Matcha Mint Chocolate Chip Ice cream

Matcha Mint. 

Y'all. Let me tell you about the dangerous thing I just made at home for the first time. MATCHA MINT CHOCOLATE CHIP ICE CREAM !! I'm not sure if I've shared this with you but mint chocolate chip is my favorite ice cream of all time. One time, in my teens I read that Orlando Bloom also loves mint chocolate chip ice cream so basically, it's the best ice cream flavor. 

I found a recipe for it and made some tweaks based on what I love. For example I put in almost double the matcha, I didn't use an ice cream maker, brown instead of white sugar and I used more mint that what was called for. 

There are a lot of steps but nothing too complicated. A devilishly easy ice cream recipe that can easily be molded to have different flavors? I'm in big trouble! 

My favorite part is that instead of using chocolate chips, I melted chocolate and covered the pan so as I churned they broke up into smaller chunks/shavings. 

So excited to finally use this ice cream scoop! 

The flavor of the matcha is there but there are still all the lovely charactistics of the mint chocolate chip. The fresh mint has such a wonderful flavor that makes it taste very fresh!

One thing to note, I used a glass loaf pan to store my ice cream and it worked well but it didn't have a lid. After day 2 or 3 in the freezer, even with some foil over top it froze a little too much. I would suggest getting some kind of container with a lid! I think the ice cream tasted best on day one, why not make a batch and finish it that day?! :) 

What are you favorite ice cream flavors??! 

Almond Cupcakes with Matcha Buttercream

Buttery Matcha.

You all know how much I love matcha and It's so fun to bake with. I've been drooling over matcha pictures on instagram everyday and decided it was time to make matcha frosting. I know some people don't like frosting but it's my favorite part of any cake or cupcake!

I'll be honest, I don't have every baking tool in the book so sometimes things get a little messy. I finally upgraded with a simple ice cream scoop to help eliminate mess! I originally got it to make cookie dough placement easier (and future ice cream making?!) but found it to be very useful for this batter as well. I filled each liner up with about two scoops. Some liners were a little over 3/4 way full and those are the cupcakes that had a bit of a top. I don't mind this, it actually means more area for frosting! BUT if you're the type of person who likes to have very neat, not overflowing cupcakes I would suggest using a scoop and a half or one heaping scoop! After I had the desired amount in the liner I took a chopstick into the center of the batter and swirled it in circles. This helped the batter settle. 

Ah, matcha buttery frosting. YUM! I decided to use almond and matcha as a combination of flavors because I kept seeing this combo EVERYWHERE. Thinking about the heavy, full flavor of matcha and the fragrance of almond I wasn't sure if they would be good together but I as wrong! The almond flavor in this cupcake is very light and airy which goes so well with the heavy butter and matcha frosting. In my recipe, I talk about "pours" for the almond emulsion. My emulsion is very thick and comes out slowly so when I say pours I mean it literally. Each time I tipped the bottle over my bowl a drop came slowly out. I did it 3 times. You are welcome to do more or less based on how much you enjoy the fragrance and taste of almond!

Ok, so I originally wanted to do a frosting rose on top of the cupcakes. As you can see that didn't happen. I love watching cupcake and cookie decorating videos and I've been wanting to try this one method of making the rose. I thought I had the right tip but when I started piping got this short thin piece of frosting and decided to improvise. One small note, as I started piping I put too much frosting in the bag so my hands were gradually warming up the frosting. You can see in the photo below thinner and thicker lines. I put mine back in the fridge to cool it off before I continued.  

You're probably wondering about these pizza slices. My original plan was to create matcha frosting because the pastel green was perfect for spring. I then put one of these pizza sprinkles, yes they're sprinkles from Tiny Kitchen Treats, on top and I LOVED how it looked! Does an almond cupcake with matcha buttercream and a pizza sprinkle make sense? Who knows, but it sure looks cute! 

So what's the verdict? Matcha donuts are good. Matcha scones are better. Matcha buttercream is queen! 

As many of you may know, matcha is in powder form because it consists of the ground up leaves. This is said to increase the health benefits because you're ingesting the actual leaf instead of brewing it and throwing it away. In powder form, it is also much easier to incorporate into your cooking and baking! So these cupcakes a kinda healthy, right ? ;)

The almond cupcake recipe was adapted from this one

Puerh Donuts with Orange Glaze

Glazed Donuts.

