Kinako Sugar Cookies (Roll Out Dough)

Take your roll out sugar cookies to the next level by adding my favorite Japanese dessert ingredient: kinako. Kinako is a roasted soybean flour that is popular in Japanese sweets. It has a warm, nutty flavor, similar to peanut butter. This recipe is perfect for rolling and cutting out shapes, and best of all, NO CHILLING required.

Unique Christmas Cookie Flavor – Kinako

Okay, I know it is currently January 2022 (Happy New Year!), and so it’s kind of out of season for me to posting a cookie recipe. But this blog is called Mochi MOMMY, and MOMS are busy, alright? The good thing about blogging is, it doesn’t really matter what month I post something. It’ll always be there for you when you need it in the future, year after year.

So if you’re reading this in the fall, looking for a unique Christmas cookie flavor, I’VE GOT YOU! You NEEEEED to make this kinako sugar cookie recipe. It is EASY and delicious. It does not require chilling (Hallelujah!), and is great for making sandwich cookies or Linzer cookies as well.

This sugar cookie recipe works really well as a roll out dough. It holds its shape well after baking.

These kinako cookies also do well with plunger cookie cutters or cookie stamps. I got these cute Christmas themed ones from Amazon (affiliate link). They’re pretty small, so you can make a LOT of cookies to share. My favorite part might be that you don’t need to do anything else to decorate. Now that’s a mom hack if I ever saw one.

If you’re reading this and it’s NOT Christmastime, I STILL GOT YOU. Kinako cookies are totally appropriate year round. Just look at these cute little acorn cookies!

What is Kinako?

So, what exactly is kinako? Kinako is a flour made from roasted soybeans. It’s naturally tan-ish brown in color, which is why the cookies you see are brown all over. Its flavor is nutty, really similar to peanut butter. BUT WITH NO PEANUTS. SO MY CHILD CAN EAT THEM WITHOUT ASPHYXIATION! YAY!

You find kinako used often in Japanese desserts. They’re the brown dust that’s on warabi mochi. I also like to eat dip my new year’s mochi in kinako sugar. I even have a kinako donut recipe from when I first started this blog. Oh, and I have a kinako cake recipe too!

If you haven’t tried kinako yet, don’t be afraid! You can find it in the flour section of a Japanese market. Or, of course, you can buy it online (affiliate link). But they’re usually cheaper at the markets.

Kinako Sugar Cookies – No Chill Roll Out Cookie Dough

Chilling cookie dough is the bane of my existence. I’m impatient enough as it is, and adding that extra 20 minutes or so of chill time really kills my cookie eating mood, you know? Well, if you’re like me, it’s your lucky day. This dough holds its shape so well when baked, even without chilling.

HOWEVER. There are some caveats. If your butter is overly softened to start with, if you have very warm hands as you’re handling your dough, if your kitchen is very warm, or if for ANY reason you feel that your cookie dough is too soft and mushy, you should chill your dough. Please, use common sense. I know that’s asking a lot for the internet. But I have faith that my readers are the best internet users in existence, and therefore are exempt from the lack of logic found in rest of the world wide web.

Oh, also – you can refrigerated or freeze the unbaked dough to use at a later time. If doing so, I recommend rolling your dough out a little before wrapping it in plastic. This helps it thaw faster when you do bake it. And make sure that it’s wrapped really well before putting it in the freezer, so it doesn’t dry out.

Bonus: Easy Cookie Icing Recipe for Decorating

It’s not written in the recipe below, but if you care to ice your cookies for decorating, I use a simple recipe with powdered sugar. It’s not royal icing, which is the shiny and hard icing you see in a lot of bakery cookies. So it won’t look AS fancy. But with a little sprinkles and extra time to let it dry, it’ll still do the trick.

Cookie Icing Ingredients:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 3-4 tbsp heavy cream
• splash of vanilla extract

Method

• Mix powdered sugar, heavy cream, and extract in a bowl until it’s a thick glue consistency.
• Spoon or pipe onto cooled cookies.
• If using sprinkles, place on icing immediately before it dries.

Let me know if you try this recipe! I hope you fall in love with kinako!

Kinako Sugar Cookies (Roll Out)

Take your roll out sugar cookies to the next level by adding kinako. Kinako is a roasted soybean flour that is popular in Japanese desserts. It has a warm, nutty flavor. This recipe is perfect for rolling and cutting out shapes as well.

5 from 2 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine Asian American, Japanese

Servings 24 large cookies

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1 cup softened unsalted butter 2 sticks
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp baking soda
• 1 egg
• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup kinako

Instructions

 

• In a mixer, add butter, sugar, salt, and baking soda. Cream ingredients until light and fluffy.
• Add egg and mix until homogenous.
• Add all purpose flour and kinako. Beat until dry ingredients are incorporated, but be careful not to overmix.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and prepare baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.
• Turn out your dough onto a floured surface, and roll out the cookie dough using a rolling pin to about 1/4 of an inch thick. You can add more flour as necessary to keep the dough from sticking.
• Cut out your shapes using cookie cutters and arrange on your baking tray. If your kitchen is warm and your dough is feeling too soft to hold its shape, stick your dough in the fridge to chill.
• Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes. If decorating, let cookies cool completely before adding icing.

Notes

The number of cookies this recipe will make depends entirely on the size of your cookie cutters. I estimated that it can make at least two dozen cookies that are roughly 3 inches in diameter.

I live in Seattle, where the weather is cool year round. I have not needed to chill this dough before baking, but if your kitchen is warm or your butter was a little too soft, you may find chilling your cookie dough before baking will help it keep its shape.

This cookie dough is naturally brown in color, making it somewhat difficult to see when it’s done baking. If you’ve rolled out your dough to 1/4″ thick, 10 minutes at 350 degrees F should be enough. You can bake less time for chewier cookies and bake longer for crispier cookies.

This dough can also be refrigerated or frozen prior to baking.

Prep time will be a lot longer if rolling and cutting out intricate shapes and/or decorating the cookies after. See blog post above for icing recipe and notes on decorating.

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