Matcha Cookies

These Matcha Shortbread cookies are not only super tasty but they also contain several ingredients with proven benefits for your overall health, skin and nails. A cookie that’s tasty AND healthy? Bring it on!

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What is Matcha Green Tea Powder?

Matcha is a type of green tea that originates from Japan. It's grown specially and processed specially, making it, well, really special with a unique flavor. But seriously, these matcha tea leaves are treated like queens!

Twenty days before harvest, the matcha leaves are shaded from direct sunlight which increases their chlorophyll levels, giving matcha that bright green color. The leaves are handpicked, laid out to dry, de-stemmed and de-veined, then ground into fine powder to make the perfect green tea flavor.

What are the health benefits of Matcha?

Unlike other green teas which are steeped in water, with matcha, the tea powder is dissolved in water. So, you're getting the benefits of consuming the entire green tea leaf.

Because you're consuming the entire green tea leaves with matcha, you're getting the the full effects of its antioxidants, vitamins, and caffeine. Many people who consume matcha say that it provides a steadier level of caffeine over coffee which provides a quicker burst of caffeine. It's the perfect time to become a matcha lover!

What does Matcha taste like?

Matcha is often described as a pleasantly grassy flavor, smooth texture and a little bit sweet. And, like many other ingredients, there are varying levels of quality of matcha green tea available.

Typically, good quality ceremonial grade matcha isn't cheap. However, culinary grade matcha tea powder is available and is typically cheaper. If this is your first time using matcha in a recipe, I recommend going for culinary matcha to use in your matcha recipes when baking and/or cooking and saving the really good ceremonial matcha for drinking.

Matcha Green Tea Cookies Dipped in Dark Chocolate

I created this matcha cookie recipe for the May 2020 Beauty issue of Bella Mag. I knew right away I wanted to create a recipe using matcha powder! Not only does it have the health benefits we already discussed, it's also so beautiful in baked goods, giving them a vibrant green color.

For this recipe, I also wanted to incorporate as many other ingredients with health and beauty benefits as I could. Enter dark chocolate and coconut oil!

Dark chocolate is known to be a source of powerful antioxidants and may reduce blood pressure and cholesterol. All while satisfying your chocolate cravings! How's that for a power ingredient?!

And the coconut oil that's used to create a smooth, melted dark chocolate into which these cookies are dipped and drizzled contains healthy fatty acids and has also been shown to lower cholesterol.

With all these healthy ingredients, they may be perfect cookies! I herby prescribe you to at least one delicious cookie a day from now on!

For a flavor variation, try using white chocolate instead to make Matcha White Chocolate cookies. Add in macadamia nuts, too!

🧾 Ingredients & Substitutions

• Butter: Use unsalted butter that is at room temperature. Be sure to remove it from the fridge at least 30 minutes before using it in this recipe. Otherwise, the butter will be too cold to incorporate evenly into the cookie dough, leaving you with clumps of butter in the dough. To make vegan matcha cookies, substitute the butter for your favorite vegan baking butter
• Sugar: Use granulated white sugar instead of brown sugar. Unlike classic chocolate chip cookies, shortbread is a delicate cookie vs a cookie with a chewy texture. Brown sugar adds chewiness which is not what we want with this matcha cookies recipe
• Powdered sugar: otherwise known as confectioners sugar, this ingredient gives this delicious recipe its soft, delicate texture
• Kosher salt
• All-purpose flour: I have not made this with any flour substitutions such as gluten-free flour or almond flour
• Cake flour: for best results and the perfect texture, use cake flour to make these sweet treats. Cake flour has a lower protein content than all-purpose flour and bread flour, giving it a lighter texture. Cake flour helps make shortbread light and delicate. If you do not have cake flour, however, all-purpose flour may be substituted. The texture may be slightly different, but the cookies will still taste delicious!
• Matcha green tea powder: culinary grade matcha powder works best here to carry through a strong matcha flavor to your cookies
• Dark chocolate: I recommend usin chopped coarsely chocolate from a chocolate baking bar. Chocolate chips tend to have added ingredients that may not melt as well as baking bars. Feel free to substitute with any flavor chocolate, but be mindful the cookies won't have the same health benefits
• Coconut oil: Use solid, room temperature, refined coconut oil. Unrefined coconut oil has more of a coconut flavor than unrefined coconut oil does

See the recipe card for ingredient amounts.

HOW TO MAKE MATCHA COOKIES

STEP 1

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or with an electric mixer, cream the butter, granulated sugar, powdered sugar, and salt until thoroughly combined, about 3 minutes. In a separate bowl, sift together the all-purpose and cake flours with the Matcha powder.

STEP 2

With the mixer on low, mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in 3 additions, scraping down the sides of the bowl in between each addition.

STEP 3

Place shortbread dough between two pieces of parchment paper, flatting with your hands into a rectangle.

STEP 4

Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough over top of the top layer of parchment paper until the dough is ¼ -inch-thick.

STEP 5

Place on a baking tray and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.

STEP 6

Preheat the oven to 350ºF (177ºC). Cut the refrigerated dough into 2-inch circles using a cookie cutter or rim of a glass. Place cut-out cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

STEP 9

Bake the cookies until just golden brown at the edges, about 10 minutes.

STEP 10

Remove from the oven and allow to cool on sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.

STEP 11

Once cookies have cooled, melt the dark chocolate and coconut oil in a double boiler or in the microwave in a microwave-safe bowl for 2 minutes on 50% power, stirring halfway through.

STEP 12

Dip the cookies, allowing the excess chocolate to drip back into the bowl or use the tines of a fork to drizzle the chocolate over top of the cookies.

STEP 13

Set cookies on a wire rack set over a cookie tray to allow chocolate to set before serving. Store in an airtight container.

Tips for Making Matcha Shortbread Cookies

• This dough will seem dry and crumbly when you mix all the simple ingredients together. Don't panic! It's supposed to be that way. Lay down a piece of parchment paper, dump the dough out onto it and press the dough together into one big clump as best you can. Lay another piece of parchment over top and roll the dough out into an even layer
• I recommend rolling the dough out this way before chilling, whereas many shortbread recipes call for chilling the dough then rolling it out. I find that with shortbread, the dough cracks very easily when it's cold, making it very difficult to roll out evenly. By rolling the shortbread dough out before chilling, this doesn't happen. Save yourself the heartache and roll it out ahead of time. Place the dough that's sandwiched between two pieces of parchment paper on a cookie sheet and pop it in the fridge to chill
• To cut out the dough, I recommend using a round cookie cutter that's about 2 inches in diameter. You can, of course, use whatever size or shape cookie cutter you have handy. And if you don't have cookie cutters, use the lid of a mason jar or even the rim of an upside-down glass
• These matcha shortbread cookies are delicate when they first come out of the oven. Leave them to cool a bit on the baking sheets then transfer carefully to a wire cooling rack to cool completely before dipping in chocolate. If your cookies still seem too delicate to dip, aka they break off into the melted chocolate, try sticking the tines of a fork into the melted chocolate and drizzle it over top of the cookies while they're on the tray. This is the best way to coat them in chocolate without breaking your buttery matcha cookies

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