Elevate your teatime with buttery, melt-in-your-mouth Sakura Shortbread Matcha Cookies. These semi-sweet Japanese butter cookies let the fresh flavor of Matcha (green tea) shine through. Easy to make, only 6 ingredients, and the cookie dough can be made in advance!
Feeling creative? Decorate your cookies like Sakura (cherry blossoms) to celebrate Hanami (cherry blossom viewing) season.
This post has been sponsored by Fraser Tea. Thank you for supporting the brands that help Healthy World Cuisine bring more delicious recipes your way.
Jump to:
- Not your “average” shortbread cookies!
- Ingredients
- Basic Instructions Overview
- Sifting Dry Ingredients
- Blend Ingredients, Roll Out and Bake
- Decorating Tools, Products and Tips
- Variations
- Equipment
- Storage
- Quality Ingredients
- Top Tips
- How to serve
- Hanami (Cherry Blossom Viewing)
- Frequent Asked Questions (FAQ’s)
- More Matcha Recipes
- Sakura Shortbread Matcha Cookies
Not your “average” shortbread cookies!
- “Cornstarch” is the special ingredient that makes these cookies extra crisp, light and creates that melt in your mouth buttery decadence.
- Matcha green tea powder elevates the mood just like with our Matcha White Chocolate Brownies and Chocolate Matcha Crispy Truffles.
- Only 5 net carbs and 67 calories per cookie.
- Sakura cookies decorated like cherry blossoms always brings a smile to those you share them with. However, if you want to keep them all for yourself, we don’t blame you.
Well, don’t take our word for it. Give our matcha cookie recipe a try today.
Ingredients
Cornstarch – Provides two very important functions
1) it prevents cookies from spreading while baking
2) gives cookies that tender and crisp texture
Powdered Sugar (confectioners' sugar) – only ½ cup for 24 cookies. We have not tested this recipe with any of the sugar free powdered sugar options but you are watching your carbohydrates, this is an option. Each cookie only has 5 net carbs and 2 grams of sugar with regular powdered sugar.
Regular All-Purpose Flour - We have tested this recipe using different gluten-free flours and the results were not optimal.
Unsalted Butter – The Real Deal. You just can’t get that same buttery melt in your mouth bite with margarine or dairy free options. You can also use salted butter but then just skip the additional salt added to the recipe.
Matcha (Green Tea) - We used Ceremonial Matcha Organic Green Tea. This is the highest grade of matcha tea with bright vegetal notes and mellow earthy umami flavors. You can learn more about matcha in their post, “What does Matcha Taste Like + How to Use.” Fraser Tea is our favorite go to brand for organic tea.
Basic Instructions Overview
There are 3 basic steps to making Sakura Shortbread Matcha Cookies.
1) Sifting dry ingredients
2) Blending ingredients, rolling out and baking
3) Decorating
Full instructions and helpful tips in the recipe card below.
Sifting Dry Ingredients
We prefer to weigh ingredients because everyone’s measurements can differ slightly. If using the standard US cups measurements, please make sure that you level everything off with a butter knife.
- Cornstarch
- Powdered sugar
- All-purpose flour
- Salt
- Sifting each dry ingredient
- Measure out matcha green tea
- Sift matcha powder
- Stir all the dry ingredients together
Blend Ingredients, Roll Out and Bake
- Cream the butter in a mixer or food processor
- Mix the dry ingredients (cornstarch, powdered sugar, flour, salt and matcha) in with the butter. We used a mixer but you could also use a food processor for this step.
- The shortbread cookie dough is ready when all the ingredients pull together.
- Make a ball and then flatten into a disk. (Alternatively, you can just roll into a log and wrap with plastic wrap. Then, you can cut into round disks and bake and call it a day.)
- Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator.
- Roll out matcha cookie dough to about ¼ inch thick.
- Cut out cookies.
- Place cut out cookies on a lined baking sheet and bake at 300 degrees F (148 degrees C) for about 15 to 18 minutes depending on how thick you made cookie. Start checking on them at the 13-minute mark or until the edges turn slightly tan. Cool on wire rack!
Decorating Tools, Products and Tips
Now comes the fun part! Decorating these cute little Sakura cookies. Of course, this step is not required but why not, right? The brilliant green color of the cookies also makes them a perfect canvas for spring Easter cookies, St. Patrick’s Day recipes or even Christmas cut out cookies too.
- Homemade royal icing or store-bought decorating icing tubes to save time.
- Edible Sakura flowers – we ordered ours on Amazon but you can also find at cake decorating stores or in the baking section.
- Sprinkles or edible pearls.
- If you want to add colorful sprinkles to your cut out Sakura cookies, use a little beaten egg white brushed on your cookie and then dip into sprinkles and then bake.
- You can put sesame seeds on top of your cookies right before you bake them. Use a little pressure or a little egg white so they stick on the cookie.
