Matcha and Pistachio Cookies

Today February 19 is Chinese New Year. Happy New Year to all my readers who are celebrating. May this year of the Goat or Sheep bring you lots of happiness, health and prosperity. I decided to make some cookies for the occasion as I am going out for a celebratory meal with some friends so I wanted to make little gift bags. These are not traditional chinese new year cookies but I thought they would suit the occasion. It's a recipe that I saw online and I was intrigued by the flavour combination of matcha and pistachio. I also wanted something that was easy to transport and give as gifts. 

I love this recipe as it's so quick and easy to make and the results are fantastic. It's a mix all in one recipe (with a food processor) and you can keep the dough in the fridge until you are ready to bake. You can also freeze the dough and bake cookies when needed. I added a sprinkling of sesame seeds for aesthetic reasons and was really pleased with how it turned out. I also experimented with chia seeds but the sesame seeds looked better. 

The cookies are really buttery and crunchy and the predominant flavour is of the matcha powder. The pistachio complements the green tea flavour well and added a layer of texture to the cookie. The cookies are not sweet at all which helps the green tea flavour shine through. 

I'm sending this to Foodie Friday hosted by Helen from Casa Costello.

#FoodYearLinkup hosted by Charlotte from My Recipe Book. The link up is open to any foodie posts related to events in the Food Bloggers Calendar for February. These are for Chinese New Year. 

 plain flour, icing sugar, matcha powder , pistachips, butter, egg 

 dough wrapped in cling film. It should be a square shape but mine is quite uneven! 

 Optional toppings - sesame seeds or chia seeds 

 I love the vibrant green colour of the dough 

 I love how the sesame seeds look 

 little gift bags 

Makes 40-45 cookies depending on the size of your cookies

350g plain flour

15g Japanese matcha powder

250g unsalted butter, cut in cubes

150g icing sugar, sifted

1 egg, lightly beaten

50g pistachios nuts, lighty toasted - I'd suggest increasing the amount if you want a nuttier bake

Optional - sesame seeds or chia seeds 

• In a food processor, mix the flour, matcha powder, icing sugar and butter until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. 
• Add in the egg slowly and continue mixing. 
• Finally add in the pistachio nuts and blitx until a smooth dough forms.
• Roll the dough in a log or square shape and wrap in cling film.
• Refrigerate for a few hours or preferably overnight to allow the flavours to develop. 
• When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 200C.
• Slice the dough and arrange on a lined baking tray.
• Sprinkle with sesame seeds if using.
• Bake for approximately 13-15 minutes or until just brown.
• Allow to cool on the tray for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Jasmine Green Tea Cupcakes

When Caroline announced that this month's AlphaBakes letter is 'J', I struggled to think of J related bakes apart from jam. I thought last month's 'N' was quite challenging (check out the amazing entries here) but I think J is even harder than N! Caroline has already posted homemade Jaffa cakes using the same recipe I bookmarked so I thought I'd try something different and came up with Jasmine green Tea cupcakes.  I used the hummingbird bakery earl grey cupcakes recipe but substituted earl grey for jasmine green tea. I also added 1 teabag of leaves to the batter for extra flavour.  The result was subtle but delicious. You can't really taste the tea at first especially if you eat it with the frosting but if you let the cake sit for a while in your mouth then you can definitely taste the tea. 

I made these cupcakes for my last day at work (yes I know I recently left my old job and started this one but this job was only for 1 month. I have a new permanent job next year - more details to follow). I wanted to make them special so I decided to try out different piping techniques. I baked 75 cupcakes that evening - 1 batch of jasmine green tea, 1 batch of lemon cupcakes, 1 batch of chocolate cupcakes and my Polka Dot Pudsey Cupcakes. It took me hours and hours to bake and decorate but it was worth it :) I really wanted to try piping a chrysanthemum but discovered I didn't have the correct piping tips (guess what's going on my Christmas wish list?) so you may see them here in the future. 

As mentioned, I'm entering these to AlphaBakes hosted this month by Caroline from Caroline Makes and co hosted by myself on alternate months. The theme is J for Jasmine Green Tea. 

I'm also entering these to Tea Time Treats hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage and Kate from What Kate Baked.  They are celebrating their first birthday so the theme is cake. I think these flower cupcakes would be perfect for a birthday celebration! 

