Matcha Crinkle Cookies
Crinkle cookies offer a beautiful contrast of textures and tastes, but these Matcha Crinkle Cookies take the dramatic contrast to the next level with emerald green veins of matcha peeking out through the crisp snow-white crust. The festive color combination makes them a perfect addition to a holiday cookie box, and they're also a fun holiday baking project to take on with the kids.
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Why My Recipe Works
- Rolling the cookies in granulated sugar before rolling them in powdered sugar gives the cookies a crisp crust that makes for a nice contrast to the soft, chewy interior, as well as providing a dramatic contrast in color.
- Because there's a lot of sugar on the outside of the matcha crinkles, I've cut back on the amount of sugar in the dough. This makes for a nice contrast between the bittersweet matcha cookie and the sugar crust.
- The flavor and color of this green tea cookies recipe are entirely dependent on the quality and freshness of the matcha you use. I'm using culinary matcha from D-matcha, a small family-run farm in the mountains of Kyoto that grows and processes its own green tea leaves for matcha. It's perfect for providing the green tea cookies with intense color and flavor.
Ingredients
- Flour - My Matcha Crinkle Cookies recipe just uses ordinary all-purpose flour. It will probably work with other types of flour, such as gluten-free all-purpose, but I haven't tested it with other flours.
- Matcha - Matcha is made from green tea leaves that have been dried and ground into a very fine powder. Because powdered tea tends to oxidize quickly, it's essential to use fresh premium matcha to get the best color in these green tea cookies. I get mine from a farm near Kyoto that ships worldwide.
- Baking Powder - Unlike chocolate, matcha is alkaline, so there is no acid in the dough for the baking soda to react with to help the cookies rise. That's why I use baking powder in this matcha cookie recipe, which includes an acid and a base to produce a reaction that helps leaven the dough. This rising action is essential in creating the dramatic cracks on the surface of crinkle cookies that provide a beautiful contrast.
- Salt - I like adding a tiny bit of salt to help temper the sweetness. I don't want my sweets overly salty, so this is much less salt than most cookie recipes will call for. Also, if you're using salted butter, you'll want to skip the salt.
- Eggs - Eggs are the primary liquid in the dough, and they also play roles in leavening and setting the dough. I used large eggs, which were about 60 grams (2.1 ounces) each in weight. This is important as the dough will be too firm if your eggs are too small and too loose if your eggs are too large.
- Granulated Sugar - The granulated sugar in this matcha crinkle cookies recipe is used to sweeten the cookie and produce a crisp crust. I usually prefer using evaporated cane sugar in most of my cooking, but it's important to use white sugar here to preserve the matcha's vibrant green color.
- Butter - Cookies need fat to make them moist and tender, and I like using butter because it also adds flavor. My recommendation is to use cultured unsalted butter, but if you can't find it, unsalted sweet butter will work as well. I generally don't recommend using salted butter because it tends to make the cookies too salty, but if you're going to use it, be sure you omit the salt in this recipe.
- Powdered Sugar - The powdered sugar (a.k.a. icing sugar) forms the outer layer of the matcha crinkles that cracks dramatically, revealing the emerald green tea cookie inside.
How to Make Matcha Crinkle Cookies
Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl to eliminate any clumps of flour or matcha. This ensures your cookies end up uniform in color.
Beat the eggs and sugar together until they're pale yellow in color. I did this using a stand mixer, but a hand mixer, egg beater, or whisk will also work.
Melt the butter and slowly beat it into the egg mixture until it's uniform in color.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir them together until the dough is uniform in color and has the consistency of frosting. Use a spatula to scrape down the side of the bowl, and be careful not to overmix the dough or your cookies will end up tough.
The matcha cookie dough needs to chill in the refrigerator to make it firm enough to scoop. This takes a minimum of one hour, but you can also prepare the dough the night before and refrigerate it overnight.
When you're ready to bake the cookies, line a baking tray with parchment paper or a silicone mat, and prepare bowls of granulated sugar and powdered sugar for dusting. You'll also want to set your oven rack to the middle position and preheat it to 320°F (160°C).
