Easy White Chocolate Matcha Cookies Recipe

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With matcha trending just about everywhere, it's hard to avoid the temptation to add a little to everything we bake. Luckily, these white chocolate matcha cookies satisfy just that craving, with their winning combination of sweet white chocolate chips, grassy-bitter matcha, and crunchy pistachios.

With matcha recipes, it's sometimes hard to predict what you'll end up with. Many recipes prioritize vibrant green looks over actual flavor, while others rely on overly saccharine combinations to offset the natural bitterness of matcha. Baking for At the Immigrant's Table, I like to pair this traditional Japanese ingredient with opposing flavors and tried-and-true baking formulas to really achieve a pleasing balance of flavors and textures.

In this recipe, which follows a very traditional baking ratio and process for chewy cookies with a gooey center, we pair culinary-grade matcha powder with buttery white chocolate chips, which melt slightly while still keeping their shape and bite. Then, to avoid making the recipe too sugary, we add roasted pistachios to give the cookies crunch and a warming, nutty aftertaste that falls between the sweetness of the chocolate and the sharpness of the matcha. The result is cookies that are crunchy on the outside, a tad cakey on the inside, and beautifully green.

To make these easy matcha cookies, you'll need all-purpose flour, culinary-grade matcha powder, baking soda, salt, softened butter, preferably unsalted, granulated sugar, brown sugar, an egg, vanilla extract, white chocolate chips, and chopped roasted pistachios. If you are unsure what culinary-grade matcha means, it's the most bitter out of the three types of matcha, best used for baking and when mixed with other ingredients. No need to splurge for the good stuff here; you can save that for your daily matcha latte habit.

Set the oven to 350 F.

Whisk together the flour, matcha powder, baking soda, and salt.

Cream the butter and both sugars until pale. Beat in egg and vanilla.

Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.

Fold in white chocolate and pistachios.

Chill the dough in the fridge for 1 hour.

Prep two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Scoop 1-tablespoon portions onto the parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing them 2 inches apart.

Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes until the edges are set but the centers remain underdone.

Cool the cookies on the baking sheet 5 minutes, then transfer them to a rack for another 5 minutes.

Serve the cookies.

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Eating cookies on their own is all well and good, but if you're in the mood to get creative with our matcha cookies, we're here for it. Most of our advice is for using leftover baked cookies, but we also have an idea if you're a fan of raw cookie batter.

Our favorite thing to do with leftover matcha cookies is to turn them into an ice cream sandwich. All you need to do is choose your favorite vanilla or matcha ice cream, plop a scoop between two cooled cookies, and freeze them for about an hour. Another idea is to layer leftover crumbled cookies in a parfait with yogurt blended with maple syrup and matcha, and then fresh mango slices. Repeat this two or three times, and you've got a pretty and colorful layered dessert that's perfect for afternoon snacks.

You can also use the cookies in place of Biscoff cookies in the viral Japanese "cheesecake," in which cookies are inserted into yogurt to make an easy and high-protein dessert that tastes suspiciously like a cheesecake. And finally, if you're a fan of raw cookie batter, mix some chunks of it into a good vanilla ice cream, and freeze again for a grown-up, Japanese-inspired take on cookie dough ice cream.

It's easy to adapt these cookies for those with dietary restrictions. The texture of the cookies lends itself well to a gluten-free adaptation, while dairy-free options are also rather tasty. For a gluten-free variation, replace the all-purpose flour with a gluten-free flour blend of your choice. Make sure it has xanthan gum, and decrease the flour quantity by 4 tablespoons from the overall recipe, as gluten-free flour is drier than regular flour and requires more liquid and fat.

For a dairy-free adaptation, substitute the white chocolate chips with dairy-free chocolate. If you can't find white chocolate, just use regular vegan chocolate instead. For butter, use a dairy-free butter like Miyoko's Creamery European-style plant milk butter. As vegan butter can be softer, check the dough after chilling, and if it's not firm enough, chill it a bit longer.

With any of these substitutions, monitor your baking closely because gluten-free and dairy-free recipes can bake faster or slower, depending on the blend. It's sometimes a good idea to overbake gluten-free recipes, so you may want to give it 2 more minutes in the oven.

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