented them! 😀
Hope you’ve an enjoyable get-away with your family! 😉
Yum! I can imagine green tea and white chocolate being a great combination.
I just posted my matcha post then came to check your site, and it seems you have one too! Yours is much better though 🙂 I love the photos, and I think it looks really nice with twine!
What cute little cookies (and delicious too!)…loving the presentation here Nami!
Green tea cookies!? These sound so interesting! I love how they came out too – so beautiful!
These are so gorgeous! Your photos came out beautifully. I need to get some macha to play with.
Don’t get me started on cookie photography. I find them impossible to shoot in an interesting way, although you’ve done a great job – I guess it’s all about finding the right background colours which compliment them (reds and blacks, and then earthy tones are perfect for green cookies). This matcha seems to be doing the rounds at the moment – when it’s not in powder form is it sometimes in little tiny strips? I seem to remember my ex girlfriend drinking a lot of something like this and the name sounds really familiar.
Beautiful cookies – the texture really reminds me of a type of cookie they sell in France called “sablée” which apparently translates to shortbread, but isn’t quite the same!
Yes Japanese call this type of cookie “Sabure” as well. But for search purpose, I changed it to cookies (people here won’t search this type of cookie “sablee”).
Matcha should be always very refined powder form as it is finely milled. I’m trying to think what kind of tiny strips you are talking about…
Happy to see you baking! Gorgeous color on those cookies. I think you did a great job on the photos, but I agree, cookies are a tough subject! Hope you are having a great weekend. Cold up here in the mountains!
great pics of those gorgeous cookies! I can see why you were excited…I have never had any baked goods with green tea, but I do have some matcha and really should give it a try…I do love green!
I love these, Nami! Could you send a dozen my way?!
this cookies looks greenie beautifuly healthy nami! Too pretty to eat!
what to do? I’m loves green! 😀
Tq fr sharing dear, will make it as soon as I can 😉
Nami, your cookies are fabulous. I am wanting to have some. I particularly like the colour. Very nicely done!
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Regards
Spoon and Chopsticks
http://spoon-and-chopsticks.blogspot.com
Wow love that colour and presentation, what a unique type of cookie!
Hi Nami, this green tea cookies looks fabulous!!! looks yummmm … a great present for Christmas Thanks for sharing this.
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I know you’ve said before that you aren’t much of a baker, but for a woman who doesn’t bake, these look FANTASTIC! These would make for such pretty christmas cookies. I actually really like the twine on the cookies vice ribbon, it makes them look more rustic and homemade. These are so pretty and I bet they taste great!
I can smell the matcha scent from here!! 😀 You should bake more often, Nami. Those cookies sure look like a winner! And believe me, you don`t need those pretty ribbons because your food are already amazing as they are!
I think your cookies turned out amazing Nami! They’re such a beautiful shade of green 🙂
Hi Nami – they sound divine. I like your use of twine, it’s sweet and not too fussy. The color of the cookies is gorgeous.
LL
P.S. We’re both posting GREEN!!
LL
Ohhh yum!!! I still have some matcha powder left from making your ice cream! And we all love white chocolate! I should give these cookies a try! They look so cute! I love their green colour! And I am sure the sweetness of white chocolate will go great with matcha!! 🙂
Oh I love everything green tea! The addition of white chocolate makes it even more special! Your styling looks great 🙂
Nami you are turning into a baker! These looks great, I do a similar recipe with Mac Nuts and the last time I made it I added in matcha too. YUM!
These look stunning, Nami! Love the color and presentation is just fantastic!!! I have to look for matcha powder to try these real soon!!! Thank you for the inspiration and for sharing it with all of us!
Nami I just love the green color of these cookies….
I bet they taste divine…
Lovely just Lovely…
Nami, wow… your cookies looks so delicious and the green color is so beautiful. Lovely presentation too.
You have done a wonderful job with the cookie pics and they are looking so delicious!
White chocolate is my favourite chocolate and green tea is my fave ice cream so I can imagine how tasty these cookies will be!
The cookies look very pretty! They must be very good too. I made matcha checkerboard cookies sometime back and I love them. Such a pretty color!
Three words: oh my goodness! They look gorgeous! Ok, that’s 6 words, but totally worth it!
These are the most interesting looking cookies I’ve seen in ages. I absolutely love the color!
I tasted matcha ice cream once, and have been hooked. Gotta get some of this matcha powder and try this whip up these delicious cookies 🙂
Hi Nami,
Your cookies look so delicious and pretty. White chocolate and green tea is an interesting combination. I hardly bake and make desserts. Japanese desserts in Tokyo are too tempting and very easily obtainable. Your cookies do inspired me!
I’ve just fallen in love with you. I love green tea and white chocolate together. I need to make these cookies and SOON!
Nami, your cookies are just beautiful and your photos are stunning!! The first time I had green tea in a dessert, my husband (boyfriend at the time) brought a green tea cake with white chocolate frosting to a holiday dinner at my house. It was amazing. These cookies remind me of that!
How delicious do these little babies look? I love matcha and with white chocolate – ooooh yeah!
Big big thumbs up for these cookies, Nami! I have to rehash what others have said – love to see more of your baked goods because they are such a treat! You’ve just triggered some great ideas. There are truly so many things we can do with matcha…really enjoyed this post (great pictures and the recipe!)
Oh Wow! I love the color of these cookies! So vibrantly green! Will try making these delicious looking cookies for the chinese new year! I am sure my family will love these!
See Nami, you are a talented baker as well! These look awesome. I love making match cookies and I have tried them with white chocolate before and really loved them. Yours look so perfect! I agree with finding the best matcha and how lovely the green color will look if you use quality matcha!
Great recipe and once again awesome photos!!!
I think you did a great job with the pictures.
I will have to look for that green tea, I hope I can find it to try this treat
I want to make these I want to know could you convert the amounts into cups,tablespoon and teaspoon ect? I don’t quite understand how to measure them in grams.
I didn’t have a scale in the kitchen before because I am not much of a baker, but I really believe some desserts need accurate measurement to get the refine result so I purchased the scale. I’m very hesitant to share the cup measurement because it’s rough number… but here you go.
2 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 Tbsp. matcha powder
2/3 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup + 1/16 cup powder sugar (it’s 9/16 cup which doesn’t make sense so I divided).
I hope this helps! 🙂
“1/16 cup powder sugar”
There are 16 tbsp in 1 cup so you could list this as 1 tbsp of powdered/icing sugar.
Thank you so much A_Boleyn! This is so helpful!! I’m not very good with converting (as you can see). Thanks!!
I appreciated the conversion that you did as I don’t use weights in my cooking either (I really should buy a digital scale one of these days) and would have had to do the conversions from scratch. 🙂
Hi, Nami san. I love anything comes with matcha!! What a dreamy combination of matcha and white chocolate. Lovely photos!
What a creative (and FESTIVE!) cookie! 😀
these look sooooo cute!
The cookies look really great and the pics look good too, popped over here from kankana’s blog and am glad , you have a wonderful site here .
I now have matcha and plan on making a number of desserts with it: madeleines, panna cotta, ice cream and of course, these cookies because the contrast between the vibrant green of the batter and the white of the chips is just stunning. 🙂
These cookies look absolutely adorabe! I must find some good quality matcha powder! Great photos too!
