Matcha Cookies for Cafés: Matcha Amounts in Official Recipes, Keeping the Green, Shelf Life and Labels for Packaged Cookies

Matcha cookies are an easy addition to the baked goods shelf for a café that already serves lattes. They keep for a few days after baking, so you can bag them for the counter or supply them to other shops. Those bags may count as “prepacked food” that needs a label under the rules of the country where you sell. This article compares official recipes from a tea company, flour millers and a chocolate maker by the amount of matcha, then looks at how to keep the green, shelf life, labels in Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia, and the matcha cost per cookie.

Types of matcha cookies a café can sell

Matcha cookies baked in a shop fall into four types by how the dough is shaped: drop, cut-out, icebox and piped. The shape changes how many you can bake and whether you can prepare the dough the day before.

The four methods

Type	How it is made	In the shop
Drop	Soft dough dropped onto the tray with a spoon or ice cream scoop	Easy to sell as large single cookies
Cut-out (shortbread and similar)	Dough rolled out, chilled and cut with a cutter	Even shape and thickness. Scraps must be gathered and rerolled
Icebox (sablé and similar)	Dough shaped into a log, chilled and sliced with a knife	Keep the dough chilled and slice and bake as it sells
Piped	Soft dough piped from a piping bag	Small and light. Suits selling several in one bag

Drop cookies with white chocolate

The recipe from Callebaut, the Belgian chocolate company compared below, is a drop cookie with white chocolate mixed into the dough and scooped onto the tray. White chocolate contains milk, so cookies sold in bags need a milk allergen declaration.

Comparing matcha amounts in official recipes

In official recipes that give matcha in grams, matcha was about 2.7–12.5% of the flour. We calculated the share by dividing the weight of matcha by the weight of cake flour (or all-purpose flour). Ratios for cakes and other baked goods are in Matcha for Baking. The table below lists cookie recipes that article does not cover.

Source	Type	Matcha	Flour	Matcha to flour	Baking	Yield
Nakamura Tokichi Honten (tea company in Uji, Kyoto)	Piped (egg white only)	10g	Cake flour 80g	12.5%	160°C for 15 minutes	About 60, 2cm across
Meiji (Japanese confectionery and dairy company)	Icebox	10g	Cake flour 200g	5%	180°C for 12–15 minutes	About 15
AIYA America (US matcha seller)	Icebox (checkerboard; matcha only in the green dough)	5g	All-purpose flour 95g	About 5.3%	340°F (about 171°C) for 15–18 minutes	Not stated
King Arthur Baking (US flour miller)	Cut-out (glazed)	9g	All-purpose flour 330g	About 2.7%	325°F (about 163°C) for 12–14 minutes	About 24
Callebaut (Belgian chocolate company)	Drop (with white chocolate)	2 spoons	Plain flour 250g	By volume	160°C (140°C fan) for 8–10 minutes	8
Bob’s Red Mill (US flour miller)	Icebox (pinwheel)	2 teaspoons	Part of the dough	By volume	350°F (about 177°C) for 8–10 minutes	20 servings

Nakamura Tokichi Honten’s recipe (for about 60 cookies 2cm across): butter 100g, powdered sugar 100g, egg white 50g, cake flour 80g, matcha 10g, salt 1g; preheat the oven to 160°C.

Source: Nakamura Tokichi Honten, “はじめての抹茶お菓子に｜香り広がる抹茶クッキーのレシピ” (in Japanese) https://tokichi.jp/blogs/life-with-cha/recipe-matcha-cookie-starter

Nakamura Tokichi Honten’s dough has little flour and a lot of egg white, butter and powdered sugar, so matcha is a high share of the flour. Divided by the whole dough (341g of ingredients in total), it is about 2.9%. King Arthur Baking’s recipe is a crisp dough with 254g butter for 330g all-purpose flour, and matcha is just under 3% of the flour. Do not set the amount of matcha from the share of flour alone; look at the share of the whole dough too.

A study on shortbread in which scores fell as matcha increased, with color and bitterness driving the results, is covered in Matcha for Baking. In your shop, bake two or three amounts from the range in the table and compare.

How the matcha goes in

Most recipes in the table combine matcha with the flour or sugar before adding it to the dough. Nakamura Tokichi Honten sifts matcha and cake flour together twice so lumps form less easily, and Meiji mixes cake flour and matcha in a zip bag before adding them. King Arthur Baking sifts the powdered sugar and matcha together first. Bob’s Red Mill sprinkles matcha over part of the dough and mixes it in to make two colors of dough.

