I had the matcha cheesecake cupcakes planned, the matcha already measured out, and then I opened the drawer and found no cupcake liners. Nothing else in the house was going to fix a matcha craving at that point.
So the matcha went into cookie dough instead. No chilling, straight onto the sheet, and they were out of the oven before I'd have finished filling a cupcake tin.
They also came out green, which is not a given. Most homemade matcha cookies bake up olive or brown, and the reason is usually baking soda rather than the matcha. I use baking powder instead and they hold their color.
Eight cookies at 75 grams each, so these are bakery size, crisp at the edge and soft in the middle. About 30 minutes start to finish.
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Jump to:
- Why This Recipe Works
- Which Matcha to Buy and How Much to Use
- Ingredients
- How to Make Matcha Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Why Matcha Cookies Turn Brown Instead of Green
- Variations
- How to Store Matcha Cookies
- Rose's Top Tips
- Recipe FAQs
- More Cookie Recipes
- Did you try this recipe?
- Bakery-Style Matcha Chocolate Chip Cookies
Why This Recipe Works
- No chilling. The dough goes from the bowl to the sheet to the oven. Most matcha cookie recipes ask for an hour in the fridge and this one doesn't need it.
- Baking powder instead of baking soda. Soda pushes browning, which is the opposite of what a green cookie needs. Powder gives you the lift without the color loss.
- Eight cookies at 75 grams each. Bakery size, not one-tablespoon size. You get a crisp edge and a middle that's still soft when it cools.
- Granulated sugar, no brown. Brown sugar makes a chewier cookie but it browns harder in the oven. This recipe trades a little chew for color that holds.
Which Matcha to Buy and How Much to Use
Buy culinary grade, not ceremonial. Ceremonial matcha is made for drinking and it costs three or four times as much. In a cookie, competing with butter, sugar, and chocolate, you will not taste the difference. A good culinary matcha gives you the same color for a fraction of the price.
Look at the color before you buy. Fresh matcha is bright, almost emerald. If it looks dull, yellowish, or brownish in the package, it's old, and old matcha tastes bitter and bakes brown no matter what you do. This matters more than the grade on the label.
How much to use. One tablespoon is what this recipe calls for, and it gives a clear matcha flavor without turning bitter. If you want it stronger, add another half tablespoon. Go much past that and the bitterness starts to fight the chocolate instead of balancing it.
Sift it. This is the step most recipes skip and it matters more with matcha than with flour. Matcha clumps, and a clump that survives into a baked cookie is a bitter green pocket someone is going to bite into. Push it through a fine mesh strainer with the flour before anything else happens.
Store it in the dark. Light and air are what turn matcha brown in the tin. Keep the container sealed and out of the cabinet above your stove.
Ingredients
Here's what you'll need:
- All-purpose flour. Measure it by weight if you have a scale. Scooping straight from the bag packs in extra flour and gives you a dry, cakey cookie instead of a soft one.
- Matcha powder. Culinary grade, sifted with the flour. Covered in detail above, but the short version is bright green in the tin means bright green in the cookie.
- Powdered milk. This adds milk flavor without adding extra liquid.
- Baking powder. Not baking soda. Soda raises the dough's pH and pushes browning, which works against everything you want in a green cookie. Powder gives you the lift without the color loss.
- Salt. Sharpens the matcha rather than just balancing sweetness. Matcha without salt tastes flat and slightly muddy.
- Butter. Unsalted, at room temperature. Room temperature means it creams properly with the sugar and traps air, which is what gives the cookie a soft middle. Butter that's too soft or melting makes the cookies spread thin.
- Granulated sugar. No brown sugar in this one. Brown sugar makes a chewier cookie but it browns harder in the oven, and the trade is not worth it when the whole point is a green cookie.
- Egg. One large, at room temperature. A cold egg seizes the creamed butter and you end up with a broken-looking dough that bakes unevenly.
- Vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste. Rounds out the matcha so it reads as green tea rather than grassy. Paste if you have it, since the flecks look good against the green.
- Chocolate chips or chunks. Semi-sweet holds up best against the matcha. Milk chocolate is sweet enough that the matcha disappears underneath it.
See recipe card for quantities.
