Matcha Shortbread Cookies

The holiday brought about a flurry of baking. This recipe for matcha shortbread cookies was chosen for the color, ease and most importantly yumminess. It’s my go-to recipe for shortbread. It’s almost always called out when I pack them up as a gift, and is a favorite around the house.

Note matcha is bitter so don’t go crazy adding too much powder. Also, the green hue will go from a light green as a dry mix to a deep forest green after the butter is added so don’t let your eyes deceive you.

Yields about 24 cookies

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 to 1-1/2 teaspoon matcha powder
• 2/3 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 16 tablespoons or two sticks, cold unsalted butter cut into 1-inch dice

PREPARATION

Add flour, sugar, salt and matcha powder to food processor and pulse several times.

Add butter to the dry mixture and pulse until the crumbs begin to stick and become the texture of wet sand. The trick is not to overprocess.

Take the dough and roll into a log of desired thickness. I wanted square cookies so made a square log.

Note that the the cookies will spread and get bigger as they bake so a two-to-three inch width is what I like. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 48 hours.

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Remove plastic wrap and using a sharp knife, cut into 1/2 inch slices. You can make them thinner for a more delicate cookie as well.

Arrange slices leaving about 2 inches apart and bake for about 20 minutes or until the edges become a golden brown.

Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool.