Vegan Matcha Cookies – Soft & Chewy

These vegan matcha cookies have a slight crisp to the edge, a deliciously chewy and soft texture, and are super easy and simple to make too! One of the best cookies I’ve ever tasted in my life. The combination of healthy green tea matcha and sweet white chocolate chips is unquestionably the best match and addictively delicious. 

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Another day, another matcha recipe. Vegan matcha cookies with white chocolate chips! Are you a matcha fan? You love my vegan matcha desserts like matcha cupcakes and brownies? Did you nod twice? Then you will love these cookies! 

If you love chocolate chip cookies it’s possible that eating the same chocolate chip cookies every time can get repetitive and boring sometimes. It may look super simple but just adding a tablespoon of quality Japanese matcha and switching up the chocolate chips to white chocolate chunks make a whole world of difference in a cookie. Matcha and white chocolate combo isn’t actually a thing in Japan but who cares, they would make a perfect couple if they were married to each other!

A bit about matcha – Matcha is one of the super popular ingredients right now. And many people like it because of the addictive green tea flavour and unique twist it gives to desserts and drinks. Matcha is high in antioxidants and the fact that it also gives the lovely green hue is an added plus! When it comes to baking there are so many ways you can incorporate matcha like these matcha cookies. Enjoy them with your family and friends, I’m sure they’ll love them!

Main ingredients and substitutions

Matcha powder: Use good quality matcha powder! I have great access to a variety of matcha powders since I live in Japan but you can find good ones on Amazon or iHerb too. Don’t confuse it with green tea powder, green tea powder is a powder form of green tea that’s brewed and dehydrated, whereas matcha powder is a ground powder of matcha leaves so it’s more intense in flavour and colour.

Vegan white chocolate: I used ichoc white chocolate bar and chopped it into chunks, it turned out perfect for this matcha cookie recipe! Feel free to use your favourite vegan white chocolate here too.

Plain flour: I used regular plain flour for this cookie recipe. If you want to make this recipe gluten-free, use 1:1 gluten-free flour. Make sure to select gluten-free white chocolate as well if you have gluten intolerance!

Brown sugar: I used brown sugar to achieve the chewy texture in the cookies!

Granulated sugar: Granulated sugar creates a slightly crispy edge and texture to cookies so I used it alongside brown sugar.

Coconut butter: I used coconut butter instead of regular butter for the first time in my cookie recipe and it worked absolutely amazingly! Coconut butter looks very similar to coconut oil but they are quite different. Coconut butter is made of the entire coconut flesh and coconut oil is the oil extracted from coconut flesh. Coconut butter has a more similar consistency to butter!

Soy milk: I used soy milk for this cookie recipe but feel free to use any other plant milk of your choice!

Other ingredients: cornflour and baking powder.

*I use bone char-free sugars for all of my recipes. I cover the topic in my article Vegan Baking 101. Go to the “Is sugar vegan?” section to learn more!

Recommended equipment for this vegan matcha white chocolate cookies

Baking tray: Use a baking tray that is flat and fits in your oven. 

Stand mixer: Stand mixer is handy when mixing cookie dough!

Turner: After baking the cookies use a turner with a wide surface to transfer them onto a cooling rack.

*The ingredient list and measurement for this recipe can be found in the recipe card at the bottom.

How to make these soft vegan matcha chocolate chip cookies

Step 1: Mix the coconut butter, sugar, and soy milk

In a medium bowl, mix the room temperature coconut butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until they are combined like you do with butter and sugar. Coconut butter should be room temperature or even slightly warm so it’s easy to mix with sugar. Add the soy milk and mix until well combined.

Step 2: Mix the dry ingredients

In a large bowl, mix the flour, matcha powder, cornflour, and baking powder until they are well combined. It’s very important to mix them thoroughly here as matcha powder tends to clump up together, so mix the dry ingredients very thoroughly.

Step 3: Make the batter

Add the coconut butter mixture to the dry mixture and mix with a large wooden spoon until it makes a cookie dough. I used a silicone spatula in the pictures BUT the dough is quite firm so I recommend you use a wooden spoon instead. If the dough looks too dry, add a tablespoon of plant milk.

