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Today, I want to share my recipe for crisp and tender Matcha Checkerboard Cookies that anyone can make. I’ll show you how to elevate a buttery shortbread cookie into something special by rolling, stacking, and slicing the two different colors of dough. Whimsical and eye-catching with a lovely green tea flavor, they are perfect for a cookie swap, dessert tray, or holiday cookie box!
If you love treats with Japanese flavors, try my Black Sesame Cookies, Matcha Cookies with white chocolate chips, and Miso Butter Cookies recipes next!
What are Checkerboard Cookies?
Checkerboard cookies are a type of icebox cookie with a checkered block pattern in two (or more) contrasting dough colors. They often consist of 4 , 9, 12, or 16 blocks. Made with a sablé or shortbread dough, it’s a traditional snack in Sweden known as chessboard cookies or schackrutor. The pattern is similar to England’s Battenberg cake—with two yellow squares alternating with two pink squares—that was created in the 1880s as a royal wedding gift.
Why I Love This Recipe
- Crispy, light, and tender – I’ll share my tips for handling the dough so these buttery sablé cookies stay tender yet crunchy. I love this crispy texture—we call it saku saku (サクサク) in Japanese!
- Just the right amount of sweetness – Like many Japanese desserts, this cookie is not overly sweet. I love them with tea or coffee for an afternoon snack.
- A subtle, unmistakable matcha flavor – Japanese green tea powder is my absolute favorite flavor for sweets! It has an earthy and slightly bitter taste, a hint of sweet aroma, and a vibrant green color that works so well in this recipe.
- An eye-catching pattern that’s easy to make – The checkerboard pattern may seem complicated to pull off, but it’s actually quite simple. Just follow my steps for how to roll, layer, slice, and stack the white and green cookie dough to get this polished look.
- Convenient, make-ahead dough – You can refrigerate or freeze the dough log in advance, then slice and bake the cookies later. It’s a huge time-saver during the busy holiday season or anytime I want a fresh-baked, homemade cookie but don’t have a lot of time.
Ingredients for Matcha Checkerboard Cookies
- Matcha (green tea powder)
- Almond flour
- Cake flour
- Unsalted butter – at room temperature
- Confectioners’ sugar
- Large egg yolk – at room temperature
- Kosher salt
- Egg white – reserved from separating the egg yolk; for assembling the dough layers
Find the printable recipe with measurements below.
Jump to RecipeSubstitutions
- Cake flour – Cake flour has a lower protein content and less gluten than all-purpose flour, giving cookies and other pastries a fine crumb and tender structure. Please do not substitute it with all-purpose flour. If you don’t have it, you can make your own cake flour with all-purpose flour and cornstarch. See the recipe card below.
- Almond flour – For a fine texture, please do not substitute almond meal in this recipe. Almond flour is fine and powdery, while almond meal is coarse and heavy. Almond flour also has a lighter color and flavor than almond meal, too.
Key Kitchen Tools
- Hand or stand mixer with whisk (and paddle) attachments or food processor
- Aluminum baking sheet – please use a light-colored pan; see more about this below.
- 2 resealable (ziplock) plastic bags, sandwich size (about 6 x 6.5 inches, 15 x 16.5 cm)
- Rolling pin
- Rolling pin guides (optional)
How to Make Matcha Checkerboard Cookies
Preparation
Step 1 – Mix the cookie dough. Smooth the softened butter with a silicone spatula, then use a stand mixer to cream the powdered sugar and butter together until the mixture turns airy and pale. Add the salt and egg yolk, then blend in the almond flour until smooth.
Step 2 – Make the plain dough and matcha dough. Weigh and divide the dough mixture into two bowls. For the light-colored dough, add cake flour and fold by hand with a spatula until just combined. Do not overmix. Repeat for the green-colored dough with cake flour plus matcha powder.
Step 3 – Roll out the dough. Gather each dough and place in its own sandwich bag. Roll flat using a rolling pin and chill for at least an hour.
Assemble
Step 4 – Layer the two cookie dough colors. Lightly brush the surface of one flattened dough with egg white. Place the other dough on top and gently press to adhere. Next, cut the layered dough in half, brush one half with egg white, and stack to create four layers of alternating colors.
Step 5 – Cut strips and make checkerboard logs. Slice the layered dough into long strips. Lay 3 strips flat, then flip over the middle strip to reverse the colors. Brush them with egg white and stack into a log with a checkered pattern. Chill to firm up.