I wish the powder wouldn’t be so expensive 🙁
Namiiii~~ you’re really great!! *scream*
I love your blog :DD really~
your recipes are great as you are..
Once again, matcha recipe *dies* surely will try this!!
THANKS THANKS :DD
Hi Nami, my 2 girls has been a fan of green tea cookies since they tried it at a friend’s place last CNY. This year they are bugging me to bake some and I googled for a easy recipe and saw your posting. Immediately I gathered all the ingredients and started baking. Must say its a big hit with the girls, loved the bright green color! 2 thumbs up!
Hi Jocelyn! Aww I’m so happy to hear you and your daughters enjoyed the cookies! Yes they are beautiful colors and it’s not too sweet either. I love any sweets with matcha, and I hope to share something more using green tea one day. Thank you so much for taking the time to give me feedback. 🙂
Hi Nami!
I was wondering if these cookies will turn out soft and chewy or hard. And which cookies do you suggest these green tea ones, or the vegan style on your blog as well?
Hi Eric! It’s more like sable cookies. It’s not soft or chewy like typical American cookies. It’s hard to suggest which one as everyone has preference. I tend to like crunchy cookies while my husband prefers soft kinds…
The original recipe of the green tea & white chocolate cookies is from the famous cookbook, and the vegan cookie recipe was a guest post by my fellow blogger who’s famous for making excellent baked goods so I am sure her cookies are really good, too.
It’s up to you. 🙂 I’m sorry I can’t be helpful…
Okay, Thanks, do you think these textures are eatable for the elderly? I was hoping to make these for my grandma. She is unable to bit on such hard foods.
I see. I have a grandma who likes cookies and sweets, so I understand your concern. 🙂 It won’t be hard like biscotti or Japanese rice crackers. You can break with hands easily. It’s not chewy so it won’t stuck on teeth. I think it should be okay. My grandma would be able to eat this (referring to one with white chocolate chips). 😉
Awesome 😀
Thanks Nami!
YOu did great on the photos! The last one has great depth of field and even with the twine (who knew?) it looks fab. I want to make them NOW but lack, would you believe, the choc. chips! I have the Matcha that i bought at the Japanese garden in DelRay FL. Awesome place.
Hi Nami! Great job on the photos! I love the vibrant green on the cookies. I was wondering if you are able to convert the recipe into cups, tablespoons, and teaspoons for me as I’m unsure how to measure/convert them into grams.
Thanks. =)
Thank you Candice! As I mentioned in my response (my comment #105), I rather not to provide recipe with cups/Tbsp, etc since it is not accurate. So please understand it’s not very precise recipe. 🙂
2 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 Tbsp. matcha powder (I remember it was less than 3 but more than 2)
2/3 cup unsalted butter
1 cup + 1 Tbsp powder sugar
Ohayou Nami san! 🙂
I just made these cookies and I should have taken your advice and bought a weight measurement scale. I used Australian tablespoon measurements and 2.5 Tbsp of Matcha Powder was way too much I think. I’m going to reduce it to 1.5 Tbsp next time.
I don’t know how these are meant to taste, but mine turned out slightly chewy / crumbly and quite bitter. They taste good but are they meant to be bitter or sweet?
Also, how do you get your logs to be so perfectly round? My cookies looked a bit more oval when I cut them and not as pretty as yours.
Domo!
Hi Sunny! Thank you for trying this recipe!
I checked and 1 Tbsp. of matcha is 6 gram. So original recipe calls for 15g and it’s about 2 1/2 Tbsp. I also want to mention that quality of matcha is really important. If the color is not beautiful matcha green color like you see in the picture, the tea quality is not as good. I’ve seen some dull green matcha and I can’t guarantee the flavor is correct.
As far as taste, it’s not sweet like ordinary cookies. It’s sable so it’s crispy/crunchy, not chewy, and little bitter. Not strong bitter, just a hint of bitter coming from matcha. The white chocolate should help you with sweet part.
Regarding the log… I probably played the playdough a lot with the kids. Just kidding. I just took time to make a good shape. Mine is not perfect either as I don’t really have patience. =P Just roll evenly and fix while I make into logs… Sorry I can’t help much. No tricks. 🙂
Wow! Thanks for the quick reply Nami 🙂
I just took the cookies to my Japanese class and they all loved it, so maybe it was just me being overly critical of my own baking. I think you may be right about the green tea powder too; I couldn’t find Maeda-en so I used Uji No Tsuyu brand instead. The powder was quite green, but not as bright green as yours.
We try to make something Japanese to share each week so I’m going to make your Matcha ice cream next. Yay! And I’m also going to try making matcha panacotta with saffron maybe. I think the taste would be quite interesting.
Domo Arigato!
Doitashimashite! 🙂 Matcha Pannacotta sounds wonderful!
Your conversion is wrong… I tried out the cookies and they are terribly bitter and dry. A tbspn is a TABLESPOON. 15g is equivalent to a tablespoon. 3 tsp = 1 tblspn. Tsp = teaspoon.
Hi Ted! Thank you for your feedback, and I’m sorry it didn’t work out for your taste.
First of all, matcha is famous for it’s unique bitter taste, so if these cookies don’t taste somewhat bitter, then it’s not matcha (green tea) cookies. I’m used to matcha flavor so I don’t particularly think it’s “bitter” but if you try for the first real matcha, it may taste “bitter” to you. These are not typical sweet cookies, and it’s more of “slightly sweet” flavor that a lot of Asian bakeries offer. In terms of texture, unlike cookies, these are more like sables, so it might be drier than typical cookies. I followed the original recipe with gram measurement and turned out perfectly, resembling what authentic matcha cookies should be like. Also, I highly recommend to use 100% pure green tea powder for this recipe. It makes a huge difference in color and flavor of the cookies. I hope this helps.
P.S. I write Tbsp (Tablespoon) and tsp. (teaspoon) consistently in my recipes. Would you specify which part I wrote it wrong so that I can fix? Thank you so much!
Ouuu! I’m totally gonna try this! Think I can replace the powdered sugar with honey? Honey and matche just go so well together..
Hi Julie! I’m not sure if honey would work since I’ve never tried it. Honey is more dense compared to powder sugar so it’s hard to compare for me as I don’t have much baking experience. Let me know if you tried. 🙂
Just made these and they came out awesome, send me your email so i can send you pictures or add me on facebook, name- monto mon
Thanks for sending the photos! 🙂 I just shared it on the fan page. 🙂
How can i see the fan page?
Like on https://www.facebook.com/justonecookbook. 🙂 Thank you again!
Thank you for your recipe! I made a large batch and my colleagues looooooved it!
I blogged about you and your recipe: http://chezmacuisine.blogspot.com/2012/09/sharing-is-caring-namis-green-tea.html
Hi Nami- I tried making these cookies and instead of using powder sugar I used granulated sugar instead. Do you think it would make a difference in taste ie, sweetness?
I have never tried using regular sugar for this recipe so I am not sure how it can be different.
However I did a little bit of research and it looks like powder sugar (confectioner’s sugar) is common ingredient especially for Sable.
Hope this helps. 🙂
These cookies are so pretty, Nami! Love the green tea and white chocolate pairing!
