Matcha Marshmallows

Ingredients:
1/2 oz. unflavored powdered gelatin*
1/2 cup cold water
2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup corn syrup**
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon matcha powder
Confectioners' sugar for dredging

Directions:

In a large bowl, sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup cold water. Allow to seep for 10 minutes. In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, corn syrup, and 1/4 cup water. Bring to a vigorous boil and boil for 1 minute. Pour boiling syrup into gelatin and mix at high speed for 1 minute. Add the salt and matcha and beat for 12 minutes. Oil your hands and a spatula and scrape into a 11" x 7" pan*** lined with oiled plastic wrap or sprayed with cooking spray and spread evenly. After pouring marshmallow mixture into the pan, take another piece of oiled plastic wrap and press firmly on the top, oil side down, to smooth the marshmallow. Allow to rest 3 hours. Invert the pan into plate full of confectioners� sugar and dredge the marshmallow through. Remove and cut into pieces with kitchen sheers or a knife. Dredge each piece of marshmallow in confectioners' sugar. Store in an air tight container.

Note: Instead of dredging in plain confectioners' sugar, dredge in a 20/80 mixture of matcha and confectioners' sugar.

*1/2 oz. gelatin is equal to 2 packets Knox unflavored gelatin

**I like to use corn syrup made without high-fructose syrup. Oddly, I find it most frequently at Asian markets. Also make sure that the corn syrup does not have vanilla added.

***Depending on how thick you want your marshmallows, you might want to keep a second, smaller pan (like a loaf pan) handy for overflow.

My thoughts:

Okay, I already thought marshmallow making was magic-you can't beat molten sugar turning in to a fluffy treat in just a few minutes for pure cooking alchemy- but these matcha marshmallows are a revelation. They have a wonderful green tea flavor without being overwhelming or medicinal. I didn't add food dye so they are just the faintest of green, but if you wanted a more verdant green, a couple of drops of food dye would do the trick. They are great to eat out of hand, melted on cupcakes (instead of icing!) in dark chocolate s'mores and in hot chocolate.

Matcha is now readily available from many online merchants including Amazon .

Green Tea & Tangerine Tapioca Pudding

Ingredients:
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup small pearl tapioca (not instant)
1 teaspoon matcha powder*
zest and juice from 1/2 tangerine
1 egg

Directions:
Set the slow cooker on low. Pour the milk, tapioca, matcha and sugar in, whisk until the sugar dissolves. Cook for 1 1/2 hours, or until the tapioca is soft and translucent. Stir in the egg, zests and juice. Cook an additional 1/2 hour. Serve warm.

*If you don't have matcha powder, seep 2 green tea bags in the milk for 1/2 hour before cooking, discarding the bags.

Yield: about 4 servings


Note: for more traditional tapioca pudding made in the slow cooker, eliminate the green tea/matcha and juice/zest and sub about a tablespoon of vanilla.

My thoughts:

I've always wanted to come up with a dessert recipe to make in the slow cooker (if for no other reason than to say I did) and long cooking tapioca pudding seemed like the perfect choice. It isn't a faster method, but it eliminates all that carpal tunnel inducing stirring that even so-called "instant" tapioca requires. Plain, ordinary tapioca pudding sounded sort of boring though. I was stuck thinking of a good twist when I spied a bag of jumbo sized pearls for making boba tea and since the only real difference between the pearls in tapioca pudding and in boba tea is the size, I thought I'd make a boba-inspired pudding. I was nervous about doing it in the slow cooker but I shouldn't have been. The end result was the best tapioca pudding ever. Creamy and cooked to perfection. I am never making tapioca pudding any other way ever again.

Baked Doughnuts Three Ways: Vanilla Bean, Green Tea & Chocolate

Ingredients:
5 cups flour, plus more for kneading
1 2/3 cup warm milk
3/4 cup sugar plus more for dipping
1/4 oz instant yeast
2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled PLUS 3 additional tablespoons (set aside)

2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla

CHOOSE ONE:

3 tablespoons matcha (green tea powder)
5 tablespoons dutch process cocoa
2 tablespoons vanilla paste