 

 Mix the butter, sugar, flour, baking powder and salt in an electric mixer until it resembles fine breadcrumbs

 add tea leaves to the batter 

 I love the little specks of tea leaves 

 ready to be frosted 

 I'm not sure what flower this is but I experimented with a petal piping tip 

 The completed collection - I think they look good together :) 

Jasmine Green Tea Cupcakes

Makes 14 cupcakes

4 Jasmine Green Tea teabags
3 tablespoons just-boiled water
80g butter, softened
280g caster sugar
240g plain flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
¼ tsp salt
200ml milk
2 large eggs

• Brew a strong cup of tea by placing 3 teabags in 3 tablespoons of just boiled water for at least 30 minutes. 
• Preheat the oven to 190C.
• Mix the butter, sugar, flour, baking powder and salt in an electric mixer until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. 
• Whisk the eggs and milk together then add in the brewed tea, squeezing every last drop from the teabags. 
• Pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients slowly and continue mixing until smooth. 
• Cut open 1 teabag and add leaves to the batter (optional).
• Don't worry if the batter looks liquid - it will still turn into beautiful cakes! 
• Fill cupcake cases 2/3 full.
• Bake for 18 - 20 minutes or until well risen and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
• Allow to cool for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. 

I made swiss meringue buttercream again for the frosting (recipe at bottom of link) - I made 2 recipes of this and 1 recipe of vanilla buttercream to frost all 75 cupcakes. 

Green Tea Cookies

This is the first time I've baked with matcha powder or green tea. (I made these cookies before I made the green tea chocolate bundt cake).  I followed the recipe exactly and I think it has too much tea in it. The tea flavour was very strong and the result was a slightly bitter tasting cookie.  I would probably add a little more sugar and less tea next time.  It was still very nice especially if eaten slowly.  I love the colour of the green tea but they turned a little brown when cooked.  

 adding the green tea powder 

 cookie dough - I really love the colour

 I piped the cookies with a 1M star tip

200g butter

50g icing sugar (add a little more if you prefer your cookies on the sweeter side) 

135g plain flour 

15g green tea powder (I would try using 5-10g instead but if you like strong tea flavour then stick to 15g)

50g cornflour

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• Preheat oven to 180C. 
• Beat butter and sugar until creamy. 
• Add vanilla extract. 
• Sift in flour, cornflour, green tea powder and mix well until a dough is formed. 
• Scoop dough into a piping bag and pipe evenly on to a baking tray. 
• Alternatively drop tablespoonful of dough on to a baking tray.
• Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 13-15 minutes until lightly browned. 

Green Tea Chocolate Bundt Cake

This month's We Should Cocoa challenge is tea. Riding high on the (partial) success of my green tea biscuits (which I have yet to blog about) I decided it had to be a green tea and chocolate combination.  I also briefly pondered chocolate and chai tea but as I didn't have any chai tea in the house, I promptly threw that idea out the window.  I got some lovely matcha powder air flown from Japan courtesy of my dad who went on a business trip last year. I love the smell and colour of the tea. I was debating about chocolate cupcakes with a green tea frosting - either white or plain chocolate.  I then came across a recipe for a green tea chocolate bundt cake and knew that I had to make it.  Not least because I also get to use my brand new silicone bundt cake tin which I got last year :) 

The cake had a lovely fragrant smell and it tasted delicious.  The sponge was light and you could really taste the green tea even through the chocolate which is fairly strong.  Everyone really enjoyed the cake and I'd definitely make this again. 

 cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy 

 chocolate and milk mixture 

 adding green tea powder - I love the vibrant green colour! 

 green tea batter

 chocolate batter 

 my new bundt cake pan

 marbling the batter 

 fresh from the oven

 the cake was still hot when I added the icing sugar as I was impatient! It still tasted good though :) 

 

220g self raising flour
240g butter
250g sugar
6 eggs - separated
113g chocolate
4 tablespoon milk
2 tablespoon green tea powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
a pinch of salt

• Preheat the oven to 180C. 
• Melt the chocolate with the milk and set aside. 
• Whisk the egg whites until stiff but not dry and set aside. 
• Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy as shown.
• Add in the egg yolks, one at a time until well mixed. 
• Fold in the sifted flour and salt and mix well. 
• Add vanilla essence.
• Fold in the egg whites and mix until well incorporated.
• Divide the batter evenly into 2. 
• Add chocolate mixture into one and mix well.
• Sift the green tea powder into the other and mix well.
• Spoon batter alternately into the bundt pan.
• Bake for about 50-55mins until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
• Cool cake in the tin for about 10 minutes before turning out to cool completely on a wire rack. 
• Sift on icing sugar generously if desired. (tip: wait until cake is completely cool!)