These Vegan Matcha Green Tea Shortbread Cookies are:
- delightfully salty-sweet
- crisp and crunchy
- filled with buttery macadamia nuts!
These were inspired by my Black Sesame Shortbread – it’s a very similar coconut oil-based recipe, which yields a deliciously melt-in-your-mouth buttery biscuit.
Matcha green tea powder adds a beautiful colour as well as a deliciously earthy flavour.
I love matcha and have used it for so many desserts, including:
So, I knew I’d love these Vegan Matcha Green Tea Shortbread Cookies. Not only does the matcha add a delicious flavour and wonderful green hue, but it’s also packed full of antioxidants and full of health benefits. You can buy matcha powder from local health stores or Asian supermarkets.
Macadamia nuts add extra buttery richness, and although I didn’t add them here, I don’t think a handful of dried cranberries would be a bad idea either, both for the wonderfully festive aesthetic as well as the little pockets of juicy sweetness that they would add.
These Vegan Matcha Green Tea Shortbread Cookies are also really quick and easy to make, coming together in just one bowl.
If you’re still unsure about what to do for Christmas presents this year, these make excellent gifts! They look nice, and store for about a week in an airtight container.
If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog, I’d really love to hear any feedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo #rhiansrecipes on Instagram! Thank you.
Helpful tools to make these Vegan Matcha Green Tea Shortbread Cookies:
glass mixing bowl
rectangular baking tray
baking paper
Vegan Matcha Green Tea Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 30 g coconut oil
- 5 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub any other sweetener)
- Generous pinch salt
- 170 g plain flour plus extra for rolling
- 2 teaspoons matcha powder
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk (or any other plant-based milk)
- 65 g macadamia nuts , roughly chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius (340 degrees Fahrenheit)
- Place the flour and matcha powder in a large bowl (no need to sift the flour)
- Add all the other ingredients and mix until you get an easily moldable but firm dough – add more milk if necessary to achieve the right consistency
- Sprinkle some flour on a clean surface or chopping board, and use a rolling pin to roll the dough until it’s around 1cm (1/2 inch) thick
- Use a cookie cutter to cut the shortbread into whatever shape you like
- Alternatively, you could just roll the dough into a log shape, then slice them into 1cm- (1/2 inch-) thick rounds
- Arrange them on a greased baking tray
- Bake in oven for around 25 minutes, until they’re firm to the touch (don’t worry if they’re not completly hard though, they tend to firm up when cooling)
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool
- Store in an airtight container for up to a week
Disclosure: This posts contains affiliate links to Amazon. If you click through and purchase any of these films, a small percentage will come to me, with no extra cost to you! This income will go towards the running of this blog – thank you.
Carol
These look great – would love a gluten-free version!
Rhian Williams
Thank you!
Ann
The dough was very wet – I had to keep adding flour, which affected the flavor. I’m pretty sure I measured correctly but might try them one more time in case it was my mistake.
Rhian Williams
Oh no I’m so sorry to hear that. The dough was pretty firm for me, but if you make it again I would suggest adding the milk a tiny amount at a time and stopping once you get a firm dough, to make sure it doesn’t get too wet. Sorry again that you had a problem with the recipe and hope the next time is better. Thank you for your feedback!
Anna
Had the same wet dough issue. Something may be getting lost in translation. Are you weighing ingredients with a scale or measuring by volume? Maybe there’s too much coconut oil, they seemed greasy.
Rhian Williams
Thank you for your feedback. I’m so sorry you had a problem with the dough too – I will retest the recipe and see what happens. I do understanding having the oil measurements in tablespoons can be very ambiguous, I’ll make it again and change it to grams/cups. So sorry again.
Chan Yen
So that still 5 tablespoons coconut oil?
Rhian Williams
I’ve just changed it, sorry about that! Let me know if you have any other questions 🙂
Rickie
I’ve made this recipe twice. Both times, it was way too wet, so ended up making very dense mini-muffins instead. The taste was fine, but the texture was funky.
Rhian Williams
Hi, thank you so much for your feedback. I’m so sorry you had a problem with the recipe, perhaps making it without the milk would be better. I’ll retest the recipe and see what went wrong. So sorry again 🙁
Jeanette Pierce
I would like to make these and want to be sure I don’t have an issue like some of the others have had with it being too wet. Someone asked asked about adding 5T of coconut oil but the recipe calls for 30 g. My calculations tell me 30 grams is 2 T. Did you decide if making it without the milk was better? I want to make vegan cookies that are also attractive looking. These fit the bill. Love the color.
Rhian Williams
Hi, thank you for your interest in the recipe! The recipe used to be 5T but I changed it to 30g because I think the reason people were having problems with the mixture being too wet was because tablespoons really vary in size depending on country. So the recipe should be ok now. Please let me know if you have any questions!
Alexanne
I’ve made this recipe twice, and it was too wet both times… I doubled the flour quantity and they are pretty good! A bit hard because of the floor, but still good.
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much for your feedback!