Chocolate Dipped Matcha Shortbread Cookies recipe
This light, buttery shortbread recipe comes from Chocolate and Zucchini and is completely delicious. The cookies in the original recipe have a crunchy sugar coating but I’ve dipped mine in chocolate; both versions are lovely but the chocolate coating requires a bit more effort.
After making the dough it needs to sit in the fridge or freezer for a while to firm up so I used this time to make matcha cakes. Both recipes contain ground almonds and their natural sweetness is a nice complement to the slightly bitter matcha.
As an aside, it’s a good idea to let people know that these are matcha cookies. When I took a batch into work I overheard a colleague worriedly ask another colleague, “Why are these cookies green?”
The recipe makes around 18 cookies.
Ingredients
Makes: 18
- 100g unsalted butter (room temperature)
- 50g icing sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- 90g plain flour
- 40g ground almonds
- 2 tsp Matcha powder
- ¼ tsp fine sea salt
- 200g dark chocolate (or 2 tablespoons of coarse sugar, e.g. demerara)
Method
- Mix 100g butter and 50g icing sugar together in a large bowl using a wooden spoon.
- Add 1 egg yolk and stir well.
- Add 90g plain flour, 40g ground almonds and 2 teaspoons of matcha powder in a different bowl. Add ¼ teaspoon salt if your butter is unsalted. Mix until thoroughly combined.
- Add the flour mixture to the butter, icing sugar and egg mixture. Stir until the ingredients come together and there are no lumps. At this stage try not to stir too much to avoid overworking the dough.
- Roll the dough out into a log approximately 4cm in diameter. Wrap in cling film and place into the fridge for 2 hours or the freezer for 40 minutes.
- Just before the dough is ready, preheat your oven to 180°C (160°C fan) and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
- Remove the dough from the fridge or freezer. It should feel firm. Take a sharp knife and slice the dough into 1cm rounds. Roll the dough around a little while you are doing this (like you would roll a rolling pin) to avoid the cookies getting a flat edge.
- Place onto the prepared tray leaving as much space as you can between the cookies as they will spread a bit as they bake.
- Bake for around 12 minutes or until the edges of the cookies just start to colour. Remove from the oven and after 5 minutes transfer to a wire rack to cool.