Baking to keep the green

Many official recipes say to bake matcha cookies without letting them brown. Some recipes do bake for a golden color.

Recipes that say “do not brown”

King Arthur Baking takes the cookies out when they are slightly puffed, set on top and just beginning to take on slight color at the bottom edge, and says the cookies should not brown. Bob’s Red Mill also bakes until the bottom edges are barely light brown. Nakamura Tokichi Honten says its cookies, baked at 160°C for 15 minutes, come out with a faint, pale color and look elegant.

Source: King Arthur Baking, “Glazed Matcha Cookies” https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/glazed-matcha-cookies-recipe

Temperature and time

The recipes in the table bake at 160–180°C. Nakamura Tokichi Honten (160°C) and King Arthur Baking (about 163°C) bake at lower temperatures to keep the color pale. Callebaut’s drop cookies also bake at 160°C, but until golden. Decide whether you want to show the green or bring out the toasted color. Why heat changes matcha’s green is explained in Matcha for Baking. Ovens brown differently, so bake test batches in your own oven at different times and photograph the color.

Matcha grade changes the green

King Arthur Baking says that, compared with culinary grade (sold for baking), the more expensive ceremonial grade (sold for drinking) gives the cookies a more vibrant green. There is no official standard for these grade names, so check what you are comparing in Matcha grades.

Shelf life and storage

The makers’ official recipes say to keep baked cookies airtight at room temperature for several days to a week, and to freeze them for longer. The date for cookies you sell is set by your shop for its own recipe and packaging.

Storage guidance from the makers

Source	Storage
King Arthur Baking	Airtight at room temperature for several days. Freeze for longer storage, preferably before glazing
Bob’s Red Mill	Up to 1 week in an airtight container

Both are home baking guides. For cookies you sell, the date depends on the dough’s moisture, the packaging, and the temperature and humidity where they are kept.

What to decide before selling

Bag: use a bag that keeps out moisture, and decide whether to add a desiccant
Display: matcha fades in light, so do not leave the cookies for long on shelves in direct sunlight or strong lighting
Date: decide how many days after baking you will sell them, after storing them in your shop and checking texture and color

Storing matcha powder itself is covered in Matcha shelf life.

Labels for individually packed cookies

The same bagged cookies need different labels depending on whether you sell them only at your own counter or supply other shops.

Singapore

The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) labelling guide lists food prepared and packaged on the premises where it is sold as an example of food exempt from the general labelling requirements. If you supply other shops, the cookies are prepacked food and need the following in English.

Label item	Points for cookies
Name of the food	A name that shows what is inside, such as “Matcha Cookies”
Ingredients	In descending order by weight. Include matcha, butter and chocolate
Net quantity	For example, “Net weight: 120g”
Local manufacturer, packer or vendor	Name and address. A phone number or website is not acceptable instead
Country of origin	For cookies baked in Singapore, “Product of Singapore” or similar
Lot identification	Required from 30 January 2026. An expiry or production date can serve as the lot mark

The guide lists 19 categories of food that must be date-marked. Flour and chocolate confectionery are on the list, but cookies are not. If you do show an expiry date and it depends on storage conditions, the guide asks you to state how to store the food, such as “Store in a cool, dry place”.

The SFA treats businesses that supply food to their other outlets or to other food businesses as food processing establishments. A food retail licence covers sales to consumers only, and supplying other businesses needs a Licence to Operate a Food Processing Establishment.

Thailand

Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health Notification No. 450 exempts from labelling food for which the seller can give information to the consumer at the time of sale (such as food stalls), and food made and served in food shops and restaurants. Exempted food that has received a food serial number must still follow the notification.

Where a label is needed, such as when you supply other shops, it must be in Thai and show the food name, food serial number, name and address of the manufacturer, net quantity, percentage of main ingredients, allergens, expiry date, storage instructions (if any) and other items. If the shelf life is 90 days or less, the date is shown as day, month and year. Labels for imported products are covered in Private label matcha.

We could not confirm from the Thai FDA’s category list whether cookies fall into a category that requires a food serial number. Check with your local health authority or the Thai FDA before supplying other shops.

Indonesia

The labelling regulation of Indonesia’s Food and Drug Authority (BPOM) requires processed food sold in retail packaging to be labelled in Indonesian. This includes the product name, ingredients, net quantity, name and address of the manufacturer, production date and code, expiry information and the distribution permit number. Food made under a home industry registration (SPP-IRT) must show “P-IRT” with its number.

