The quick answer
Cream 115 g butter with 130 g sugar, beat in one egg, then fold in 225 g plain flour and 120 g white chocolate. Add matcha from the working 4–8 g (2–4 tsp) range; this recipe uses 6 g. Bake at 170–180 °C for 10–12 minutes. That makes about 14 green biscuits.
A note on the numbers: the amounts, temperatures and timings on this page are standard baking convention, reviewed for accuracy by Erin Young. They are reliable starting points, not a single lab-measured rule. The caffeine and calorie figures are computed from this recipe, not measured, and are flagged as estimates wherever they appear.
How do you make matcha cookies?
Matcha biscuits are a plain butter-biscuit dough with matcha sifted in alongside the flour. The green tea does two jobs at once: it colours the dough and adds a gentle, grassy note that white chocolate rounds off beautifully.
Ingredients (makes about 14 biscuits)
| Ingredient | Weight | Cups/spoons |
|---|---|---|
| Plain (all-purpose) flour | 225 g | 1½ cups |
| Unsalted butter, softened | 115 g | ½ cup |
| White sugar | 130 g | ⅔ cup |
| Egg | 1 | — |
| Matcha powder | 6 g | 3 tsp |
| Baking powder | 1 tsp | 1 tsp |
| Salt | pinch | pinch |
| White chocolate, chopped or chips | 120 g | ⅔ cup |
Amounts are reviewer-confirmed baking convention, not a single measured standard: adjust to taste once you know the dough. The matcha dose sits mid-way in the working 4–8 g range.
Method
- Heat the oven to 175 °C conventional (about 165 °C fan-forced) and line two baking trays. Any moderate oven in the 170–180 °C band works; the moderate heat is what protects the green.
- Cream the softened butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, 2–3 minutes with a hand mixer.
- Beat in the egg until just combined.
- Sift the flour, matcha, baking powder and salt together, then fold into the wet mix. Sifting matters: matcha clumps, and unsifted pockets bake into bitter green streaks.
- Fold through the white chocolate. Stop as soon as the dough comes together; an overworked dough bakes tougher and duller.
- Roll tablespoon-sized balls, space them a few centimetres apart and press each slightly flat. For thicker biscuits, chill the dough for about 30 minutes first; that chill sits outside the active time below.
- Bake for 10–12 minutes, until the edges are just set and the centres still look soft. Do not wait for golden edges: browning is the enemy of the colour here. Cool on the tray for about five minutes before moving.
Active prep runs about 15 minutes, and the whole bake is 25–30 minutes start to finish. The dough scales up cleanly if you want a double batch.
How much matcha powder should you use per batch?
Use 2–4 teaspoons (4–8 g) of matcha for a standard batch of 12–16 biscuits. This recipe lands in the middle at 3 teaspoons (6 g): enough for a proper green and a clear matcha flavour, without tipping bitter.
The range is a trade-off you can taste:
| Dose per batch | What you get |
|---|---|
| Under ~1 tsp | Grey-green biscuits with barely any matcha flavour |
| 2–4 tsp (4–8 g) | The working range: green colour, clear flavour |
| Over ~8 g (about 1 tbsp) | Bitter, chalky biscuits |
Dose range is a reviewer-confirmed convention, batch-dependent, not a single correct weight.
If you are new to matcha, start at 2 teaspoons and work up. The powder's intensity varies by brand and freshness, so the right dose for your tin may sit anywhere in the range.
Why do matcha cookies turn brown — and how do you keep them green?
Matcha's colour comes from chlorophyll, and chlorophyll breaks down with heat and time. That breakdown is well documented in green foods; in a biscuit it means the longer and hotter the bake, the more the green fades toward grey-brown. The kinetics research behind this measured other green foods, so treat it as the direction of the effect rather than a matcha-specific rate.
Four levers keep the colour on your side:
- A moderate oven. Bake at 170–180 °C rather than pushing hotter; a hot oven browns the edges and dulls the matcha.
- A short bake. Pull the tray at 10–12 minutes while the centres still look soft; every extra minute costs colour.
- Quality powder. A matcha that is already dull in the bag can only get duller in the oven. More on grade below.
- A light hand. Overworked dough and long counter time both eat into the green, so mix to combined and bake soon after.
If a batch still browns, the usual culprit is the oven running hot: an inexpensive oven thermometer settles it in one bake.
What's the best matcha for baking?
For biscuits that stay green, use a good premium matcha rather than the cheapest culinary powder. A premium grade keeps a vibrant green and a smoother flavour after baking; a cheap culinary grade bakes dull, grey-green and can turn bitter through the oven.
To be clear about the spectrum: culinary matcha is made for baking, and a good culinary powder does the job. Ceremonial-style powders are delicate and made for sipping straight, which makes them a luxury in a biscuit. The practical sweet spot for baking sits between the two, where the powder is robust enough for butter and sugar but still vivid and smooth. The risk is at the bottom of the market: powders that are grey-green in the bag before the oven ever sees them. Our matcha buyers guide covers how to judge quality before you buy.
The green that survives the oven starts with the powder. Zen sells one matcha: a premium grade Japanese matcha, sourced directly from Japanese farms, that sits between culinary and ceremonial. Vibrant enough to hold its colour through the bake, smooth enough to use at the full dose without turning bitter.
What can you add to matcha cookies?
White chocolate is the classic pairing, and for good reason: its sweetness balances matcha's grassy, slightly bitter edge. If white chocolate is not your thing, matcha also plays well with dark or milk chocolate chips, macadamia, almond and coconut.
Beyond add-ins, two directions worth knowing:
- Butter-biscuit route. Skip the egg-and-chocolate richness and go shortbread-style. We have a dedicated matcha white chocolate shortbread recipe for exactly that.
