As often happens in the Gochman household, Sophie, Mimi, and Tess were in the kitchen late at night. Guided by Tess’s baking intuition, the two girls love to experiment in the kitchen, combining favorite flavors to create something entirely new or adapting recipes for healthier alternatives. It was on one of these evenings that Sophie and Tess came up with a gluten-free, dairy-free matcha cookie bar recipe. (That same evening, Mimi created a delicious batch of vegan chocolate chip cookies. We’ll come back to those another day.) One taste of the fragrant, warm matcha cookies fresh from the oven and the whole family was hooked!
When we debuted the matcha cookie bars on the menu of the Tess & Co. truck at the Winter Equestrian Festival at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center in Wellington, they quickly sold out. Word about the delicious, healthy treats spread among WEF participants and spectators alike, and we struggled to keep up with demand! Sophie and Tess’s Matcha Cookie Bars soon became a classic snack at WEF, and we’re honored to provide the community with delicious, healthy options to keep them energized.
This year, with travel restrictions due to the pandemic and many of us spending the winter cozied up in our homes, Tess and Sophie wanted to share a little bit of the joy of WEF with each of you – even if you can’t make it to Wellington. What’s more comforting than a warm cookie fresh from the oven? With the earthy matcha flavor, these are an especially supportive and grounding snack. You can thank Sophie and Tess later.
The recipe is a unicorn – delicious, healthy, and easy to make! With just six ingredients, these cookie bars can be whipped up and fully baked in around 15-20 minutes. The trick is to get the highest quality matcha powder, which will give you an enticing, rich flavor and aroma. Choose an organically grown matcha from Japan – ideally grown in the Uji region. Avoid additives or sweeteners (check the ingredients listed on the packaging). When you open the matcha’s jar, the color of the powder should be a bright green hue and the texture should be quite fine – then you know you’ve found a good one that was properly packaged. We like to use ceremonial grade matcha whenever possible and find that it produces a better color, flavor, and texture, even when used for baking.
The cookie bars are perfect for vegans, vegetarians, and those with gluten allergies – really, they accommodate most dietary restrictions and preferences! Plus, with maple syrup acting as the sweetening agent, they’re guilt-free. Pro tip: We love a good Canadian maple syrup, but make sure you choose organic!
This recipe makes four sheets of cookies – a total of 16 dozen (192) cookie squares (four dozen per cookie sheet). This is great if you’re baking for a party, delivering cookies around the neighborhood, making them as presents, or donating them to a bake sale or other function. However, it’s easy to quarter the recipe if you’re simply making them at home for you or your family to enjoy and don’t need a batch of this size. Quartered measurements are in parentheses below, and that will yield 4 dozen (48), two inch cookie squares.
Give the cookies a try and tag us on Instagram @farm_stand to show us how they turned out! Remember, baking is an opportunity to connect with the earth from the comfort of your own home, to treat yourself, and to experiment. So don’t forget to have fun! We invite you to customize this recipe to your preferences, tastes, and needs – get creative!
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375° Fahrenheit.
- Mix all dry ingredients together.
- Add the coconut oil and maple syrup to the mixture. Then work the ingredients together using your hands, treating it like a dough.
- Form a block size layer on a 12”x16” cookie sheet. This should be approximately ½ inch thick. Repeat three times – you will have four sheets total.
- Bake at 375° Fahrenheit for seven minutes.
- Remove from the oven, and flip the block so the top is now on the cookie sheet, and the bottom is now exposed.
- Using a sharp knife, slice the block into six, two inch strips across the short side of the pan. Then cut them again along the long side. We like to make squares, cutting every two inches again.
- Bake for an additional five minutes.