Matcha Checkerboard Cookies with step-by-step photographs

Lovely Matcha Checkerboard Cookies for inexperienced tea lovers. Recipe with step-by-step photographs.

Matcha Checkerboard Cookies

In case you are a fan of matcha cookies, then it’s worthwhile to give these Matcha Checkerboard Cookies a attempt! The candy mixture of vanilla cookie with matcha makes them the proper biscuit to have alongside a cup of (inexperienced) tea. The colourful inexperienced color of the matcha additionally makes them contender at Christmas alongside extra conventional Christmas cookies.

Matcha Cookies

Admittedly, matcha isn’t everybody’s cup of tea 😉 Matcha has an earthy, grassy flavour which not everybody will like, and only a few youngsters will like. However it’s the natural bitterness which attracts or converts matcha lovers. I occur to suppose that, in case you grew up in a family the place inexperienced tea was generally served, it turns into an acquired style which will be very comforting. And for me, matcha cookies are a dream mixture!

Matcha Cookie Recipe

These matcha cookies use my recipe for French Sablé Cookies, which I’ve additionally used to make the extra conventional Checkerboard Cookies. Sablé cookies are French shortbread biscuits, so they’re agency and crumbly in texture with a fantastic buttery flavour.

To make Matcha Checkerboard Cookies, merely substitute the chocolate cookie dough with a matcha cookie dough!

What Kind of Matcha Powder to Use

Matcha powder is available in numerous grades, which is mostly apparent from the value. Matcha is usually bought in sealed packaging, so you’re unable to see the color high quality, nor odor the depth of flavour.

The upper grade matcha powder, known as ceremonial grade, is really useful for ingesting, and is usually vivid inexperienced in color however with a fragile flavour.

Alternatively, decrease grade matcha powder is much less vibrant in color and extra bitter in style, so it’s typically used for cooking and baking. Sugar is often added to counter-balance the bitterness of the matcha. Some manufacturers of matcha even label if their product is meant for cooking. If unsure, purchase the cheaper matcha product as a result of ceremonial grade matcha is often fairly costly.

How you can Make Checkerboard Cookies

My recipe for Checkerboard Cookies is a simple one which produces a 4 x 4 cm cookie with 4 squares that includes 2 flavours. To make cookies with extra squares – and extra flavours – you will have to do a little bit of maths and produce sufficient logs of every flavour to create the sample you need.

Step 1

Cream the butter, salt and sugar till the combination is gentle and fluffy.

Step 2

Add the egg yolks, and proceed mixing till all the pieces is properly mixed.

Step 3

Divide the butter combination into 2 mixing bowls. To do that evenly, weigh the total combination in a clear bowl, after which divide this quantity by 2.

To make the Vanilla Cookie Dough, place half of the butter combination right into a mixing bowl, and add the dry components. Combine till all the pieces is mixed and the combination resembles crumbly moist sand. Add sufficient chilly water till the combination comes collectively in a comfortable dough.

Step 4

Switch the dough to the kitchen bench and knead gently to provide a comfortable dough with no air pockets. Form the dough into two logs measuring 4 cm in width, 2 cm in top, and 16-18 cm in size.

Wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap, smoothing and levelling the sides as you achieve this. Place the dough within the fridge to sit back for at the very least Half-hour, or within the freezer for quarter-hour. Alternatively, you’ll be able to freeze the dough at this stage to make use of at a later time.

Step 5 & 6

Repeat Step 3 to make the Matcha Cookie Dough. I like to recommend beginning with vanilla so that you just don’t want to scrub the bowl 😉

Step 7

As soon as the cookie dough logs are chilled, use a pointy knife to chop them in half lengthwise. Every log ought to now be 2 cm x 2 cm in width and top.

If you wish to be very exact, you’ll be able to clear or trim the sides with a pointy knife so that every log is strictly the identical. However take into account that, because the cookies bake, they’ll broaden barely and should not maintain their form completely.

Step 8

Brush some egg white onto one facet of a Vanilla Cookie Dough log to “glue” it to a Matcha Cookie Dough log. Repeat with the opposite two cookie dough logs.

Brush one of many vanilla-matcha logs with egg white, after which place the opposite vanilla-matcha go online prime in order that the colors are alternating. Wrap the whole log tightly in some plastic wrap, and place within the fridge for Half-hour or the freezer for quarter-hour to agency up. At this stage, you’ll be able to maintain the cookie dough within the freezer for as much as 1-2 months.

Step 9

To make evenly-sized cookies, use a ruler to mark the dough in 1 cm increments, or nonetheless skinny or thick you need to make the cookies. Alternatively, you can even eyeball the measurements.

Use a pointy knife to slice the cookie dough.

Organize the sliced cookie dough on a big baking tray lined with baking paper.

In case your kitchen is heat, it could be a good suggestion to pop the baking tray into the fridge for 15-Half-hour for the dough to sit back once more.

Step 10

Preheat the oven to 180°C/356°F (with out fan). Place a metallic tray on the center shelf of the oven.

