Update: Amai won! See variations of the recipe created by bloggers around the world.
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Amai’s Green Tea Sweet recipe is a finalist in the Best Bakery Recipe category for Pastryscoop.com’s Golden Scoop Awards. The three finalists in the category will compete in a blind taste test on June 14, and the winner will be announced on June 18, 2007 in an awards ceremony at the French Culinary Institute. I am honored to be included as a finalist, and can’t wait to see the other recipes included in the category. I submitted the recipe for fun, but didn’t seriously consider being a finalist/winner. It feels good to be recognized as a chef. In my mind I’m still a computer nerd.
In honor of this award, I’d like to share the recipe with all Lovescool readers. Now you can make your very own Green Tea Sweets. Don’t worry, you can still buy them online if you don’t feel like baking. If you do make this recipe, please let me know how it turns out in your kitchen. I submitted the professional size batch to Pastryscoop, and I scaled it down for home kitchens for this post. I’d love some help with testing.
Green Tea Sweets
Ingredients
Yield (2” leaf shape): Approx 25
3/4 cup (2.25 oz) Confectioners sugar
5 oz Unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 3/4 cup (8.5 oz) All-purpose flour
3 Large egg yolks
1.5 TBS Matcha (powdered green tea)
1 cup Granulated sugar (for coating)
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
- Whisk the confectioner’s sugar and green tea together in a bowl.
- Add the butter and green tea/sugar mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix until smooth and light in color.
- Add the flour and mix until well combined.
- Add the egg yolks and mix just until the eggs are fully incorporated and a mass forms.
- Form the dough into a disk and chill in the refrigerator until firm (about 30 minutes).
- Roll the dough out to ½” thickness.
- Cut the dough with a leaf cookie cutter.
- Toss each cut cookie in a bowl of granulated sugar to coat.
- Place the sugar-coated cookie on a parchment lined pan. Bake at 350F for 12-15 minutes, or until slightly golden around the edges.
Baker’s Note: You can purchase Matcha (powdered green tea) from Asian grocery stores or specialty tea shops. In NYC try McNulty’s Tea House, Ito-En or you can order baking grade matcha online. The higher quality matcha you use, the brighter green the cookies will be. Store the cookies in a tin or other container that blocks out sunlight to preserve the color. The green color will fade when exposed to sunlight.
thanks so much kelli for this recipe
ever since i’ve seen those luscious shorbreads i’ve been wanting to make them
ill let you know how they turn out
love
- fanny
ps congratulations on the nomination
Congratulations Kel! You may be a computer nerd, but you are also becoming quite an accomplished pastry chef. I’m very proud of you.
Congratulations! Very exciting. And thank you so much for posting the recipe for the delicious cookies! I will bake some up as soon as I can.
[...] The recipe for Green Tea Sweets is a 2007 GoldenScoop Award finalist for Best Bakery Recipe! Winners will be annouced in a ceremony at New York City’s French Culinary Institute on June 18, 2007. RSS [...]
Congratulations & thanks for the recipe.
Just made the cookies last night and they are a winner! Thank you so much for sharing the recipe.
These look absolutely delicious. It surely is a winner recipe. Look at this refreshing color! I have to try them!
[...] …then I highly recommend trying the Green Tea Sweets recipe so kindly provided by Kelli of Amai Tea and Bake House! [...]
Congrats, love your website and cookies!
Hi Kelli,
I’m making these right now – the dough is currently resting in the fridge.
And I have to say something! I feel that these shortbreads are gonna be the best shortbreads ever. The dough simply is delicious (I’m sure I won’t get 25 cookies because I probably ate half of the raw dough). I can’t wait…
I’ll tell you how they turn out. Hope I or my oven won’t screw everything because at the moment it looks very promising.
Love xxx
- fanny
Hi (again) Kelli,
so the shortbreads turned out beautifully. I love how they keep their shape.
The taste is lovely – at first I was slightly intimidated to put 1.5tbsp of matcha tea but it was just the right amount.
Thanks for this awesome recipe. Definitely a keeper.
Love xxx
- fanny
ps here is the post about them:
http://www.foodbeam.com/2007/07/24/foodbeam-turns-two/
[...] Trattasi della classica ricetta bloggoroico-virale, di quelle che come sono spuntate fuori hanno iniziato a girare la blogosfera… Nella fattispecie, questi Green tea sweets sono opera di Kelli (e se ho capito bene li commercializza pure, sotto il marchio Amai, insieme a una mini collezione di altri biscottini al tè), solo che io non li ho scoperti lì bensi da Fanny, la quale ci festeggiava il secondo compleanno del suo (bellissimo!) blog. Insomma, è stata una classica reazione à la ‘questi li devo assolutamente fare’. [...]