Directions:
Whisk together the egg, milk, and vanilla and vanilla paste (if making vanilla bean doughnuts). In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, yeast and either the cocoa or the matcha (if making chocolate or matcha doughnuts). Slowly stir the milk mixture into the dry ingredients until a dough forms. Flour a counter top and knead, adding more flour a tablespoon at a time as needed, until a very slightly sticky, elastic ball of dough forms. Place in a buttered bowl, cover with a towel and allow to rise, about 1 hour or until it has doubled in bulk. Punch down, and roll it out on a floured surface until it is about 1/2 to 2/3 of an inch thick. If you have a doughnut cutter, use that to cut out the doughnuts. If not, use a small cutter to make doughnut "holes" or improvise using a drinking glass or large cookie cutters and smaller cutters to make the holes. You could also make round, biscuit sized doughnuts with no holes. Place the doughnuts on 2 greased cookie sheets, cover with a towel and allow to rise an additional hour. Preheat the oven to 375. Melt the additional 3 tablespoons of butter. Pour some (granulated) sugar on a plate. Bake the doughnuts exactly 6 minutes, then remove to a wire rack. Brush each doughnut with melted butter and dip in sugar. Serve hot, although they are still pretty good at room temperature. Store up to 1 day (but eating them immediately is preferred) in a air tight container.

My thoughts:

I've seen various recipes for baked doughnuts and was wanted to give it a shot. I am sure doughnut purists would sneer at the mere thought of a baked doughnut but I honestly didn't think I'd miss the frying. Doughnuts, while typically fried, are not like fried chicken or onion rings where the crisp crust you can only get from frying is the star, and the best doughnuts don't have a trace of grease. I did some experimentation and came up with this master recipe, with three variations. It is incredibly easy, it basically just a sweet bread dough, very low in fat, light and tender. The addition of the various favors (why don't bakeries flavor their dough? I've thought for years that would the next logical step in doughnut making) give you a very flavorful sweet that only needs a roll in sugar.

Matcha (Green Tea) Angel Food Cake

Ingredients:
12 cold egg whites
1 cup cake or super fine flour*
1 1/2 cups super fine sugar*
2 tablespoons matcha (green tea powder)
1 tablespoon warm water
1 teaspoon cream of tarter
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Whisk together all of the flour, 3/4 cup of sugar and the matcha powder, set aside. Using a stand mixer with a whisk attachment or a hand mixer and some stamina, beat the egg whites, water, salt and cream of tarter until the soft peak stage, about 3-4 minutes) in a clean metal bowl. Continue beating and stream in the remaining 3/4 cup sugar. Beat until the the egg white are stiff and glossy, but not dried looking. Using a spatula, fold in a small batch of the flour at time, in about 5 parts. Transfer to a ungreased tube or bundt pan and backe 35 minutes or until the top is browned and it bounces back when touched. Invert the pan on its legs or over a large bottle to cool, one hour. Use a knife or spatula to loosen the cake from the sides. Slice and serve. Store leftovers in an air tight container, up to one day.




*I don't generally keep super fine sugar or flour on hand. I just pulse regular sugar or flour in the food processor for a "homemade" version. For an accurate measurement, measure after pulsing.

My thoughts:

Despite using copious amounts of egg whites, this cake came together in 15 minutes. It is also virtually fat free and is full of natural antioxidants thanks to the matcha. It is so high, so fluffy and each bite has an almost flowery taste of tea-so tasty, it is easy to forget that is one of the healthiest cakes you can make.

Green Tea & Black Pearl Cake

Ingredients:
1 1/3 cup flour
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon green tea powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg, at room temperature
4 oz Vosges Black Pearl chips*

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour or spray one loaf pan. In a small bowl, whisk togher the egg, oil, and milk. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar and green tea powder. Pour in the wet ingredients and mix to combine> Fold in chips. Pour into prepared pan and bake 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool briefly in pan, then remove to wire rack and cool completely.




*These are dark chocolate chips that contain black sesame seeds, wasabi and ginger. You can sub 4 oz semi sweet chips, 1/4 teaspoon ginger, 1/4 teaspoon black sesame seeds and wasabi to taste for a similar effect.

My thoughts:

I recently came in possession of both Japanese-inspired Black Pearl chips and matcha powder and I have been trying to think of a way to combine the two. The Black Pearl chips, while divine, only come in tiny 4 oz bags, which eliminated many old standbys like cookies and fudge. I finally arrived at the perfect solution: a simple loaf cake. Sweet and moist, it doesn't need icing and the flavors of the delightful chips and the green tea shine through. I love the lurid green cake and the slightly gooey chips. It couldn't have been a better choice.