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What Are Matcha Butter Cookies?
Matcha butter cookies are delicious buttery cookies flavored with Japanese matcha green tea powder. The taste is rich and luxurious, and the colour is naturally bright green making it effortlessly festive and perfect for Christmas.
Because of the amount of butter and sugar in these cookies, the texture is lightly crisp and crumbly, a little like shortbread. However, by adding egg yolks and milk, it becomes a pipe-able mixture that can be made into beautifully defined shapes.
I mainly use this recipe to make Christmas tree cookies, however, you can experiment with other shapes such as wreaths or holly leaves.
While Japanese people don’t celebrate Christmas in the traditional sense, if you visit Japan around December, you will find an abundance of Christmas-themed snacks and desserts. This cookie recipe perfectly adds a little Japanese flair to your holiday baking this year!
Ingredients You Will Need
- Unsalted Butter: I always use unsalted butter to control the saltiness. Ensure it’s very soft but not melted before starting.
- Granulated Sugar: Granulated sugar is my go-to for a slightly crispy texture, helping cookies maintain shape and not spread too much.
- Plain Flour: Simple all-purpose flour works best.
- Matcha Green Tea Powder: Choose bright green, high-quality matcha for baking. It’s now more accessible, often found in supermarkets, tea stores, or online. Perfect for adding natural color and flavor, especially for festive recipes!
- Chocolate & Powdered Sugar: These are for decorating. Get creative!
- Other Ingredients: Egg yolk, vanilla essence, whole milk, and a pinch of salt.
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Visual Walkthrough & Tips
Here are my step-by-step instructions for how to make Matcha Christmas Cookies at home. For ingredient quantities and simplified instructions, scroll down for the Printable Recipe Card below.
STEP
Cream the butter and sugar
The first step is to mix the butter and sugar together until pale and creamy. To do this easily, the butter should be room temperature or slightly warmer so it’s easy to combine with the sugar.
You shouldn’t use melted butter; otherwise, it won’t cream properly, and when you add the flour, it will absorb too quickly and can make the cookies dense and uneven. They’re also more likely to spread in the oven if you use melted butter.
For best results, butter should be left out for approximately one hour before you start.
STEP
Add egg yolk and vanilla essence
Whisk in the egg yolk and vanilla essence until combined. The egg yolk adds moisture and helps bind the cookies, and vanilla adds an extra element of sweetness that compliments the matcha.
In Japan, it’s a lot cheaper and easier to get hold of vanilla essence, but if you’re using vanilla extract, use half the amount.
STEP
Mix the dry ingredients in a separate bowl
For an even result, I recommend combining the flour, matcha and salt in a separate bowl.
STEP
Sift into the wet ingredients
Sift the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients to ensure there are no lumps of matcha, and then knead them together using a spatula.
If the dough is very stiff and difficult to mix, add a small amount of whole milk (about 1/2 tsp at a time) until it’s slightly softer and pipe-able. It should still be quite firm and held together.
STEP
Transfer the dough to a piping bag
For this recipe, you will need a piping bag and a star nozzle. Place the bag in a tall glass and drop the nozzle in. Add the dough (if you’re doubling or tripling the recipe, I recommend adding 1/2 or 1/3 at a time), cut the end and push the dough down. Twist up the top and you’re ready to pipe!
STEP
Piping the dough
Line a baking sheet with baking paper and pipe your designs, leaving about 2cm of space between each cookie. If the dough is still too stiff to pipe, try running the piping bag under warm water for a minute to help soften it further.
I recommend drawing your designs on a piece of paper and placing it underneath the baking paper so that you can trace it. I start from the top of the trunk, make a “U” shape and then pipe from left to right to make the tree branches.
If you like, you can download my free printable Christmas tree template here!
If you’re decorating with sugar sprinkles or decorations that don’t melt, you can do this before baking too.
For best results, chill in the fridge for 20-30 minutes before baking!
STEP
Preheat the oven and bake
While your cookies are resting in the fridge, preheat your oven to 170°C (340°F).
Once they’ve been chilling for 30 minutes, place them in the oven on the middle shelf and bake for 12-15 minutes.
I recommend baking multiple trays in batches to ensure even cooking, but if you increase the recipe and want to use multiple shelves, you can swap them every 5 minutes to ensure they’re all evenly cooked.
STEP
Cool and decorate
Allow it to cool for about 20-30 minutes, and then decorate as you like! I like to dip the tree trunks in chocolate and dust them with powdered sugar for a simple approach, but my wife decorated them this time, and she really went to town.