How to Make Matcha Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Preheat and prep. Oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment. Have the butter and egg sitting out so they're at room temperature before you start.
- Sift the dry ingredients. Push the flour, matcha, powdered milk, baking powder, and salt through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl, then whisk. Matcha clumps in a way flour doesn't, and a clump that survives into a baked cookie is a bitter green pocket.
- Cream the butter and sugar. Beat until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. This is where the soft middle comes from, so don't cut it short. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until fully combined.
- Add the dry to the wet. Gradually, in two or three additions, so the flour doesn't fly out of the bowl.
- Mix until just combined. Stop the moment you don't see dry flour. Overmixing develops gluten and gives you a tough cookie instead of a soft one.
- Fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula, not the mixer.
- Scoop 75 grams per cookie, eight total, spaced about 2 inches apart. A scale is easier than a scoop at this size. They spread, so give them room.
- Bake 12 to 14 minutes, until the edges are set and just barely golden. Green makes golden hard to read, so go by the edges looking dry and matte rather than by color. Cool on the sheet for 10 minutes before moving them. Cookies this size keep cooking on a hot pan, and that's what sets the edge while the middle stays soft. Move them too early and they fall apart.
Why Matcha Cookies Turn Brown Instead of Green
You mix a bright green dough, put it in the oven, and pull out something olive. It's the most common complaint about matcha cookies and it usually comes down to one of four things.
The matcha was already brown. Check the powder in the tin before you blame the recipe. Fresh matcha is bright, almost emerald. Dull, yellowish, or brownish powder is old, and it bakes brown and tastes bitter no matter how carefully you handle it. This is the cause people rule out last and it's the one they should check first.
Baking soda. Soda raises the pH of the dough, which pushes browning. Most matcha cookie recipes call for it because that's how a standard chocolate chip cookie is built. This one uses baking powder instead, which gives you the lift without driving the color in the wrong direction.
The oven ran too hot, or they baked too long. A lot of recipes on this dish call for 375°F. This one is 350°F, and it's not an accident. More heat means more browning on the surface, and the surface is the part you see. Pull them when the edges look matte and dry rather than waiting for a color change that's hard to read on a green cookie.
Brown sugar. Same principle. Brown sugar browns harder than granulated, which is why this recipe skips it. You give up a little chew and you keep the color.
One thing you can't fix: the green fades over a few days even on a cookie that came out right. That's the matcha itself, not anything you did. They still taste good on day four, they just look less striking, so if the color is the point, bake them the day you plan to serve them.
Why Your Cookies Spread Too Much
Different problem. The color came out fine, the cookies are just flat and thin at the edges.
The butter was too soft. Room temperature means it holds a dent when you press it and still has some resistance. Butter that's shiny, greasy, or slumping has gone past that, and it starts spreading before the cookie has any structure to hold. If you softened it in the microwave, that's almost certainly the cause.
Your kitchen is warm. No-chill dough works in a normal kitchen and struggles in a hot one. If yours runs warm, 20 to 30 minutes in the fridge fixes it. The recipe doesn't require it, but it isn't cheating either.
You mixed too long after the flour went in. Once the dry ingredients disappear, stop. Beating past that point works air out and thins the dough.
The pan was still hot. Second batch on a warm sheet starts melting before it reaches the oven. Cool the pan under running water or keep a second one going.
Too little flour. Measuring by scooping from the bag actually packs in more flour, not less, so this one usually happens the other way: someone spoons it in loosely and ends up short. If you have a scale, use it.
Variations
- White chocolate chips. The most popular version of this cookie for a reason. Sweeter and creamier than semi-sweet, and the white against green looks better than anything else on this list. Straight swap, no other changes.
- Dark chocolate chunks. Chopped from a bar rather than chips. Chunks melt into pools instead of holding their shape, and the bitterness plays against the matcha rather than covering it.
- Toasted pistachios or almonds. About half a cup, folded in with the chocolate. Toast them first or they taste raw next to the matcha. Pistachios also keep the green going.
- Flaky salt on top. Press a few flakes onto each cookie right before they go in the oven. Salt sharpens matcha more than it does chocolate, so this does more here than on a regular chocolate chip cookie.
- Brown butter. Deeper and nuttier, but it browns the cookie too, so you trade some color for flavor. My brown butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies walk through the technique if you haven't done it before.
