Matcha Sugar Cookies
Cute, not-too-sweet vegan matcha sugar cookies shaped like frogs! This one-bowl recipe is fast and simple, making these cookies an excellent activity to do with friends or kids. 🙂
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These vegan matcha cookies are earthy, slightly sweet, and soft. Shaping them as frogs adds a cute touch, but it’s not necessary—you can always make circular cookies if you’d like! But whether I’ve made them circular or frog-shaped, these matcha cookies have been devoured by my friends + family. There’s a reason why these froggies have been one of the top recipes on my blog for months—they’re extremely delicious.
I made this recipe vegan by swapping out regular butter with dairy-free butter, and the egg with dairy-free milk. However, you can always use dairy butter and milk. The easy icing recipe only consists of 3 ingredients: powdered sugar, water, and food coloring. Super simple and great for beginner bakers.
In the rest of this post, you’ll learn about the equipment + ingredients I used, more detailed steps on how I made these green cookies, flavor variations, tips, and some FAQs. Don’t worry, I have alllllll the deets for you to make the best matcha sugar cookies.
So, keep scrolling if you’d like to learn how to bake these matcha cookie froggies!
Why you should make this vegan matcha cookie recipe
I’ll let these testimonials speak for themselves! :’)
“This [matcha cookie] recipe is phenomenal! I love how quick and easy the recipe is. And I appreciate the fact that Bianca made a recipe that does not require fancy tools (but you can choose to use em if you have them). The cookies are so soft and chewy, and I admire how easy it is to make the icing for the faces. My family tore these babies up the day I made them. Bookmarking this recipe for the future! Will gladly make these bad boys again and again!” – Aaliyah, commenter
“Super easy and delicious recipe. I get compliments it every time I make it and have been told multiple times that it’s the best sugar cookie they’ve had!” – Kelly, commenter
“This was the perfect project for a self care day! I realized that I hadn’t cooked or baked anything for the sheer joy of it in a whiiiile and knew I had to try some of Bianca’s animal cookies. The [matcha sugar cookie] recipe was really simple to follow and a lot of fun! I decided to use a toothpick instead of a piping bag because piping doesn’t spark much joy for me and after getting used to the process dropping the glaze/icing on I was able to draw some pretty cute faces. I’m really happy with how they came out and they tasted wonderful. After an initial crunch it has that perfect melt in your mouth soft/chewy texture. I’m matcha neutral and found that while the matcha is pretty potent the brown sugar and vanilla balance it well. Definitely worth a whirl if you want to make something that will cheer you up! ✨💛” – Bec, commenter
“this [matcha cookie] recipe is 5 stars for sure! I made them earlier and me and my whole family loved them! I’m usually not very good at baking but this recipe was very easy to make and just so delicious!! I recommend trying this recipe 100%!!!!” – Heyitsevm, commenter
“These were the first recipe I tried and I was shocked at how good they turned!! The recipe is super straight forward, which I love! Cute AND delicious <3 😋😋” – Emma Louise, commenter
Equipment
- Medium bowl
- Large bowl or bowl of stand mixer
- Hand whisk, electric whisk, or stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment: I personally used a hand whisk because I didn’t feel like getting out my other mixers, lol! Since the butter is melted, mixing by hand is really easy.
- Sifter: This will help get rid of any clumps in your matcha powder.
- Rubber spatula: A rubber spatula helps you scrape the sides and bottom of your mixing bowl, ensuring sure all dry ingredients are incorporated.
- Small cookie scoop: Each matcha cookie dough ball was about 1 ½ tbsp.
- Cookie sheets
- Parchment paper or silicone mats
- Piping bags: For the froggie design. You can also use Ziploc bags with the end snipped off instead!
- Wire rack
Ingredients
For the matcha sugar cookie dough
This chewy & soft matcha cookie recipe is vegan, so there are no eggs or dairy. Instead of butter and eggs, alternatives are used like vegan butter and almond milk.
- All-purpose flour
- Culinary grade matcha powder: Matcha brands vary in color and flavor. I personally love baking with Aiya Matcha because of their high quality and vibrant color!
- Baking soda
- Table salt: I use Morton’s.
- Dairy-free butter: I like using Miyoko’s or Country Crock vegan butter because of their higher fat:water content. A few other brands I’ve tried yielded really flat cookies.
- Light or dark brown sugar
- Vanilla extract
- Dairy-free milk: I used almond milk, but you can use any milk you have on hand, like soy or oat. The milk replaces the egg in a typical cookie recipe.