Place the baking tray on the pre-heated metallic tray within the oven, and bake the cookies for 15-18 minutes, or till the cookies are frivolously golden. The baking time will differ relying on the scale and thickness of your cookies, in addition to your oven.

For matcha cookies, the inexperienced color will probably be much less vivid the longer you bake them. So in case you want to maintain them vibrant inexperienced, bake them till the vanilla segments are only a contact golden in color.

Take away the baking tray from the oven, and depart the cookies on the recent tray for an extra 5-10 minutes to agency up. Cool the cookies on a wire rack.

Ideas for Making Checkerboard Cookies

• Use a ruler. If precision is necessary to you, it would be best to measure your cookie dough logs so that every phase is similar dimension. I like to recommend maintaining a metallic ruler within the kitchen on your baking actions.
• Use levelling strips. Much like a ruler, levelling strips lets you roll the dough evenly. They arrive in quite a lot of sizes, and can be found in acrylic or wooden.
• Appropriate with a pointy knife. If, after you could have sliced your cookies, you need to “fine-tune” the measurements, merely use a pointy knife to even or clear the sides of every cookie. Needless to say the dough will broaden barely throughout baking, and the cookie form could transfer a bit. However as these are selfmade cookies, I believe some imperfect edges are greater than positive ☺️

Print

Matcha Checkerboard Cookies

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

No critiques

• Writer: Thanh | Eat, Little Hen
• Prep Time: 30 minutes
• Prepare dinner Time: 15 minutes
• Complete Time: 45 minutes
• Yield: Makes about 30 cookies
• Class: Cookies
• Methodology: Oven
• Delicacies: French

Lovely Matcha Checkerboard Cookies for inexperienced tea lovers. Recipe with step-by-step photographs.

Elements

For the Cookie Dough Base

For the Vanilla Cookie Dough

For the Matcha Cookie Dough

Directions

To Make the Cookie Dough Base

1. Place the butter, salt and icing sugar (powdered sugar) into a big bowl.
2. Cream the components collectively till the combination is gentle and fluffy. In case you are utilizing an electrical stand mixer, use the flat-paddle attachment.
3. Add the egg yolks.
4. Beat to mix properly.
5. Weigh the combination in a clear bowl.
6. Halve the combination into separate mixing bowls.

To Make the Vanilla Cookie Dough

1. Place one half of the Cookie Dough Base into the blending bowl.
2. Add the extra components for Vanilla Cookie Dough.
3. Beat the combination collectively till the combination resembles moist sand.
4. Add simply sufficient water to convey the combination collectively right into a comfortable dough.
5. Take away the combination to the kitchen bench.
6. Knead the dough frivolously in order that all the components are well-combined and there aren’t any air-pockets within the dough.
7. Form the dough into 2 logs, measuring 4 cm in width, 2 cm in top, 16-18 cm in size.
8. Wrap every log in plastic wrap.
9. Place the dough within the fridge for Half-hour, or within the freezer for quarter-hour, to agency up.

To Make the Matcha Cookie Dough

1. Repeat the identical steps as for the Vanilla Cookie Dough.

To Form the Checkerboard Cookies

1. Unwrap the cookie dough logs from the plastic.
2. Slice every log in half lengthwise, so that you’ve 4 logs of every flavour, that are 2 cm in width.
3. Take one vanilla log.
4. Brush every vanilla log with some egg white.
5. Place a matcha go online prime of every vanilla log.
6. Brush one pair of the vanilla-matcha logs with egg white.
7. Place the opposite vanilla-matcha go online prime, in order that the colors are alternating.
8. Wrap the checkerboard cookie dough in plastic wrap.
9. Place the dough within the fridge for Half-hour, or within the freezer for quarter-hour, to agency up.

To Slice the Checkerboard Cookies

1. If you’d like even-sized cookies, use a ruler to mark the width of every cookie (about 1 cm thick). In any other case, you’ll be able to eye-ball it and lower as you please.
2. Use a pointy knife to slice the cookie dough.
3. Place a sheet of baking paper on a big baking tray.
4. Organize the cookie slices on the baking tray. The cookies don’t unfold very a lot upon baking, however house them aside to permit them to bake evenly.

To Bake the Checkerboard Cookies

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/356°F (with out fan).
2. Preheat a metallic tray on the center shelf within the oven.
3. Place the tray of cookies on the preheated metallic tray.
4. Bake the cookies for 15-18 minutes, or till the cookies are frivolously golden. 
5. Take away the tray from the oven.
6. Go away the cookies on the recent tray for about 5-10 minutes to agency up.
7. Take away the cookies to a wire rack to chill fully.

Kitchen Notes

OVEN TEMPERATURES
All recipes on this web site state temperatures for an everyday oven (i.e. a traditional oven with out fan). When you’ve got a convection oven with a fan, please seek the advice of the producer’s handbook on tips on how to modify the temperature and baking time accordingly.

CONVERSIONS
To transform from cups to grams, and vice-versa, please see this helpful Conversion Chart for Primary Elements.