I was brainstorming about what to make with this dark night orange spice puerh blend that Plum Deluxe sent me and a light bulb went off! DONUTS! I reworked my Mini Matcha Donut recipe to create larger donuts and added a glaze!

Spring is here and we've been having such beautiful weather, it's been making me crave donuts. Not sure why! These aren't traditional donuts that you would get at a bakery, they are baked and much smaller. Although I used a larger pan from michaels they are still relatively small for donuts. 

I chose an orange glaze to compliment the fruity aroma and taste of the puerh blend. The blend has orange peel, rose hips and hibiscus which I think all go together well with orange! Make sure you use an actual orange for the juice, not store bought juice!

Ah yes, the tea infused milk staple. I used 1 cup of milk to infuse but only use 2/3 cup in the recipe because during the heating process some of the milk is lost. 

I made two batches of these donuts to show you the different between "firm" and "spongy." The donuts on the left were the result of filling the molds about 3/4 way and baking for 8-9 minutes. The donuts on the right were filled almost to the brim and cooked for about the same time. They are both still very soft on the inside the ones on the left are just a bit firmer, which in a taste test I actually preferred!

A note on the glaze, as mentioned before, use less juice if you want a more solid glaze. I tried 2 TBSP and I just didn't like the consistency. I like how when I added one additional TBSP (to equal 3) that this is what happened when I dunked the donuts. When you let them sit they still harden but I think 3 TBSP made it easier to glaze. To each their own!

Puerh tea is so interesting and I found this to be a unique opportunity to create a fruity donut with a very flavorful tea. These donuts are definitely sweet but they are super fruity, specifically orange. I suggest making extra glaze for dipping :) 

Vanilla Rose Pistachio Cookies

Pistachi Rose.

You may have guessed but I LOVE rose in tea. It doesn't matter if it's buds or petals, I love the flavor and aroma that rose gives to a blend. The Vanilla Rose Tea from Zhi tea is no exception. This blend uses assam as the base tea so it gives it that delicious black tea flavor that I love and that is so good in sweets. 

I wanted to make cookies with this blend and I put my thinking cap on to find what would go well with the rose. Ding, ding ding! Pistachio! It may be because norouz (Persian New Year) is so close but rose and pistachio are a match made in heaven. These are two ingredients that were common to everyday life growing up. 

For this recipe I took an each chocolate chip recipe and tweaked it slightly for my purpose. 

What you'll need: 

• 1 1/2 cups packed dark brown sugar

• 2 eggs

• 3/4 cup - 1 cup slightly crushed pistachios

• 1 cup Vanilla Rose butter

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 2 1/4 cup flour

• Pinch of salt

To make the tea infused butter, you need to melt 1 cup of unsalted butter. Once melted pour 2 - 4 tablespoons of Vanilla Rose tea into the butter. The amount of tea depends on your taste and if you want there to be a hint of flavor or a punch of flavor!  

Let the tea brew for about 5-6 minutes in the butter. Once brewed strain the butter.

Let it sit and harden. 

Your butter should feel like softened butter, you don't want it to be too liquid so make sure you leave time for it to solidify. 

Instructions: 

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees

2. Cream the butter and sugar

3. Mix in the eggs

4. Add in the flour, baking soda and salt

5. Gently mix in the pistachios

6. Roll dough into 2 -3 in balls and place on a baking sheet

7. Bake foe 10-12 minutes until slightly golden

8. Remove cookies from oven and transfer gently to a cooling rack

9. Scarf down cookies!

My favorite thing about these cookies is that they aren't as sweet as chocolate chip cookies because of the lack of chocolate chips. The pistachios give you a good crunch to contrast with the soft cookie. These are perfect for tea dunking! 

Chocolate Honeybush Cake w/ Honey Buttercream Frosting

Honeybush. 

Robert's (my guy <3) mother is from South Africa and she introduced me to rooibos tea and the traditions surrounding it. She recently mentioned honeybush which I had never tried but was interested in. Along with the Persian Plum Rose , Blossom sent me a sample of Honeybush as well. 

