My love affair with matcha continues with these brown butter matcha brownies. I think I am on a crusade to matchify every classic dessert, and I am #notsorry about it! The reason I love adding matcha to desserts is not only for the vibrant green color or that smokey aroma of matcha. I love doing it because it helps balance out the sickening sweetness that exists in a lot of desserts. Case in point, brownies. Brownies are an amazing dessert, but most of the time, I can only have one piece because of how sweet most brownies are. Adding matcha to a classic brownie recipe balances out that sweetness, making it possible for you to have TWO instead of one. 🙂
Ingredients, Substitutions & Adjustments
- Unsalted butter – I used browned butter for these brownies for that extra nutty flavor. I would recommend using unsalted butter, so you can control the amount of salt in your brownies.
- White chocolate – In a typical brownie recipe, you often see chocolate being used, but since I wanted that green matcha color to shine through, I decided to substitute that with white chocolate.
- Matcha powder – Matcha powder provides the color and slightly bitter taste of matcha to these brownies. Make sure to use high quality culinary grade matcha powder to get that vibrant green color. As always, I use Aiya culinary grade matcha powder. Use cookingtherapy10 to get 10% off your purchase.
- Granulated sugar – Adds sweetness to these brownies.
- Light brown sugar – Adds sweetness to these brownies and a moisture. You can also use dark brown sugar for this recipe. Dark brown sugar will make these brownies more fudgy and sweeter.
- Eggs – Adds richness to these brownies. I would highly recommend room temperature eggs because that makes it easier to incorporate with other ingredients.
- Vanilla extract – Adds flavor to the brownies. Substitute with vanilla paste or 1 vanilla bean.
- Salt – Brings out the flavor of other ingredients.
- All purpose flour – This is the main dry ingredient of the recipe. You can make this recipe gluten free by substituting with sweet rice flour. Keep in mind that this will change the texture of the brownie and make it more dry/less fudgy.
Making my matcha brownies
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 8×8 baking pan with butter and line with parchment paper. Set aside. Next brown your butter. Heat unsalted butter over high heat until all the butter has melted. Then lower the heat to low and cook until brown bits start to appear. Remove from the heat. Next add white chocolate to a small bowl. Sift in the matcha powder. Pour the browned butter over the top and stir until a uniform green ganache appears. Set aside.
Combine granulated sugar, light brown sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, and salt in a large bowl. Use a hand mixer to whisk the mixture until it is thick and cream (5-10 minutes). While mixing, stream in your matcha chocolate ganache. Whisk until a uniform green mixture appears. Lastly, sift your flour into the bowl. Using a spatula, gently fold the flour into the green mixture. Be careful not to deflate the batter too much. Mix until just combined. Spoon the batter into your prepared pan.
Bake brownies for 20-30 minutes. After 20 minutes, take out the brownies and smack the pan onto a flat surface to get rid of some of the air bubbles. Sprinkle some flaky salt on top and put them back in the oven. Bake for another 10 minutes. Let brownies cool for 20 minutes before serving.
Tips on how to make the perfect matcha brownies
- Use a light colored pan to brown butter – It is a lot easier to brown butter using a light colored pan because it helps you see the color of the butter as it cooks. You are less likely to burn the butter.
- Sift matcha powder – Matcha powder tends to clump up easily, so it’s best to sift it before using it in a recipe.
- Beat sugar and eggs until thick and creamy – Beating the eggs and sugar incorporates air into the brownies, creating a lift in the final product. This helps provide lift without any type of leavening agents like baking soda or baking powder.
- Smack the brownies on the counter – This helps get rid of air bubbles in the brownies and creates a more fudgy texture.
Did you make these matcha brownies?
If you made this dish, I would love to see!
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Brown Butter Matcha Brownies
Equipment
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter browned
- 4 oz white chocolate
- 2 tbsp matcha powder
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup light brown sugar
- 3 eggs room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- ¼ tsp flaky salt optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Grease a 8x8 baking pan with butter and line with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Heat the butter over high heat until it melts. Lower the heat to low. Heat the butter until small brown bits start to appear. Remove from the stove.
- Add white chocolate and matcha powder to a small bowl. Pour the brown butter over the top and stir until all the chocolate melts. Let the mixture cool for 2 minutes.
- In large bowl, combine granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, and salt. Beat with a hand mixer or stand mixer until thick and creamy (5-10 minutes).