- Granulated sugar: The cookie dough balls are rolled in sugar prior to baking, which is an important step for sugar cookies. This adds a nice layer of crispiness on the outside of the cookies, while also providing slight sweetness.
For the easy icing
This easy cookie icing only requires 3 ingredients: powdered sugar, water, and food coloring. It’s my go to for simple decorations, and is the best sugar cookie icing without corn syrup for beginner bakers!
- Powdered sugar
- Water
- Food coloring: I always prefer using gel food coloring because it is highly pigmented. A little goes a long way!
How to make froggie vegan matcha cookies
- Mise en place: aka “put in place”. This French saying simply means measure out all of the ingredients and prep your equipment beforehand. This helps you stay more organized and move more seamlessly in the kitchen.
- Mix butter and sugars: In your large mixing bowl or bowl of stand mixer, mix together the melted butter and sugars until smooth.
- Add matcha powder and vanilla extract: Whisk in the sifted matcha powder and vanilla extract until combined.
- Stir in dry ingredients: Stir in the all-purpose flour, baking soda, and salt until mostly combined. The dough will be slightly crumbly.
- Add dairy-free milk: Add 2-4 tbsp of dairy-free milk until the dough comes together. The finished dough should be thick, but easily scoopable.
- Refrigerate dough (optional): Cover the dough and let it rest in the fridge for 20-30 minutes. This lets the flour hydrate and cools the butter, yielding chewier cookies. However, you can skip this step if you’re in a rush.
- Shape frog cookies: Scoop 1 ½ tbsp balls and roll into granulated sugar. Place on lined baking sheet, about 3-4 inches apart. If you’d like to make a frog design like I did, roll ½ tsp balls of dough into sugar for each eye, then attach 2 eyes to each dough ball. Repeat with remaining dough.
- Bake: Bake cookies at 350°F/177°C for 10-13 minutes, or until edges are set. They should retain their color and remain as green cookies, so do not wait for browning! Let cool on tray for about 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack.
- Make the easy cookie icing: Mix together powdered sugar, water, and food coloring. Use piping bags to draw on the frog faces.
- Store: You can store these cute cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Matcha cookie variations
- Add mix-ins: To dress up these green tea cookies, you can add fun mix-ins like white chocolate chips, nuts, crushed pretzels, M&M’s, etc.! I recommend adding between ½-1 cup of mix-ins. Have fun with it! 🙂
- Swap out the matcha flavor: For a plain sugar cookie, you can omit the matcha powder! You could also add some warming spices, like cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, etc.
Tips for baking these easy matcha cookies
- Use a kitchen scale: I LOVE using a kitchen scale because it always yields consistent, accurate results when measuring ingredients. However, if you’re measuring your dry ingredients with cups, make sure you follow this tip: gently spoon in the flour into the cup until it’s full, then scrape the excess off using the back of a knife or offset spatula.
- Bake with high quality vegan butter: I recommend brands like Miyokos and Country Crock. Their vegan butters have a higher fat to water ratio, which help these green tea cookies keep hold shape when baked. Some brands have way more water in their product and can lead to cookie puddles!
- Decorating: If you don’t feel like making my easy icing recipe, feel free to use (vegan) melted chocolate! You can use melted milk/dark chocolate for the eyes and smile, then dye white chocolate with pink or red oil-based food coloring. If you don’t have oil-based food coloring, the chocolate will seize and clump up. To combat this, stir in a few drops of neutral oil (canola, vegetable) until the chocolate smooths back out.
FAQs
YES. When I was developing vegan cookie recipes, I had SOOOO many cookies come out like CREPES, even though I kept adding flour to the dough. This is because some vegan butter brands have higher water to fat content, so they baked into very flat cookies.
I recommend high quality vegan butter brand like Miyokos and Country Crock.
Yes, you can totally swap out the vegan butter for regular butter! And instead of dairy-free milk, you can use any type of dairy milk.
YES! Just sub in 1:1 gluten-free flour. You’ll still get great, yummy matcha sugar cookies. <3
It could be because the brand of vegan butter you use has a higher water:fat ratio. I recommend using brands like Miyokos or Country Crock.
Additionally, you may have added too much milk to the dough. If this is the case, I recommend refrigerating the dough so the butter firms up a bit and melts slower in the oven.
How to store freshly baked cookies
You can freeze the raw dough balls in an airtight container for up to 3 months, then roll in sugar and bake as usual. Just add 1-2 more minutes to the bake time.
