Soft and chewy matcha sugar cookies with frosting are about to be your new favorite way to enjoy matcha. Sweet and full of matcha flavor, if you love green tea, you'll love these!
How beautiful are these matcha cookies with their natural green hue? I adore the color green and tea so making matcha desserts what a no-brainer. No food coloring allowed here!
Be sure to look out for more matcha recipes coming soon! In the meantime, if you've enjoyed these matcha sugar cookies, you'll love my Matcha Bundt Cake or these Matcha Crinkle Cookies. For a crunchy bite try these adorable shortbread matcha cookies.
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Important Ingredients with Substitutions
- All-purpose flour - Take care to measure the flour out carefully. I prefer to use a kitchen scale, but when that's not an option, fluffing the flour and using a spoon to scoop it into a measuring cup, and then leveling it with a butter knife always works perfectly.
- Matcha powder - Culinary grade matcha powder is ideal for this recipe.
- Baking powder - Baking powder helps our cookies to keep their shape without spreading too much.
- Salt - For flavor and balance.
- Unsalted butter - Softened at room temperature
- White granulated sugar - In a pinch, you can replace white sugar with brown sugar.
- Egg - Room temperature. Take them out of the fridge roughly 30 minutes before you start making the cookies.
- Vanilla extract - Pure vanilla extract or vanilla paste will be perfect.
Matcha Frosting Ingredients
- Unsalted butter - Softened at room temperature.
- Powdered sugar - I feel very picky about powdered sugar. I love the Domino brand, it has always tasted fresh and of actual sugar. Some cheaper brands have a floral taste which can be a bit offputting. Just give it a taste before to make sure it tastes of sugar.
- Matcha powder - Culinary grade matcha powder is ideal for this recipe.
- Milk - Use whichever type of milk or dairy-free milk you'd like. Add some more nuttiness with almond milk.
- Vanilla extract - For frosting, I love to use vanilla paste, you can see the little dots of vanilla bean throughout.
See the recipe below for the full list of ingredients and quantities.
Instructions for frosted matcha cookies
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
Step 1: In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, matcha powder, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
Step 2: In a large mixing bowl, or the bowl of your stand mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Around 2-3 minutes.
Step 3: Add the egg and vanilla to the butter mixture and continue to mix until incorporated.
Step 4: Add in the flour mixture ⅓ at a time until mixed together and a cookie dough forms.
Step 5: With a medium cookie scoop, place the matcha cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheet. Gently flatten the matcha dough before baking.
Step 6: Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until slightly firm on the edges.
Step 7: Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to cool completely on the baking sheet before transferring them to a wire rack.
Step 8: To make the matcha frosting. In a large bowl or stand mixer bowl cream together the softened butter and powdered sugar until smooth.
Step 9: Add the vanilla and matcha powder. Mix again until combined.
Step 10: Add the milk 1 tablespoon at a time until the frosting is smooth and spreadable.
Step 7: Once the cookies are cooled, frost the cookies with a mini spatula.
Serve & enjoy!
Level Up with a Top Tip!
Hint: Top with sprinkles! These cookies can be customized with fun sprinkles based on the seasons! Christmas, Halloween, Saint Patrick's Day, Easter, or springtime.
Recipe Variations
- Prepare the frosting without matcha powder, for a nice color contrast against the vibrant green cookie dough.
- Add holiday specific sprinkles to the top. These green color cookies would be perfect for St Patricks Day, Spring, Easter, or Christmas.
- Add cocoa powder to the frosting for a chocolate matcha frosting.
- A delicious flavor contrast would be the addition of white chocolate chips or macadamia nuts.
Storage Recommendations
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week. I like to keep baked cookies in a cookie jar next to my coffee pot.
Can I freeze frosted cookies? Before storing your frosted cookies in the freezer, place them on a baking sheet in a single layer in the freezer for a couple of hours so the frosting can harden up. Once hardened, place the cookies in a freezer safe airtight container or bag for up to 3 months.
Level Up With Expert Tips & Tricks
Using room temperature ingredients will ensure the cookie dough ingredients mix together evenly.
Check the freshness of the matcha powder before using it.
The matcha frosting can also be piped on your cookies. You may have to thin the frosting out a bit more with milk for it to flow easily through your piping tip. I'd be excited to see how you pipe the frosting!
Recipe FAQs
Culinary-grade or lower grade matcha powder is best for baked goods, smoothies, and even lattes. Typically lighter in color and bitter compared to ceremonial grade matcha powder. Ceremonial Matcha is best served stirred in hot water and drank as tea. It's bright and more vibrant in color, sweet, and creamy. Ceremonial matcha is a higher-grade Japanese green tea powder, best consumed in its natural state.
While all matcha will be some shade of vibrant green color, the color actually tells you a lot about this green tea powder. A good rule of thumb is, the deepest shade of green is the highest quality matcha. Another best practice is to smell it, even at a higher quality, if the matcha smells off then it's likely gone bad.
Culinary grade - Lightest color matcha, which is typically used in baking or making smoothies.
Premium grade - Mid color and slightly more potent than ceremonial grade.
Ceremonial grade - Deepest color and the highest quality. Meant only for drinking.
Of course. Prepare the cookie dough and place scoops onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Put the cookie sheet back into the freezer so the dough balls can harden. Once hardened, toss the dough balls into a freezer-safe bag or container for up to 3 months. Take a couple of cookie dough balls out to bake. You can bake them from frozen, or let them thaw just a bit so you can press them down before baking.
Similar Sweets
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
Matcha Sugar Cookies with Frosting
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups All-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons Matcha powder
- ½ teaspoon Baking powder
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 1 cup Unsalted butter softened at room temperature
- 1 cup White granulated sugar
- 1 Egg
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
Matcha Frosting
- ½ cup Unsalted butter softened at room temperature
- 2 cups Powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon Matcha powder
- 2-3 tablespoons Milk
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, matcha powder, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, or the bowl of your stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. 2-3 minutes.
- Add in the egg and vanilla extract and continue to mix until incorporated.
- Add in the flour mixture ⅓ at a time until mixed together and a cookie dough forms.
- With a medium cookie scoop, place the cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheet. Gently flatten the cookie before baking.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until lightly golden on the edges.
- Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to cool completely on the baking sheet before transferring them to a cooling rack.
- While cooling, prepare the matcha frosting.
- In a large mixing bowl cream together the softened butter and powdered sugar until smooth.
- Add the vanilla and matcha powder. Mix again until combined.
- Add the milk 1 tablespoon at a time until the frosting is smooth and spreadable.
- Once the cookies are cooled, frost the cookies.
- Serve & enjoy!
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