Playing with Matchas

Cmoore's note: When I recently found matcha in San Francisco's Japantown, I was ecstatic. Not only do I love matcha lattes (soy), but I've been wanting to cook/bake with matcha for months. Here, at last, I thought, was the answer to my culinary invocations. Not so -- whereas I believed (and believe) that the term matcha is synonymous with a form of powdered roasted green tea, the matcha I procured is, in fact, a blend that includes green tea still in leaf form. The following post recounts Perrin's misadventure with our "ground" matcha:

***

Perrin: thought process:

we have lots of matcha. why not bake with it? GOOD IDEA.

find recipe based on very limited ingredients. aha! i think i've found a good one-- Matcha Tea and Honey Cakes.

this looks great! not only is it chinese (go beijing olympics), but i could put in our local honey too. i bet this would taste really good.

assemble all ingredients. use up our last 3 eggs. prepare to add matcha powder...oh shit, it's not POWDER, it's matcha tea leaves! they're not ground. should have paid more attention. ah well, i will figure it out.

figure it out? yeah right. panic. find a blender, with parts strewn across various parts of cabinet. attempt to assemble blender in a haphazard fashion. pour a generous helping of matcha leaves into blender. look around to see if roommate is still home. good. he's gone.

press 'ON.'

hm. why does it smell like burning rubber in the kitchen? crap, it might be the blender. frantically turn blender off. smell gradually subsides. roommate walks through the front door and into kitchen.

he sniffs the air, "it smells good." leaves kitchen. smells good??

sigh. take blender off stand, only to discover that the matcha leaves are not, in fact, turned into powder. entire batch of "blended" matcha proceeds to fall out the bottom of blender. mess ensues.

decide to make the leaves into a powder with my own brute strength. use a knife and cutting board in attempt to crush leaves. more mess ensues. become exasperated and grind leaves with thumb and forefinger. dump leaves in dough and hope for the best.

stick mixture in oven for alloted time. is it done yet? hastily take it out and turn off oven. hm they look a little raw, maybe i should put it back in? turn oven back on. stick mixture in a little longer. wait. okay, they look a tad brown, but they're done. success! that wasn't so bad.

break off a tiny piece of cake. the matcha results in a weird, bitter flavor in mouth. kind of like garbage drizzled with honey. uh, what can i do to make this taste better? frosting makes everything taste better? right? right.

proceed to google 'how to make your own frosting'. decide on a brown sugar frosting. sounds good. re-read recipe. wow that's a lot of ingredients. oh well.

make frosting with maximum mess, using half of dishes in kitchen. proceed to frost shit cakes.

why do i still have a gallon of leftover frosting?? stick it in fridge and hope nobody notices.

resolve to stick to ingredients that actually taste good.

Cmoore's post-script: The tea cakes are, in fact, delicious. More like muffins than cakes, but the flavor is lovely, the texture is moist, and the improvised brown sugar frosting adds the perfect touch of sweetness. I would recommend this recipe to anyone -- anyone, that is, who has matcha powder on hand.

By Substitution

I set out to make a batch of peanut butter cookies this afternoon (credit to 101 Cookbooks), but after I got home from the grocery store and proudly laid out my organic natural peanut butter (crunchy, to be redundant), grade A maple syrup, extra virgin olive oil, and other ingredients practically requisite in a San Franciscan baked good, I discovered what I thought to be a fatal flaw: baking powder. The recipe, as you may note if you followed the link, calls for baking soda. Many people keep baking soda in their refrigerator, to dispel food odors; however, I'm currently a houseguest, and my host doesn't observe this tradition.

This is not the first time I, or any other hapless would-be baker, suffered this mix-up. One of the few stories told about my mother involves a wok, a beef stir-fry, and the wrong white powdery baking substance. Apparently the result was inedible, and I was always careful to check and double-check my ingredient list after imagining a dinner party gone terribly awry.

That said, I did some quick research and discovered all was not lost: thrice the baking powder can be used to substitute for any given quantity of baking soda. Apparently flavor may be compromised, but my cookies were (are) delicious nonetheless. Brilliant. If you want to go the other way, try 2 parts cream of tartar with 1 part baking soda.

