Matcha Holly Cookies (Day 10)

Name: Matcha Holly Cookies (Day 10)
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 6 min
Ingredients: 1 Vanilla spiced cookie dough recipe (day 1); 1-2 tbsp Matcha powder ((check notes)); Red Royal Icing

Festive cookies that look like little Hollys and are so yummy. Flavored with Matcha Powder and Decorated with red royal icing, they are the perfect holiday baking recipe.

Welcome to day 10 of my 12 Days Of Christmas Cookie Series. We are keeping things very festive with my Matcha holly cookies. These cookies are exceptionally simple to put together and have a gleaming green color all thanks to a natural ingredient – matcha powder. The powder not only gives the cookies a christmas green color naturally but also flavors the dough. I love icing it with little red beads on top using my Royal Icing recipe that I have linked here.

What ingredients do we need to make these Matcha holly cookies?

Cookies –

The cookie dough used to make this recipe is my no fuss Vanilla Spiced Sugar Cookie, it was the foundation recipe for day 1 of my 12 Days Of Christmas Cookie Recipes. To the dough I add matcha powder and knead it well. This takes a little effort as we don’t want a marble effect we want the dough completely flavored with matcha.

Matcha powder –

I have used Haiyatea’s Matcha powder to make these cookies. You can check her website more information. I have used her matcha to make my Matcha latte recipe too.

What equipment do we need to make these Matcha holly cookies?

To mix the dough I use a a mixing bow and spoon as I do not want to get the matcha powder on my hands initially. After a major part of the dough is mixed through we knead the dough together to ensure the matcha is evenly distributed in the dough giving it that green color. I like rolling the dough between two sheets of cling wrap using a rolling pin. Cut into little Hollys with a cookie cutter (this is the one I have used) and using a flat metal spatula transfer the cut outs to a baking tray lined with baking paper. If you are icing the cookie you will need piping bags and a nozzle.

How to make these Matcha holly cookies?

Preheat the oven to 170℃ and line a baking tray with baking paper. In a mixing bowl, crumble the cookie dough and add the matcha powder, start mixing the dough and powder together using a spoon. Once mixed through, knead the dough on a clean work surface until evenly combined. Roll dough out fairly thin (I go thinner than 1/4 an inch) between two sheets of cling film and a rolling pin. Cut out the dough into holly shapes using a cookie cutter. I have used this one here. Bake them for 5-6 mins until done. My cookie cutter is small hence these cookies take a little time to bake. If you are making the cookies large and thicker they will take a few minutes more so keep an eye on it. Let them cool down and pipe a few red dots on the cookies to finish them off. You could do a light dusting of icing sugar but I left them as they were.

How to store these Matcha holly cookies?

Once the dough is prepared you can store it in the fridge for a couple of days but nothing longer as the matcha will start to loose it gleaming green beauty. After the cookies have been baked you can store them in an air tight container for upto a week at room temperature.

Pro tips for making the perfect Matcha holly cookies-

Cookie dough –

The dough should be fridge cold while crumbling into the bowl or else while kneading it will give out excess grease. If this happens, place the bowl in the fridge every now and then between the kneading to ensure the dough isn’t realizing too much fat while mixing.

Kneading –

You need to knead the dough well or else the matcha powder will not get mixed into the dough giving you a marbled effect. Which is not bad, but it is not what we want.

Rolling –

The dough should be rolled out fairly thin as they should be snappy once baked. Use an offset spatula to transfer them to the baking tray. If they aren’t holding their shape well, place the dough in the fridge for a bit and then continue. As a chilled dough will always hold its shape better.

Decoration –

I have decorated the cookies with red royal icing dots but you can use any sprinkles or decoration ideas you like. Keep in the mind the red icing dots complete their look of a holly. Hence if you don’t use royal icing use some red decoration to indicate that it is a holly cookie.

Now that we have covered how to make these Matcha holly cookies, you can have a look at the recipe video on my socials but let’s get to it. Don’t forget to follow along for more holiday baking recipe inspiration.

If you try this recipe out, don’t forget to share it with me on instagram so I can see how it turned out. I’d love nothing more than to chat with you on your cooking/baking.