Naturally green Matcha Almond Shortbread Trees are buttery and delicately flavored with green tea. They're finished with a dark chocolate drizzle and a pinch of coarse sea salt. I use and recommend Suncore Premium Midori Jade Matcha Supercolor Powder for the most intense green hue. See the blog post for shopping links.The yield will depend on the size cookie cutter you use and the thickness of the dough. You’ll average about 36 cookies with 3-inch cookies rolled to 1/4 inch thickness. My cookies were larger, at 4 inches and just shy of 1/2 inch thickness. My yield was about 26. Be careful when re-rolling cookie scraps. Don’t overwork the dough or the cookies will be tough instead of delicate and crumbly.
1teaspooncoarse grey sea saltor other coarse sea salt
Instructions
Shortbread
In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the confectioners’ sugar and beat until incorporated. Add the sifted matcha tea powder. Mix again until well dispersed. Scrape down the bowl and mix again.
In a separate mixing bowl, combine the flour, almond flour, and salt. Add half of the flour to the creamed mixture and mix until a dough forms. Add the almond extract; mix to incorporate. Then, add the remaining flour and mix again on low speed until a stiff dough forms.
Gather the dough together with your hands and place on a lightly floured surface. Divide into two pieces. Using a floured rolling pin, roll each piece of dough until flattened to the desired thickness (slightly less than 1/2 inch for thick soft cookies, 1/4 inch for thin, crisper cookies with browned edges).
Wrap the dough pieces in plastic film and place on a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. The dough will firm quickly because of the high butter content.
Remove dough from the refrigerator, unwrap and cut shapes from the dough. Transfer to parchment-lined cookie sheets and freeze the shapes on the cookie sheets for at least 10 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Bake until lightly golden around the edges: 7-10 minutes for small cookies, 12-15 minutes for medium cookies, 17-20 minutes for large or thick cookies.
When cookies are lightly golden around the edges and fragrant, remove them from the oven and let cool on the pans completely. These are tender cookies, and they will break if you try to move them while still hot.
Toppings
Place the melted dark chocolate in a piping bag and cut a small opening in the tip. Pipe the chocolate onto the cooled cookies still on the parchment paper in the pans. Sprinkle each cookie with a pinch of coarse salt. Let stand until the chocolate sets, about 10 minutes, or refrigerate them to speed setting.
Remove the cookies from the pans and tap off excess salt – do this gently, as these cookies are delicate. Place cookies in an airtight container, or plate them and cover with plastic wrap.
Notes
What to expect: This shortbread has mild matcha tea flavor. The matcha gives the dough an herby note that underlies the buttery flavor. It’s not overt, or bitter. The almond extract takes the edge off of the matcha’s grassy flavor, but it is mostly undetectable as a flavor. Almond flour makes the shortbread’s texture delicate and crumbly, just as good shortbread should be. Be sure to sift the matcha tea powder before using. It can have a little static cling sometimes, and it will clump and ball together.You may not use the entire teaspoon of coarse salt as called for. Grey coarse sea salt (I like Celtic Sea Salt) has a mixture of large and small granules, which is nice on these cookies. Use the salt sparingly, and tap off the excess. To gauge your taste for the salt, test a pinch of salt on a cookie. Add more or less to taste for the remaining cookies.
Keyword all purpose flour, almond extract, almond flour, coarse sea salt, dark chocolate drizzle, matcha green tea