Matcha Green Tea and Omija Cookies are wonderfully healthy no bake Korean cookies that are also so elegant, beautiful and traditional. Called Nokcha Dasik and Omija Dasik in Korean, these are small cookies made with fine matcha powder and omija tea that’s sweetened with honey. Korean nobility enjoyed these sweets as snacks during their tea time.

Matcha Green Tea cookies or Nokcha Dasik is a recipe that I planned to post last year when I posted my first Korean Tea Cookies (Dasik) post back in January 2017. At the time, I wanted to post a recipe for Omija Dasik cookie but I hesitated to do it. It was because the recipes I had at that time used corn starch for both the Omija and the green tea cookie and I thought the taste and texture could be better.

Honestly, when I was growing up, I never understood people who gifted us Dasik. I always thought it was one of the most useless and tasteless gifts anyone could give. Because it usually came in a very dry powdery state. When you eat one, it was simply unpleasant. I used to say – “Come on! Who eats that stuff?? Why do they give us things that may look pretty but not yummy at all??”

Well, now I know how they are supposed to taste. Not dry. Not too powdery. But cookies that are actually moist, flavorful and sweet. So, here I am, posting my 2nd Dasik recipe after more than a year later my 1st post. It’s because I finally feel I have a recipe that is really good enough to share.

Oh and I have to thank the reader who asked me about the green tea cookie recipe! 😍 It finally got my lazy bum movin’ and finished up the recipe!!! BTW, a wonderful thing about these healthy Korean dasik tea cookie is that they have almost no fat and they are not overly sweet. They are also naturally VEGAN and GLUTEN FREE.

Traditions of Green Tea and Omija Cookies

With Tea (차 cha): I already wrote about the history of Dasik (다식 茶食) in my previous post where I shared recipes for Sesame Tea cookies (white, black and yellow sesame). Just quickly, the tradition of enjoying these Korean matcha green tea cookies and other flavors with traditional Korean tea is over 400 years old.

For Health: These healthy tea cookies can be enjoyed not just as cookies with tea but they can also be a good nutritious snack for the  elderly and the weak . Because these are just melt in your mouth treats, it is especially good for people who find it hard to chew food.

For weddings and birthdays: Various colored cookies that are shaped and pressed with various mold designs like lotus flower, cherry blossoms, peach, pomegranate and letters like Cha (tea) and Bok (fortune) were a way to celebrate and wish good fortune to weddings and birthdays. If you see old photos of 1 year old Birthday celebrations, you can see a tower of these cookies piled high to create an imposing table for the celebration.

Different kinds and colors of Korean Tea Cookies (Dasik)

• GREEN/BLUE: Green Tea Cookie (Nokcha Dasik 녹차다식) and Pine Pollen Cookie (Songhwa Dasik 송화다식)
• RED/PINK: Five Flavor Berry (Omija 오미자), Hibiscus Tea
• YELLOW: Yellow Sesame seeds (Kkae  깨), Chestnuts (Baam 밤)
• WHITE: White Sesame seeds, Rice, Mung Beans (cooked powder)
• BLACK: Black Sesame seeds

The color of these cookies are for the 5 colors (Obangseak 오방색) in Korean culture which represent the 5 elements (Wood, Fire, Metal, Water, Earth).

Do I need a Dasik mold to make Dasik?

You don’t need to HAVE the mold to make Dasik. These are just to show you how they were traditionally made. You can just shape them into little balls or use small pie shape cutter to make shapes.

BUT, if you would like to purchase one, you can now buy the one below from my store HERE!

BTW, here’s a post I wrote about my visit to the Tteoksal artisan who made this exquisite wooden Dasik Mold that I used here.

Cook’s tips for Perfect Omija and Matcha Green Tea Cookies

• How to make roasted rice flour – cook rice in your rice cooker on the dry side (use just enough water to cover rice when cooking) or STEAMing your rice works best as it’s much easier to grind later when rice grains are not stuck together.  Then dry your rice completely and then roast it in your frying pan. Finally, grind/blend your roasted rice to make the flour.
• Alternatively, you can break Baekseolgi Tteok and dry it then grind to a powder.
• You can also use Misugaru 미숫가루 instead of rice flour.
• Adjust water or liquid amount. Add more or less depending on how dry your flour is and how dry or humid your climate is.
• You can also use roasted soybean flour, roasted mung bean flour or corn starch
• Use light-colored honey so you don’t muddy up the colors.
• These cookies dry up pretty quickly so store them in airtight containers in the fridge. Should be good for few days.
• Substitute Hibiscus tea for Omija (Five Flavor Berry) tea if you cannot find it. Hibiscus tea has a similar flavor and color.
• These tea cookies dry up easily because there’s no oil. You can always add a bit of water or tea to add moisture back in. Coat the cookies with sesame oil to prevent drying up too quickly.