I’m so glad you liked them Julie and Fanny. You can always double the recipe next time and have more to bake off (without giving up the dough
). Thanks for letting us know how they turned out.
Oh Kelli! Thank you! I so adore this shortbread cookies! I shall immediately try them this weekend. I found out via Foodbeam, fanny’s site that you published the recipe. It is so generous of you.
Hi Kelli, i couldn’t resist but make these adorable and oh so delicious cookies.
I posted it on my site. Here’s the link.
http://www.maegabriel.com/riceandnoodles/index.php?showimage=108
Thanks for the recipe!
Okay, I made them and they were delicious! Thank you so much!
Thank you for this receipe, I made them with verry success (sorry for my bad english).
miam,miam..délicieux biscuits!!
I tried out this recipe yesterday and it was really delicious. Thanks for the generousity in sharing this wonderful recipe.
[...] So, needless to say that when I made These I really, really, really wanted them to come out good. Something about them just drew me to try it. So I took the plunge….and you know…they were perfect. Perfectly sweet, but not too sweet. Perfectly green tee-ish, but not too green tee-ish. Crisp and crumbly, but not too crisp and crumbly. Not to mention they are so beautiful. [...]
MMMMmmmm!
Matcha cookies.
These were so good! Mine weren’t as pretty as yours, but they tasted absolutely delicious. Thanks for the recipe!
http://archaeobaking.blogspot.com/2007/08/mmmgreen.html
Hola Kelli.
Felicidades por tu magnifica receta están deliciosas. Tienen un premio muy merecido
Las hice ayer y nos gustaron muchísimo.
Aquí tienes la prueba
http://lodecarlosvalencia.blogspot.com/2007/09/galletas.html
Muchas gracias por la receta!!!
These cookies were gorgeous, thank you for sharing your recipe!
http://spicyicecream.blogspot.com/2007/09/gorgeous-green.html
I made it too! Thanks a million for the recipe! It’s here: http://novice-baker.blogspot.com/2007/09/matcha-again.html
And I made them, too. Thank you for a great recipe, Kelli!
My version is here: http://nami-nami.blogspot.com/2007/11/loveschools-lovely-matcha-cookies.html
I tried out this cookie. It was wonderful. I din coat the cookie with castor sugar b4 baking. Something different for a change. Thanks for the recipe, Kelli.
[...] Tea Cookies (adapted with very minor variations from Lovescool/Amai Tea & Bake House) 3/4 C (2.25 oz) confectioners sugar 5 oz unsalted butter (5/8 C, or 1 and 1/4 stick), straight from the fridge, cut into 1 tbsp slices 1 3/4 C (8.5 oz) all-purpose flour 3 large egg yolks (save the whites to make tuiles or macarons) 1 1/2 tbsp ground tea of your choosing 1 C granulated sugar (for coating) [...]
[...] This recipe I am trying is the winner for Best Bakery Recipe category for Pastryscoop.com’s Golden Scoop Awards last year. It’s definitely a refreshing change from the usual cookies. I thot this will be a one-off bake but I do like the light aroma during the baking and the cookie taste really good, it has a melt-in-the mouth texture. [...]
Thanks for the recipe. I love your website and cookies. Welcome to My website http://www.Nitcharee2Thailand.com/?lang=en
[...] Anyway, I happened to come across a post in bakebakebake on Livejournadl about matcha cookies last year, and so many people raved about it. I replied to that post mentioning about baking some soon, but that ’soon’ turned into about 5 months later. Finally decided to make them as there was not much matcha left in the pantry to make another round of matcha cupcakes. This recipe comes from lovescool, the original creator of Green Tea Sweets. [...]
Wow!!!! Fabulous little cookies
I made them the other night and my household was blown away. Needless to say, they have all been eaten, so now it is time to make more. Thanks for sharing your recipe with us!
[...] If you want to try your own, here’s a link to the original post with the recipe. [...]
[...] Taken and adapted from lovescool’s popular recipe [...]
[...] After some searching I decided to use Elana’s Butter Cookies, taking into account Lovescool’s Green Tea Sweets, which is cross-linked all over the web,and create some gluten-free tea cookies. As I searched for my base recipes, I discovered that tea cookies could be made with any tea; all I had to do was grind the tea to a fine powder and experiment. The white chai tea I had recently purchased, quickly came to mind and I knew I had to try it. [...]
Ok, so I know this is a bit belated, but I just went to an online shop that you recommended and I wanted to say thank you SO much, they have so many things that I have been looking for! Thank you for helping me heighten my baking
You rock!
Kelli, it was so surprising and great to actually meet you – and try your very delicious green tea cookies – at Amai earlier this month!
Greetings from sunny Estonia!!
[...] The whole concept of a layer cake is genius. The cake itself is almost nothing more than a vehicle for the copious amounts of flavoured buttercream and glaze involved. I’ve never been too much of a buttercream fan, but I love making cakes for others, so was only too happy to attempt this recipe in the name of the Daring Bakers. The recipe for this cake is rather lengthy, so I have decided not to include it. However, you should be able to find it on Chris’ blog. The recipe for green tea biscuits can be found here. [...]
I made you a cookie……
…well, it’s a whole bunch of cookies actually.
I’ve been meaning to try out Kelli’s omnipresent Matcha Shortcake recipe for a long time now – and since they are supposed to have a nice green color, I said to myself: "Hey! Why not make Midori…
thanks for the recipe- i made the cookies today and they were fab!
[...] and adapted from lovescool’s popular [...]
thank you for sharing! I am a beginner and made mine yesterday. Maybe I used an electric hand mixer instead of the stand mixer with a paddle attachment; or I didn’t mix my butter well enough. My dough was very dry that it couldn’t form the dough. I had to add an extra whole egg to make it sticky enough to become a dough. The cookies turned out great. I will try adding a bit more matcha next time to intense the flavor. Thank you!
I love this recipe. THe color of the dough is such a beautiful shade of green. I added some organge flavored granulated sugar to coat mine and loved the results. I took a photo you can check it out on my blog. THanks so much for sharing this Keli!
http://symphonioussweets.blogspot.com/
Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful recipe. I like these cookies very much!
Hi there~
Thank you for sharing! They were so delicious!
I made these cookies and followed the recipe as stated. My batter turned out dark green not “light in color”. I used the 1 1/2 tablespoons and found it was way too overpowering once they were baked. They turned out exactly like the picture. Had they not had too much matcha pawder in them and maybe used 1 teaspoon they would have been edible. My husband and I gagged after eating these and thoght they looked and tasted like dog biscuits.
A good recipe would have a nice balance of ingredients. This one asked for too much green tea making the results inedible. I threw away these cookies. Disgusting.
Lisa – You should try it again with less matcha, if you prefer. Think of it like a spice that can be adjusted to your personal preference. I also wonder what kind of matcha you used. There are many different grades that have very different taste/color.
These are SO good. thank you for sharing your recipe.
Hey Lisa,
Did you bother to read thee Baker’s Note? It said, “The higher quality matcha you use, the brighter green the cookies will be.”
Isn’t it sad that you’ve already had the experience of eating dog biscuits to actually know how they taste like? I don’t believe for a moment that you threw away those cookies. I think you really liked how they turned out, beacuse you eat dog biscuits. Cut out the drama, sister, and get real.
hi, i just came across your recipe!! it sounds YUMMY and very rich with green tea…i can’t wait to try it! However, any idea if the effect will be ok if i half the butter?
hi. just wanted to say that i used your recipe and made my own version. thanks for such a great recipe! i gave a linkback to this original post
The recipe sounds delicious, but i could only yeild about 8 cookies….
i measured accordingly… but still only about 8 cookies…
they are in te oven now..
i bet they will be worth it!
i tried to make these this morning. but my dough wouldn’t come together. i threw in an extra egg and an extra tablespoon of butter and it was still too dry to even roll out!
I worked for five years as a pastry chef and so I am difficult to please in the cookie department.
These turned out perfectly. Tasted divine. I used a little less than 1.5 tbsp (more like 1 tbsp) of matcha because I ran out and the flavour was still lovely.
Thanks so much for sharing!
Really love the result! Many Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Hi, I’m searching the green tea cookie recipe to try out. This one looks good! I just wondered if I could substitute half of all purpose flour to whole wheat flour? Is it going to change the flavor or dilute the color?
Hi Tanantha- It would change the texture (make it more coarse) and the color wouldn’t be as pure green, but the best way to find out if it’s worth the trade off is to try it. Let me know how it goes!
Thank you for this recipe…I adore matcha and drink it regularly and so am looking forward to the ‘trees’ I am making with it. One question, and perhaps an odd one…the measurement of the butter didn’t work out for me. I googled how much 5 oz of butter is and got the measurement of about just less than 3/4 of a cup…tried to figure out by looking at your other measurements of flour and confectioner’s sugar but that confused me a bit too. Anyhoo, the original measurement I used didn’t add enough moisture to make a disc so I added about 1/4 cup more. Any help with the butter measurement in cups? Thanks once again, I’ll post once I’ve had a warm one from the oven. Happy holidays.
