Matcha Crinkle Cookies (2024)

These matcha crinkle cookies are the best cookies for the holiday season! These soft crinkle cookies are packed with delicious matcha powder, white chocolate, and vanilla and are coated with powdered sugar for their signature crackled look.

What are winter and the holiday season without mountains and mountains of cookies and baking cookies? Am I right? For my first cookie recipe this holiday season, I am bringing back one of my first recipes for Takes Two Eggs—Matcha Crinkle Cookies. A lot of my Instagram followers made these matcha cookies last year, so I thought why not have a more detailed blog post with all the tips and tricks!

These matcha crinkle cookies are delicate, fluffy, soft, and packed with delicious matcha flavor (if you use high-quality matcha powder). These white and green beauties will be a hit at any event or gathering! If you love baking with matcha, check out my matcha tiramisu, vanilla matcha basque cheesecake, or my matcha madeleines.

What is Matcha?

Matcha is a Japanese green tea powder made from finely powdered dried young tea leaves. It tastes slightly sweet and earthy. Matcha leaves are grown on green tea bushes and kept under shade. The shade increases the amount of chlorophyll content in the leaves, creating a bright green color packed with nutrients. Next, the leaves are picked by hand and their stems and veins are removed. The whole process to grind the leaves takes about an hour and is done in the dark to protect the nutrients.

What is the difference between Ceremonial Grade Matcha and Culinary Grade Matcha?

1. Ceremonial Grade Matcha is the highest quality tea grade. Ceremonial Grade Matcha is created for drinking. It has been used for centuries in the traditional Japanese tea ceremonies. It is produced from the youngest tea leaves. Ceremonial grade has the most vibrant tea grade, a fine texture, naturally sweet flavor, and the purest taste. Also, it is the more expensive grade of matcha. For this recipe, I wanted a stronger matcha flavor with a more beautiful vibrant green color so I used ceremonial-grade matcha.
2. Culinary Grade Matcha is most commonly used for baking and cooking. Culinary-grade matcha does not mean a lower-grade product, it simply means it was prepared differently and meant for different uses. This grade has a more robust flavor, less sweet, and more bitter notes than ceremonial grade matcha. Moreover, Culinary Grade Matcha’s color is less vibrant and has a more yellow hue to it. Furthermore, it is the most cost-efficient form of matcha.

Kitchen Equipment

• Kitchen Scale: a kitchen scale is absolutely NECESSARY if you want to have foolproof bakes. This will ensure you have the exact measurements for each ingredient. My little pink kitchen scale is both aesthetic and precise.
• Nesting Glass Mixing Bowls: This is one of my main kitchen essentials for almost all of my recipes. They allow me to keep an organized kitchen. These duralex glass nesting bowls are also really sturdy and dishwasher safe!
• Whisk: you will need a whisk to combine the ingredients
• Rubber spatula: you will use a rubber spatula to fold the batter together to create an evenly mixed batter.
• 1.5-inch Cookie Scoop: using a cookie scoop will ensure that you have evenly sized cookies.
• Slipat: a slipat is seriously the best invention for baking that ever existed. It will 100% guarantee the cookies to easily slip off the tray.
• Half-Sheet Aluminum Baking Tray: I have been using my Nordicware Aluminum half-sheet baking trays for years and it has never let me down.

Ingredients

• Vegetable oil: the vegetable oil combines the dough together and creates a moist crumb in the cookie
• Large eggs: the eggs combine the dough and provide a slight rise in the cookie
• Vanilla extract: vanilla adds a layer of sweetness to the cookie
• Granulated sugar: what is a cookie without sugar?
• Matcha Powder: you can use either ceremonial grade or culinary grade matcha powder. For this recipe, I opted for ceremonial-grade matcha powder for a deeper richer flavor and a more brilliant green color. However, be aware using ceremonial-grade matcha will yield a higher caffeine in the cookie than the culinary powder.
• White chocolate chips: You will want to use high-quality white chocolate chips for this recipe since the majority of the flavor comes from these white chocolate chips. I always use Callebaut White Chocolate melting chips because they have the best flavor and are the easiest chocolate to melt.
• All-purpose flour: all you will need for this recipe is plain all-purpose flour.
• Baking powder and Baking soda: the combination of baking powder and baking soda will aid in the rise of these cookies giving them their beautiful puffed shape.
• Sea salt: a pinch of salt will balance the sugar content in the recipe.
• Powdered sugar: the powdered sugar coats the dookie dough before they go inside the oven.

