These easy matcha checkerboard cookies look amazing and taste even better. Don’t be scared off by the design – it’s way simpler than it seems. The base recipe for these matcha cookies is a sugar cookie dough that can be adapted for other flavors and other cookie designs as well!
Welcome back to Matcha Mommy, Mochi Mommy’s tea-obsessed alter ego who can’t get over all things matcha. Today’s recipe is matcha checkerboard cookies!
I love these cookies because they look super fancy, but they’re actually pretty simple to make.
AND the base cookie dough for this cookie is a sugar cookie dough that can be adapted for other flavors AND designs super easily. So it’s a REALLY good cookie dough to have in your back pocket if you want to experiment with creating your own cookie flavors. Figuratively, of course.
What Cookie Dough for Checkerboard Cookies
These checkerboard cookies are made with an easy sugar cookie dough base. Actually, the sugar cookie dough was based off my roll out shortbread cookie dough that I used for my Honolulu Cookie Company copycat recipe. For these matcha cookies, I wanted something a little less dense and crisp, so I tweaked it slightly to be more sugar cookie-like. However, it still will hold its shape and not spread too much, so it’s great for fun designs like checkerboard cookies.
AND, as I’ve mentioned before, that makes this dough great for other designs, including my matcha strawberry pinwheel cookies. That’s right folks, it’s the same cookie dough! You can mix in different freeze dried fruits or powders or extracts for other flavors. You can roll into a pinwheel or arrange it into a checkerboard. It’s the ultimate base dough for all your fun cookie needs.
One quick note on this dough: You’ll notice that I listed the baking powder and soda as optional in the recipe. These are leaveners that add air into your cookie. It’s part of what creates that sugar cookie texture. But it can also cause the shape of your cookie to soften and spread ever so slightly. Shortbread cookies, on the other hand, typically don’t have any leaveners so they maintain its shape more precisely. If you want more precise checkerboard cookies, you can omit the leaveners.
How to Make Checkerboard Cookies
Making checkerboard cookies is easier than it looks. Following the recipe, you’ll end up with two chunks of cookie dough: one green and one white(ish).
Pat each dough into a rectangular prism. I feel snooty saying “prism,” but I guess that’s the technical term. Rectangular log? A long box? Nothing sounds right.
Anyway, each cookie dough rectangle should be about two by two inches in height and depth and about six inches long. I actually used my long spam musubi mold to help me shape the dough into sharp corners, although your dough will not fill the entire length of the mold. I’ve linked the mold to Amazon to show you what it looks like, but it’s literally 10 times cheaper if you can find it at a local Daiso.
Okay so now you have two boxes of cookie dough. You’re going to need to wrap and chill these until they’re firm. That way, when you slice them, they’ll hold their sharp edges better.
Once they’re chilled, slice each rectangle of dough into 9 even strips. You can do this by slicing the dough into third lengthwise, then rotating it and slicing in thirds again. It’s hard to describe in words but easy to see in videos. I’ll link my Instagram video below.
Next, you’ll rearrange the strips to build a rectangle again, but you’ll alternate colors so you can get the checkerboard pattern. Then chill again, slice into squares, and bake!
What Matcha to Use for Baking
The matcha I used in this recipe is the Maeda en Universal Quality Matcha. If you’ve read my Ultimate Guide to Matcha post, you’ll know that labels like “culinary” or “ceremonial” are not actually that important when it comes to choosing a matcha. For baking, you’ll want a matcha that has a vibrant color and a strong enough taste that it’ll not be overpowered by the sugar and other ingredients.
More Matcha Cookie Recipes
Looking for more matcha cookie recipes? Check these out!
- Matcha White Chocolate Shortbread Cookies
- Matcha Crinkle Cookies
- Matcha Strawberry Pinwheel Cookies
- Matcha Black Sesame Neapolitan Cookies
- Matcha Strawberry Neapolitan Cookies
Easy Matcha Checkerboard Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 sticks butter 1 cup
- 1/2 tsp baking powder optional, see notes
- 1/4 tsp baking soda optional, see notes
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup granulated sugar can sub 1.5 cups powdered sugar
- 1 egg + 1 yolk
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1 tsp matcha
- sanding sugar for sprinkling optional
Instructions
- Cream butter, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar.
- Add egg and yolk and mix until homogenous
- Add flour and mix to combine into dough.
- Split dough in half. Mix matcha into one half until the dough is evenly green.
- Pat each color dough into a rectangular box about 2x2x6 inches. Wrap each in plastic wrap and chill at least 20 minutes or until firm.
- After chilling, unwrap your dough and slice each rectangular log into thirds. Then rotate 90 degrees and slice into even thirds again, creating 9 equal strips of each dough.
- Place one strip of white dough in between two strips of green dough. Then layer one strip of green dough in between two strips of white dough on top. Then finish the box by adding the third layer of one strip of white dough in between two strips of green. This is your checkerboard pattern. Repeat with the remaining strips to form the second rectangular box of dough.
- Rewrap the rectangles of dough in plastic and put it in the fridge to chill again, at least 20 minutes but up to overnight.
- When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees and line three baking sheets.
- Slice the rectangles of dough to form 2×2 inch squares about 1/4 inch thick. Sprinkle with sanding sugar, if using.
- Place cookies on baking sheets and bake for 8-10 minutes.