I tried this recipe but the cookies turned out awful 🙁 tasted like raw pizza dough
I’ve received many positive feedback and reviews about this cookie recipe. A few people said green tea is bitter (but matcha is supposed to be bitter), but that was about it. I’d like to help you to see what went wrong. Please email me if you are interested. Thanks! 🙂
Do you think you could use whole wheat flour instead of all purpose?
Hi Lori! I assume it will work, but I just have never used it so I can’t guarantee… Hope it will work out! 🙂
Hi Nami,
You have indicated in the above recipe that it require 240g all purpose flour. Understand that 1 US cup = 240ml/240g. In this case, shouldnt it be 1 cup of all purpose flour instead of 2 and 1/8 cups as stated in your above conversion?
Thanks!
Hi Jenn! 1 US cup=240ml, but the weight for 1 cup varies depends on the ingredients. Here in this case, 1 cup of white all purpose flour is 120-125g, so 2 cups will be the right amount. I originally mentioned 2 1/8 cups, but I researched again and it looks like 1/8 is not necessary, so I’ll update my recipe with just 2 cups. Thank you!
Hi Nami,
I tried to make this just but ended up chucking the dough away 🙁
I have finished the step where I cream the softened butter, sugar, salt together and put the egg yolks in. At that stage, they still look fine as in your photo.
But once i started to put my plain flour+matcha powder in the beater, they started to get lumpy and eventually the whole dough turns into something like bread-crumbs.
The matcha powder I used is greentea matcha powder for tea does that matter?
Or izzit because I microwaved my butter for 20s to soften it up?
Could you please let me know which part I have done wrong as I would like to retry making it, yours look perfect and i really want to eat it haha.
Regards,
Nana
Hi Nana! I’m very sorry for my late response.
First of all, matcha powder is different from regular green tea that we drink. Matcha powder is used for traditional Japanese tea ceremony and the powder is very very fine (hope you can see the picture in my recipe).
When you soften the butter, it should be creamy, not melted yet.
I really want to help you, but it’s hard to know what went wrong as I wasn’t there to check each step.
The recipe should work as I make these many times and many readers made it. Hope you won’t give up and give it a try. Let me know if I can help you further.
Thank you so much for trying this recipe!! xo 🙂
Looks yummy, I like green tea desserts too. And green is my favorite color. Nice job tying up the cookies!
Hi Nami, I just made these yesterday following your instructions with the food scale but my dough came out very crumbly and it was very hard to form into logs. Once I chilled them overnight I went to cut them into slices but the dough completely fell apart. Did I do something wrong? It seems like it needed more binders or maybe more liquid.
Hi Monica! I’m sorry to hear the dough didn’t come out well. Trying to see what went wrong but it’s hard to figure out, especially you said you followed my instructions with the exact ingredients. My egg yolks are American size large. I’m not sure where you located but that’s the only thing I can think of the difference. I also noticed from my experience that when I add chocolate chips (rough amount), the dough is hard to cut. Try reducing the chocolate chip amount first. It might be easier to cut. Hope that helps. Thank you for your feedback!
Hi, Nami! I just tried this recipe and mine also turned out crumbly. The texture was like wet sand, so to speak. It was able to hold its shape after refrigerated, but once baked, everything just fell apart. I didn’t even add any chocolate chips into the dough. Please help. I really really want to eat it 🙂
Thank you.
Hi Angie! I want to ask you first if you used gram or cup measurement to make these cookies. I haven’t personally used the cup measurements for this recipe, and cups are not very precise to make perfectly.
I’m going to bake this again (hopefully soon) to re-check the recipe. It always works great for me with gram measurement. I’m just curious if I can make any changes.
If you used gram…then I am not sure how I can advice. Only difference between mine and yours is brand of ingredients (if you follow my recipe exactly) and our oven.
I really wish I could help!
I used the gram measurement, too.
I suppose the different products’ brand and oven are the only parameter left to blame :p
Anyhow, thank you for your response, Nami 🙂
Cheers!
Now I’m motivated to make these cookies again. I made these many times but it doesn’t hurt to check. Thank you Angie!
Hello Angie, Monica
Like you, my green tea cookies turned out crumbly and fell apart at my first attempt. I just tried making them again and this time I’m happy that it turned out perfect! Just to share 2 things I realized I missed out on my first attempt:
1. Soften the butter for at least half hour at room temperature – At my first attempt, I cream the butter quite immediately after taking them out from the fridge.
2. Use large eggs (about 70 to 72g with the shell) -I used smaller eggs that were about 8 to 10g lighter on my first attempt.
Hope my learning helps and works for you.
Thanks to Nami for sharing the recipe. Love the green tea taste!
Cheers
Alana
Hi Alana! Thank you SO much for the feedback! I’m glad yours come out well. Large eggs create more liquid so it’s important to follow the recipe, especially baking. And yes, butter needs to be soften, so that when you start whisking, it becomes creamy immediately. 🙂
Thank you very much!
I have a question, may i use regular sugar instead of powdered sugar?
I’m wondering if it would make a difference to the cookies?
Hi Lena! I thought of the same question when I saw the original recipe and did a bit of research. Sable is usually made of powder sugar, not regular sugar, which is why we get that texture different from regular cookies. More crunchy texture, and not chewy cookies.
thanks!
Why do you use powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar?
Hi Minka! For sable type of cookies, powder sugar is commonly used. 🙂
Yum! Matcha and white chocolate is one of my favorite combos. This will be great for my Christmas cookie platter this year. Can’t wait to try them.
These looks great .. beautiful clicks 🙂
How to prevent the cookies to become brown?
Hi Jason! Maybe your cookies are either close to heat sauce OR cooking for a little bit too long. Adjust the oven rack and/or baking time. Hope that helps. 🙂
I’m thinking if the white chocolate chips were chopped up a bit it would make them easier to slice
Hi Kathryn! Yeah that’s true. Or simply you can reduce the amount of chocolate too. I personally don’t need to add chocolate….I love the bitter matcha taste alone. 🙂
Does it have to be unsalted butter?
Hi Emmy! Yes you should use unsalted butter otherwise the cookies would become salty. 🙂
I tried this recipe using a kitchen scale, and my dough still turned out way too dry (could not be formed into logs). These may look pretty (as many have said), but I think there is something wrong with your recipe.
Hi Emily! First of all, I’m sorry that these cookies didn’t come out well for you. I made these many times and this recipe (use scale all the time) works for me (and my oven). This is one of the most popular dessert recipes that JOC readers make too (some shared on Facebook fan page).
The original recipe comes from a famous Japanese sweets book and I think her measurement should be okay. However we don’t use the same ingredients and most likely I think my wet ingredients are more than yours – probably my eggs are larger (more liquid) than yours.
I hope you try again by adjusting ingredients amount or find another delicious green tea cookies! 🙂
Hi! Took ’em out of the oven a little while ago, they turned out great! I was worried they’d come out of the oven brown, but they stayed nice and green.
Since it’s the holiday season, I wanted to go for a christmassy touch, and added 1/3 cup of candied cranberries in addition to the white chocolate. They look nice and taste great!
