Matcha Shortbread Cookies and Holiday Cookie Round-Up

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Posted by Kirbie / 4 comments » / Cookies, Matcha green tea, Recipes

This last week I’ve been baking cookies like crazy. I’ve forgotten how exhausting and tiring it is to massively bake so many at once. Usually cookies are pretty easy and quick. But the holiday ones I make always seem to take a lot more time as a result of all the decorating and shapes I have to cut out.

I was planning on sharing some of my favorite holiday cookie recipes over the years earlier this month but I never did get around to it. For those still looking for last minute inspiration, I’m sharing them in this post.

I love making these matcha shortbread trees every year. But it is annoying cutting out so many trees and them decorating them. They taste great though. Buttery, not too sweet. And they keep well so they can be baked ahead of time. One thing I learned this time around is that the Maeda-en culinary quality packaged in a silver canister definitely does not have the same vibrant green as the gold canister high quality drinking tea. My first batch was so light and I was dissatisfied with the green so I made them again.

The recipe for these are at the end of this post.

Favorite Holiday Cookies Round-Up

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Matcha Shortbread Trees

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
a pinch of salt
1 cup butter, cut into small pieces
2 1/2 tablespoons high quality matcha (green tea) powder
1/2 cup granulated sugar

Directions:

1. Whisk flour and salt together in a small bowl.

2. In a separate bowl, beat butter, matcha powder and sugar until light and fluffy.

3. Add about half of the flour, then mix on low speed. Gradually add
remaining flour, mixing just until blended. The mixture should look crumbly; but if you squeeze it between your fingers, it will come together. Gather the dough into a large ball.

4. Roll out dough to 1/2-inch thickness between two pieces of parchment paper.
Peel off top parchment paper.

5. Cut out as many cookies as possible using cookie cutter and place on cookie sheets 1-inch apart. Re-roll remaining dough and repeat until all of the dough is used up. Decorate with sprinkles

6. Preheat oven to 325 F. Bake for about 15-17 minutes or until the cookies are dry and firm to the touch and the edges are just starting to turn brown.

slightly adapted from DeDe Wilson’s recipe found on Project Foodie

Posted by Kirbie on December 22, 2012

4 Comments »

tags: holiday cookies

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4 Responses to “Matcha Shortbread Cookies and Holiday Cookie Round-Up”

1

Kay — December 22, 2012 @ 5:01 pm

These look so cute! I always keep matcha powder at home so I will have to try this recipe!
- Kirbie replied: — December 23rd, 2012 @ 9:38 am
  
  This is one of my favorites. Not as sweet as other cookies, but really good.
2

lalah — December 27, 2012 @ 11:28 pm

Hello Kirbie!
Thank you for posting this recipe.
I was wondering if you used salted or unsalted butter.

Also, how strong is the green tea flavor for this recipe? I’m making these cookies for my mother who happens to be Japanese and she’s craving cookies with strong matcha flavor!

Thanks again!
- Kirbie replied: — December 28th, 2012 @ 9:01 am
  
  I used unsalted butter. The green tea flavor is very strong. Though, it will also depend on the green tea powder you use. The higher quality ones have much strong flavor. I like the gourmet Maeda-En powder and used them for these.