These strawberry matcha cookies have vibrant pink and green swirls! Made from a sugar cookie dough, they’re easier than they look.
I’m back with another strawberry matcha recipe! I know, you’re all probably sick of them by now. I can’t help it! Green and pink are my *aesthetic*. Even my college dorm bedsheets were bright green and pink, and that was *gulp* over ten years ago.
Anyway, this strawberry matcha cookie recipe is my spin on a pinwheel cookie. Although you often see pinwheel cookies with a thin, cinnamon-y swirl in the middle, I wanted one where the two colored swirls were equal in size. That way you can hypnotize all your friends into liking matcha strawberry too.
What Kind of Cookie Dough for Pinwheel Cookies
This cookie dough is based off my roll-out shortbread cookies, which is somewhere in between a cut-out sugar cookie and a shortbread cookie. Traditional shortbread does not use any eggs and is very crumbly (hence the “short” in the name). Many of the drop (or round) sugar cookies you see also use a dough that isn’t great for rolling and cutting out. So my cookie recipe hits somewhere in the middle.
Because you need to manipulate this dough in order to roll in the swirl, a cut-out cookie dough is ideal. If you’ve already got your favorite cut-out cookie recipe, then by all means, use that! Simply split your dough in half, add in ground freeze dried strawberries and matcha, and swirl away. But if you don’t have your own favorite recipe, I’ve got you covered below.
How to Get the Swirl in Pinwheel Cookies
For these cookies where the two colored swirls are equal in size, you’ll need to split your dough in half. To one half, you add matcha. To the other half, you add freeze dried strawberry powder. Mix the doughs until you have a uniform green color in one and pink in the other.
Roll out one of the doughs into a rectangle. I aimed to get mine to be about 1/4″ thick, and my rectangle was roughly 8×12″. Then, roll out the other half of the dough to the same size rectangle. Layer one rectangle on top of each other. Then, roll into a long log. Make sure you are rolling the long side of the rectangle so you end up with a foot-long tube of dough, rather than rolling the short side.
At any point in this process if you feel the dough getting too sticky or soft, stick it in the fridge to harden up a little. As I live in Seattle, my kitchen (except for the months of July and August) is pretty much always at a cool 60-something degrees. I don’t have much trouble with my dough getting too hot. In any case, after you roll your cookie log, I still recommend sticking it in the fridge for at least a few hours, so it’ll hold its shape when you slice it into cookie rounds.
Granulated Sugar vs. Powdered Sugar in Cookies
You’ll see in my recipe that I use granulated sugar in my cookie dough. However, you can substitute powdered sugar if you’d like! Powdered sugar gives a more velvety, crumbly texture to the cookie dough.
What Matcha to Use for Baking Cookies
The matcha I used in this recipe is Maeda-en’s Universal Quality matcha. It’s relatively inexpensive while still having great color and taste. I do NOT drink Maeda-en matcha because I find it way too bitter. But, the strong flavor comes out well in baked goods, where the sweetness overcomes the bitterness.
For more information on choosing types of matcha for different purposes, check out my Ultimate Guide to Matcha post!
By the way, pro tip: If you have matcha you use JUST for baking and don’t want it to go bad, store it in the freezer! You can use it straight from the freezer without defrosting, and it’ll last a long time before oxidizing.
More Matcha Recipes
Looking for more matcha desserts to make? Check these out!
- Strawberry Matcha Neapolitan Cookies
- Matcha Black Sesame Neapolitan Cookies
- Matcha Butter Mochi
- Sakura Strawberry Matcha Latte
- Matcha Cupcakes
Strawberry Matcha Pinwheel Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 sticks butter 1 cup
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup granulated sugar can sub 1.5 cups powdered sugar
- 1 egg + 1 yolk
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1/4 cup freeze dried strawberry blended into powder
- Optional 1 drop red food coloring
- 1 tsp matcha
- Flour for dusting
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 strawberry powder into one half and matcha into the other.
- Roll each color dough into a 1/4 inch thick rectangle (roughly 8×11″). Place pink rectangle on top of green rectangle and roll into a long log.
- Wrap log in plastic wrap and leave in fridge to chill 4 hours to overnight.
- When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees and line three baking sheets.
- Slice cookie log into 1/4 inch thick circles. Place on baking sheets and bake for 10 minutes.
1 comment
Delicious and not a super difficult recipe. I made a mistake in the method and they still turned out! Forgot to add sugar of all things, I’m glad I tasted a bit of the dough before rolling out. I just added it in last and hoped for the best. Could’ve been my mistake but I did have to add a touch of water to the strawberry dough to get it less crumby and workable. If I make these again I’ll probably add a bit more matcha, because I prefer a deeper taste. But all in all these are easy, pretty, and delicious.