- Gluten-free. A 1:1 gluten-free flour blend works with no other changes. Check them a minute early, since GF doughs tend to set faster.
How to Store Matcha Cookies
Room temperature. Airtight container, up to 5 days. One honest note: the green fades before the cookie goes stale. By day three they still taste right, they just look duller. If the color is the point, bake them the day you're serving them.
Freezing baked cookies. Up to 3 months in a freezer bag. Cool them completely first so steam doesn't turn to ice in the bag. Thaw at room temperature, or warm them in a 300°F oven for 5 minutes to get the middle soft again.
Freezing the dough. This is the one worth doing. Scoop the 75-gram balls onto a parchment-lined sheet, freeze until firm, then bag them. They keep 3 months and you bake straight from frozen at 350°F, adding about 3 minutes. Since this recipe doesn't need chilling anyway, a bag of frozen dough balls means a warm cookie whenever you want one without making a whole batch.
Rose's Top Tips
- Weigh the dough, don't eyeball it. At 75 grams a cookie, a scoop that's off by 10 grams changes the bake time enough to matter. A scale makes all eight finish at the same moment, which a cookie scoop won't.
- Bake one tray at a time, middle rack. Two trays means the bottom one browns underneath before the top one sets, and browning is the thing this whole recipe is built to avoid.
- Leftover matcha doesn't have to sit in the cupboard. A tin lasts about three months once opened before the color starts going. Use it in a latte, a glaze, or a Ninja Creami matcha ice cream rather than letting it fade.
- The second batch needs a cool pan. If you're doubling this, dough on a warm sheet starts spreading before it reaches the oven. Rinse the pan under cold water and dry it, or work with two.
Recipe FAQs
No. That's the point of this one. If your kitchen is warm or your butter got too soft, 20 to 30 minutes in the fridge stops them spreading, but the recipe works without it.
You can, but it's a waste of money here. Ceremonial matcha is made for drinking, and in a cookie competing with butter, sugar, and chocolate you won't taste the difference. Culinary grade gives you the same color for a third of the price.
Usually the matcha, not the recipe. Old or low-quality powder tastes bitter on its own and baking won't fix it. Check the color in the tin: dull or brownish means it's past its best. Adding too much matcha does it too.
Yes, and it's the best way to use this recipe. Scoop the balls, freeze them firm on a sheet, then bag them for up to 3 months. Bake straight from frozen at 350°F and add about 3 minutes.
Four usual causes: the matcha was already brown before you started, the recipe used baking soda instead of powder, the oven ran too hot, or brown sugar in the dough. This recipe is built around avoiding the last three.
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Bakery-Style Matcha Chocolate Chip Cookies
Equipment
- 1 baking tray
- 1 MIxing Bowl
- 1 hand mixer or spatula
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup All purpose flour 180 grams
- 1 tablespoon Matcha Powder/ Green tea powder
- 1 tablespoon Powdered milk
- ½ teaspoon Baking powder
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- ½ cup Butter
- ¾ cup Sugar
- 1 piece Egg room temperature
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- ¾ cup Chocolate chip/ chocolate chunks
Instructions
- Preheat and prep. Heat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment. Have the butter and egg at room temperature before you start.
- Sift the dry ingredients. Push the flour, matcha, powdered milk, baking powder, and salt through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl, then whisk to combine. Matcha clumps, and a clump in a baked cookie is a bitter green pocket.1 ¼ cup All purpose flour, 1 tablespoon Matcha Powder/ Green tea powder, 1 tablespoon Powdered milk, ½ teaspoon Baking powder, ½ teaspoon Salt
- Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until fully combined.½ cup Butter, ¾ cup Sugar, 1 piece Egg, 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet in two or three additions, mixing just until no dry flour remains. Don't overmix.
- Fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula.¾ cup Chocolate chip/ chocolate chunks
- Scoop 75 grams per cookie, eight total, spaced about 2 inches apart on the sheet.
- Bake 12 to 14 minutes, until the edges look matte and dry. Green makes golden hard to judge, so go by the edges rather than the color.
- Cool on the sheet for 10 minutes before moving them. Cookies this size keep setting on the hot pan, and moving them early breaks them.
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