How To Make Matcha Crinkle Cookies

These matcha crinkle cookies are soft, delicious, and perfect for the holidays. This recipe only requires a few simple steps.

1. Mix the wet ingredients with sugar and matcha. In a large glass bowl, combine the oil, eggs, vanilla, granulated sugar, and sifted matcha powder in a bowl and whisk together until combined.

2. Melt the white chocolate. In a separate small bowl, melt the white chocolate. Cool the chocolate and set aside.

3. Combine white chocolate with wet ingredients. When the white chocolate is cool/warm to the touch, add the melted white chocolate to the egg mixture and stir to incorporate.

4. Whisk the dry ingredients. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until combined.

5. Combine the wet and dry ingredients. Slowly pour in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredient mixture and mix with a rubber spatula until combined. The batter should be thick and sticky.

6. Chill in the refrigerator. Cover the batter with plastic wrap with the plastic wrap film touching the batter to prevent a film from forming and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1-2 hours or until firm.

7. Prepare a bowl of powdered sugar and assemble the cookies. Remove the dough from the fridge and use a tablespoon or a small ice cream scoop to form 1.5 inch balls. Roll the balls to make them smooth. Try to do this quickly as the dough can be a little sticky. If the dough is too sticky place it back in the refrigerator to chill a little longer. Dip each dough ball into the powder sugar and coat well. Double or triple coat with powdered sugar if necessary. Place the coated dough balls onto a lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Gently flatten the balls with your fingers to form even about 1/2 inch thick discs.

8. Bake at 350F for 10-12 minutes or until slightly golden along the edges. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

Storage Instructions

You can store these matcha crinkle cookies in an airtight container on your counter for up to 3 days. Alternatively, you can bake and store them in the freezer for up to 1 month.

Frequent Q and A’s

Can I make these matcha crinkle cookies in advance?

Yes! You can also make the dough ahead by mixing and scooping out the balls of dough and then freezing them on the baking tray. After the dough balls freeze, you can place them in an airtight container for up to 1 month. To bake simply defrost and bake as usual.

What makes a cookie crinkle?

Most cookies have crusts that are soft and flexible as the cookies bake in the oven. But when the top of the dough dries faster than the inside of the cookie because of the powdered sugar, it bakes faster than the remainder of the cookie, thus the exterior hardens, cracks, and pulls apart yielding that beautiful signature crinkle exterior we all love.

Why does the matcha crinkle cookie dough need refrigeration?

The time in the refrigerator is for multiple reasons: 1) it allows the dough to become less sticky and more manageable to shape into dough balls and 2) the time in the refrigerator will allow the baking powder and soda time to activate and absorb into the dough giving the cookie that beautiful rise.

Why are my matcha crinkle cookies flat?

If your matcha crinkle cookies are flat there may be a few different reasons.

1. The dough may not have been chilled long enough which will cause the cookie to spread too much and too fast during the bake.
2. The oven may be too hot. You may need to have an oven thermometer to check the temperature inside your oven some ovens may run hotter or colder than what is shown on the oven screen. The only way to know for sure what the exact temperature is.
3. Did you measure the flour accurately with a scale? Sometimes if you have the incorrect amount of flour it will yield to a disproportionate ratio of wet to dry ingredients. If you don’t have a scale, make sure to measure your flour by fluffing up the flour with a spoon and gently dropping it into your measuring spoon before leveling it off with a knife. Do NOT pack the flour into the measuring cup.

Did you make this matcha crinkle cookie recipe?