Absolutely divine. I added 2 tbsp of matcha because I love the flavour. They are perfect.
Thank you so much for this recipe. I have been working on duplicating the green tea cookies I found in Tokyo. These are the closest. I added a 1/4 teaspoon of salt, it boosts the macha flavor. Buy the best macha you can afford, the better the quality the better the color and taste. Inexpensive macha is muddy and dark. With the leftover dough (after I cut the shapes out) I rolled into small balls, then rolled into sesame seeds, flattened a little and cooked. A great way to use scraps. Happy cooking.
Thanks so much for this recipe! I tried it and loved the results!
http://ipso-fatto.blogspot.com/2010/03/take-me-to-your-leader-green-tea-sweets.html
Hi!
I also made your delicious shortbreak, and still make them over and over.
here’s my blogpost, and thanks again for sharing something so delicious!
http://2capricieux.com/2010/03/19/sables-matcha/
Now that’s what I call an interesting recipe. Thanks for sharing. I’ll make sure to make good use of it.
I was taking a class on tea, and I was told to make a good amount of food containing tea. I looked around for half an hour, and then I saw this. It looked good, so I tried it. I doubled the recipe and came up with about 35 cookies. Instead of using matcha, I instead took a green tea with a touch of mint (in a tea bag) and it turned out great! They did taste a little weird considering I’ve never had a cookie with tea in it before, but the mint made all the difference! I probably would have added more mint and less green tea if I were to do it over, though. It also didn’t turn out green, but more sugary-speckled. Either way, I really like them. 8/10 stars.
I made these for a craft fair and they were so delicious. Not too sweet and the perfect consistency. The one comment is for those who don’t roll out the dough to 1/2 inch evenly. Try to do so although it seems excessive. If not, the bottoms will burn on the edges. The golden brown color letting you know the cookies are done will come from the underneath edges, not the top.
Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe. Can’t wait to make it again!
Those sweets look amazing.. I can’t wait to try it this weekend! Thank you for sharing the recipe!
Hello, I love your recipe and just followed the steps in making green tea cookies!
However, i have a problem in the coating part, that is, i also used granulated sugar for coating, but it seemed to be melted during the baking step since I can merely see the tiny tubes on the cookies… So do you know how to avoid this problem?
Thanks for sharing your experience with me!
http://shirleyshenfang.blogspot.com/2011/03/green-tea-cookies.html
Hello Kelli, it’s sooo surprising that you replied me sooo fast!
Yeah, I noticed that the dough I made was a bit to oily, i mean when I cut it using the cookie cutter after cooling it, I could feel that it was not that dry so the sugar was a little bit melted even before baking…
So I should add less butter or more flour to avoid this problem right?
Hi Fang, Sorry for the delay this time…I was on vacation
I don’t think it should be necessary to alter the flour or the butter amounts. It’s more likely a temperature issue. Maybe the butter was too warm? It’s hard for me to tell, but the dough should not be oily – it should be like a regular sugar cookie dough, that just barely grabs the sugar (but doesn’t absorb it). As I mentioned on your site, my biggest suspicion is humidity. It can really get you on this recipe! Sorry I can’t be more exact.
I’m really enjoying the theme/design of your website. Do you ever run into any browser compatibility issues? A few of my blog visitors have complained about my website not working correctly in Explorer but looks great in Safari. Do you have any solutions to help fix this issue?
These look lovely. I’ve been trying unsuccessfully to get the children to drink green tea. I’m going to try them with these. I’ll keep you posted.
So I was considering making these for Memorial Day, but of course we went with Chocolate chip. (I know, we are boring). But I think I’m gonna convince my wife to get on these this weekend. They look good, and people seem happy with them.
Hi! I’m a big big fan of matcha snacks e.g. cookies, ice cream, cakes, etc. I’m very green in baking but I really love to try this recipe. May I ask 1cup = ??? oz and 1 oz = ??? grams. Many thanks
I tried these using some matcha from the local market and they look amazing. Not quite as good as the pictures but oh well. They taste great too.
These look great! Do you know if the dough is suitable for freezing?
Hi Kelli,
I just came across your blog while googling for green tea cookies. Thanks so much for posting! These cookies turn out to be so delicious! I’m munching on them as I type
Looks good, like the Chinese mung bean cake!