Baking
Step 6 – Slice and bake the cookies. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Cut the log into cookie slices ¼ inch (7 mm) thick. Place the cookies on an aluminum baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 15 minutes, or until slightly browned on the bottom.
Step 7 – Cool on a wire rack and serve. Remove from the oven and let rest on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely and crisp up. Enjoy!
Nami’s Recipe Tips
- Use room-temperature butter and egg. For the ingredients to blend evenly and cohesively, it’s crucial start with the butter and egg yolk at room temperature (70–72ºF or 22ºC). Leave them on the counter for 1 hour (or longer in colder environments) before mixing. If you forget to take them out of the fridge early, here are two quick tricks that I learned from my daughter, who is the home baker in our family: 1) For a cold egg, soak it in warm water for 10–15 minutes; and 2) for a stick of cold butter, microwave and turn for 5 seconds per long side for a total of 20 seconds (1000W).
- Don’t overmix the dough. When it’s time to mix in the cake flour, blend it only until it’s just combined. If you mix it too long, the gluten in the flour will develop and make the cookies tough.
- Chill the dough twice. I know it may be tempting to skip it, but chilling the cookie dough until firm is essential. It intensifies the flavors and retains the cookies’ shape so they don’t spread in the oven. It helps keep the beautiful checkerboard edges sharp and neat. Chilling also keeps the cookies from burning easily in the oven.
- To roll the dough evenly, use Japanese disposable chopsticks and Ziplock sandwich bags as a guide. Before I had rolling guides, I put the dough ball in a bag and used square-sided Japanese disposable chopsticks or cooking chopsticks on either side of the dough ball. I would roll out the dough with a rolling pin to the same height of the chopsticks, about ¼ inch (5 mm) thick. I recommend this trick to make your dough an even thickness.
- Use a light-colored, aluminum baking sheet. I strongly encourage using light-colored pans because aluminum conducts heat uniformly so your cookies brown evenly. An aluminized steel baking sheet also works. In the past, I’ve burned the bottom of my baked goods on a dark-colored baking sheet. Therefore, I highly discourage using a carbon steel or dark-colored baking sheet.
- Check your oven’s actual temperature with an oven thermometer. The actual temperature inside may differ from the display setting. Every oven is different, so please adjust the setting to achieve the correct actual temperature. Keep in mind that your baked goods may cook faster if you use a countertop (or other small) oven. Closely monitor the condition of the cookies and adjust the bake time.
- Remove the cookies when just barely golden. The residual heat from the baking sheet will brown the cookies more, so remove them from the oven when they are just a tad brown. Cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer the cookies to a wire cooling rack.
- Cool completely on a wire rack. Transfer the cookies from the baking sheet to a wire cooling rack. This allows the steam to escape the hot cookies so they can crisp up. Bring the cookies to room temperature before storing them to maintain their crunch.
Variations and Customizations
This butter cookie recipe is easy to customize so you can achieve the look and taste you want. Try my suggestions below.
- Roll the cookies in sparkling sugar or sprinkles. For an extra festive look, you can roll the dough log in clear sparkling sugar or colored sanding sugar before you slice and bake the cookies. This will create a shimmery edge to the cookies. Colorful sprinkles also could make a cute decoration. The sparkling sugar and sprinkles will keep their shape and add more sweetness to the cookies, too.
- Change the flavors and colors. You can make this versatile plain dough almost any flavor and color you like to suit the occasion or season. For a classic springtime combo, I love pairing green matcha with pink-red strawberry. You can make pink dough by mixing a powder of pulverized, freeze-dried strawberries or salt-pickled cherry blossoms into the plain dough. For other colors and flavors, try swapping Dutch-process cocoa powder, Earl Grey tea powder, hojicha powder, or lemon zest.
- Add almond extract. While I kept this recipe pure to enhance the matcha flavor, you could add a small dash of almond extract to the dough if you’d like. Almond extract adds a sweet, bright taste and exquisite fragrance to baked goods. Be sure to use a light touch, though. I usually skip making an almond or vanilla dough because the flavor can overwhelm the subtle matcha taste.
Storage Tips
To store: Cool the cookies completely, then store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week. To freeze, transfer the cooled cookies to an airtight container or resealable freezer bag and store in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight to enjoy.
