These fragrant matcha sesame cookies are filled with sweet white chocolate chunks. They’re soft and chewy on the inside with perfect crispy edges!
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The holidays are my favorite time of year to make cookies, and these matcha sesame cookies add the perfect festive twist with their pretty green color! The nuttiness from the sesame mixes with the earthiness of the matcha and sweetness of the cookie to create a unique and delicious flavor combo.
How to make matcha sesame cookies
These drop-style cookies are straightforward to make and come together in half an hour!
First, we’ll start by mixing together our dry ingredients – all purpose flour, matcha powder, salt, and baking soda.
Next, we’ll cream together brown and white sugar with softened butter. Once the mixture is light and fluffy, we’ll beat in an egg, oil, and vanilla extract. Mix in the dry ingredients, and then add chopped chocolate to finish the dough.
Before placing the cookies in the oven, you’ll roll each ball of dough in white sesame seeds.
Tips for perfect matcha cookies
Here are my helpful tips for making these cookies:
- Make sure that your butter and egg are at room temperature. Room temperature ingredients combine more easily and create a smoother cookie dough.
- Make sure to spoon & level your flour rather than scooping directly from the bag. This will help you get a more accurate measurement and prevent you from adding too much flour to the dough.
- Use high quality culinary matcha. I like to use this matcha from Jade Leaf, which has strong matcha flavor without being bitter. Low quality matcha can lead to a dull green color and a bitter aftertaste.
- Either white or ruby chocolate pairs well with these cookies. I like to use the ruby chocolate bars by Chocolove.
How to create crinkled cookie edges
The fun thing about these cookies is that they have a soft, melty center and crispy crinkled edges. This is thanks to the “pan-banging” method popularized by Sarah Kieffer. First, you let the cookies bake for 8 minutes until the centers have puffed up but are still raw. At this point, you bang the pan and cause the center to fall and ripple outwards. By repeating this method every 2 min, your cookies develop rippled, crispy edges.
This technique makes the cookies both delicious and aesthetically pleasing!
Other cookie recipes to try
- White rabbit chocolate cookies
- Ruby and white chocolate chewy matcha cookies
- Soft peanut butter praline cookies
- Chocolate chai shortbread cookies
Matcha sesame cookies
Equipment
- Hand or stand mixer
- Mixing bowls
Ingredients
- 2 cups (250g) all purpose flour
- 1 tbsp matcha
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 12 tbsp (170g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp neutral flavored oil
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 oz (85g) white or ruby chocolate, chopped
- white sesame seeds for rolling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line a baking tray with aluminum foil
- In a medium bowl, mix together the all purpose flour, matcha, salt, and baking soda. Set aside
- In a separate bowl, beat the butter with a hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until smooth and creamy. Add the white and brown sugar and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the gg, oil, and vanilla extract and beat on low speed until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until a cohesive dough forms. Fold in the chopped chocolate
- Pour sesame seeds into a dish. Form 1.5 oz balls of dough (about 3 tbsp). Roll each ball in white sesame seeds until fully coated.
- Place 4 balls of dough on each baking sheet, making sure to space them apart. Place in the middle rack of the oven and bake for 8 minutes. After 8 minutes, the cookies should have puffed up in the middle. Lift up a corner of the baking tray and let it drop against the rack. The puffed up center of the cookie should fall and spread out towards the edge. Repeat this every 2 min, until the cookies have baked for 12 – 13 minutes in total. The cookies will be done when they have lightly browned on the edges
- Remove the cookies from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet. Then, move cookies to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling
Notes
- The cookies bake best if you bake one sheet at a time
The combination of matcha and sesame (which gets toasted in the oven) is an amazing combination. I don’t have white or rose chocolate on hand so I made one batch with semi-swtt.chocolate chips and another batch with dark chocolate chunks. Both substitutions worked well.