How to make Cooked Rice Flour for Dasik

There are several ways to make cooked rice flour for Dasik and of all the methods I tried, I like the following method that I came up with the best.

METHOD 1 – STEAMED and DRIED RICE FLOUR for Dasik

Watch the quick VIDEO below to see how I make the cooked rice flour –

• 1 cup dry rice flour
• 2 Tbs + 1~2 tsp water
• 1/8 tsp fine sea salt

1. In a bowl, add store bought, raw rice flour, salt and then add water 1-2 Tbs at a time and mix the flour with your hands, rubbing them in between your hands to wet the flour. But remember, we don’t want to totally wet the mixture to make like a dough. It should still be quite powdery but just more moist.
2. In a steamer, line the bottom with a wet cheesecloth or silicon mesh then layer the wet rice mixture on top. Spread it out as evenly as you can. This is basically how Seolgitteok is made but slightly different ingredient amounts.
3. Bring the water in the steamer pot to boil. When it’s in full boil, add the steamer basket with the rice in it. Cover and let it steam on med high heat for 20 min. Let it cool for 5 min. Then uncover and transfer the steamed rice flour onto a plate.
4. Let the steamed rice flour mix cool and dry completely. Either dry for 8 hrs in the dehydrator or just on the counter for 2 days or so until it has completely become dry. Try to crumble them with your hands as much as you can so they dry faster and better.
5. Put the dried mixture crumbles into a vitamix dry conatiner or any powerful blender you have. Blend it until it becomes a very fine powder. You should be able to get it as fine as how the raw rice flour was before you mixed water into it.

WATCH the first part around 7 min of the video below to see how I make the cooked rice flour ->

METHOD 2 – How to make ROASTED RICE FLOUR for Dasik

Cook rice in your rice cooker on the dry side (use just enough water to cover rice when cooking) or STEAMing your rice works best as it’s much easier to grind later when rice grains are not stuck together.  Then dry your rice completely and then roast it in your frying pan. Finally, grind/blend your roasted rice to make the flour.

So, this is the method mentioned in many traditional Korean cookbooks and in theory I think it should work well. But I’ve tried it a couple of times, in different ways and it just did not work well for me. I think the rice has to be super dry and the blender has to be super powerful. And even after that, I had to sift out the bigger bits which is another additional step..

Step-by-Step Directions

For Matcha Green Tea Cookie

Steps 1-4 : In a bowl, add cooked rice flour, powdered sugar, pinch of salt, Matcha Green Tea powder, honey and water.

Steps 5-6: Mix well then once they start to lump together, gather with your hands and form the dough into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside if you are also going to make Omija tea cookie. If not, go to step 7.

For Omija Tea Cookie

FIRST, SOAK Omija (Five Flavor Berry) berries in hot water for few hours to overnight for the deepest red color. If you’d like you can also buy Omija Tea Syrup from my store and use it here. It really adds great depth of flavor.

In a bowl, add roasted white rice flour, powder sugar, honey and Omija tea. Mix and form into a ball.

Making Green Tea and Omija Cookies with Dasik Mold

Prepare Dasik mold by lightly brushing the inside bottom and sides of individual molds with sesame oil.

1. Raise the frame around the molds and take a little bit of either Green Tea or Omija tea cookie dough and press it into each mold.
2. Once molds are all filled in, if you have a Dasik pressing stamp then press the top with the stamp. Totally optional so no problem if you don’t have the stamp.
3. Take the inserts out from the mold and press the top frame down so the Dasik cookies are exposed and sticking up (as in picture).
4.  Gently remove the cookies from the mold. And there you go!! You have just made Dasik!

What if I don’t have a Dasik Mold?

I know many of you probably don’t have access to a Dasik pan/mold. I found that you can use Piecrust Cutters and get a similar effect. I bought my Piecrust Cutters from William Sonoma; they usually go on sale after the holiday season is over.

Here I used a Christmas tree design Piecrust Cutter and don’t you just LOVE how it came out?? Small cookie cutters work better as these tea cookies are best handled when they are small. TIP – lightly coat the work surface with some sesame oil before you press with the cutter. Cookies come off the plate much easier that way.

So here’s how you can make some great gluten free no-baked healthy cookies for Christmas!

Well, I hope you enjoyed going back in time with me and making these lovely Korean Dasik – Green Tea and Omija Cookies!

XOXO ❤️,

JinJoo

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WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT

This post was first written in 2018 and the video below is what I made at the time.

In Jan 2022, I published an updated, fully narrated How to make Dasik video using a slightly different recipe in terms of syrup added. Honey + water + powdered sugar (2018) vs Rice Syrup + Honey + Sugar mix that’s pre-cooked (2022). The 2022 Both recipes work well, it’s up to you what you may want to do. 2018 version doesn’t require any cooking at all. 2022 video shows how you make a mix of the syrup and cook it before using.

And then the full NARRATED LONGER VIDEO below – Enjoy!

Korean Tea Cookies (Dasik)