You can use things like royal icing, different colors of chocolate, sprinkles, etc! Why not be extra? It’s Christmas after all!
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How to Store
I recommend storing your matcha Christmas cookies in an airtight container at room temperature and eating them within a week. They can also be stored in the freezer in a ziplock bag or similar for up to 2 months.
Free Printable Template
If you missed it in the post, you can download my free printable Christmas tree cookie template here!
I hope you enjoy this Matcha Christmas Cookies recipe! If you try it out, I’d really appreciate it if you could spare a moment to let me know what you thought by giving a review and star rating in the comments below. It’s also helpful to share any adjustments you made to the recipe with our other readers.Thank you!
More Christmas-Themed Recipes
- Light and Fluffy Japanese Christmas Cake
- Japanese Christmas Chicken (Soy-Glazed Roasted Chicken Leg Quarters)
- Matcha Roll Cake (Green Tea Swiss Roll)
Matcha Christmas Tree Cookies
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By Yuto Omura
These beautiful swirled butter cookies are naturally flavored and colored with matcha green tea powder, it's the perfect festive cookie recipe with a Japanese twist. Not only are they fun to make and decorate, but they would also make a wonderful gift!
Prep Time30 minutes mins
Cook Time15 minutes mins
Chilling Time30 minutes mins
Total Time1 hour hr 15 minutes mins
Course Sweets
Cuisine Japanese
Servings 16 cookies
Prep Time: 30 minutes mins
Cook Time: 15 minutes mins
Chilling Time: 30 minutes mins
Total Time: 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins
Course: Sweets
Cuisine: Japanese
Servings: 16 cookies
Print Recipe Pin Recipe Save Recipe
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Equipment
Star Piping Nozzle
Disposable Piping Bag
Ingredients
- 100 g unsalted butter softened/room temperature
- 50 g granulated sugar
- 1 pasteurized egg yolk
- ½ tsp vanilla essence or half the amount of vanilla extract
- 120 g all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp matcha powder
- 1 pinch salt
- 1-2 tsp whole milk
Optional ingredients for decorating
- 50 g milk chocolate melted (optional for dipping)
- sugar stars or chocolate stars (optional for decorating)
- 1 tbsp powdered sugar for icing or dusting (optional for decorating)
Instructions
Mix the 100 g unsalted butter and 50 g granulated sugar in a bowl until pale and creamy.
Add 1 pasteurized egg yolk and ½ tsp vanilla essence, mix until well incorporated.
Add 120 g all-purpose flour, 2 tsp matcha powder and 1 pinch salt to a separate bowl and mix until evenly distributed.
Sift the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and knead them together using a spatula.
To make the dough easier to pipe, add 1-2 tsp whole milk. If it still seems too stiff then add a little more milk, 1/2 tsp at a time.
Transfer the mixture into a strong piping bag with a star nozzle.
Line two baking sheets with baking paper and place the tree template underneath. (You can download my template or draw your own on a piece of paper.)
Pipe the dough onto the baking paper, leave 2cm between each cookie. (If the mixture is too stiff, run the piping bag under warm water to soften it further.)
Chill the cookies in the fridge for 20-30 minutes before baking.
Preheat your oven to170 °C (338 °F)
Bake the cookies on the middle shelf for 12-15 minutes or until they start to turn light brown around the edges. (Don't let them brown completely.)
Once baked, let them cool for a 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to allow them to cool completely.
Decorating
The decoration is up to you, but I used chocolate to coat the tree trunks. Melt 50 g milk chocolate and use a spoon to spread it over the tree trunk.
To stick decorations to the surface, use 1 tbsp powdered sugar with a tiny drizzle of milk or lemon juice and mix until combined. It should have a thick consistency. (If it's too runny, add more powdered sugar.)
Sprinkle the cookies with powdered sugar for a snowy effect.
Store in an airtight container and consume within a week.
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Notes
If the pastry is too hard to pipe add a little more milk or if it’s already in the piping bag, run it under warm water to soften it.
If you’re doubling or tripling the recipe, add half or quarter of the mixture to the piping bag at a time to avoid it breaking.
If you can’t fit all the cookies on one shelf, bake in batches or rotate/switch the trays every 5 minutes to ensure they’re evenly baked.
Take the cookies out of the oven as soon as they start to brown around the edges, this cookie shouldn’t be browned all over.
Make sure the cookies are completely cooled before decorating.
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