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Close up of a chewy matcha cookie.

Soft and Chewy Matcha Cookies with White Chocolate

Ellen
With crisp edges and thick soft middles, this matcha cookie recipe combines the perfect chocolate chip cookie with delicious matcha! If you’re a matcha lover these cookies are for you. Melted butter and an extra egg yolk ensure a chewy texture and a nutritional antioxidant boost from matcha! Plus no need for a mixer!
5 from 2 votes
Prep Time 2 hrs 25 mins
Cook Time 12 mins
Course Dessert
Cuisine American, Japanese
Servings 16 cookies

Equipment

  • 3 mixing bowls (small, medium, large)
  • 1 silicone spatula
  • 1 hand whisk (or electric mixer)
  • measuring cups
  • measuring spoons
  • kitchen scale (optional but highly recommended)

Ingredients
  

  • cups all purpose flour (280 g)
  • 2 Tbsp. matcha powder (culinary grade or better) (Note 1)
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • ¼ tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp sea salt (or ¾ tsp coarse kosher salt) (Note 2)
  • ¾ cup unsalted butter (melted, cooled to room temp.) (170 g or 6 oz.) (Note 3)
  • ½ cup granulated sugar (100 g)
  • ½ cup brown sugar (packed light or dark) (100g)
  • 1 large egg (room temperature) (Note 4)
  • 1 large egg yolk (room temperature)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • ¾ cup white chocolate chunks (or chips) plus more for decorating

Instructions
 

Prepare Your Butter and Eggs

  • On the stovetop or microwave-safe bowl, melt your butter. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
  • Whisk your large egg and egg yolk together and set aside.

Mix Dry Ingredients (flour mixture)

  • Measure your flour (using the spoon and scrape method) in a medium bowl. (Note 5)
  • Whisk in matcha powder, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Make sure all ingredients are mixed well with no lumps.

Mix Wet Ingredients

  • In a separate large mixing bowl, combine melted butter, white and brown sugars and whisk until smooth and creamy. It should change a little lighter in colour - about a minute.
  • Let the butter and sugar sit together for about 5 minutes for better absorption.
  • Add the whisked egg and egg yolk and vanilla extract. Whisk thoroughly for 2-3 minutes. Mixture will be light, smooth and glossy.

Combine and Chill Your Dough

  • Combine your dry flour mixture into your large bowl of wet ingredients. I like to do this in two rounds to avoid overmixing. Fold the ingredients gently together using your spatula and make round sweeping motions towards the centre. The dough forms to be a bright green colour, soft and sticky (like playdoh but stickier).
  • Stir in the chopped white chocolate chunks or chocolate chips.
  • Cover your bowl and place it in the fridge to chill for 2-3 hours or overnight.

Roll and Bake Your Cookies

  • Preheat your oven to 325°F/165°C.
  • Take out your bowl from the fridge and roll it into 16 equal cookie dough balls (cookie scoop or just your hands). Each dough ball should be about 2.5 Tbsp (55 - 60 g) or 1.75 - 2 inches wide. If the dough is chilled longer or overnight, it will be quite hard, place it out for 10 minutes to warm up. The warmth from your hands will soften up the cookie dough. (Note 6) (Note 7)
  • Place the balls of cookie dough on a light-coloured baking tray lined with parchment or silicone baking mats (preferred). Place them 2 inches apart.
  • Place your baking tray in the preheated oven and bake cookies for 10-12 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned but the centers are still soft. If you’re using two baking sheets and they both cannot fit in the middle rack, place them on the top and bottom ⅓ of your oven and rotate halfway through.
  • Cookies will appear very soft right out of the oven and puffy in the middle. Cool for 5 - 7 minutes on the baking sheet before handling them and transfer to a cooling rack. Place a few chocolate chunks on top of your cookies while soft for a prettier look. Cookies will flatten a bit as they cool

Notes

Notes

Note 1:  For a lighter matcha flavour, reduce matcha powder by 75% to 1.5 Tbsp.  Ceremonial grade can also be used but usually its more expensive and meant to be consumed by itself.
Note 2:  Sea salt is more finely ground than kosher salt so less is needed since it's saltier by volume.
Note 3:  Make sure to cool your butter properly to room temperature before mixing.  Hot butter will guarantee a greasy cookie and a higher chance of overspreading.  Test with your finger or place a butter knife in your melted butter and it should coat the knife nicely rather than being runny.
Note 4: Let your eggs sit out to warm to room temperature or place them in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes to speed up the process.
Note 5:  Measure your flour properly with the spoon and scrape method.  Before measuring, fluff your flour with a fork to make sure it’s not overly packed.   Spoon out the flour into your measuring cup and scrape the surface flat using the back of a butter knife. Or better, weigh your flour with a kitchen scale. 
Note 6:  For extra thick centers, roll your cookie dough balls taller than they are wider.
Note 7:  If you make smaller or bigger cookies, make sure to adjust the bake time to avoid overcooking.

Success Tips

  • Use light-coloured baking trays lined with silicone mats or parchment paper.
  • Bake your cookies on the center rack or one tray at a time for best results.  Use the top and bottom 1/3 of your oven for two trays and rotate halfway.
  • Underbake your cookies.  Always take out your cookies when they still look soft and moist in the middle.  They will continue to cook while cooling.
  • If time permits, bake a test cookie to see how it turns out and make adjustments if needed.  See troubleshooting tips.

 

Troubleshooting Tips

  • Cookies are overspreading:  The cookie dough is too soft.  Make your dough balls taller than wider.  Place in the freezer for an extra 10 minutes or refrigerate longer before baking.  
  • Cookies aren't spreading:  If your cookie dough balls don't spread at all after baking, there is too much flour.  These cookies stay thick but do have some spread.  From my experience, the majority of spread happens during the last few minutes of bake time.  
  • Cookies are too greasy: Your batter might not have enough flour or your butter was too hot.  Add an extra 2 tablespoons of flour or cool your butter more.
  • Cookies are dense: Your batter might have too much flour, make sure you have properly measured your flour by the scoop or spoon method or by weighing it.
  • Cookies are hard and dry:  They're overbaked.  Reduce bake time by a few minutes.
  • Cookies are browning too much:  Use silicone baking mats over your baking trays (dark trays will brown cookies more).

 

Freezing Instructions

Freeze rolled cookie dough balls in a freezer bag and keep them for up to 3 months. Defrost them on your counter for 15-20 minutes to soften up before baking.
Place baked cookies in an airtight container and freeze them for up to 3 months.  Defrost on the counter for 30 minutes and microwave for 10 seconds for warm cookies.

 

Storing Instructions

Keep baked cookies in an airtight container on your counter for up to 5 days.

 

Substitutions/Variations

  • White chocolate chips - use macadamia nuts or pecans instead of chocolate.
  • For a chewier texture, swap out ½ cup of all-purpose flour for bread flour.
  • Use vegan butter instead of regular butter.
Keyword matcha cookie recipe, white chocolate chip matcha cookies
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