A fun twist, these Matcha Cookies with White Chocolate Chips are as beautiful as they are delicious. The earthy matcha tea flavor is balanced by a lightly sweetened almond flour cookie. We love these with macadamia nuts. See vegan and paleo options for white chocolate chips below!
Looking for some creative cookie recipes? Also try these No Bake Almond Joy Cookies, or this upgraded Gluten Free Snickerdoodle recipe.
*Today I’m partnering with Sharp Home USA ~ Sharp creates quality home appliances that make life easier!
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The BEST Matcha Cookie Recipe – Fully Loaded!
These are not a boring matcha shortbread cookie. When I reimagined what a matcha cookie should be, I kept landing on white chocolate chips. They add a creamy pop of sweetness that takes this fun cookie recipe over the top.
If you’re a matcha lover, these are a must-try.
Matcha is a Japanese green tea powder made from powered green tea leaves. The vibrant green powder is blended into water to create a creamy consistency.
It is high in antioxidants and is believed to help prevent cancer and type 2 diabetes.
And if you’re not a huge fan of the green tea flavor, these cookies are a great way to enjoy the health benefits. I provide a range in the quantity of matcha to add so you can adjust the bitter flavor to your liking!
I use my Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe as the base for these cookies. They swap white all purpose flour for a combo of almond flour and cashew butter. It’s a buttery cookie base filled with healthy fats and protein, and lower in blood sugar spiking carbs.
As always, Sunkissed Kitchen recipes swap healthier more natural sweeteners, like maple syrup and coconut sugar for white sugar. These little choices add up to a healthier kitchen!
What You’ll Need
- Almond Flour (almond meal also works, but blanched almond flour makes the softest cookies).
- Cashew Butter (this can be subbed with almond butter, but cashew butter makes them sweeter.)
- Maple Syrup (this serves as the main sweetener and also helps bind the cookies together since this recipe doesn’t contain eggs!)
- Coconut Sugar (or brown sugar, if you don’t have it)
- Coconut Oil (if you don’t enjoy the flavor of coconut oil, you can use melted butter instead).
- Matcha Green Tea Powder (a ceremonial grade matcha is a brighter and clearer green color)
- Vanilla Extract or Scraped Vanilla Bean (vanilla extract is not technically paleo since it has alcohol. It’s such a small amount that I use it anyway. Use a scraped vanilla bean, or omit the vanilla, if you’d prefer!).
- Sea Salt and Baking Soda
- White Chocolate Chips
- Macadamia Nuts (feel free to omit, or sub with walnuts or pecans!)
The Perfect Oven for Cookie Making Season!
I love baking in my Sharp European Convection Oven.
It’s roomy interior means I can fit my large baking sheets in, perfect for stocking my freezer with after school snacks!
The oven has a built in timer and a precise digital temperature control, meaning I know my cookies will come out perfect every time.
Before my son went back to school this year, I baked a batch of these matcha white chocolate cookies, while whisking together some No Bake Cookies on the cooktop. Freezer stocked in under an hour!
Hop on over to Sharp Home USA’s website to see if this oven is the perfect fit for your kitchen.
How to Make Matcha Cookies
Step 1: In a medium sized mixing bowl, add the cashew butter, coconut oil, maple syrup, coconut sugar, matcha powder, sea salt and baking soda. Whisk the wet ingredients to combine.
Step 2: Add the almond flour, and stir to form a sticky cookie dough, until there is no dry ingredients left.
Step 3: Fold in the white chocolate chips, and macadamia nuts or other nut, if using.
Step 4: Use a 2-tablespoon cookie scoop to form cookie dough balls, and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. These cookies will not spread very much, so if you prefer flat cookies (rather than mounded, pillowy cookies), press them down into a cookie shape. They will spread and flatten a little more as they bake. Add a few extra white chocolate chips to the tops, if desired!
Step 5: Bake the cookies for 10 minutes. They will not be very browned when you pull them out and will be very soft. Allow them to cool for 10 minutes prior to removing them from the baking sheet and placing them on a cooling rack.
