Matcha Tea Cookie Recipes

Hint:  When preparing matcha green tea cookies, we recommend using either the “drinking” or the “mixing” ZenMatcha.

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Matcha Green Tea Shortbread Cookies:

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

Not the one? See other Matcha (Green Tea) Shortbread Cookies Recipes
Sift the flour, powdered tea and salt into a bowl.
In a mixer bowl, beat butter and powdered sugar until fluffy.
Add flour mixture to mixer bowl and mix slowly until dough just comes together.
Pull dough together carefully in a log, approximately 2 inches in diameter.
Wrap dough log and place in freezer for 30 minutes or until dough has firmed to the touch.
Slice dough into 1/4 inch rounds and place on a parchment or Silpat lined cookie sheet, approximately 1 inch apart.
Bake in a preheated 325 degree F oven for 16 to 18 minutes (or until the cookies are just starting to turn golden around the edges), turning the pan halfway through the baking time.
Remove cookies immediately from the cookie sheet and cool on a wire rack.
Store in an airtight container or wrap well and freeze.
The well-chilled cookie dough can also be rolled out and cut into desired shapes before baking.

NOTE 1-- powdered green tea is not merely green tea that has been pulverized in a food processor or food mill, it's a special kind of tea that has been prepared to dissolve nicely.

NOTE 2-- don't use the microwave to soften the butter, room temperature butter is the correct consistency for this recipe.

Green Matcha Tea Cookies

Traditionally served to emperors and monks, green matcha tea is the tea used in Japanese tea ceremonies. Unfermented green tea leaves are ground into a fine powder and then mixed with hot (not boiling) water and stirred with a bamboo whisk. Researchers in Colorado found in 2003 that matcha tea has 200 times more epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) - a powerful antioxidant - than common North American green tea. This is probably because the whole leaf is consumed rather than just an infusion brewed from leaves, as in regular green tea.

This cookie recipe uses the green matcha powder.

• 1/2 cup (125 mL) organic butter
• 1/2 cup (125 mL) brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp (15 mL) soy milk
• 1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla extract
• 1 free-range egg
• 1 cup (250 mL) spelt flour
• 2 tsp (10 mL) matcha green tea powder
• 1/2 tsp (2 mL) baking soda
• 1/2 tsp (2 mL) baking powder
• 1/4 tsp (1 mL) sea salt
• 1 cup (250 mL) rolled oats
• 1 cup (250 mL) cranberries

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Oil a baking tray. In a large mixing bowl, beat together butter and sugar. Add soymilk, vanilla, and egg and continue to beat until smooth. In another large bowl, sift together flour, tea, baking soda, baking powder, and sea salt. Add flour mixture to butter and sugar and stir to combine. Stir in rolled oats and all but 24 cranberries. Using two dessert spoons, drop cookie dough onto prepared baking tray, decorate with reserved cranberries, and bake until golden brown on the bottom.

Makes 24 cookies.

Best Matcha Cocoa Brownie

adapted from Alice Medrich's Bittersweet

For brownie batter:

• 10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (natural or Dutch-process)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 cold large eggs
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup walnut or pecan pieces (optional)

Special equipment: An 8-inch square baking pan

For Matcha cream cheese batter:

• 1 block (225g) cream cheese, room temperature
• 3/4 tsp matcha powder
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 tsp lemon zest
• 1 egg yolk (at room temperature)

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F. Line the bottom and sides of the baking pan with parchment paper or foil, leaving an overhang on two opposite sides.

For brownie:

Combine the butter, sugar, cocoa, and salt in a medium heatproof bowl and set the bowl in a wide skillet of barely simmering water. Stir from time to time until the butter is melted and the mixture is smooth and hot enough that you want to remove your finger fairly quickly after dipping it in to test. Remove the bowl from the skillet and set aside briefly until the mixture is only warm, not hot.

Stir in the vanilla with a wooden spoon. Add the eggs one at a time, stirring vigorously after each one. When the batter looks thick, shiny, and well blended, add the flour and stir until you cannot see it any longer, then beat vigorously for 40 strokes with the wooden spoon or a rubber spatula. Stir in the nuts, if using. Spread evenly in the lined pan.

For cream cheese batter:

Beat cream cheese with granulated sugar until light and creamy.Add in the eggyolk and beat until well mixed. Scoop out about 1/2 cup of cream cheese into a small bowl and stir in matcha powder. Pour the matcha cream cheese mixture into a small ziplock bag. Add the lemon zest into the remaining cream cheese, and pour into another small ziplock bag.

Using a scissor, cut a small hole on the edge of the ziplock bags and pipe out whatever pattern that strike your fancy on top of the brownie dough.

Bake until a toothpick plunged into the center emerges slightly moist with batter, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool completely on a rack.

Lift up the ends of the parchment or foil liner, and transfer the brownies to a cutting board. Cut into 16 or 25 squares.

Chocolate note: Any unsweetened natural or Dutch-process cocoa powder works well here. Natural cocoa produces brownies with more flavor complexity and lots of tart, fruity notes. I think it's more exciting. Dutch-process cocoa results in a darker brownie with a mellower, old-fashioned chocolate pudding flavor, pleasantly reminiscent of childhood.