When my sister came to visit for the Holidays this year, she confessed an addiction to green tea.  For a snack she went to the local Japanese grocery store and purchased three different items made of green tea: green tea candy, green tea cookies, and green tea poky sticks.  When I told her Art of Tea carries the beautifully vibrant ceremonial matcha tea and I could easily whip up some green tea desserts for her, she was ecstatic.
I started with a quick search on the internet to reference the different recipes there are available.  There were green tea tiramisu, cookies, cakes, and countless others. Out of pure laziness and for the sake of time, I only used the recipes as a reference as to how much matcha powder to add to a baking mix I’d just purchased at the store.

The first thing I made( and by the time I was done, I’d end up making a couple of different versions of my green tea creations) was Green Tea-Lemon Cupcakes.  I added the ceremonial matcha I’d told my sister about(about 4TBSP) to a lemon cake mix.  All recipes I used called for about 2tsp of green tea powder, but my sister the green tea lover was standing next to me the whole time and kept prompting me to put more in. I then made a frosting with matcha powder, powdered sugar, cream cheese and butter.

For the second batch of green tea goodies, I worked with a spiced cookie mix.  I added about 1 TBSP ginger matcha to a small batch of mix (for about 12 cookies).  I shaped the cookies into leaves, and used a butter knife to make the veins. I finished with a green tea drizzle (consisting of ceremonial matcha I used with the lemon cupcakes, and hot water) on top.

Finally, I added ceremonial matcha powder (4TBSP) to a yellow cake mix and made it into cupcakes. l just followed the directions printed on the box to back my modified little green creations, and then made a frosting for them.  This time, though, I mixed it up and made a frosting out of cream cheese, butter, vanilla and powdered sugar.  On top of that I added the green tea drizzle (sugar, ceremonial match powder, hot water).
And how was everything received once I was finished?  The lemon cupcakes I brought to a party, and every single one vanished in no time. My friends loved them, though of course my sister, the green tea lover, commented that there wasn’t enough green tea flavor to them.
The cookies went over well too pretty.  The spiced cookie mix went well with the ginger matcha, but next time I think I’ll keep them in the over a bit longer and use less water in the glaze to make it set just right.
As for the cupcakes were with the yellow cake mix, they had a buttery green tea flavor that my sister just loved.  It gave her a green tea caffeine boost and satisfied her sweet tooth at the same time.

I mentioned in my last post that I wanted to start cooking more with tea. I found this simple recipe to use as an example of how to effectively infuse other liquids with tea leaves to create a tea liquor.

Chamomile Vinaigrette

Ingredients
1 tsp (rounded) Egyptian Chamomile Leaves
1/4 Cup White Wine Vinegar
1 Tbsp Organic Honey
1/2 tsp Chopped Thyme
1/2 tsp Minced Shallots
Salt & Pepper
1/2 Cup Olive Oil

Place tea and vinegar in a small sauce pan and bring to a boil. The leaves will infuse the vinegar with their flavor.

Let simmer 1 minute and remove from heat.

Strain liquor; make sure to press the leaves to remove and remaining liquid.

Combine Tea-infused Vinegar, Honey, Thyme, Shallots, Salt and Pepper.

Slowly add Olive Oil while whisking to keep emulsification from separating.

Splash on a salad and enjoy! I’d recommend something with baby greens and lots of tomatoes – quick before these end-of-season tomatoes are all gone!

I like to cook. No. I love to cook. It’s my hobby and my passion. I’m always scouring through magazines and books, looking for that new interesting recipe that will impress my friends. It doesn’t matter much to me if the recipe is complicated or simple; what I’m looking for is something a little bit different. Often this is something as subtle as adding basil to a curry or as dramatic as pairing quinoa with mango. Recently I’ve been experimenting with tea leaves and I’ve found the results to be very exciting.

Before I start getting into recipes that involve tea leaves (which will comprise my next post or two) I want to take a minute to discuss the best way to utilize tea leaves in cooking. These are very simple guidelines that, if followed, will make for delicious results.

Recipes will call for tea to be used in cooking in one of two ways: processed leaves or liquor.

First and foremost, as with any ingredients, freshness is key. You’ll want to use fresh tea leaves – NOT BAGGED! I’ve already written at length about the evils of bagged tea but in this case the reason is that tea bags are full of fannings, or tea dust, which loses flavor fast. Since the whole point of using tea is to enhance flavor, you’ll want to start with tea leaves that still have, well, a lot of flavor. So put down that box, and pick up a teaspoon of Moroccan Mint.

Likewise, it’s best to use freshly brewed tea, made with fresh water and not the cold leftover tea that’s been sitting on your desk for a day (blah). Remember that you can infuse other liquids with tea; you don’t have to only use water. If, for example, a recipe calls for milk or juice or stock, you can always steep loose-leaf tea in the liquid just as you would with water. Just make sure you bring the milk or juice to just under a boil before you add the tea.

Finally, and this again goes with keeping flavors fresh, if a recipe calls for you to grind tea, do so in small batches. Don’t take you entire supply of Classic Black and pulverize it, or you’ll find it’s lost its flavor by the next time you want to use it.

For cleaning your processor between grindings, you can either use a brush, or grind a tablespoon of raw rice to powder in order to remove any residual flavors.

These are my guidelines for cooking with tea. Follow them and your results can be just divine. And I promise, recipes will be posted soon!