MATCHA AND A SWEET LITTLE SOMETHING
I prepare a bowl of hot matcha every morning for my husband and myself–it took a bit of time to develop a taste for this tea, but our perseverance was well worth the effort. With its frothy, smooth, and mellow fragrance and taste, we also love matcha’s abundance of health benefits such as concentrated amounts of antioxidants, catechin which is thought to inhibit the growth of cancer cells, and heart healthy attributes. Matcha consists of high-grade green tea leaves ground to a fine powder (I call it magic tea dust!) so when drinking it, one ingests the leaves themselves and all its nutritional benefits. My palate’s inclination leans toward the savory than sweet, but it’s always nice to have a little sweet something with matcha. Here, matcha is served with chocolate chip and pecans tea crisps.
MATCHA MILLE CREPE CAKE
The morning after Christmas, we enjoyed our matcha accompanied by Matcha Mille (a thousand leaves) Crepe Cake.I ventured into making foods with culinary matcha and discovered the cake’s wonderful recipe in justonecookbook. I was concerned the tea and the cake would be matcha overload, but no, the cake’s subtle flavor and taste, along with Asian Pear slices, complemented the tea perfectly!
ANDAGI (OKINAWAN DONUTS)
Often served during New Year’s celebration, these delicate donuts (made by my niece, Lisa Rowland), are light, fluffy, and a lovely accompaniment to the matcha along with sliced Asian pears.
MATCHA COOKIES
Another justonecookbook recipe, this shortbread’s buttery, subtle matcha fragrance and flavor go well with the tea. The recipe calls for white chocolate chips but I substituted chopped pecans.
PEAR AND ALMOND TART
A great justonecookbook recipe that looks a bit difficult, but is actually easy to make. It is a bit sweeter than my usual liking, still, with the fantastic almond cream filling, it’s a great dessert served with Vanilla Bean ice cream–YUM!
Cooking For Her Eyes 