Classic Matcha Green Tea Shortbread Cookies Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Can all matcha be used for baking? ›

Technically, any grade of tea could be used for matcha desserts and baked goods, but culinary-grade matcha will be your most economical option and a better-structured tea that won't lose its flavor when mixed with other ingredients.

Cornstarch provides the shortbread with structure, but its biggest job is keeping the cookies extra soft, tender, and light. I love adding a small amount to chocolate chip cookies too. Optional Coarse Sugar Topping: For an optional sparkly crunch on your shortbread wedges, add a sprinkle of coarse sugar before baking.

A fun take on a buttery sugar cookie, these matcha cookies with a white chocolate glaze are soft and chewy on the inside and a touch crispy on the outside, the perfect texture for a cookie. Matcha powder gives this cookies a unique and earthy flavor, that you're going to love.

Meiji Matcha Green Tea Flavour Cookies (3 biscuits) contains 19g total carbs, 17.7g net carbs, 8.6g fat, 1.8g protein, and 162 calories.

Ceremonial matcha is intended to be mixed directly into hot water and consumed as tea. It usually comes from the youngest tea leaves from the first harvest. Culinary matcha is more affordable and is intended to be used in smoothies, tea lattes, and baking.

The qualities of the matcha you pick should depend on how you want to use it, and how often. A stronger, culinary grade powder is better for baking, while a ceremonial grade one is better for whisking into water and enjoying as tea.

Traditional Scottish shortbread is a simple recipe made with sugar, butter, flour, and salt. Other shortbread styles will include leavening agents like baking powder and baking soda, which makes them crisp instead of crumbly like traditional Scottish shortbread.

Why do you put shortbread cut-out cookies in the fridge before baking? This is to resolidify the butter. The butter is at room temperature when making the dough resulting in a soft dough. If baked straight away, the butter would melt away immediately when hitting the hot oven and the shortbread would spread.

Good quality Matcha is vibrantly green in color—often described as jade green—and lower qualities tend to have a more yellowish/brownish hue.

Why do my matcha cookies turn brown? ›

Why do my matcha cookies turn brown? Baking for too long will cause the green color of your matcha cookies to turn brown and change color. We'll bake these cookies for only 10 minutes, even if they seem a bit wet in the middle, because they eventually settle and become chewy after cooling.

Research has also shown that matcha can help boost brain function, specifically in terms of enhancing memory and improving attention and reaction time. Unlike the caffeine in coffee, matcha consumption does not involve the crash in energy levels that typically occur after drinking coffee.

One teaspoon of matcha contains approximately 10 calories, all of which one from the carbohydrate makeup of the drink. Note that calories, carbs, and fats may be added depending on how matcha is prepared—for instance, matcha lattes will often contain fat and carbohydrates from added milk and sugars.

A study featured in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that consuming matcha green tea can increase thermogenesis (the body's own rate of burning calories) from a normal 8%-10% of daily energy expenditure, to between 35% and 43% of daily energy expenditure.

Trader Joe's Matcha Green Tea Unsweetened (245 ml) contains 1g total carbs, 1g net carbs, 0g fat, 0g protein, and 0 calories.

Unlike culinary grade matcha, ceremonial grade isn't used as an added ingredient in baking, cooking, or garnishing foods. This is for two reasons. First, its delicate flavor doesn't make it ideal for baking or cooking as its subtle, sweet nature gets buried by other ingredients.

Culinary-grade matcha can sometimes be a little rougher because stems and veins of the leaves are sometimes ground into culinary matcha, but ceremonial-grade matcha should be smooth and fine to the touch. Unless you are purchasing a matcha mix, then no Japanese matcha powder should have any additional ingredients.

Ceremonial matcha is suitable for brewing on its own with water or with a very small amount of milk. Using ceremonial grade matcha as a cooking ingredient is similar to pouring an expensive bottle of Echezeaux into a pasta sauce — all the delicate flavors will be lost and it's not economically sensible.

Culinary grade matcha powder is also made from young tea leaves, but these are comparatively older to those used for the ceremonial grade. Because of that, ceremonial and culinary grade matcha have slightly different flavour profiles, making them more suitable for different tasks.