For a very long time now, I’ve been using a cut out butter cookie recipe that was passed to me by my mom as my “go-to” butter cookie recipe.  I’ve even sold these cookies in various shapes and decorations (mostly for baby showers and other things baby-related).  The recipe originated from Wilton, and I think my mom (from whom I got my baking genes) made her adjustments and tweaks, resulting in the recipe she passed on to me (which unfortunately I can’t share here because it’s a family recipe now!).

It’s such a versatile recipe that I started wondering what else I could do with the recipe to change it up a bit.  I once had green tea shortbread cookies purchased from the Brooklyn Flea and I remember loving the bitterness of the matcha constrasting with the sweetness of the cookie.  This cookie pushed me to finally do what I’d been thinking all along — add matcha powder to my mom’s standard butter cookie recipe!

I only added 2 tablespoons to a doubled recipe, since matcha powder can have a strong taste, but after tasting the cookies I found that the green tea taste was too subtle for me.  It’s detectable, but I want it to be stronger.  Perhaps 3 tablespoons next time (which means 1 1/2 tablespoons per recipe).

I cut them into small circles, about the size of small French macarons.  In fact, the way I sandwiched them with chocolate ganache in between makes them look like what I like to call “faux-macarons”.  But cute anyway.  🙂

Short post, but I just wanted to share these drool-inducing pics…I love green tea flavoring in baked goods!