Add chopped up white chocolate chunks and fold in gently a few times. Make sure that the white chocolate chunks are mixed throughout the dough. Rest the cookie dough in the fridge for 15mins.

Step 4: Bake

Scoop the batter using an ice cream scoop and make balls and place them on a baking tray. Leave some space between the cookies so that they have room to spread in the oven. Press down the cookies slightly. Bake in a preheated oven for 12mins then take them out of the oven and leave them on the tray for a further 2-3 mins. The cookies will continue cooking a little and start to firm up on the tray after baking!

Transfer them onto a cooling rack carefully using a turner with a wide surface and let them cool further. Enjoy the matcha deliciousness!

Expert tips and tricks

Shift the matcha powder before mixing

Sifting the matcha powder prevents the matcha from clumping in the dough so don’t forget to shift it before mixing with other dry ingredients.

Use an ice cream scoop

To get the same size of cookies throughout every batch, it’s best to use an ice cream scoop! You can get the same amount of cookie dough every time and all cookies will be the same size.

Leave the cookies on the tray after baking

The cookies will continue to cook on the tray for a little further on the tray after taking them out of the oven. At this stage, the cookies are still quite soft and leaving them on the tray will make the centre of the cookies settle and firm up, resulting in a perfect texture!

How to store these white chocolate matcha cookies

You can keep them in a cookie jar with an airtight lid at room temperature for up to 5 days. Eat them straight out of the jar or you can warm them up slightly in a microwave, which is my favourite way to recreate the freshly baked cookie!

You can also store them in the freezer too. Place them in an airtight container and store them in the freezer for up to 2-3 months. Microwave the cookies until they are warm and soft when serving. Be careful not to overheat them!

Alternatively, you can keep the cookie dough before baking too in the fridge or freezer. Place the dough in an airtight container and keep it in the fridge for up to 2-3 days, or up to 2-3 months in the freezer. When baking, thaw and follow the instructions for baking.

Q and A

My cookies don’t have vibrant matcha green colour or matcha flavour?

I find 1 tbsp enough to create beautiful green colour and matcha flavour in the cookies since good quality matcha powders are pretty intense in flavour and colour. If your cookies don’t look green or have no matcha flavour, it could be due to the quality of the matcha powder you used.

Look closely at the package, does it say 100% pure matcha? Or is it green tea powder? Green tea powder has much less colour and flavour as it’s brewed and dehydrated green tea, whereas matcha powder is the actual matcha tea leaves ground up into a powder. Use quality, 100% pure Japanese matcha powder for the best result.

However, you can use 2 tbsp of matcha powder if you want a more intense flavour! Feel free to adjust the amount to your liking.

My cookies spread too much! What should I do?

If your cookies spread too thin, the reason might be that there was too much coconut butter or plant milk in the batter. Measure the ingredients correctly by using a digital scale rather than cup measuring, this should help this problem!

If your cookies spread too much even after measuring with a digital scale, it can be due to some of the ingredients you used. You can add 1 tablespoon of flour and see if it helps or try chilling in the fridge for 30 mins in this case!

My cookies don’t spread in the oven at all?

If your cookies don’t spread in the oven, on the other hand, it could be that you added too much flour or less liquid to the dough. Try using a digital scale in this case as well and see if it helps. If the problem is still there, add a tablespoon of plant milk or skip the chilling and see if it helps!

Want to master the basics of vegan baking?
Check out Vegan Baking 101 – the beginner’s guide to vegan baking for you to become an excellent began baker and familiar with the basics of vegan baking, ingredients, and techniques with useful tips!

You will LOVE these vegan matcha cookies because they are:

• soft and slightly chewy
• delicious
• vegan
• easy to make
• flavourful with matcha
• beautiful in green tea colour

Want more recipes like this?

Try my other delicious cookie and matcha recipes you might enjoy!

• Matcha cupcakes
• Matcha brownies
• Peanut butter chocolate chip cookies
• Double chocolate chip cookies
• Matcha pound cake
• Miso cookies
• Matcha cake

Visit the cookie page and recipe page for more delicious recipes!

Please leave a comment and rate this recipe in the comment section below if you like this recipe! Let me know and tag me @thechestnutbakery on Instagram too. Thank you for making my recipe, friends!

Recipe card

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