Hi Mollie! Thank you so much for writing your feedback here. I’m happy to hear that your cookies came out well, and what a wonderful idea to add cranberries! Merry Christmas! 🙂
What should be the texture of the cookies after they’re baked? Also, do i have to refrigerate the dough? Can I just bake it right after forming the dough.
Hi Shirley! These are like the texture of shortbread cookies. Crunchy, crispy… hmm how do I say… typical icebox cookies. Yes, you need to refrigerate before cutting (otherwise it’s hard to slice nicely without losing the round shape). If you want to cut out the cookies, I suppose you can do so after you roll out. Not sure how different the texture will be. Sorry I’m still learning how to bake, so I may not be the right person to respond to your questions. 🙁 Hope that helps…
I followed the recipe, everything went well till the cutting of the cookie dough. It fell apart, I could not get a clean cut. Is there something I might of done wrong?
Hi Alyssa! Sorry it didn’t came out well. Well, it’s a little hard to know what went wrong as I wasn’t there. A few things to check.
First, please use a kitchen scale for this recipe (as I mentioned), especially the amount of flour… it’s hard to control the texture when it’s not properly measured. Also, please use the right size of eggs. Other ingredients should not affect too much, I think… I’m trying to make sure your dough was right texture…
Do you think the chocolate chips were too much in the dough? I made this mistake in the very beginning. I put a little too much, and the dough and chocolate chips just got separated when I tried to slice the log.
In step 8, you see how I slice. Do you think your knife was sharp enough to slice smoothly (before falling apart).
I’m not sure if any of above will help, but that’s what I can think of right now…
I also had this problem, I couldn’t figure out why even though I used the metric system for measurements. It turned out that the chocolate chips I used were extremely hard and when I tried to cut the slices, it would not make a clean cut and “fell apart” around the area of the chocolate chips so the chocolate chips were ironically chipping off the dough. I would recommend using a softer chocolate chip brand or reduce the amount to 1/4 cup (I used 1/2 cup and would estimate 80% of the slices were not clean cuts)
Hi Andrew! Thank you for your feedback! I updated the recipe with 1/4 -1/3 cup of white chocolate chips as that causes the reason for crumbling dough. Hope this will work out for everyone! Thank you again! 🙂
Hi Nami,
How long does the matcha powder last? Can you use expired matcha to make dessert. I found it on amazon dot com for $10. Would love to try this greentea cookies. Thank you.
Hi ZZ! I checked a tea company online and it says 3-6 months in airtight bag (unopened), and should be kept in refrigerator, freezer, or cool place. Once it opens, it should be consumed in less than 2 weeks (that’s recommended because the best quality goes down after that).
When did it expire? I would open and taste and if the color is still good (not dull green), I may use it…. just the quality is not perfect… maybe use for a practice run for some recipe? Or make one cup of matcha latte to decide? 🙂
Thanks Nami for the information.
One more question: How do you store your matcha powder (the one you used in your greentea & white chocolate cookies recipe). I dont use it regularly so want to make sure it would last a lot longer and not having to get another new can.
Freezer, refrigerator, or cool place. 🙂
this recipe works so well! Though the dough kept crumbling, putting in the fridge works 😀
thank you!!
Hi E! Thank you so much for trying this recipe, and thank you for confirming that refrigeration is necessary (some readers asked before if they can skip this process). I appreciate your feedback! 🙂
Hi Nami,
Refrigeration is definitely necessary if possible overnight as what you’ve mentioned as the dough tend to fall apart if it gets soft. Just passed some to my friends today and they loved it!
Thank you!
So happy to hear that! Thank you E! 🙂
Made these today for colleaugues, these cookies are so delicious!!! Thank you for the recipe! ^^
Hi Lea! I’m so glad you happy to hear you enjoyed these cookies! 😀 Thank you so much for letting me know! <3
Hi, thank you for the perfect recipe. I had try it but the only problem is i couldnt cut the dough after chilled it. It was always broken when i cut it. Can you tell me why? Maybe i took it out so soon? ( i just put the dough in the refrigerator for 1~2 hours but i think if i chill the dough longer, it will be harder and cant cut it.) thanks you again
After the dorayaki I wanted to try this, these cookies are so delicious!
I bought the matcha tea specifically to make this recipe, was the first time that I tasted this green tea and I love the flavor.
Thanks for the recipe! =)
http://14th-division.deviantart.com/art/Green-Tea-and-White-Chocolate-Cookies-452804425
Hi Shiva! So glad to hear you enjoyed these cookies! Thank you so much for trying, and sharing the link with me. I just shared it on my Facebook fan page. 🙂
Hi, May I know if these cookies are crispy or chewy?
They look wonderful !
Thank you Xuan! More crispy like sables. I hope this helps. 🙂
Hi thanks for the recipe! Your cookies look great unlike mine which are incredibly dry. I think it might be due to the size of my egg yolks? Do you mind specifying the weight of the egg yolks you used? Thanks!
Hi W! According to Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_egg_sizes), American size large egg is greater than 57 gram. Hope this helps. 🙂
Hi Nami! The cookies look awesome!!! Going to try bake some tomorrow! But I just got a question, is it necessary to chill the batter in the fridge for serveral hours before baking? I’m sorry if I’m asking a silly question as I’m still new to baking. Thanks!
Ops! I think I found the answer while reading the previous feedback.
Hi Jasmine! No problem. I hope you enjoy(ed) the cookies. 🙂
Since there is more than one Emily from the feedback here so i add my daughter’s name Athena following my name. (I am the one asked for Osaka shopping tips 😉 My daughter failed many times making cookies. The cookies usually came out in rough texture，chewy and dry. She followed recipe step by step and had chilled the dough too. She is guessing something had went wrong when combining butter，sugar and flour. We usually use Japanese flour and soft brown sugar三温糖. Combine ingredients with a spatula. Do you have any advice for us，Nami?
Hi Emily! Thank you for asking the questions. It’s very hard to answer why it went wrong as I wasn’t in the kitchen, and anything can be a reason why it went wrong. I need to see each step to pin point what could be the cause, but it’s obvious I can’t do that… 🙁 But since you mentioned she used 三温糖, try using regular granulated sugar for this recipe. It’s “butter cookie” texture and it works great with regular white sugar. Hope this helps!
I tried granulated sugar. It works great! Thanks Nami.
Great! Thanks so much for letting me know! 🙂
Hi,
I tried this and turned out really great. I had a tough time to save it for my friends!
What would be your suggested baking time if I want to make a tiny bite size version which is 1 inch is diameter and 1/4 thick?
First time I baked this in regular size, I followed the time, and the bottom turned out to be brown, luckily it didn’t affect the taste!
LOVE your recipes! I appreciate your work!
🙂
Hi Apa! Thank you so much for trying this recipe! I’m so glad you enjoyed these cookies. 🙂 The bottom tends to turn brown when you use dark baking sheet. Baking time should be adjusted based on your oven and baking sheet, and of course your preference for cookie texture. For small bites, I am not sure exact time, as I have never tried with small bites, but for the first batch, stay around in the kitchen and when the edge of cookies start to turn brown, take out the baking sheet. And as soon as it cools down a bit, transfer to a wire rack so it won’t burn the bottom. Hope it’ll work out! Thank you so much for your kind words! xo
Sensei!!!! Please advice, i make your cookie dough but no time to bake, how long can I keep in the fridge or should i freeze it? Becos it contains egg i am not sure if i can keep in fridge for days. Help!