- If you want to use edible cherry blossom flower wafers, add these after the cookies are baked and cooled. Use a little royal icing as glue. We use the recipe for royal icing in our Homemade Gingerbread Cookies.
- You can also make iced or frosted shortbread cookies, if you like.
Variations
If you are not feeling up to decorating these matcha butter cookies, feel free to roll the cookie dough into a log. Refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight and then slice and bake. You can even decorate these, leave them plain or dip half of the cookie in dark or white chocolate.
Try stuffing 2 cookies together with a little Strawberry Rhubarb Refrigerator Jam, Apricot Freezer Jam Recipe or jam of choice.
Would you like to make vanilla shortbread cookies? If so, you can hold the matcha and add in 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract instead.
Equipment
- Mixer or food processor to blend the shortbread cookie dough
- Rolling pin or a wine bottle to roll out the matcha dough
- Baking sheet and liners or parchment paper.
- Cherry blossom flower cookie cutter (optional)
Storage
Did you know that you can refrigerate the prepared dough, just like our Homemade Gingerbread Cookies for up to 3 days?
Once cookies are baked, they can be stored at room temperature in a sealed container for up to a week or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Our Sakura Shortbread Matcha Cookies have never lasted that long. However, they should hold up well. When you want to serve up your cookies, take them out of the freezer for 15 minutes or so before serving.
Quality Ingredients
- You must use real butter to make the best matcha cookie recipe. If you try to use margarine or some of those other non-dairy butters your results will not be optimal. If you are interested in vegan and gluten-free cookies, you may like our Dark Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies, Chewy Mandarin Orange Cookies or our Chewy Black Sesame Cookies.
- Using a Ceremonial Grade Matcha Organic Green Tea is preferred for the best tasting and bright green color in the cookies. However, you can also use a culinary grade matcha but your cookies will not be as bright green.
- Matcha (green tea) should be used according to the directions. A little goes a long way. However, with just enough there is a subtle matcha taste that balances nicely with the powdered sugar. If you are uncertain of you like matcha, start out with a little less like 1.5 tablespoons to 2 tablespoons instead of 2.5 tablespoons.
Top Tips
- It is best to refrigerate your dough for at least a few hours or even overnight. I know it seems absolutely pointless. (You first make the dough and it is nice and soft and supple so why would you want to refrigerate it?) It is all to do with the glutens in the dough. Don’t miss this very important step. If you do, your cookies may spread while baking.
- Sometimes, you may need to refrigerate your dough in between batches so the dough is easier to work. In addition, I found putting the cut-out cookies back into the refrigerator for just 15 minutes before baking ensures that the dough stays uniform in size.
- Eggless butter cookies, unlike regular sugar cookies, will remain beautiful straw color and will not brown. You can show off the gorgeous green color of matcha without browning.
- When working with your shortbread cookie dough, it is best to use a scale for weighing. However, you can also use cups and teaspoons but your effects may vary. I have included both for your convenience. If you do use cups, be sure to level it out with a butter knife.
- Is your dough is really crumbly? You can salvage it by adding just a couple of drops of cold water and work into the dough. If your Japanese cookie dough is too wet, then add flour as needed just until the dough starts to pull together.
- Sometimes, depending on your climate and humidity levels you will have to adjust. You can choose to just form your dough into logs, wrap tightly and put in the refrigerator for a few hours and them cut them and bake. However, if you choose to roll out your dough and use cut outs you need to work quickly.
How to serve
Teatime is even more delicious with a delicious hot or iced matcha latte. It is traditional to serve Wagashi (also known as Japanese sweets) along with traditional prepared matcha. Our matcha green tea cookies and matcha red bean energy balls are the perfect accompaniment to tea.
Hanami (Cherry Blossom Viewing)
Have you ever been to Japan during the blooming of the cherry blossoms? It is magical. The prime time for viewing Sakura (cherry blossoms) is only about 2 weeks before the flowers fall off the tree. Different regions of Japan bloom at different times. The season usually lasts from March to almost the end of April.
It is traditional to celebrate Hanami. The term Hanami (花見) literally translates as “flower viewing”. However, it really means much more. It is a very special season where family and friends gather together in the parks and have picnics and take in the amazing views and serenity of nature.
Picnics are even more delicious with little bento boxes made with Curried Tuna Salad Roll Ups, Tuna Mayo Rice Balls (Onigiri), Wasabi Mayo Crab Onigirazu and a little Sesame Burdock Root Salad on the side.
Don’t forget dessert! Our Sakura Shortbread Matcha Cookies are a lightly sweet ending to a meal.
Frequent Asked Questions (FAQ’s)
There are 2 main ways to prevent Japanese butter cookies from spreading. First, adding cornstarch to the shortbread cookie dough helps. The second way is chill the butter cookies for about 15 minutes before baking.