- While mixing, stream in your matcha chocolate ganache from step 4. Whisk until a uniform green batter appears.
- Lastly, sift your flour into the bowl. Using a spatula, gently fold the flour into the batter using a until a green batter forms.
- Spoon into your prepared baking pan.
- Bake for 20-30 minutes.
- Take out the brownies and slam them on the counter to get rid of some the air. Sprinkle some flaky sea salt over the top and put the brownies back in the oven. Bake for another 10 minutes.
- Let cool for 20 minutes before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
385
Great recipe! Super delicious and that brown butter added a depth of flavor. Highly recommend finishing with flakey salt.
Thanks Freddie! I’m so glad you liked the brownies!
Will it work I fold the chopped white chocolate at the end instead of melting it into a ganache?
Hi Trish. I am not sure. White chocolate not only provides flavor but also adds moisture to the brownie, so this could change the texture of the brownie. Let me know how it goes.
Hi, the bottom of my matcha brownies seem to always get stuck at the bottom of the parchment paper when im slicing them even if I’ve let it cool for about an hour already, they don’t come off easily. What can I do about this? Thanks!
Thanks for trying the recipe first off. If the brownies are sticking, bake them for a few minutes longer until they are the texture you prefer! Let me know if you have any more questions.
How did you get the top not to brown? Made these (so good!!!) but the top browned and puffed up.
Hi Amy. First off, thank you so much for trying this recipe! If the top is browning and puffing up, I am guessing that might have something to do with your oven temperature being too high. A lot of ovens have inaccurate temperatures so the temperature inside the oven is different from what it says on the dial. For example, the oven temperature inside my oven is 50 degrees higher than what it says on the dial, so when I preheat my oven to 350 degrees F I actually move my oven dial to 300. I solved this issue by getting an oven thermometer. It might be worth it to get one, so you know if that’s the issue. I hope this was helpful!
Thanks! I actually do use an oven thermometer and my issue is the opposite of yours, 50-75 degrees lower than the dial reads. Sounds like maybe I should have avoided put it on the top rack? Do you think that would make a difference? (also sorry I had meant to put 5 stars previously but guess I messed up, hope this will also count).
Hi Amy,
The taste of this matcha brownie is amazing !! The browned butter makes a difference. However my brownie doesn’t look moist at all it looks like a super dense muffin …. 🙁
Hi Gabby. Oh no! If your brownie is dense, I would play a little bit with the amount of butter and chocolate. This will improve the “fudginess” of the brownie. I would try adding another tablespoon of butter and/or another ounce of chocolate to increase the moisture in the brownie. Let me know if you try it!
After far too long on the internet looking for the perfect matcha dessert recipe to satisfy my cravings, I chose this one, and I’m glad I did! Turned out excellent even with a few deviations: I didn’t have time to let the eggs get to room temp, and I accidentally used a cup of white chocolate (though, I used a little less granulated sugar also). My oven is not the most precise and after the additional 10 minutes the knife wasn’t coming out clean, so I popped it back in for another 10 (so 30 mins total). Came out just right after that, with a little browning on the top that I actually like. These had a super moist interior—VERY fudge-y—and a nice chewy, slightly crisp edge and top. The Maldon salt on top is a must. Thanks for the recipe! Can’t wait to make it again for guests now that I know how to make it 🙂
Thank you so much for the kind words. I’m so glad you enjoyed them 🙂
So excited to give this recipe a try! Does reducing the 200 g granulated sugar by half affect the consistency?
Hi Esther. It will affect the consistency a little bit because sugar adds moisture in addition to sweetness. You can mitigate that by reducing the amount of sweet rice flour as well. I am not sure how much less however because I haven’t tested it with half the sugar. I hope this helps!
Hello! I’ve been eying this recipe for a really long time and I’m really excited to try it out sometime this week, it looks AMAZING! But since my entire household is mildly diabetic, I was wondering if you have any tips on how I may reduce the sugar amounts and how to tweak the other ingredients in order to still achieve such a lovely texture?
Hi Sharon. First off, I want to caveat this by saying I have not tried making it with less sugar. You could try substituting the sugar with date syrup like this one https://www.justdatesyrup.com/collections/shop/products/just-date-syrup. It still gives you sweetness and moisture without processed sugar. Let me know if you try it!