For freshly baked cookies, allow them to fully cool. Then, store the green tea cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
More matcha dessert recipes
I have a bunch more matcha dessert recipes on my blog, but check out a few of my favorites below:
I really hope you enjoy this recipe. If you make these frog matcha cookies using my easy icing recipe, I’d love to see them. You can tag me at #bitesbybianca / @bitesbybianca on Instagram. Enjoy! 🙂
📖 Recipe
Frog Matcha Sugar Cookies
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Equipment
- small bowl
- medium bowl
- large bowl or bowl of stand mixer
- hand whisk, electric whisk, or stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment
- rubber spatula
- parchment paper or silicone mats
- Wire rack
Ingredients
Dry ingredients:
- 1 ¼ cups (156.25 g) all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon (2 g) baking soda
- ½ teaspoon (3 g) table salt
Wet ingredients:
- ½ cup (113.5 g) unsalted butter melted and cooled
- ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (55 g) light or dark brown sugar packed
- 1 teaspoon (4 g) vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon (6 g) matcha powder sifted
- 2-4 tablespoons (30 g) milk see notes
For rolling:
- ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar
Decoration for face:
- 2 tablespoons (16 g) powdered sugar
- ½-1 ½ teaspoons (2.5 g) water see notes
- food coloring pink, black
Instructions
Make the matcha sugar cookie dough:
- In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients: 1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour, ½ baking soda, and ½ tsp salt.
- In a large bowl or bowl of stand mixer using the paddle attachment (can alternatively use hand mixer or whisk), mix the ½ cup melted butter, ¼ cup granulated sugar, and ¼ cup light or dark brown sugar on medium speed until combined. Scrape bottom of bowl using rubber spatula.
- Add 1 tsp vanilla extract and 1 tbsp sifted matcha powder. Mix until smooth.
- Dump in all of the dry ingredients and mix until mostly combined. If the dough is too crumbly, slowly add 2-4 tbsp of milk until it comes together. The finished dough should be thick. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl to get any dry bits.
- Optional: cover the dough and let it rest in the fridge for 20-30 minutes. This will let the flour hydrate cool the butter, yielding chewier cookies. This step isn't necessary, though. So if you're in a rush, don't fret!
Shape and bake matcha cookies:
- Preheat oven to 350°F/177°C and line two baking trays with parchment paper or silicone mats.
- In a small bowl, add ¼ cup granulated sugar for rolling the dough.
- Use small cookie dough scoop to gather dough (about 1 ½ tablespoon each). Shape into a ball and roll in granulated sugar. Place onto lined baking tray, about 3-4 inches apart.*If you'd like to make frogs, roll ½ tsp of dough into sugar. Place two of these balls on top of each cookie for the frog eyes.Repeat with remaining dough.
- Bake for 10-13 minutes. Cookies should look slightly puffy and soft in the center, in addition to retaining their green color. They should not be browned.Be careful to not over bake so they don't get crispy! They will continue cooking when cooling on the pan.
- Let cool on pan for about 5-10 minutes, then transfer to wire rack. Let cool completely.
For the frog faces:
- *If you don't have piping bags, you can use ziploc bags and cut the tip off of one corner. You can also use a toothpick or cookie scribe.
- In a small bowl, add 2 tbsp powdered sugar. Add ¼ tsp of water at a time, mixing until you get a pipeable consistency. If it's too liquidy, add more powdered sugar. If it's too stiff, add more water.
- Add pink food coloring to the whole mixture then fold it in. Save 1-2 tsp and put this aside. This will be for the blush.
- Add black food coloring to the remaining pink icing and mix. This will be for the eyes and smile.
- Decorate the frogs as you want!
- Enjoy your delicious matcha sugar cookies!
Notes
- For the dough: Start off by adding 2 tbsp milk, then adding more as needed. The dough should be thick but scoopable.
- For the icing: Add ¼ tsp of water at a time, mixing until you get a pipeable consistency. If it’s too liquidy, add more powdered sugar. If it’s too stiff, add more water.
- See blog post for matcha cookie flavor variations, tips, and FAQs.
- Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.
Great recipe!
As an amateur at baking this recipe was nice and easy to follow.
Had lot’s of fun making this & they turned out super cute.
I made these adorable cookies for my parents, fiancé and co-workers. Everyone loved them! They tasted like a sugar cookie and were delicious. Super simple and quick to make. I will be making them again in the near future!
This recipe is phenomenal! I love how quick and easy the recipe is. And I appreciate the fact that Bianca made a recipe that does not require fancy tools (but you can choose to use em if you have them). The cookies are so soft and chewy, and I admire how easy it is to make the icing for the faces. My family tore these babies up the day I made them. Bookmarking this recipe for the future! Will gladly make these bad boys again and again!
Delicious 😋
Yay!!:D