Homemade shortbread cookies can be stored in a sealed container at room temperature for 3 days, in the refrigerator for a week or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
More Matcha Recipes
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Sakura Shortbread Matcha Cookies
Equipment
- mixer or food processor
- Rolling Pin or wine bottle
- baking sheets lined with parchment paper or baking liners
- cherry blossom cookie cutters optional
Ingredients
- ½ cup cornstarch
- ½ cup powdered sugar
(icing sugar) - 1 cup flour all purpose and a little extra for rolling out the dough
- ¾ cup butter
(1 and ½ sticks) softened to room temperature and unsalted - ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 2.5 tablespoon matcha (green tea) We used Fraser Tea Ceremonial Matcha Organic Green Tea.
- decorating products optional (ie; royal icing, decorators frosting, Edible Sakura wafers, sprinkles, sesame seeds, edible pearls, etc.)
Instructions
Dry Ingredients
- Sift the dry ingredients; cornstarch, powdered sugar (icing sugar), flour, salt and Matcha (green Tea) into a large bowl and stir to mix. (Hold the salt if you plan on using salted butter in your recipe.)
Wet Ingredients
- Place the softened butter into the mixer bowl or food processor and mix until light and fluffy. FYI - Do NOT use melted butter! You want your butter to be at room temperature so that when you poke your finger into the butter, it leaves a dent. If you forget to soften your butter you can put it in the microwave at 50 percent power for 10 second intervals until just softened and you can put a dent easily with your finger).
Mix Dry Ingredients to Wet Ingredients
- Add your dry ingredients (cornstarch, powdered sugar (icing sugar), flour, salt and Matcha (green Tea) a little bit at a time into the whipped butter (wet ingredient) and mix well. You can do this with a mixer or with a food processor. Please note that your mixture will look like just powder at first but with more mixing it will finally start to pull together and turn a bright green as the butter mixes in with the dry ingredients. It will still look a little crumbly when it is ready.
- Next, form the matcha shortbread cookie dough into a ball and then into a round disk. Do not overwork the dough or it will make your cookies tough. The less touching the dough the better. Wrap your dough in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or up to overnight. (We have also made our dough up to 3 days in advance and as long as it is wrapped really good and refrigerated, it will be fine.) Alternatively, you can just roll your matcha shortbread dough into a log and wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Then, you can cut into round disks and bake and call it a day.
- Preheat your oven to 300 degrees F or 150 degrees C.
Sakura Flower Cut Out Cookies
- Take your dough out of the refrigerator and remove plastic wrap for at least 15 to 20 minutes or until soft enough to roll out. Flour your work service area and rolling pin and roll out your shortbread dough to about ¼ inch thick. If your dough is cracking add a teaspoon of water or so until softerned and then roll out the dough. Alternatively, your dough should not be sticky. If you dough is tacky to touch, add a little bit (1 teaspoon) of flour to the dough and work together and then roll out. Lightly dust your cookie cutter and cut out cookies. Place the cookies on a lined baking sheet with parchment paper about 2 inches apart. Repeat the process for the rest of the dough. We used a spatula to move the cookies from the counter to the parchment lined pan. Repeat the process for the rest of the dough. Sometimes, the dough will be soft. Just wrap it back up into a ball and cover with plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator for a few minutes until it firms up again. Then roll flat and repeat the process.
Sliced Round Rolled Cookies (No Cut Out Cookies)
- If you do not want to bother with making cut out cookies, slice the rolled chilled matcha shortbread cookie log into about ¼ inch thick slices. Place sliced cookies on a lined baking tray about 2 inches inches apart. Your cookies should not expand. Really you can shape the dough in any form you like. Sometimes, we press the dough into a plastic lined baking dish and refrigerate and then cut them into rectangles and then decorate with fork holes before baking.
Pre-Baking Decorations
- Optional decorating hacks! Decorate the cookies with sesame seeds or sugar confetti as desired. Press the sesame seeds down into the dough so they stick. If you want to ornately decorate the side of the cookies with sprinkles, first brush on a little egg white and then dip into sprinkles. Or you can wait and decorate them after baked and cooled or skip decorations all together. It is up to you. FYI: To make sure that our cookies did not expand, we put the cookies on the cookie tray in the refrigerator for just a few minutes before baking. You probably can skip this step. They did not expand for us. However, if you are living in a very warm and humid climate, we would advise that you do so.
Bake, Cool and Decorate
- Bake sakura shortbread matcha cookies for 15-18 minutes or until the edges are slightly tan. The baking time depends on how thick you rolled out your cookies. Start checking on them at the 13 minute mark.
- Cool on a wire rack.
- Decorate cookies with royal icing, sprinkles, and decorations as desired.
