In cookies and cake, matcha, Japanese green tea powder has to be my favorite flavour. Chocolate would be a close second, but because I’m a major chocolate fiend, I do prefer it on its own. I love matcha whisked with water for tea, and I also love it in baked goods. It is somewhat bitter (like cocoa) and is definitely strong-tasting, so pairs very well with sweet and creamy things, which mellow it out and counter the bitterness.

sifting the matcha into the flour

I. Love. These. Cookies.

So much so that I might not be able to make them again. You see, I ate 10-15 (sounds excessive, I know, but they are very small! About the size of a quarter) of them as soon as they had cooled enough to touch, and ended up spoiling my lunch. Luckily, we tried out a new restaurant at lunch that day, and suffice it to say that I was definitely better off eating these cookies. Besides the matcha, I decided to also use a bit of lime juice to flavour them, which gives them more complexity, and a brighter, more sunshine-y taste. These little cookies are amazing. They are very well-balanced and despite the bright green colour, the tea taste is actually very mild.

cutting out the cookies

Matcha shortbread cookies
3/4 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup icing sugar
2Tbsp brown rice syrup or honey
1Tbsp fresh lime juice
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp matcha powder
2 cups all-purpose flour

Cream butter, sugar and salt together. Put 2T of brown rice syrup or honey into a small bowl, and stir in 1T of lime juice, then mix this syrup into the butter and sugar mixture. You can skip this step if you like, but I find it gives the cookies a more complex flavour. Sift matcha and flour together thoroughly, making sure no lumps of tea powder remain. Add flour mixture to butter and sugar in a few additions, mixing until just smoothly combined.
Pat the dough into a ball, and deposit it on a piece of silpat or waxed paper. Cover with another silpat or sheet of waxed paper, and roll out dough. If you plan to make small cookies (mine were tiny) the dough should be quite thin (1cm or a bit less), or you can leave it thicker if you plan to make full-sized cookies. Transfer dough to the fridge to cool for 30 mins, or until firm.
Preheat oven to 300 degrees Celsius.
Cut out cookies to desired shapes. If the dough sits too long while you’re cutting out the cookies, it will become warm again, and will be hard to work with. If this happens, pop it back in the fridge or freezer for a while to firm up again. Cool dough is much easier to handle!

ready to bake!

Baking time for these cookies depends on how big you decided to make them. Tiny cookies like mine bake really quickly, in about 6-7 minutes at 300 degrees, so they have to be watched carefully. It’s a good idea to flip the baking sheet around halfway through the baking time, so that they cook evenly (unless you use a convection oven). Try to watch them closely so the edges don’t brown too much, which ruins their nice green colour. For regular-sized cookies it should take 15-20 minutes for them to bake.

This might sound like a lot of work, but it’s actually not too bad, and they are absolutely worth the effort. The real challenge is putting them away once you’ve had one or two! Like other shortbread cookies, these taste best a day or two after being baked. I like to keep them in the fridge, so they stay crisp and fresh as long as possible.

pretty little cookies

Matcha powder can be found in many Asian grocery stores, or in specialty tea shops. You should use ‘ingredient grade’ matcha, as it is cheaper and the slightly more bitter taste combines well with sweet things. Matcha taste and quality can vary greatly, so taste yours before baking–if it tastes too bitter for you, maybe consider using less than the 2Tbsp called for in this recipe. Likewise, if it tastes very mild you can use more than 2T. Adjust it to your tastes!

Do you ever cook or bake with tea?

love,
meg xo

Tags: cookies, Japanese, Tea, Treats

This entry was posted on Monday, November 16th, 2009 at 4:53 pm and is filed under Snacks, Tea, Treats. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.