Green Tea Matcha Cookies

My Aiya matcha powder finally came! I'm so excited to finally start my long list of matcha baked goods. Did you guys know that matcha powder is not made with your regular green tea leaves? 🙅 I didn't. Apparently there's a whole different way of growing the green tea leaves that are used for matcha powder. I watched a whole video on YouTube about it, it's quite an ordeal. No wonder matcha powder isn't cheap and could have bad grades. I feel like matcha powder is the type of ingredient that you can't just buy based on price. Definitely do your research prior buying! 

First item on my matcha list is these green tea cookies I found on Just One Cookbook. I am obsessed with this blog! I could spend a whole day just reading recipes and wishing I were in Japan eating all these yummy foods. 😭 This is a simple and easy recipe. It does require refrigeration so it's a good recipe for a stay at home day.  Even though the recipe doesn't require much matcha powder, the matcha flavor is strong (could be my powder?). The recipe suggested you to roll the dough into cylinder shape and cut it into slices after refrigeration. I'm thinking you could probably roll it into a sheet and do cut outs after refrigeration as well. I am a huge fan of this recipe! The taste and texture are perfect. Definitely give it a try if you have matcha powder at home. 😉 

Thank you for reading and happy eating! - Mich

PS. According to Google, matcha powder expires after 1-2 month of opening. Put it in the fridge to extend the shelf life a bit longer. 💚

Green Tea Matcha Cookies

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Refrigeration Time: + 2 hours
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 2 hrs 35 minutes

Servings: ~24 cookies
Source: Just One Cookbook

Ingredients:
- 240 g All Purpose Flour
- 15 g Matcha Powder
- 170 g Unsalted Butter at room temperature
- 130 g confectioner's sugar
- Pinch of Salt
- 2 Large Egg Yolks
- 50 g White Chocolate Chips

Instruction:
1. Combine the flour and matcha powder, sift them in a medium size bowl.
2. Beat the unsalted butter until smooth and creamy. Add a pinch of salt and blend.
3. Add confectioner's sugar to the butter and mix until soft and light.
4. Add egg yolks and mix until combined.
5. Add the flour and matcha powder mixture and mix until the dough is smooth.
6. Fold in the white chocolate chips.
7. Take out the dough and roll it into cylinder shape, about 1.5 inches diameter.
8. Refrigerate for +2 hours.
9. Preheat oven at 350 F and prepare baking sheet with parchment paper.
10. Slice the dough into 1/2 inch slices and place them on the baking sheet.
11. Bake for about 15 minutes, until the edge of the cookies begin to brown.
12. Let cool in baking sheet for 5 minutes then let cool on cooling rack.