- Enjoy Sakura Shortbread cookies with a nice matcha latte, tea or coffee. Store your cookies in a plastic sealed container and if for some reason your family does not eat them within 3 days put them in the freezer and they can be stored up to 3 months.
Video
Notes
- For optimal results, use real butter to make the best matcha cookie recipe. If you try to use margarine or some of those other non-dairy butters your results will not be as good.
- Using a Ceremonial Grade Matcha Organic Green Tea is preferred for the best tasting and bright green color in the cookies. However, you can also use a culinary grade matcha but your cookies will not be as bright green.
- Matcha (green tea) should be used according to the directions. A little goes a long way. However, with just enough there is a subtle matcha taste that balances nicely with the powdered sugar. If you are uncertain of you like matcha, start out with a little less like 1.5 tablespoons to 2 tablespoons instead of 2.5 tablespoons.
- It is best to refrigerate your dough for at least a few hours or even overnight. I know it seems absolutely pointless. (You first make the dough and it is nice and soft and supple so why would you want to refrigerate it?) It is all to do with the glutens in the dough. Don’t miss this very important step. If you do, your cookies may spread while baking.
- Sometimes, you may need to refrigerate your dough in between batches so the dough is easier to work. In addition, I found putting the cut-out cookies back into the refrigerator for just 15 minutes before baking ensures that the dough stays uniform in size.
- Eggless butter cookies, unlike regular sugar cookies, will remain beautiful straw color and will not brown. You can show off the gorgeous green color of matcha without browning.
- When working with your shortbread cookie dough, it is best to use a scale for weighing. However, you can also use cups and teaspoons but your effects may vary. I have included both for your convenience. If you do use cups, be sure to level it out with a butter knife.
- If your dough is really crumbly, you can salvage it by adding just a couple of drops of cold water and work into the dough. If your Japanese cookie dough is too wet, then add flour as needed just until the dough starts to pull together.
- Sometimes, depending on your climate and humidity levels you will have to adjust. You can choose to just form your dough into logs, wrap tightly and put in the refrigerator for a few hours and them cut them and bake. However, if you choose to roll out your dough and use cut outs you need to work quickly.
- Our cherry blossom cookie cutters are about 2 inches in diameter.
Caleb - Never Ending Journeys says
Such a fun idea! These cookies look so cute and delicious. I love the use of matcha, too!
HWC Magazine says
Thank you Caleb. Matcha is so delightful in this delicately sweet biscuits. Perfect for teatime. Take care
Liz says
Aren't these gorgeous???? What a great treat to welcome spring and summer (though we had snow today!!!). I bet they taste amazing, too!
HWC Magazine says
Thank you Liz! Mother Nature is off her rocker. Maybe she did not get the e-mail update on the spring notice?!? Stay warm and well.
Karen (Back Road Journal) says
I've visited Japan but I've never been to Japan during the blooming of the cherry blossoms. It must be breathtakingly beautiful then. Your cookies are decorated so cute❣️
HWC Magazine says
Hi there Karen. It sounds like you need to add this event to your travel idea bucket list. The cherry blossom season in Japan is a magical time of the year.
John / Kitchen Riffs says
Really cute! And I love the color. We're all for butter -- impossible to beat the flavor. Perfect for this style of cookie, too. In fact, a necessity. 🙂 Such a nice recipe -- thanks.
HWC Magazine says
Thank you John. There is nothing like real butter in a butter cookie. Not only does the matcha make a the cookie a vibrant green but it also adds that delicious umami flavor to the cookie. We hope you give it a try soon.
mjskitchen says
Another really tasty looking matcha treat! Love your decoration.
HWC Magazine says
Thank you MJ! Just added this one to your Matcha Green Tea Pinterest board.
Eha says
We may have just missed the best this year but, Bobbi, next year our genies just have to organize times better and get us toge6ther in Kyoto or perchance just out of Tokyo cherry-blossom time ! I know both would so enjoy !!! As you may remember I was there on business - but so much more - every year over a few decades . . . the magic has never left . . . ! Green tea has been my 'medicine' most of my life - always have 'my' matcha at home . . . and your biscuits look simply beautiful . . . wish I had your supplier . . . everyone should try . . . OK: here's to next year . . .
HWC Magazine says
Let's start planning that Hanami get together this week- maybe to some of the less busy locations for cherry blossom viewing! ♥ Matcha (green tea) is our drink of choice. Relaxing, calm with so many health benefits, even maybe when you put a little in your cookies. Take care
Heidi | The Frugal Girls says
These are so gorgeous... and such a fabulous party dessert idea! A refreshing dessert with just 6 ingredients, I love it!!
HWC Magazine says
Thank you Heidi. Perfect springtime dessert or even in an Easter basket.
Michelle says
What a fantastic recipe featuring sakura and matcha together! I can't wait to make this one! 🙂
HWC Magazine says
Thank you Michelle. Wishing you a very special Hanami season!