Disclaimer: Matcha Love as well as Evergreen Matcha provided me with their matcha teas to sample, review and bake with. All opinions are, as always, 100% my own.
Hey hi! I feel like it’s been forever and a day. I guess it’s only been a week but this week kind of felt like forever. Moving is a pain.
Actually, we did everything in less than 24 hours. Tuesday morning the movers showed up at 8:45, by 12 we were unloading at the house and by 5:00 we were ordering pizza, pouring a glass of wine and wanting to die after having unpacked every single box, found a home for every single thing and tucked the boxes away in storage. Wednesday morning I got up and tidied up but that was pretty much it. We had it all done.
We were very sore. And tired. And so, so happy.
So these cookies. Umm, they’re to die for. If you like matcha which, if you don’t, you’re super weird and we can’t be friends. If you didn’t know, matcha and white chocolate are bffs. They go together like peanut butter and chocolate only so much better. So much. Add in some butter and plenty of pure vanilla extract and you’ve got yourself some serious gold. I could barely stop eating the dough long enough to bake the cookies. They’re really easy to make and require no chilling (yay!). I can’t quite figure it out but there’s something about the tea itself that keeps the cookies super thick which definitely isn’t a bad thing. When it came to how many white chocolate chips to put in, I settled on only 1/2 cup. When I made them with more, I felt like the white chocolate was dominating the matcha and I really wanted the tea to shine here so 1/2 cup was the perfect amount to settle on. The color on the inside isn’t amazing… it goes kind of an awkward browny green nasty color but the outside stays pretty and green and they taste amazing so that’s what matters!
Back in December Matcha Love reached out to me asking if I would like to try some of their products which I obviously said YESSSSS to and I received them sometime mid-January. They were amazing enough to send me both of their ceremonial grade tins, one of which was organic which were quite honestly the best matcha teas I’ve come across. The non organic ceremonial (which is a tad cheaper) was lovely, smooth and the smell is light, grassy (in a good way) and sweet. The color is vibrant and just everything you want in your matcha tea. I blew through this can in a couple of days making aaaalllll the lattes and it was glorious. After that I opened the organic ceremonial which just blew my mind. It was even smoother than the other and had a tad more sweet matcha flavor. Both of the cans are gone now which makes me really sad BUT I have this other tin of their fantastic culinary grade matcha.
So I’ve come across my fair share of culinary matchas that are brown and gross looking but they’re inexpensive and you’re just going to bake with them so you wouldn’t want to waste your money on the higher end stuff. That’s where Matcha Love is different- their culinary grade is still a lovely green color, has the same grassy sweet smell and the taste is far superior to any other culinary matcha I’ve ever used. In fact, when I ran out of the ceremonial matcha, I started making lattes with the culinary and lemme tell ya, it’s still delicious and FAR better than anything you’ll ever buy at Starbucks. It’s also super inexpensive so I highly, highly recommend getting yourself a tin. Especially since I’m going to be posting more amazing matcha recipes over the next few weeks and I can’t freaking wait.
I also highly recommend you make these cookies ASAP.
Cheers!
Update: Evergreen Matcha recently sent me their Japanese Premium Matcha powder to try and it is absolutely wonderful. The powder is dark green, and the smell very floral and grassy, as matcha should smell. I highly, highly recommend Evergreen’s matcha powder AND they’ve been kind enough to offer readers a 10% discount for first time buyers with the code PRETENDBAKER. This offer never expires, but is only valid for your first time purchase. Enjoy, friends!
*note, Evergreen Matcha is the US based company, for those in Australia, you will get your 10% discount on Zen Green Tea. I receive a small commission when you click the link above and use the discount code however, I do not promote anything I don’t personally love and use. Thank you for supporting the brands that keep The Pretend Baker going!
- ½ C salted butter, room temperature
- ¾ C cane sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1½ tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1½ C less 4 tsp all purpose flour
- 4 tsp Matcha Love culinary matcha tea powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ C white chocolate chips
- Preheat oven to 350F
- Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In the bowl of your mixer, cream together butter and sugar until completely combined. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat until light and creamy, scraping the bowl as necessary.
- In a medium bowl, measure out 1½ C all purpose flour then remove 4 tsp. Add the matcha powder, baking soda and salt and sift/whisk together until completely combined.
- With the mixture running on medium-low, add the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Fold in the white chocolate chips.
- Make 12 balls of dough and place on the cookie sheet. Slightly flatten each ball with the palm of your hand then bake on the center rack of your oven for 12-14 minutes or until edges are just set. The center will appear slightly underdone. Do not overbake.
- Allow to cool completely on the cookie sheet then store in an air tight container for up to 5 days.
More matcha! And cookies!
Black Sesame Matcha Banana Bread
Sweet & Salty Brown Butter Cookies
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