To freeze the cookie dough: Tightly wrap the checkered dough logs in plastic wrap and put them in freezer bags. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw them in the refrigerator for 2 hours before slicing and baking.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you did not chill your cookie dough until firm, that may have caused your cookies to go flat during baking. Be sure to chill the dough twice—first after you make the two different doughs and roll them flat, then again after you assemble the checkerboard dough logs. Chill each time for at least 1 hour or until firm if your kitchen is warm. This will help your cookies hold their shape and keep sharp edges.
You may have overworked the cookie dough and caused too much gluten to develop in the flour. To avoid overmixing, gently fold in the cake flour by hand only until it’s just combined; stop mixing when there are no pockets of dry flour left. Also, try not to add flour to your work surface when you roll out the dough and assemble the checkerboard log. You shouldn’t need to dust flour if you use the sandwich bags.
Cold, firm butter is challenging to beat, and sugar will not fully blend and cream together with cold butter. This makes it difficult to incorporate air into the mixture, resulting in tougher cookies. You also risk overworking the dough since cold butter takes longer to mix with the other ingredients. For the best results, soften the butter to 70–72ºF (around 22ºC) before mixing. I usually leave the butter on the counter for about an hour. If you forget to take out the butter from the fridge, see my Recipe Tips above for my daughter’s trick to quickly soften it.
I definitely recommend using powdered sugar over granulated sugar in icebox cookies because its fine texture blends seamlessly into the dough, creating a smoother, more uniform consistency. It also dissolves quickly and evenly, resulting in tender, melt-in-your-mouth crumb, unlike granulated sugar, which can leave a grainy texture. Additionally, the cornstarch in powdered sugar helps reduce spread during baking, ensuring the cookies maintain their precise shape and clean edges. Due to all these reasons, I definitely use powdered sugar for my icebox cookies!
Readers’ Matcha Checkerboard Cookies
Matcha Checkerboard Cookies were the JOC Cooking Challenge for December 2024. Check out the delicious cookies created by JOC readers!
More Matcha Dessert Recipes
If you love these Matcha Checkerboard Cookies, you’re in for a treat with these other irresistible recipes for matcha sweets.
Matcha Checkerboard Cookies
Ingredients
- 7 Tbsp unsalted butter (at room temperature)
- ½ cup confectioners’ sugar
- ⅛ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- ½ large egg yolk (measure its weight, then divide in half; at room temperature)
- 2 Tbsp almond flour (I use King Arthur Almond Flour)
- ½ heaping cup cake flour (for the plain dough; please weigh your flour; click the Metric button for weights; or learn how to measure flour with a measuring cup; I use King Arthur Unbleached Cake Flour; click the ingredient link for how to make cake flour at home)
- 5 tsp matcha (ceremonial or culinary grade) (for the green dough)
- ½ cup cake flour (for the green dough; please weigh your flour)
- egg white (from separating the egg yolk)
Instructions
Before You Start…
- This recipe needs at least 2 hours of chilling—split it into morning and afternoon, or chill overnight over two days. Gather all the ingredients. Soften the butter at room temperature for 1 hour or more. Weigh your ingredients with a kitchen scale (tap "Metric" above for grams). Using cups instead? Fluff and sprinkle the flour into the cup and level it off—don't scoop, or you'll add too much.method.
- You'll need: a hand or stand mixer with whisk (and paddle) attachments, or a food processor; an aluminum baking sheet; 2 resealable sandwich bags (about 6 x 6.5 in / 15 x 16.5 cm); a rolling pin; and rolling pin guides (optional—I use these acrylic guides).
To Mix the Cookie Dough
- Separate the egg yolk from the egg white.
- Place the egg white in a small bowl, cover with plastic, and refrigerate it. Mix ½ large egg yolk in a small bowl until smooth.Nami's Tip: Weigh the whole yolk on a digital scale and calculate half for accuracy).
- In a separate bowl, press 7 Tbsp unsalted butter (at room temperature) with a silicone spatula until smooth, then add ½ cup confectioners’ sugar.
- Blend with an electric mixer until fluffy and pale.Nami's Tip: Whipping in air makes the cookies crispier.
- Add ⅛ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt and blend until incorporated.
- Add ½ large egg yolk and mix until smooth.