However, the main lesson learned: keep baking soda in the refrigerator.

An Unintentional Birthday Cake

Perrin and I have an ideal symbiotic relationship: I cook, while she chops, advises, tastes, helps me plan menus, and does the dishes.

However, our dynamic may be shifting. It turns out...she can bake.

White Chocolate Almond Pound Cake
Original recipe here.

1 cup butter, softened
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
3 eggs
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup finely chopped sliced almonds
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1 tsp lemon zest

Topping:
1/3 cup (75 mL) white chocolate chips, melted
1/4 cup (50 mL) slivered almonds, toasted

In bowl, beat butter with sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each. In separate bowl, whisk together flour, chopped almonds, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture alternately with milk, making 3 additions of flour mixture and 2 of milk. Stir in lemon zest and chocolate chips. Scrape into buttered 9 x 13" pan.

Bake in centre of 325°F (160°C) oven until golden and cake tester inserted in centre comes out clean, about 1-1/2 hours. Let cake cool in pan on rack; turn out onto plate and let cool. Cut in half lengthwise; spread lemon curd (recipe follows) on one half; top with second half; spread melted chocolate chips over top and sprinkle with toasted almonds.

Lemon Curd
Taken directly from the beautiful yet utilitarian Joy of Baking web site, but cut in 1/3. Read more here

1 large egg
Juice of one large lemon
1 tsp finely shredded lemon zest
1/4 cup granulated white sugar
4 teaspoons unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into small pieces

In a stainless steel bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water, whisk together the eggs, sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice until blended. Cook, stirring constantly (to prevent from curdling), until the mixture becomes thick: this will take about 10 minutes. Whisk butter into the mixture until melted.

An aside: Perrin's email conversation with her culinarily superior sister --

[Perrin to Ariel]
a few developments--
i have aquired a half a gallon of raw milk!
i am in the process of baking a cake. to be more specific, a white chocolate chip almond cake with lemon curd/zest.

***
[Ariel to Perrin]
i doubt that you are making the cake; a more likely development is you observing courtney or some other unsuspecting puppet to prepare the cake, whilst you scream out disencouraging, unproductive mythologies.

***
[Cmoore to Ariel]
Astounding but true. I saw it, unbelievingly, with my own eyes. Granted, I found the recipes, read them aloud to her, and offered useful tips like, "Now you stir it." But still, she made a (beautiful, exquisite, delightful, and delectable) cake. No puppets were harmed in the production of this dessert.

Mexican Wedding Cookies

My roommates and I had a couple guests over for dinner, and we decided to make a Mexican feast. I made guacamole and tossed cubed mangoes with lime juice and salt; Stu made tacos with soy crumbles and peppers; and Perrin sucked on the mango pits and entertained everyone. For dessert I made Mexican Wedding Cookies, which are basically glorified shortbread with toasted walnuts, rolled in powdered sugar and traditionally served at Mexican weddings. I thought this recipe (from The Joy of Baking) was a bit too buttery (I like mine a bit drier), so next time I would add a bit more flour, a lot more nuts, and perhaps some almond extract.

2/3 cup toasted nuts walnuts
1 cup butter
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). Beat in the vanilla extract. Add flour and salt and beat until combined. Stir in the nuts. Cover and refrigerate the dough for about 1 hour or until firm.

Form the dough into 1 inch balls and place them 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake for about 12 - 15 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies start to brown. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool for about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, line another baking pan or tray with parchment or wax paper. Sprinkle about 1/2 cup of confectioners' sugar on the bottom of the pan and then place the slightly cooled cookies on top of the sugar. Place the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar in a fine strainer or sieve and then sprinkle the tops of the cookies (or you can just roll the cookies in the sugar).

I served the cookies with Mexican hot chocolate, made by bringing a vat of soy milk nearly to a boil then turning off the heat and whisking in a couple handfuls of grated Mexican chocolate (you can use any sort of dark chocolate, sweetening as necessary) and a few shakes of cinnamon. I also added a generous splash of brandy, which added the perfect finishing touch.