Hi Ivy! Sorry for my late response. I just read your comment here but we discussed over Facebook. I only leave the dough overnight but should be safe in fridge for 2-3 days or freezer for longer time. 🙂
Can i use almond flour for this recipe?
Hi Micah! Good question…. I’ve never tried making these cookies (Sables in general) with almond flour, so I’m not sure. If you go ahead and try, please let us know how it went. I’m curious to know. Thank you! 🙂
matcha is the best!! ur cookies look so tempting, nami can i subtitute white choco chip with sliced almond? since my dad having diabetics 8 years ago we put small amount of sugar in food and drink
a little bit out of topic, regular mirin you used to cook, takara hon mirin and honteri mirin mizkan are there difference among them? i would like to buy mirin but there are some types of mirin in grocery store. hope you can give enlightment to me 😀
thanks before nami!!
Hi Riska! Sure, you can substitute the white chocolate chip with sliced almond. 🙂 I hope your dad can still enjoy this green tea cookies!
Regarding your question about mirin, have you read this Pantry page about Mirin?
https://www.justonecookbook.com/pantry/mirin/
I mentioned the difference in these two products. I recommend using “hon mirin”. 🙂
Hope this helps!
Hi! i tried making this cookie, but as i was cutting it (after leavig it it the refrigerator for about 3 hours), the dough crumbled and so didn’t make a nice full circle. Is it because my knife wasn’t sharp enough? i think it was the white choc chips that were hard to cut thought so the dough just came apart
Hi Ruth! I think I mentioned in the recipe or post about the amount of white chocolate chips – they do make it tricky to cut (by the way a sharp knife always makes cutting very easy and makes a huge difference). A lot of readers made these cookies with the exact recipe (same amount of chocolate chips) and they said cookies were fine. I feel it’s a bit hard too just like you said. Please adjust the amount of chips next time if you had trouble. The original recipe requires same amount of chips too. Also keeping the dough overnight in the refrigerator might help too. 🙂
This is a wonderful recipe. I don’t usually bake, but this was a very easy to follow recipe. Green tea flavor comes through very well. I couldn’t find white chocolate chips at any grocery stores, so substituted with Ghirardelli’s white chocolate baking bar (used only 1/2 bar) chopped to chip size.
This is more like shortbread than cookie, but I LOVE shortbread, so absolutely no complaint. I will be making 2 more batches and giving away for Christmas (with read bows).
Hi Hisayo! Yes I’d say this is sable style cookies than American style cookies. So glad you liked this recipe! Thank you for your kind feedback. 🙂
I do have a question, though. Do they HAVE to have the white chocolate in them, or can there be improvisation? Can they go without and still be good?
Hi Nami,
I don’t know if you remember but you featured my blog post on your site over a year ago after I made your cookies? I just wanted to tell you I’m still baking, and loving, them. Thank you for sharing the delicious recipe! Although I have now ran out of matcha and am using the less-green tea powder I bought in Korea. I wish I stocked up on more when I was in Japan.
I hope you’re well and congratulations on how well your site is doing.
Best wishes,
Laura
Hi Laura! Yes I remember! 🙂 I’m so glad to hear you enjoy this recipe and thanks so much for your kind feedback! Is it hard to find matcha there? Maybe online shop? These days there are many online matcha shops, and I hope you can find a good source. Thank you for your kind words! My blog is fortunate to have good readers like you. 🙂
hi nami,
i’m just wondering how long can the cookies keep?
Hi Sue! Probably about 2-3 days for the best taste/texture. 🙂
Hi, thanks for the recipe! I followed your recipe to the dot but find that the mixture is really dry and crumbly, and I can’t roll it properly into logs. Is that normal or am I missing something?
Hi Stephanie! Thank you so much for trying this recipe! Once in a while I receive feedback from readers about the dough which is a bit crumbly just like you described. However, most of feedback (and final pictures I receive and share on FB fan page) are pretty successful. First, I highly recommend to measure by gram. Second, the size of eggs might matter in the texture of the dough. Not to mention the temperature of the room you make etc. I personally don’t have any problem as long as I don’t put too many white chocolate chips. I had problem with slicing the dough when I put too much chips. Hope this helps…
Thanks for your quick reply Nami! It might be because it’s a cold and dry day here 🙁 Any tips on what I can use to soften/moist the dough when this happens? I love the idea of your green tea white choc cookies and am not ready to give up this recipe yet..!
Only way is to add liquid in the dough but we don’t include milk or vanilla extract etc, we can increase either egg yolk or butter. I hate to add random amount of egg yolk (not a whole egg yolk that’s too much), and increasing butter isn’t too appealing so… Maybe reduce the amount of flour tiny bit? Remember, over mixing the dough also cause the dry crumbly texture so when it’s combined don’t mix too much. Hope this helps. They are really yummy cookies and this is one of readers’ favorite recipes.
Hey Nami! I’m a newbie to baking here. Do you mind answering my question? Do you really need the white chocolate chips or is it optional?
Hi Gizelle! You can definitely omit it, but matcha has a bit bitter flavor so white chocolate balances out. 🙂
I made this today, and my whole family loved them! They ate them ALL today (in ONE day)! It’s a great recipe. I understand that these are meant to be crispy cookies, but is there any way to be able to make them a bit softer? I do like them crispy/crunchy but sometimes, I like making things a bit softer. Thanks!
Hi Megumi! Happy to hear you and your family enjoyed this recipe and thank you for your kidn feedback! These are sable cookies, so they are meant to be harder than those soft cookies. I’m not an expert in baking, but I think this recipe won’t work to achieve softer cookies… 🙂
That’s ok! I think these cookies are delicious anyway! Thanks, Nami-san!
Thank you Megumi! 🙂
Hi Nami,
Just wondering if i can substitute matcha powder with cocoa powder? And would it be same amount?
Because i have to make a bery big batch (100+ cookies) so i won’t have enough matcha powder 🙁
Thanks alot!
Cecile
Hi Cecile! Sure you can do that. I think the same amount should work in this recipe (I haven’t tried, but my best judgement….). Wishing you good luck with making 100 + cookies!!!!
Delicious recipe!! Made these for my friends last night and were a hit!! One friend was scared by the concept of the green tea being the core ingredient but with encouragement tried it and ended up taking home a “doggy bag” (as we like to call it in Australia) of biscuits at the end of the evening. Perhaps this is just in Australia but the green tea powder is very expensive here. Is this usually the case?
Thanks again for a tasty treat!! Now for the next recipe…
Hi Tamera! I’m so happy to hear your friends liked this recipe! Haha, I know new food can be very intimidating, especially when it’s green and you hear “bitter”. LOL.
Yes, green tea powder IS expensive even in Japan. Maybe just slightly cheaper but there are more high end green tea powder in Japan that price is pretty much the same. I spend $8 for 1 oz.
https://www.justonecookbook.com/pantry_items/green-tea-powder-matcha/
It’s cheaper than buying green tea baked goods or drinks though. It takes a long time to make green tea powder and labor intensive… so that’s why.