The cookies are soft and chewy. If you’d prefer a more crispy cookie, turn the oven off after 10 minutes, allow heat to escape, and allow the cookies to cool in the warm oven.
FAQ & How to Store Leftover Matcha Cookies
How to Store Leftover Almond Flour Cookies
These matcha white chocolate cookies are some of the best to eat warm! Allow them to cool for about 10 minutes before taking them off the baking pan.
After the cookies have fully cooled, pack them in an airtight container, and refrigerate for up to 10 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
Enjoy cookies directly out of the freezer, or allow to come to room temperature before serving.
What Matcha powder should I use?
As with drinking, use a matcha powder you enjoy.
Ceremonial grade matcha powder is the highest quality and typically has the most clear green color. Some lower grade matcha powders have an olive or murky green color.
Culinary grade matcha is intended for baking, such as in this recipe. However, I use the same matcha I use for matcha lattes, rather than purchasing two different kinds.
Quality matcha powder does not have to cost a lot of money! Costco now carries what they call an “every day” organic matcha powder that has a beautiful color and tastes great. A large bag costs as much as a small tin of ceremonial grade matcha.
Paleo & Vegan Matcha Cookies
These cookies are paleo and vegan as written, with the exception of the white chocolate chips. The cashew butter adds a buttery flavor and helps bind the cookies, meaning no egg is needed.
- Sub white chocolate chips with dark chocolate chips for Dark Matcha Chocolate Chip Cookies!
- OR – Use Vegan White Chocolate Chips or a Paleo White Chocolate Bar chopped into pieces.
- If it’s just the added sugar you’re avoiding, try my favorite ChocZero monk fruit sweetened white chocolate chips.
The BONUS of having an egg free cookie dough? A delicious matcha cookie dough, perfect for rolling into cookie dough balls!
Do Matcha Cookies have a strong green tea taste?
These matcha cookies have a mild matcha flavor and a beautiful light green color.
If you love the bitter matcha flavor, then the amount of matcha powder can be increased from 2 teaspoons to 3 teaspoons. This will give the cookies a more pronounced flavor and a more bright green color.
Matcha has caffeine, so these cookies have caffeine as well.
However, 1 cup of matcha has about 70 mg of caffeine, which is half of the average 140 mg of caffeine in a cup of coffee.
1 cup of matcha uses 1/4 teaspoon of matcha green tea powder, meaning it would take 3 cookies to equal the same amount as a cup of green tea.
If you are very sensitive to caffeine, I would avoid eating these cookies in the evening, and similarly avoid giving them to kids in the evening.
Other Healthy Cookie Recipes
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Matcha White Chocolate Chip Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup cashew butter or almond butter
- 1/4 cup maple syrup or honey
- 5 tablespoons coconut oil melted (but not hot), or melted butter
- 2 tablespoons coconut sugar
- 2 teaspoons matcha green tea powder *ceremonial grade for best color
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 cups almond flour
- 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup macadamia nuts roughly chopped (or sub favorite nut)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine the melted (but not too warm) coconut oil, maple syrup, cashew butter, coconut sugar, matcha powder, sea salt and baking soda. Whisk together.
- Into the mixture, add the almond flour, and stir to form a sticky mixture.
- Fold in the white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts.
- Scoop cookies into balls and place on cookie sheet. These will not spread a lot, so if you'd like the cookies to be flatter and thin, press them down with wet fingers into a cookie shape.
- Bake for 10 minutes, until just starting to brown on top.
- Allow to fully cool, and the cookies will firm up. Store cookies at room temperature for a week. Alternately, store in an air tight container in the refrigerator for 2 weeks, or frozen for 3 months.
Video
Notes
Optional Additions
Want to mix up the flavors in your cookies? Try:- 1/4 cup unsweetened coconut
- 1/2 cup chopped nuts, like almonds, pecans, or walnuts
- 1/2 cup unsweetened dried fruit, like raisins, dried cherries, or cranberries (make sure they are unsweetened)
- Orange zest (the zest of 1 orange)
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