Scoop golf-ball-sized balls of matcha crinkle cookie dough into the granulated sugar and roll the balls of dough around to coat them. Once they're evenly coated, roll the balls between your hands to give them a spherical shape.
Roll the sugared balls of cookie dough in the powdered sugar to give them an even coating, and then transfer them to your prepared cookie sheet. These don't spread as much as chocolate chip cookies, so you can space them a little closer together, but leave at least two inches of space between each cookie so they don't stick together.
Bake the cookies until the surface has cracked and they're slightly puffy. You want the centers to still be a little undercooked when you take them out of the oven, otherwise, the residual heat will cause them to overcook and get dry. This took about eleven minutes in my oven.
Once the cookies are cooked, remove the pan from the oven and let the matcha cookies cool for a few minutes in the pan before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. I usually just slide the parchment paper straight onto the cooling rack with the cookies, but you can transfer them one at a time as well.
More Matcha Recipe Ideas
If you enjoy matcha as much as I do, there are plenty of other tasty ways to work its verdant flavor into your cooking. Check out my fudgy Matcha Brownies for a subtle twist on the chocolate classic, or maybe give this creamy Matcha Basque Cheesecake a try-it has a beautifully caramelized crust and comes together in a blender. For something simpler, my Matcha Ice Cream is an easy treat with a dreamy texture, and you don't even need an ice cream maker. If you're trying to work it into your busy mornings, my Matcha Oatmeal recipe is a comforting way to start the day, and it goes great with my Matcha Latte Hot Chocolate. For weekends, my Matcha Pancakes with Kuromitsu offers vibrant green flapjacks drizzled with a brown sugar syrup that's irresistible.
📖 Recipe
Equipment
Units
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 140 grams all purpose flour ~1 cup
- 15 grams matcha powder ~3 tablespoons
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
Wet Ingredients
- 2 large eggs 60 grams each
- 134 grams granulated sugar ~⅔ cup
- 57 grams cultured unsalted butter 4 tablespoons, melted
For Dusting
- 70 grams granulated sugar ~⅓ cup
- 40 grams powdered sugar ~⅓ cup
Instructions
- Pass 140 grams all purpose flour, 15 grams matcha powder, 1 teaspoon baking powder and ⅛ teaspoon salt through a fine mesh sieve to sift them.
- Add 2 large eggs and 134 grams granulated sugar to a mixer bowl and beat together until light in color. You can also do this with a whisk by hand.
- Slowly beat 57 grams cultured unsalted butter into the egg mixture until it's fully incorporated.
- Dump the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix together until there are no dry areas and the dough has the texture of soft frosting.
- Refrigerate the dough for at least an hour or until it is firm enough to scoop.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Prepare a bowl with 70 grams granulated sugar and another bowl with 40 grams powdered sugar. Put the oven rack in the center position and preheat to 320°F (160°C).
- When the dough is ready, use a large spoon or a small ice cream scoop to scoop out a golf-ball-sized ball of dough and drop it into the granulated sugar. Roll it around in the sugar to coat evenly, and then use your hands to roll it into a sphere.
- Transfer the ball of matcha cookie dough into the powdered sugar and roll it around until the ball is totally white.
- Place the sugar-dusted ball on your prepared cookie sheet and repeat with the remaining dough.
- Bake the cookies until they've flattened out slightly and the tops have cracked, but the cookie is still soft in the center. This took 11 minutes in my convection oven, but baking times will vary by oven, so keep an eye on them.
- When the cookies are done, remove them from the oven and let them cool for a few minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Nutrition Facts
FAQ
Crinkle cookies are holiday cookies made by coating soft cookie dough with powdered sugar before baking them. As the dough softens, it flattens out, and as it cooks, the leavening puffs up the cookie, which cracks the outer shell. Crinkle cookies are most commonly made with chocolate, but these are made with matcha powder to give them the flavor of green tea and a beautiful emerald green hue. I also have a Kinako Crinkle Cookie recipe over on Marc's Recipes using a Japanese traditional roasted soy flour that imparts a nutty, rich flavor without using nuts.
