Matcha, Matcha, Matcha
Matcha, green tea powder, is one of those magical ingredients that can wake up any standard dessert recipe and suddenly make it exotic and novel. Blogging bakers and cooks out there certainly know this secret, and there are scores of fantastic recipes illustrated with its brilliant green hue, like these from some of my favorites:
Keiko, Nordljus’s Apricot and Matcha Mouse Cake
Heidi, 101 Cookbooks’ Chocolate and Green Tea Pudding
Bea, La Tartine Gourmand’s Matcha Madeleines and Matcha Eclairs
Fanny, Foodbeam’s Green and Black Tirimisu
Hanna, Cooking with Chopsticks’ Matcha Truffles
Santos, Scent of Green Bananas Matcha Cupcakes
Clement, A La Cuisine’s Chestnut-Matcha Macarons
Clotilde, Chocolate & Zucchini’s Green Tea Cat’s Tongues
Pictured above are the cat’s tongues I made following Clotilde’s wonderful recipe. Mine didn’t have quite the little lick on the end as hers, but they were delicious none-the-less and made a perfect accompaniment to some berry sherbet.
Thank you for the link. Your Cat’s Tongues look great! Matcha is used in so many desserts and has really gotten popular throughout the world as a novel new ingredient in confections, but so few people have the knowledge or utensils necessary to make a cup of matcha tea. Like a good espresso, matcha is nothing without the foam on top and whipping the tea powder into hot water with a bamboo whisk is an art refined in the tea ceremony. We’ll have to get a post up soon about matcha pure. Thanks for the inspiration.