DO NOT buy cheap matcha. It’ll not taste good and awfully bitter and the color is not bright green (it’ll be yellow green). I had green tea latte at a cafe and it was so horrible… I’d dislike green tea if I tried that for the first time. 🙁
Hi Nami,
Just wondering whether this cookies can be rolled and cut into shape using cookie cutter instead? I want to make this for christmas and would like them in shape.
Thank you 🙂
Hi Ica! Sure! 🙂 Sounds like you’re making Christmas tree or wreath? 🙂 Hope you enjoy these cookies!
Hi!! I’m really interested in baking this! But can I use self-raising flour instead of all purpose flour? If so, what’s the exact measurement to that then? The same? THANKS((:
Hi Jazreel! I’m sorry but you can’t use it. Why?
Self-rising flour includes a leavening agent (such as baking soda) to rise. So if the recipe does not include baking soda along with flour, you are basically adding “unnecessary” leavening agent (baking soda) in the recipe.
I hope this makes sense. 🙂
Hello Nami! I made these cookies today, and they turned out absolutely beautiful and delicious.
I did have some trouble with the dough being very crumbly, and it’s possible I overmixed it. I measured all the ingredients out in grams, and I used 1/3 c mini white chocolate chips. I also used the exact matcha you recommended. When I cut the dough into rounds, I found that it held together if I cut it a little larger than 1/4″.
I am planning on making the cookies again this week, and I will experiment with mixing the dough less and adding less flour. I’d love to hear your thoughts on any other changes I might make.
Hi Miche! Thank you for trying these cookies! I’m happy to hear you enjoyed them.
I apologize for my late response. I just found your comment in my (accumulated) inbox… so sorry!
I feel reducing the chocolate chips will prevent from breaking into pieces, as the dough will be held together better without chocolate chips… I hope your next batch went well. Again I’m sorry for my late response.
Hi Nami,
Thank you very much! This is a wonderful recipe! the cookies tasted great and they were gone within a day =)
Hi Juliet! I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you for your kind feedback! 🙂
Made these today and they are delicious! Thanks so much for posting the wonderful recipe!
Hi Pam! So happy to hear that you liked this recipe! Thanks for trying and for your kind feedback. 🙂
Hi Nami,
I just tried making these today, but the dough was too crumbly for me to shape it into logs without breaking. Should I add more butter or is oil a better option?
HI Jjtaime! Thank you for trying this recipe! Some of my readers (above) commented that the dough was crumbly. I usually use metric (gram) to make so it’s exact recipe as this recipe, but once in a while when the weather is dry or humid, the outcome changes. Unlike soft chewy cookies, these are more like sable cookies so the dough is very different. You could add more butter/oil if you like, or reduce flour a little bit to begin.
I think I actually mixed both metric and cups, hence it turned out so crumbly. It taste great, so I will make it again and not be lazy. Thank you!
Hi Jjtaime! I’ll try to make video for this recipe and will try to make some variations to see what works best. 🙂
Hello Namiko! First of all thanks very much for this Recipe!
I tried this recipe yesterday and the cookies turned out reaaaaally deliciouuuus…BUT..BUT..they were super crumbely 🙁
After they rested in the fridge, I tried to cut them into slices, but they just fell apart, so in the end I didn´t have nice and round circles like you did, I had some broken pieces of cookie, but they were still really yummy 🙂
so what did I do wrong? do I have to add more butter??
regards!
Hi Nadeshiko! Thank you for trying this recipe! This type of cookies is sable and hard cookies. And I understand about the crumbliness as some of my readers mentioned and I also experienced following this original recipe. You can reduce the amount of chocolate (which helped me) or increase the amount of butter a little bit. Depends on the moisture in the air, the dough gets drier or more moist, so we might have different outcome. Hope you give it a try again. I plan to make this again and hope to make this recipe a bit better…
Hi Nami!
First, thank you for all these recipes.
I’ve just tried making the dough and it was extremely crumbly as well– I ended up adding two yolks as I feel mine were too small? The dough is sitting in the fridge for now, I’ll try actually cooking it tomorrow and see what happens o.o/
Hi Carol! Thank you so much for reading my blog and trying out my recipes!
Hope the cookies turned out well. I’ll be working on this recipe once again and try to film the video. Most of my readers who tried this recipe and showed me their result seem like they did okay, but I also hear some feedback on crumble dough. So I hope to improve the recipe. 🙂
What can I do to make the cookies less dry? During the mixing process and the result after being baked in the oven?
Hi Jo! I recently (maybe 1-2 week ago?) edited the recipe and it should be less crumbly. However, please note one thing. These cookies are not soft and chewy cookies. They are butter cookies/sable/shortbread, so maybe that’s why you think it’s “dry” after baked?
Hi! Can i substitute all purpose flour with top flour which are finer?
Hi jthq! What’s top flour? Is it cake flour? I think you can, but the texture will be slightly different. 🙂
I’ve tried your banana cake, deep fried katsu and they are all great!
I’m gonna try this cookies and the green tea chiffon for a matcha loving friend. Wish me luck!
Hi Lee! I’m so happy to hear you liked my recipes! Hope your matcha recipes will come out well! 🙂
These cookies are so beautiful, Nami! I love matcha desserts and can’t wait to try making these with my kids! The white chocolate chips sound perfect!
These cookies look like a wonderful delicious treat. I have you to thank for turning me on to baking with matcha…and I’d love to try these cookies. Thanks for sharing – hope your summer is going splendidly! : )
Everything worked out flawless in my case! Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe!
Hi Miki! AWESOME! Thanks so much for your kind feedback! I’m so happy you liked this recipe! 😉
i loved it. i made it for a bake sale at my school.
Hi Kristen! I’m so happy to hear you liked it! Thank you for your kind feedback!
Hi nami! Do these cookies freeze well?
I plan to make 300 for a event im hosting 🙂
Hi Adrienne! Wow 300!!!! I’ve never made that many, and never freeze the baked cookies… (I’ve frozen the dough before, which works). I recommend testing once before the event?
How many cookies does this recipe make?
Hi Sandra! You can make about 24-28 (It’s written in the recipe top area. 🙂 )
Hi Nami,
I was wondering if you have any recipes for a meal in a jar? Like a soup where all you need do is pour in boiling water and Voila, instant dinner!
My nephew, since he has returned from Japan, is in “everything japanese” mode and he lives alone and works late so he really doesn’t have time to make a healthy dinner when he gets home.
Please let me know what you think.
Thanks, Melissa
Hi Melissa! I don’t have a meal in a jar. I’ve seen them, but it’s not a common meal in Japanese cooking. I highly recommend freezing the foods. Lots of meals can be made ahead of time and freeze them, so all he needs is to defrost and reheat. This list may not be a complete list, but it’s a good start: https://www.justonecookbook.com/recipes/?fwp_featured=freezer-friendly
Hi Nami: these matcha cookies are so delicious! They are so addictive. My mother said the flavouring reminded her of some Chinese green ingredient (laver, moss? don’t know the English equivalent) that is often used to make green laver-covered crackers or to cook with peanuts as a side dish.
