Matcha Butter Cookies
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy for details.
If you love matcha, then these Matcha Butter Cookies are for you! These cookies are crisp with a tender crumb and a really distinct matcha flavor. So delicious and easy to make.
Butter cookies are an all-time favorite classic, and today I am going to show you how to make Matcha Butter Cookies. These crisp, delicious butter cookies have lots of amazing butter flavor, distinct earthy matcha flavor, and a melt-in-your-mouth consistency. They are light and not too sweet, which will have you coming back for more.
Matcha Butter Cookies Ingredients
- Unsalted butter. Since these are butter cookies, you will need butter, of course! The butter flavor shines. Therefore, I recommend using a high-quality butter.
- Confectioners’ sugar. To sweeten the cookies. The confectioners’ sugar will give the cookies the tender and melt-in-your-mouth texture.
- Egg yolk. I only add the egg yolk because it adds richness and tenderness with less spread.
- Vanilla extract. To enhance the flavour.
- Cake flour. Cake flour is a lower-protein flour. It has about 7-9% protein compared to the 10-12% protein in all-purpose flour. Using cake flour will make the cookies crisper, lighter, and more tender. You can also substitute cake flour with all-purpose flour, but the cookies will turn a little bit denser.
- Cornstarch. Cornstarch makes the cookies very tender and prevents them from spreading.
- Matcha powder. The main flavor in this Matcha Butter Cookies recipe. Use a good quality matcha powder!
- Salt. To taste.
What Matcha to Use
Typically, there are two grades of matcha:
- Ceremonial grade. The highest quality matcha with a vibrant green color, the most caffeine content, and the least amount of bitter flavor. It should be used for drinking.
- Culinary grade. The lower grade of matcha is intended for baking and cooking purposes.
For baking, use culinary-grade matcha powder, which is robust, heat-stable, and offers a strong, vibrant green flavor that pairs well with other ingredients. It is generally more affordable than ceremonial grade and offers a stronger flavor profile suitable for cookies, cakes, and pastry applications.
Best Piping Tips to Use
The best piping tips for butter cookies are large, open star tips (such as Ateco #828 and Wilton 1M, 6B, 8B). These, with a roughly 1/2-inch opening, allow thick dough to pass through easily while creating defined, ridged shapes. Closed star tips can be used, but require more force.
If you are not confident about your piping skills, you can alternatively use a cookie press to shape these cookies.
Baking Tips
- Use room temperature butter. It refers to soft and pliable butter, but still cool to the touch. There should be an indent when you press with your finger.
- Measure your flour correctly. Adding too much flour to the recipe is the most common mistake. The best and easiest way to measure flour is by using a scale. If you still insist on using volume measurement, make sure to fluff your flour and spoon it into your measuring cup. Then, use a knife to level it off.
- Add more milk if your dough is too hard. Finding the right consistency of cookie dough is very crucial for butter cookies since you need it to be creamy enough to pipe. I find the recipe ratio is perfect for me, but if your dough is too hard to pipe, try adding a teaspoon of milk to the dough.
- Make small cookies rather than large cookies. If you make your swirls smaller or larger, the cookies will need to bake for less or more time.
- Use a cookie press to shape the cookies. If you are not confident about your piping skills, you can alternatively use a cookie press to shape these cookies.
- Chill the cookies before baking. I highly recommend chilling the piped dough in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. This will help them retain their shape with less spreading.
More Cookie Recipes
- Pistachio Snowball Cookies
- Famous Amos Style Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Sable Breton Cookies (French Butter Cookies)
- Pandan Gula Melaka Butter Cookies
- Double Chocolate Butter Cookies
- Earl Grey Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- 7 tbsp (100 gr) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup (65 gr) confectioners’ sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup (125 gr) cake flour
- 2 tbsp (15 gr) cornstarch
- 2 tsp (5 gr) matcha powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 340℉/170℃ and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Using a hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and confectioners' sugar on high speed until pale and fluffy.
- Add egg yolk and vanilla. Beat the mixture until well combined.
- Sift in cake flour, cornstarch, matcha powdr, and salt. Mix with a spatula until well incorporated. Don't overmix.
- Add your star piping tip to the piping bag. Transfer the dough into the piping bag and try piping on the prepared baking sheet. If the dough is too thick to pipe, transfer the dough back to the mixing bowl and add 1 tsp of milk. If the dough is creamy enough to pipe, continue piping the dough into swirls, leaving 2 inches apart on the baking sheet.
- Chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to let the dough firm up so that they kep their shape better during baking. This step is optional.
- Bake cookies for 15-18 minutes or until the edges are light brown. Bake for 15 minutes for softer cookies, bake for 18 minutes for crisper cookies.
- Remove from the oven and immediately transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
could you just scoop the dough with a spoon instead of piping?
Hi I have used plain flour instead of cake flour is that okay? I find I have to have the batter really soft or add 4-5tsp milk to make it easy to pipe, is that normal? Finding it really hard to pipe. But once I do it is very delicious!
Hi Lib,
It is okay to use plain all-purpose flour instead of cake flour. However, I prefer cake flour for butter cookies because the ones made with all-purpose flour tend to be denser and not as tender. It is okay to add milk to make the dough easier to pipe. I guess you need to add more milk into the dough because you use all-purpose flour which has a higher gluten content and absorbs more water than lower-protein flour. The next time you make the recipe, I suggest reducing 1-2 tbsp cornstarch to make the dough a little bit softer. Don’t reduce it too much or the dough will spread more during baking.
Hope you enjoy the cookies!
Ahhh makes sense, I haven’t used cake flour much in UK so will try your suggestions. Thank you! Yes my hubby loves them, so do I, so I really want to perfect them 🙂 thanks so much!
Hi I have tried to reduce the cornflour, do you mean reduce by tbsp or tsp? 30gram isn’t a lot to reduce from… anyways I’ve tried it and yeah it got flat so I guess it spreads like you have pre-warned! Maybe I’ll just stick to same ingredients amount but add more milk? Or reduce plain flour?
Hi Lib,
In my case, I have tried reducing half of the cornstarch for butter cookies and it worked well for me. Buy it turned out the method did not work for you. I think adding more milk is the best solution for you then.