Explainers from BPOM’s Denpasar and Indramayu offices say that food with a shelf life of less than 7 days, and food served in restaurants and eateries, needs neither a distribution permit nor a home industry registration. Cookies kept for several days or more before sale may not fit this exception. The difference between the import number (ML) and domestic numbers (MD and P-IRT) is covered in How Indonesian cafés buy matcha powder.

Allergen labelling

Matcha cookies often contain wheat, milk and egg, and tree nuts are added if you use nuts or almond flavoring. All three countries require allergens to be declared on labels of packaged food.

Allergens in the three countries

Country	Basis	Items
Singapore	SFA labelling guide	8 groups: cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, peanuts and soybeans, milk, tree nuts, sulphites (10mg/kg or more)
Thailand	Notification No. 450	10 items, close to the 8 groups above, with peanut and soybean listed separately and shellfish and squid added
Indonesia	Labelling regulation as amended by BPOM Regulation No. 20 of 2021	Cereals containing gluten, egg, fish and seafood, peanut and soybean, milk, tree nuts, sulphites

In Thailand, the label uses the wording “ข้อมูลสำหรับผู้แพ้อาหาร: มี…” (information for food allergy: contains…), and “อาจมี…” (may contain…) when there is a risk of cross-contact on shared equipment. Indonesia also requires a declaration when food made on the same production facilities may be cross-contaminated.

Ingredients in matcha cookies that count

Ingredient	Allergen item
Cake flour, all-purpose flour	Cereals containing gluten (wheat)
Butter, white chocolate, milk	Milk
Egg, egg white, egg yolk	Egg
Almond flour, almond extract, nuts	Tree nuts

Matcha itself is not on any of the three countries’ lists. A matcha mix with sugar or milk powder may add milk, though. If you bake peanut cookies in the same kitchen, consider a cross-contact statement as well.

The matcha cost per cookie is “buying price per kg ÷ 1,000 × grams of matcha per cookie”. Grams per cookie is the matcha in one batch divided by the number of cookies.

Source	Matcha per batch	Yield	Matcha per cookie
Nakamura Tokichi Honten (piped)	10g	About 60	About 0.17g
King Arthur Baking (cut-out)	9g	About 24	About 0.38g
Meiji (icebox)	10g	About 15	About 0.67g

The per-cookie figures are our own calculations. For small piped cookies, the matcha in one latte (3g in Ippodo Tea’s recipe) makes about 18 cookies.

What goes into the cost

Besides matcha, include the other ingredients, the bag, desiccant and label, and cookies lost to failed bakes in the cost per cookie. How the price per kg of matcha is set is covered in How matcha prices are set.

Choosing matcha for cookies

Decide by test baking whether to use the same matcha as your lattes or a separate one for baking.

What to check

Whether the ingredient is 100% matcha. A latte mix with sugar or milk powder will not give enough matcha at the recipe amount
Whether you can keep buying the same specification. A different lot changes the color after baking
If you show a halal mark in the country where you sell the bags, the matcha’s certificate (What is halal matcha)

Test baking steps

Bake each candidate matcha in your shop’s cookie recipe with the same amount of matcha
Photograph the color under the same light right after baking, the next day, and on day 3 in the bag
Taste for the balance of bitterness and sweetness, then decide with the matcha cost per cookie and the selling price

Omakase Matcha supplies matcha from Uji, Yame, Shizuoka, Kagoshima and Miyazaki, with orders from 1kg and up to 3 samples. Request matcha for test baking from Samples, and see how regions differ in Origins.