Now my problem is that they cookies got brown on the edge and the bottom was pretty brown as well. How can I tell that they are ready? Yours had just a tiny bit of light brown on the edge. I even shortened the baking time for the 2nd pan of cookies. Still brown & ugly. I think my logs weren’t as thick as yours and that could have contributed to the “burning” look on the thinner cookies. I ended up with 3 smaller logs because I couldn’t roll them properly.
The other issue is when I cut the logs after taken them out of the fridge from chilling overnight. Each piece is not as flat as yours. When I cut the log, the knife tends to lean to the right instead of straight down. Should I have brought the logs to room temperature before cutting? If yes, how long? Two minutes?
Thanks in advance for your baking help.
Hi Christina! I’m glad you enjoyed these cookies! Hmm I’m not sure which Chinese green ingredient your mom is talking about, is it a type of seaweed? Other green ingredient that I know of is pandan leaves which is commonly used in Malaysian cuisine.
It can be your oven too. Each oven is slightly different and my new oven heats faster on the left side (and annoys me like crazy as I can’t open the oven door and rotate for some recipes). Maybe the temperature can be too high? If you think the cookies get darker too fast, reduce the temp. Also darker pan gives darker cookies on the bottom of the cookies. Is your baking sheet dark?
You can leave it out for a few minutes if it’s too stiff, but with a sharp knife, it should slice cleanly. Sometimes when the chocolate chips are in “wrong” area, the cookie piece gets crack from that white chocolate chip area. But I usually fix it with my fingers. It should be chilled dough before going to the oven. Not room temp dough. Otherwise, the cookies get flat. Hope my tips are helpful…
No worries. It’s not pandan leaves. It’s an ingredients often used in Shanghai. If I ever get the English name I’ll for sure to let you know & hopefully with photos.
Guilty. One of my baking sheets was dark but the other one not. Still the cookies got golden burnt edge & bottoms. I’ll have to remember to reduce the baking time in the future.
I see. I think the white chocolate chips might be the culprit.
Thank you again Nami for taking the time to answer my questions.
Happy New Year in advance to you and your family! Health & happiness for 2017!
Thank you Christina! Happy holidays to you and your family! xo
Hi Nami:
Thank you for a yummy recipe. I made them over the weekend and have eaten half of them already. I just can’t eat them before bedtime as I understand matcha has caffeine and I was up all night last night!
Hi SeaDee! Haha, I can relate. They are so delicious we finish them very quickly… Matcha shouldn’t be too strong in this recipe, but each one should react to caffeine differently.
Gah, I did everything and midway baking they are all burnt Gah!!!!!!!!!!!????????????
I’m sorry yours didn’t come out well. 🙁 If you could tell me a little more, maybe I can help what went wrong? As I wasn’t there, it’s hard to pin point… as I am not familiar with your ingredients, oven (everyone has different hot spot, and oven temperature may not be exact temperature despite the oven says so), etc. This recipe is very popular and made by many people so far. I’ll be happy to help finding out the problem source.
Those biscuits are a beauty: soft and crunchy at the same time, light and fluffy, not too sweet, and the matcha is but a subtle aftertaste! I’ll be using this recipe for sugar cookies from now on, the texture is unbelievable!
Hi Fumettosa! Thank you for trying this recipe! So glad you liked this recipe. Thank you for your kind feedback! xo
This was tasty. Second time around I followed the instructions and left dough in fridge. Better shape when cut, true, but more importantly the 15m bake time is for cold dough. If you’re going to skip the fridge then bake for less time with room temperature dough.
Brush the tops with egg yolk and dust with table sugar halfway thru.
Hi Allab! Yeah butter cookies usually require chilling time to hold the shape. Otherwise the cookies will be droopy (or flat, without sharp edge). Glad you enjoyed these cookies. Thank you for your tip! xoxo
Hi! This is a great recipe. Thanks!
I tried making it and it tasted delicious. So good! However, my cookies turned out to be quite hard. Any suggestions on why this happened? Wondering if I’m missing a step.
Thank you!! Love your recipes
Hi Novi! Thank you for trying this recipe! Really hard? This is butter cookies or shortbread, so it should have that cookie dough consistency. If it’s too soft, when you cut and bake, the cookies become too droopy. It should have the edge even after baked. 🙂
My sister made these cookies. They were excellent! Quite easy, no complex procedures. Delicious, the sweetness was just right (not too sweet). She says she will definitely make it again. Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe Nami!
Hi Vicky! I’m so happy to hear your sister tried this recipe and you enjoyed these cookies! Thank you so much for writing your kind feedback, Vicky!
Wonderful cookies! I followed the recipe exactly with the exception of leaving out the white chocolate chips (because I didn’t have any) and instead adding in a tsp of vanilla extract, then sprinkling them with sanding sugar after slicing/before baking. I can’t wait to try them with the white chocolate chips – I think that sounds fabulous – but I did love the additional crunch the sanding sugar provided. I refrigerated them overnight and they held up beautifully, the buttery, not-too-sweet hint-of-bitter-macha flavor was very grownup and sophisticated (and additctive!); the color absolutely gorgeous. I would add to ensure the pinch of salt you add is healthy (esp if using unsalted butter, which I always bake with) as it sets off the sweet and hint-of-bitter flavors. I will make these again and again!
Hi Liz! Thank you for your kind feedback! I’m happy to hear you enjoyed these cookies. I’ve also made with sparkling sugar and turbinado sugar around the cookies too, and it’s lovely (I like the look too!). Thank you so much again for your kind words. I’m really happy that you enjoyed these cookies. 🙂 xo
These look just beautiful.
Made these two days ago and already they’re gone! Delicious and as pictured. Thanks for a fantastic recipe ????????
Hi Rachael! I’m so glad you tried this recipe and enjoyed it. Thank you for your kind feedback! 🙂
thank you for sharing such easy to follow recipe’s . I’d surely try this with my grand kids when visiting back to Japan .
Hi Marly! I’m glad to hear you enjoy my recipes. I hope you will enjoy making these cookies with our grandchildren! 🙂
Yes, I made it and I really doubt I am the only one made it. It’s such a crap. The dough is totally wrong texture, it basically falling apart. I am so frustrated with the dough and I didn’t lost my appetite to try the taste because I really don’t want another big disappointment.
Hi Cecilia! Thanks for trying this recipe and I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you. This recipe is probably one of the frequently made recipes on my site and you can see the pictures of my readers’ beautiful green tea cookies on different social media (#justonecookbook) and also comments posted before yours. I’m happy to help to see what went wrong if you could give me a bit more information about your experience. Again, sorry yours didn’t come out well.
may i know can i omit the egg yolk since my family got allergies to egg?
I am so sorry but this recipe requires egg and you can’t omit it… 🙁
Hi, would like to ask if semi-sweet chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips can be used instead, cause I’m not really a fan of milk/white chocolate. Thanks!
Hi Cherie! They are very chocolately and if you use high grade matcha, you may not want to ruin the distinctive matcha flavor with chocolate flavor… which is why it’s subtle white chocolate.
If you don’t like the white/milk chocolate, you can roll the dough (when it’s logged and before cutting) in sugar too. It adds good amount of sweetness (like white chocolate) without disturbing matcha taste. 🙂
Thank you for sharing this recipe! I didn’t make them cute like yours though, I actually made witch fingers for Halloween and these taste great, are easy to make and give it just the look I was going for! I will definitely make them again to go with my white peach tea! <3
Hi Allison! Thanks so much for trying this recipe! So glad this recipe worked out for you. 🙂
These look amazing! I was gifted a couple of packs of matcha powder straight from Japan and I am looking for recipes to use them in. This will be next on my to-bake list.
