Spring Green Tea Shortbread Cookies
A quick announcement: I’ve recently joined the twitter world. It’s pretty fun so far and I’m trying to make more acquaintances through it so that I have a bigger community to talk to, so if you do enjoy twitter, I hope you add me! Now, onto this post.
A few weeks ago, I made matcha green tea shortbread leaf cookies. I loved how they came out and it gave me an idea to play around with some more shapes and make a more spring-themed design.
I got some flower cutters and used them along with the leaf cutters. Then I placed the flowers on top of the leaves. I loved how the cookies looked. I loved how they tasted even more. Buttery, rich with green tea flavor. And no eggs needed! Which is a big deal when you bake as much as I do.
As I stared at my presentation, I thought about adding something to the top. I had some pretty flower shaped mochi from Mikawaya. So I put one on top, but I didn’t really like how it looked. The mochi stood out awkwardly from the green tea cookies.
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into pieces
- 2 tablespoons matcha (green tea) powder
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
Directions
1. Whisk flour and salt together in a small bowl; set aside.
2. Beat
butter on medium-high speed until creamy, about 3
minutes. Add matcha powder and beat until butter/tea mixture is a uniform
green color and very creamy. Add sugar gradually and continue beating
on high speed until very light and fluffy.
3. Add about
one-third of the flour, then mix. Gradually add
remaining flour, mixing just until blended. The mixture will look crumbly; if you squeeze it between your
fingers, it will come together. Gather it together into a ball with
your hands while it is still in the bowl.
4. Roll out dough to
1/2-inch thickness between two pieces of parchment paper.
Peel off top parchment.
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.
Refrigerate at least one hour.
6. Preheat oven to 325 F.
Bake for about 17 minutes or until the cookies are dry and firm
to the touch. The edges might just start turning brown. Cool pans on racks for
a couple of minutes, then carefully transfer cookies to racks to cool
completely. Store at room temperature in airtight
container.
More Shortbread Cookie Recipes
Green Tea Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into pieces
- 2 tbsp matcha, green tea powder
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
Instructions
- Whisk flour and salt together in a small bowl; set aside.
- Beat butter on medium-high speed until creamy, about 3 minutes. Add matcha powder and beat until butter/tea mixture is a uniform green color and very creamy. Add sugar gradually and continue beating on high speed until very light and fluffy.
- Add about one-third of the flour, then mix. Gradually add remaining flour, mixing just until blended. The mixture will look crumbly; if you squeeze it between your fingers, it will come together. Gather it together into a ball with your hands while it is still in the bowl.
- Roll out dough to 1/2-inch thickness between two pieces of parchment paper. Peel off top parchment.
- 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. Refrigerate at least one hour.
- Preheat oven to 325°F. Bake for about 17 minutes or until the cookies are dry and firm to the touch. The edges might just start turning brown. Cool pans on racks for a couple of minutes, then carefully transfer cookies to racks to cool completely. Store at room temperature in airtight container.
Art is in the simple, not fussy
I agree
Yes, the dough was crumbly. I halved everything but still I think it’s because the flour was a little less – I usually use a 200 ml cup.
Yes it does sound like either too much butter or not enough flour. Sorry they didn’t completely work out for you.
Btw, here’s how they look: https://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o206/just_a_girl5/S5008746.jpg
I’m sorry that happened. Are you sure when you halved the ingredients that everything was halved? I know I sometimes make a mistake and do the full amount on something and that could make them spread. It looks like maybe yours had too much butter. Also when you roll them out to cut into shapes, the dough needs to be pretty thin, like 1/2 inch or less. Mine puff up a little, but barely when spread. How did your dough look when you were done mixing it? Was it crumbly?
So I made the cookies, but while baking, they became bigger and totally lost their shape – now they look like blobs. Maybe they were a little thinier than yours or maybe there was a little less flour (I used 1/2 of the incredients since it’s the first time I’m making them)?
ok so not sure how i feel about these, maybe i need to use matcha next time, they weren’t bad but they were….. different,. i do like that i can really taste the tea, don’t know if the tea taste is just subtle with the matcha. idk they’re different
Yeah that is why I asked you if your ground the leaves. I was afraid it would end up tasting like the leaves too much. Matcha powder is much more subtle. Actual tea leaves will be a lot stronger and probably too bitter for cookies. I would recommend trying it again with matcha powder. Sorry they didn’t turn out well
i had to use a little bit more butter with the oat flour, maybe like another tablespoon or 2 so that it would come together. i didn’t use a grinder. i’m living in a temporary apartment while my apartment is being renovated so a lot of my things are in storage, like my grinder, lol. they are in the oven now, i’ll let you know how they come out
so i have this dough chilling in the fridge can’t wait to see how it tastes when i bake it tomorrow:) so i just did a few changes, i used oat flour, didn’t have any matcha so i just tore open my green tea bags to use the loose tea instead which is about 4 bags but i used 5. i have no idea where my cookie cutters are but i wanted these to have a shortbread sort of shape so i’ll share a tip my Mom taught me. take the box that your foil or saran wrap is in, take out said foil or saran wrap:), line the inside with parchment paper. not a big huge piece but enough so that you have some overlapping to wrap over the top later, place the dough inside the parchment lined foil box, pat down with your fingers, use your fingers to press it down and then wrap over the parchment that is extending, close the cover & place in the fridge. once the dough is chilled you just lift the parchment paper filled dough onto a cutting board & slice down or slice that dough down the middle & then slice each log:) so i literally would ball up small pieces with my hand, put them in the box, repeat & then pat/press so it was all together & not separate balls of dough in the box if that makes sense. love your blog btw
I hope yours turn out well! I haven’t worked with oat flour before. For the matcha, did you grind up the leaves? I think it will probably end up tasting a little different using loose green tea leaves rather than the matcha powder. But that could be a good thing. Thanks for sharing your tip. I actually do something similar when I refrigerate my dough too.
Thanks! I love green tea ice cream
I hope you like them. I love matcha anything. Hehee
These cookies are so cute! I adore matcha flavour so this is something I will make! Thank you!
Do you mean the sakura mochi?
I hope you like it!
Love the pretty green these cookies have both when raw and cooked forms.
The mochi makes the cookies look like grape leaves for the grape leaf wrapped mochi (what is the name???).
Love these can’t wait to try your recipe out!
I do most of my baking on the weekends. I try to set aside one night to bake a bunch of things and then I’ll invite people over to eat the baked goods. A lot of the leftovers are eaten by my baby brother who is still young enough to eat a ton and not gain an ounce, his girlfriend who loves desserts, and Boyfriend and I (who have put on a few pounds since this blog, unfortunately.)
We really like your many baking/cookies/cakes recipes but were always wondering how do you find time to do so much baking next to work and who is eating all these great cookies/cakes without gaining three pounds a week.