Sources

Nakamura Tokichi Honten, “はじめての抹茶お菓子に｜香り広がる抹茶クッキーのレシピ” (Fragrant matcha cookie recipe, in Japanese) https://tokichi.jp/blogs/life-with-cha/recipe-matcha-cookie-starter
Meiji, “フランケンクッキー” (Franken cookies, in Japanese) https://www.meiji.co.jp/smartphone/sweets/okashi-land/oyatsu-kitchen/recipe/091.php
AIYA America, “Matcha Checkered Cookies” https://aiya-america.com/matcha-checkered-cookies/
King Arthur Baking, “Glazed Matcha Cookies” https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/glazed-matcha-cookies-recipe
Callebaut, “White Chocolate Matcha Cookies” https://www.callebaut.com/en-GB/chocolate-recipe/3206/white-chocolate-matcha-cookies
Bob’s Red Mill, “Matcha Pinwheel Cookies” https://www.bobsredmill.com/recipes/how-to-make/matcha-pinwheel-cookies
Ippodo Tea, “Matcha Latte Recipe” https://ippodotea.com/blogs/recipes-to-brew-japanese-tea/matcha-latte-recipe
Singapore Food Agency, “A Guide to Food Labelling and Advertisements” https://sfa.gov.sg/docs/default-source/food-information/labelling-and-packaging-information/a-guide-to-food-labelling-and-advertisements.pdf?sfvrsn=9659e1fa_2
Singapore Food Agency, “Businesses that Need Licence / Registration for Food Manufacturing & Storage” https://www.sfa.gov.sg/food-manufacturing-storage/licence-registration/businesses-that-need-licence-registration-for-food-manufacturing-storage
Ministry of Public Health Notification No. 450 (B.E. 2567), Labelling of prepacked food (in Thai) https://food.fda.moph.go.th/media.php?id=654869394207416320&name=P450.pdf
Thai Food and Drug Administration, Notification No. 450, unofficial English translation https://food.fda.moph.go.th/media.php?id=657392349080592384&name=P450_EN.pdf
Thai Food and Drug Administration, Explanation of Notification No. 450 (in Thai) https://food.fda.moph.go.th/media.php?id=653414653426278400&name=Detail-P450.pdf
Indonesian Food and Drug Authority (BPOM), Regulation No. 31 of 2018 on Processed Food Labelling (in Indonesian) https://jdih.pom.go.id/download/rule/795/31/2018
Indonesian Food and Drug Authority (BPOM), Regulation No. 20 of 2021 amending Regulation No. 31 of 2018 (in Indonesian) https://jdih.pom.go.id/download/rule/1287/20/2021
BPOM Denpasar office, “Pelaku Usaha Wajib Tahu Ini: 9 Kriteria Pangan Olahan yang Dikecualikan dari Izin Edar BPOM” (in Indonesian) https://denpasar.pom.go.id/berita/pelaku-usaha-wajib-tahu-ini-9-kriteria-pangan-olahan-yang-dikecualikan-dari-izin-edar-bpom
BPOM Indramayu office, “Jenis Pangan yang Wajib dan Tidak Wajib Mengurus SPP-IRT” (in Indonesian) https://indramayu.pom.go.id/berita/jenis-pangan-yang-wajib-dan-tidak-wajib-mengurus-spp-irt

FAQ

QHow much matcha goes into matcha cookies?

AIn official recipes that give matcha in grams, matcha was about 2.7–12.5% of the flour. Nakamura Tokichi Honten's piped cookies use 10g matcha for 80g cake flour, Meiji's icebox cookies use 10g matcha for 200g cake flour, and King Arthur Baking's cut-out cookies use 9g matcha for 330g all-purpose flour. Doughs with more egg white or butter and less flour show a higher share. The percentages are our own calculations.

QHow should I bake matcha cookies to keep them green?

AMany official recipes say not to let the cookies brown. King Arthur Baking bakes at 325°F (about 163°C) for 12 to 14 minutes, until the bottom edge is just beginning to take on slight color, and says the cookies should not brown. Nakamura Tokichi Honten bakes at 160°C for 15 minutes. King Arthur Baking also says the more expensive ceremonial grade gives a more vibrant green than culinary grade.

QHow long do baked matcha cookies keep?

AIn the makers' official recipes, King Arthur Baking says airtight at room temperature for several days and frozen for longer storage, and Bob's Red Mill says up to 1 week in an airtight container. Both are home baking guides. For cookies you sell in bags, the date depends on the dough's moisture, the packaging and where they are kept, so store them in your shop and check texture and color before you decide.

QDo cookies baked in my shop and sold in bags need a label?

AThe Singapore Food Agency (SFA) lists food prepared and packaged on the premises where it is sold as an example of food exempt from the general labelling requirements, and Thailand's Notification No. 450 also exempts food made and served in food shops and restaurants, among others. If you supply other shops, you need a label with the name, ingredients, net quantity, manufacturer, allergens and other items. In Singapore, supplying other businesses also needs a food processing establishment licence.

QWhich allergens must be declared on matcha cookies?

AWheat (cereals containing gluten), milk and egg are common, and tree nuts are added if you use almond or other nuts. Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia all require these allergens to be declared on labels of packaged food. Matcha itself is not on the lists, but a matcha mix that contains milk powder adds milk.