While the taste of matcha can vary widely depending on the quality, cultivar, and where it was grown, good matcha has a smooth, grassy flavor with floral notes. It has a subtle bitterness but should not be overly bitter or astringent. When prepared traditionally as a beverage, it's whisked into a foam, which gives it a creamy mouthfeel, but a similar effect can be achieved in baked goods by combining it with dairy products like cream or butter.
Matcha Crinkle cookies have a relatively high moisture content, so they should be eaten within a week for the best texture. It's also worth noting that the green of the matcha oxidizes relatively quickly, so the outer surface of the cookies won't stay green for more than a few days. My green tea cookies recipe makes a fairly small batch, so it shouldn't be a problem to finish them off in a few days.
Matcha is made by grinding high-quality green leaves in a specialized stone mill. Spice grinders and blenders will not get the tea leaves ground fine enough. I've also tried using a stone mortar and pestle and wasn't successful in getting the tea ground finely enough.
Roh Shaw says
I love this recipe! Easy and quick to make, pretty too look at, and delicious to taste. Since the first time I watched this recipe, this has become a holiday favorite. It's good any time of year!
Marc Matsumoto says
Thanks! I'm glad you've been enjoying these!
Charlie says
Can you roll the cookies in the granulated sugar the night before and refrigerate them? And then just roll them in the powdered sugar before baking? Or will that affect how they look post bake?
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Charlie, I haven't tried it, but I wouldn't recommend it. The sugar is there to provide a crisp crust and if you left it on the cookie dough overnight it's likely the moisture from the dough would dissolve the sugar.
Gina D says
Questions:
1) Ive heard matcha powder can make the cookie turn brown during baking. Have you had that happen?
2) Can you taste the matcha?
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Gina, thanks for the questions. Matcha tends to oxidize very quickly and heating it will cause it to oxidize even faster so to get your cookies to turn out green you need to use very fresh matcha (and ensure your oven is calibrated correctly so it doesn't get too hot). The exterior of the cookies will oxidize noticeably within a few days, so these aren't cookies you want to have sitting around for too long. As for the taste, it will depend on the matcha you use, but yes, in my cookies the matcha flavor was very strong.
Adrianna says
Can these be made with coconut oil? Or, is there another dairy free way to make them? Thanks!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Adrianna, I haven't tried it with coconut oil, but it should work in theory. Let me know how it turned out if you end up giving it a try!
Audrey says
Hi, can we refrigerate these overnight?
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Audrey, do you mean the uncooked dough or the baked cookies?
Gen says
Hi, I need to bake a big batch. Is it possible to make these ahead? Any tips for freezing the dough/ to make ahead? Thanks!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Gen, yep you could make the batter ahead and freeze it. The best option would be to freeze the dough at step 5 and then partially defrost before shaping and dusting. I hope that helps!
Ann says
Is the dough supposed to be very gluey and sticky, not thick? Even after several hours in the fridge or overnight?
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Ann, the dough is on the soft and sticky side, which is why it needs to be chilled and scooped using an ice cream scoop. But if it's not solid enough to form balls like in the photos for step 6 and 7, something might have gone wrong in the ratio of ingredients. Did you use the weight measurements for the ingredients?
Mark H says
These are very tasty and not sickeningly sweet like a lot of cookies nowadays. Thanks for sharing, Marc!
Mine came out a bit puffier rather than flat; I suspect this is because I didn't beat the eggs for quite long enough (the dough was a bit stiffer than you described after adding the dry ingredients).
This one's a keeper for sure! I'll probably file it under "Grinch Cookies."
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Mark, I'm glad to hear you enjoyed them! Regarding the stiffness of the dough, there are two possibilities. The first was that there was two much flour, the second is that there was not enough egg. Did you weigh the eggs and flour? When baking it's pretty important to use weight measures as ingredients like flour can be compacted when measured in a cup so you may end up with as much as 30% too much flour depending on the shape of your cup and how you fill it. With eggs they come in all different sizes, though USDA Large eggs are defined as being between 57-60 grams per egg.
Mark H says
Thanks for the tips! I'll have to double-check next time I make them.
Hope says
Hi, can you clarify if 2 eggs that weigh 60g each are with or without the shells? Thanks so much.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Hope, this was with the shell.