Hey there! I followed the recipe’s instructions exactly (using cup/tsp/tbsp), but my dough turned out super crumbly and I was unable to use it all together! Is it possible the conversion from g to cups is off?
Hi Gabby! You might have done this but I have to ask… to measure 1 cup of flour, did you do this step? 1) Fluff up the flour several times with a spoon. 2) Using the spoon, sprinkle the flour into your dry-cup measure (the one that measures exactly a cup at the top). 3) Scrape off the excess with a knife. If you scoop up flour with a measuring cup, your 1 cup can be 150 grams. A properly measured cup of all purpose flour weighs 4.25 oz (120 g). I’ve made this recipe with measuring cups as well, just to make sure it works, but please remember, it can’t be precise…
Hey Nami, thanks so much for the quick reply — I appreciate it!
I ended up remaking them with the technique you described (and made sure to weigh them properly just to double-check) and yes, they came out perfectly!
Thank you so much for taking the time to clarify. These cookies are delicious and I’m so glad I made them a second time. Happy holidays!
Hi Gabby! Awww! I’m so happy to hear this! Thank you so much! I test my recipes several times or more and measure each ingredient correctly (I take it seriously), so my recipes “should” work, except for occasional typos… 🙂 Happy Holidays!!!!
I recently made these for the holidays, and they were a resounding hit among family and friends.
Hi Frances! Thank you so much for your kind feedback. So happy your friends and family enjoyed these cookies! 🙂 xo
This recipe is GOLD. We have been using this recipe to make cookies for a fundraiser and it is a hit every. single. time. Perfectly bitter and sweet. Sometimes we had a sprinkle of sea salt on top of each cookie before baking it to elevate the taste. Thank you!
Hi Louids! Thank you so much for your kind feedback. I’m so happy you’re enjoying this recipe. 🙂 Yeah, sprinkle of sea salt… delicious, enhance the matcha flavor more. Thank you for writing!
I am very interested in making these! I feel like they would be super fun for St. Patrick’s Day since they are vibrant green! Do you think a hand mixer can really handle the dough well? I don’t want to burn out the motor on my hand mixer with a super thick dough… >.>
Hi Samantha! I am so sorry for my late response (Today’s St. Patty’s Day…). I think hand mixer can be a bit too fragile from Step 8 (adding flour). Change to a silicone spatula and mix. 🙂
How long can you keep dough in fridge? 5 days?
Hi Amber! I read online before that homemade cookie dough can be kept in the fridge for 3-5 days and 6-12 months in freezer. But I’ve never kept the dough for a long time so I can’t personally tell my experience… I think for the best result, bake it soon while the eggs are fresh. 🙂
I’ve literally never left a comment on an online recipe but this was really amazing, thank you! I especially liked that the ingredients were in grams and everything was so specific. I made this as a gift for a friend and they turned out delicious!
Hi Clara! Aww thank you so much for your kind feedback and I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe. Thank you for taking your time to write this comment. 🙂
Hi, my cookie turns out so soft and crumbly. Is this how you intended the recipe to be? It’s also a bit too sweet for me, next time I’ll give less sugar. Thanks for the recipe
Hi Siska! Thank you for trying this recipe! These cookies are sable/butter cookies/shortbread cookies, so they are hard and crisp kind, not soft and chewy cookies. So it’s kind of crumbly before you put into a log shape.
And I always ask this question first to anyone who mentioned about crumbly… Did you measure the flour with a scale or cup? Because the weight of flour is very different if you use a cup and measure incorrectly… and I have a video for this.
https://www.justonecookbook.com/how-to-measure-flour/
If you measure the flour (and all the ingredients) with a scale, please ignore the comment above.
I think you can work with less sugar, but I follow the original recipe from this Japanese cookbook (mentioned in Notes). I would reduce the amount of white chocolate chip so you won’t alter the cookie dough recipe. 🙂
Hope that helps!
Hi Nami,
Thanks for the recipe. I chilled the dough in the fridge for at least 2 hours but when I cut, the dough was broken into small pieces :(. Any advice?
Hi Bamboo Ng! First of all, did you use the scale? If you use a cup measurement, flour tends to be more than actual amount (See the video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HMZ5Dt-Qag). However, this cookie is more like sable type cookies and it’s not soft chewy cookies. So the dough is a harder kind. If you leave the dough out for a little bit longer, it might be slightly easier to slice. BUT when we bake the cookies, we want them to be still chilled so the shape will remain, instead of droopy cookies.
These are sooo good!!! Thank you for the recipe!
I made them the second time today – delicious!
I also made chocolate cookies with this recipe. I swapped the matcha with cocoa powder and put semi sweet chocolate morsels instead of white chocolate (although next time I’ll use white for both I think). They came out just as good!
Great and easy recipe to experiment with different flavors 🙂
Hi Miya! I’m so happy to hear your feedback and thank you for taking your time to write here (as I’m sure other readers would love to try with different flavors too!). Thank you for trying my recipe, Miya!
Hello there! I love matcha so when I saw this recipe I had to try it. I just had a quick question, is the dough suppose to be dry? I thought I followed the recipe well enough, but when everything was mixed together it was almost too crumbly to make into a log. They turned out awesome either way, but in your pictures your dough looks so smooth…would me using an electric hand mixer make any difference?
Love your website and recipes by the way! Thank you!
Hi Emily! Thank you so much for your kind feedback. I’d say this dough is not soft dough like American cookies, but it’s butter cookies or Sable cookies… hard cookies. So when you make into a log, it is hard and crumbly. If you use volume measuring (instead of using a scale), you may end up with more flour too.
https://www.justonecookbook.com/how-to-measure-flour/
Hi There,
I tried this recipe with wheat flour with Japanese Green matcha Hamasaen. For the matcha I used 2,5 small teaspoons. Unsalted cream butter, and 2 small eggs. When preparing the dough I got a little fright as with the handmixer everything came out in small little pieces and it looked quite dry.. But after I started to hand kneed the dough the texture felt perfect.. I’d Say around 12/14minutes in the oven and 2 hours in the refrigerator.. I used a sushi mat to roll the cookies round ^^.. The cookies came out perfect! Soft, crumbly little with a bit of bitterness and a lovely sweet touch. I made a picture of the cookies incl. with a small ribbon over a stash of cookies. It was not that easy to get them in shape, but for me they look fine. My family loved it and even put whip cream ontop of the cookies!
Thanks so much for the baking fun!
Hi Yessica! Thank you SO much for your kind feedback, and I enjoyed reading your cookie making journey. 🙂 So glad yours came out well. Thank you so much for taking your time to write here. xo
EXCELLENT DETAILS! Very good extra info, explanations so helpful and of course ur pics. Can’t wait to make these!
Thank you Suzanne! Hope you enjoy! 🙂
Which matcha did you use for the recipe?
Greetings from Germany!
Hi Linda! I use oen of these matcha for my baking these days:
https://www.justonecookbook.com/green-tea-powder-matcha/