- Japanese-style route. Japanese bakeries often go crisper and less sweet, closer to a sablé, which lets the matcha lead.
More matcha bakes from the recipe collection: turmeric matcha ginger cookies, matcha green tea brownies and matcha date and almond bliss balls.
Can you make matcha cookies gluten-free or vegan?
Yes, both, with standard swaps:
| To make it… | Swap |
|---|---|
| Gluten-free | Replace the plain flour with a 1:1 gluten-free baking blend; add a little xanthan gum if the blend lacks it |
| Vegan | Firm plant butter for the butter; a flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax + 3 tbsp water) or commercial egg replacer for the egg; dairy-free white chocolate |
Swap ratios are standard baking convention.
The method does not change. Gluten-free doughs are a touch more delicate, so the 30-minute chill is worth doing rather than optional, and vegan doughs may want an extra minute in the oven. Neither swap changes how the colour behaves: the green still depends on dose, oven and powder quality, not the flour or butter.
What do matcha cookies taste like?
Buttery and sweet first, with a grassy, subtly umami, slightly vegetal matcha note underneath. The white chocolate rounds off matcha's gentle bitterness, so the finished biscuit reads as sweet-then-green rather than "green tea flavoured".
Quality shows up here too. Good matcha tastes fresh and green; a stale or poor powder reads fishy or hay-like, and no amount of sugar hides it. If your biscuits taste harsh rather than pleasantly grassy, check the dose first, then the powder.
How much caffeine and how many calories are in a matcha cookie?
Caffeine: matcha biscuits are a low-caffeine treat. For this recipe, splitting the 6 g batch dose across 14 biscuits works out to roughly 12–14 mg per biscuit, a computed estimate rather than a measurement. Typical matcha biscuits land anywhere from about 7–21 mg depending on dose and yield, far less than a cup of coffee. For how matcha caffeine itself works, see our matcha caffeine guide.
Calories: a white-chocolate matcha biscuit runs about 180–240 kcal; this exact batch computes to roughly 210 kcal each from USDA ingredient values, an estimate rather than a measurement. A plainer version without the chocolate runs around 140–190 kcal. The matcha itself adds almost nothing; the butter, sugar and white chocolate carry the calories, so a matcha biscuit is much like any other butter-and-sugar biscuit. For matcha's own numbers, see our matcha calories guide.
How do you store matcha biscuits — and can you freeze the dough?
Baked matcha biscuits keep about 4–5 days in an airtight container at room temperature, with the colour and flavour at their best in the first couple of days. The matcha-specific note: the green fades faster than the biscuit spoils, so bake close to when you want to serve them.
Freezing works well, as guidance rather than a food-safety standard:
- Baked biscuits: freeze up to about 2–3 months in an airtight bag.
- Raw dough: portion into balls first, then freeze up to about 3 months; bake straight from frozen with a minute or two extra.
The frozen-dough-ball route is the better one for colour: you bake fresh every time, and the dough sees no counter time.
Matcha cookies — FAQ
Are matcha biscuits and matcha cookies the same thing? Yes. In Australia, "biscuit" and "cookie" are used interchangeably for the same baked treat; "cookie" is the more common American term and "biscuit" the traditional Australian and British one. This recipe works under either name.
Do matcha cookies have caffeine? A little. Roughly 7–21 mg per biscuit, computed from the batch dose rather than measured, which is far less than a cup of coffee. The exact amount depends on how much matcha the batch uses and how many biscuits it makes. More in our matcha caffeine guide.
How many calories are in a matcha cookie? Roughly 140–245 kcal each, estimated from the recipe rather than measured: about 180–240 for a white-chocolate biscuit, around 140–190 for a plainer one. The matcha adds almost nothing. See our matcha calories guide.
Why did my matcha cookies turn brown or grey? Heat and time break down chlorophyll, the pigment behind the green. The usual fixes: a moderate 170–180 °C oven, pulling the tray while centres are still soft, and a powder that was vividly green to begin with.
Can I use cheap culinary matcha for cookies? You can bake with culinary matcha; it is made for exactly this. The catch is the cheapest powders, which are often dull before baking and bake grey-green and bitter. A premium grade keeps the colour and a smoother flavour through the oven.
Can you freeze matcha cookie dough? Yes. Portion the dough into balls, freeze up to about 3 months, and bake from frozen with a minute or two extra. It is the best route for colour, since every batch bakes fresh.
Do matcha cookies taste bitter? They should not. A well-dosed biscuit tastes buttery and sweet with a grassy, subtly umami note. Bitterness usually means the batch went over about 8 g of matcha (about a tablespoon), or the powder itself is harsh.
What chocolate goes best with matcha cookies? White chocolate. Its sweetness balances matcha's grassy, slightly bitter edge, which is why it is the classic pairing. Dark and milk chocolate both work if you prefer less sweetness.
About the author & sources
Written and reviewed for accuracy by Erin Young, founder of Zen Green Tea, sourcing matcha directly from Japanese farms since 2012.
Sources
- USDA FoodData Central — component energies (butter, sugar, flour, white chocolate) behind the per-biscuit calorie estimate
- PMC9792400 — per-gram matcha caffeine, used to compute the per-biscuit caffeine from the batch dose
- Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (ACS) — chlorophyll thermal-degradation kinetics; used for the mechanism direction only, not a matcha-specific rate
The recipe amounts, dose, temperatures, times and grade guidance carry no external citation by design: no authoritative source fixes a single baking convention. They are working conventions reviewed by Erin Young, and flagged as such wherever they appear.