- Add 2 Tbsp almond flour and blend until fully incorporated and smooth.
- With the silicone spatula, scrape down the bowl to collect the dough.
- Weigh the dough on a kitchen scale and divide it in half (mine was about 180 g total, so 90 g per half). Split into two bowls—one for plain dough, one for matcha dough.
To Make the Plain Dough
- Sift ½ heaping cup cake flour into the plain dough bowl.
- Fold in the flour with the spatula until just incorporated—don't overmix.
- Once crumbly, press the dough together, shaping it into a ball and scraping the sides.
- Once crumbly, press the dough into a ball, scraping down the sides.
To Make the Matcha Dough
- Whisk 5 tsp matcha (ceremonial or culinary grade) into ½ cup cake flour until combinedNami's Tip: Pre-mixing makes it easier to blend in.
- Sift the matcha-flour mixture into the other dough half.
- Fold in with the spatula until just incorporated—don't overmix.
- Once crumbly, press into a dough ball and place in a resealable sandwich bag.
To Roll Out the Dough
- Release the air from the bag, seal it, and roll the dough flat with a rolling pin.
- Using rolling guides? Place them on either side of the bag and roll flat (stacked chopsticks work too). Without guides, roll until the dough fills the bag to a 5-mm thickness.
- Flatten the dough to 5 mm thick, about 6 x 6½ in (15 x 16.5 cm).
- Repeat with the matcha dough. Place the rolling guides on either side of the bag and roll flat.
- Roll gently so the dough doesn't push out of the sealed bag. Refrigerate both bags for at least 1 hour.
To Assemble the Checkered Logs
- Remove the chilled and firm dough from the fridge. Cut open the left and right sides of each sandwich bag with a sharp knife.Nami's Tip: The dough should feel solid—if it softens too much, wrap in plastic and re-chill before continuing.
- Peel back the tops of the bags to expose the dough, leaving the bottom bag in place.
- Brush the matcha dough with beaten egg white. Flip the plain dough—still in its bag—on top. Press to adhere, then peel off the bag.
- Cut the layered dough in half and brush one half with egg white. Stack the other half on top, matching the cut sides, to form four alternating layers. Press to adhere.
- Stack the other half on top, matching the cut sides, to form four alternating layers. Press gently to adhere.
- Mark 1-cm (just over ⅜ in) intervals along the top and bottom edges with the tip of a knife—a ruler helps here.
- Using the marks as a guide, slice straight down into 1-cm-thick strips (about 8 total).Nami's Tip: if the strips soften, wrap and re-chill before continuing.
- Lay three strips flat and flip the middle one so its colors are reversed from the outer two (see image). Brush egg white on top of the bottom and middle strips (skip the top strip), then stack into a log. Check the end for a checkered pattern and press gently to adhere without misshaping.
- Stack the remaining three strips into a second log. Wrap in plastic and chill at least 1 hour. Nami's Tip: To freeze the logs for later, see the To Store section.
- For the last two strips, roll into a ball, then into a log—or cut in half crosswise and stack for a short checkered log. Wrap and chill.
To Bake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Slice the chilled dough logs into ¼-in (7 mm) thick cookies.
- Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake 13–15 minutes, until slightly browned on the bottom.
- Remove from the oven when just slightly golden—residual heat will brown them further. Cool 5–10 minutes on the sheet, then transfer to a wire rack.
- Continue slicing and baking the remaining dough.Nami's Tip: Rotate the log as you slice to keep its round shape.
- Serve with your favorite drink and enjoy!
To Store
- Once fully cool, store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week (I add a silica gel packet). To freeze baked cookies, transfer to a freezer-safe container or bag and freeze up to 3 months; thaw overnight in the fridge. To freeze the dough, wrap the logs tightly in plastic, place in freezer bags, and freeze up to 3 months; thaw in the fridge 2 hours before slicing and baking.
Notes
- Baking Sheets: Use a light-colored aluminum or aluminized steel baking sheet for even browning. Avoid dark-colored pans like carbon steel—they can burn the bottoms.
- Ovens: Check your actual temperature with an oven thermometer and adjust as needed—display settings can be off. This recipe was tested in the full-sized oven; countertop ovens may bake faster, so watch closely and adjust the time.
Nutrition
The nutrition facts shown are generated by an online calculator and are estimates only. Please consult a professional nutritionist for specific dietary needs.
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