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Delightful Zebra-Striped Matcha Shortbread Cookies made with only 6 ingredients. They are easier to make than they look and totally worth the effort.

Do you still remember my previous Zebra-Striped Shortbread Cookies? These Zebra-Striped Matcha Shortbread Cookies are the matcha version of those cookies. This time, I used matcha cookie dough instead of chocolate dough for these cookies and alternated the layers with vanilla cookie dough.

It looks complicated, but trust me it is much easier than you think to pull off. You don’t need any rolling at all. The layers and shapes are all created by hand. They are made into a log and when you are ready to bake, you just need to slice it into thin layers with a knife.

How to Make the Striped Pattern

You start by making the basic vanilla and matcha shortbread cookie dough. I already have my ideal ratio from my previous Matcha Shortbread Cookies. After you have made both flavors, it is time to layer them.

To do this, I divide each dough into two and stack them into 4 alternating layers. Press them gently but not evenly or your zebra pattern will be too neat. Then, cut vertically in the middle. Put one part overlay the other. Not you have 8 alternating layers.

Press, cut, and stack the dough again until you get 16 alternating layers. Press and roll the dough into a log. Cover with parchment paper or plastic wrap and chill until the dough is firm for at least 2 hours.

When ready to bake, cut the log into thin slices about 1/8 to 1/4-inch or about 3-5 mm. Put them into a prepared baking pan and bake until the edges turn light brown. Transfer them to a cooling rack immediately.

The Best Flour to Make Shortbread Cookies

You can use both all-purpose or cake flour for shortbread cookies. I personally like to use cake flour because it gives light, crisp, and tender textures to the cookies. If you use all-purpose flour, I find them softer and chewier than the ones made with cake flour.

If you don’t have cake flour but still want these lighter cookies, try converting from all-purpose flour to cake flour. Take one cup of all-purpose flour, spooned, and leveled. Remove 2 tablespoons, and then add two tablespoons of cornstarch to the all-purpose flour.

Pro Tips

Crumbly dough. After adding the flour, the dough will look crumbly at first. You need to work it with a spatula more until the dough is well incorporated. Make sure to use softened room temperature butter because you will need to work on it longer if using cold butter.
Refrigerate the dough after mixing. If your dough is too soft or sticky to touch, refrigerate it for 20-30 minutes. The dough should be like a play-doh texture and not too soft and not too hard so that you can easily stack the layers and shape them into a log. Don’t leave it in the refrigerator too long or it will be too hard and the dough will not stick to each other when you stack them.
Stacking the layers. It is best to use your hands to flatten the dough because the layers will be too neat if using a rolling pin. Try shaping the layers into a rectangle as much as possible after each cut and stacking so that you will get the same amount of layers on each slice.
Shaping the log. Place cookie dough in the center of a large piece of parchment paper and use your hands to shape it into a rough log. Fold parchment in half over dough. Grasp the bottom half of the parchment. With your other hand, press a bench scraper or a ruler into a crease that forms between dough and parchment. Then, move the scraper back and forth along the length of the dough to even out the cylinder. Roll parchment into a cylinder and firmly twist ends together to form a tight seal.

Make These Cookies in Advance

These Zebra-Striped Matcha Shortbread Cookies can be made several days in advance. After you make the cookie log, you can refrigerate it, covered, for up to 3 days prior to baking.

If you are making shortbread dough longer than 3 days ahead of time, it is best to freeze it. You can simply place the cookie log in an airtight container and freeze up to three months. Thaw it the night before in the fridge, then slice and bake the dough as directed.

More Matcha Recipes

If you don’t know, I have tons of matcha dessert recipes on my blog. Here are some of them:

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