I used one of my favorite recipes for chocolate cake and adapted it to make it extra honeybush infused! 

This tea was fascinating, it almost looks like mulch and smells very earthy. From the scent, I did not expect the taste in the cake. 

While I was mixing the cake and also while I was baking it, the brewed honeybush had such a strong aroma it was filling the apartment. It was wonderful!

Honeybush infused milk. 

Hot honeybush tea. 

Two layers of honeybush goodness. 

I decided to top this off with a honey buttercream frosting that I've made before and is SO good.

Cake:

• 2 cups brown sugar

• 1 3/4 cup flour

• 3/4 cup cocoa powder

• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 2 eggs

• 1 cup milk infused with honeybush

• 1/2 cup plain yogurt

• 2 teaspoons vanilla

• 1 cup hot Honeybush

• pinch of salt

Frosting: 

2 sticks of butter, room temperature
4 tablespoons honey
1 cups powdered sugar* 

What I like to do is mix the honey and the butter then gradually add in powdered sugar little by little until I like the consistency of the frosting. So it may be less than 1 cup or more based on preference. Don't forget to taste test too because frosting gets sweet fast!
 

Cake Instructions

1.  Prepare the honeybush infused milk by heating the 1 cup of milk. Do not let it boil. Drop 2 tablespoons or more of honeybush into the tea depending on how strong you want it. Let it sit for several minutes. Pour the milk through a strainer and let cool. 

2. Mix all the dry ingredients together. 

3. Add in eggs, yogurt, vanilla and honeybush infused milk.

4. Boil water and pour one cup of boiling water in a cup. Place 1-2 tablespoons of honeybush in a teabag and place in boiling water. Let it brew for a few minutes then pour hot, brewed tea into cake mixture. Gently mix. 

5. Pour batter (will be thin) into two 9 inch pans that are greased and floured. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes.

6. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes then place on a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled, frost with honey buttercream. I used a thin layer to make them almost "naked" but feel free to use more!

Do you have a favorite tea infused sweet?!

Matcha Candy Experiment!

ChocoMatcha. 

I did a little experiment this past weekend and I wanted to share it with you! I created these chocolates with matcha but I wanted them to be greener so I added white chocolate. I wanted to keep the semi sweet since I'm not the biggest white chocolate fan. The chocolates didn't turn out any greener but they were delicious!

What you'll need: 

• 1 package mini semi sweet chocolate chips

• 1 package white chocolate chips

• 12 tablespoons butter

• 1/2 cup light whipping cream (optional)

• 4 tablespoons matcha

• Wooden candy sticks

• Heart Candy Mold

Instructions

1) Melt the butter! I would use a double boiler, I just put water in a pot, boil it and put a pan with the butter on top. 

2) Place the chocolate chips into the pan and mix it around until it's all melted

3) Add the white chocolate chips to the mix and let them melt. I kept the white chocolate chips a little lumpy, you'll see why later.

4) Sift your matcha into the chocolate and mix it completley. 

5) Using a spoon fill your heart silicone molds with chocolate

6) Put it in the freezer for 5 -10 minutes

7) Place the wooden sticks into each mold

8) Keep in freezer for an hour or two

9) ENJOY!

YUM!

I didn't let the white chocolate chips melt all the way so there would be chunks in each heart!

Although these aren't green like matcha, they are certainly delicious and the matcha flavor comes through! 

Next, I'll fight my dislike of white chocolate and use only white chocolate so they will be green! Give this simple recipe a try and let me know how you like it!

Last Minute Gift Idea: Tea Leaf Chocolate Bark!

Tis the season for tea. 

Have you ever made or received chocolate bark for the holidays? It's quite possibly one of the simplest and most delicious sweets. The past week I've been debating different gift ideas for the last few people on my list and then I saw a video of someone making chocolate bark. Oh my gosh, it was so simple. It's literally melted chocolate and whatever other ingredients you want!

I first tried a "smores" bard that was a layer of chocolate, a layer of marshmallow fluff, another layer of chocolate then topped with graham crushed graham crackers. Spoiler alert, it was FANTASTIC! I've been thinking about a recipe for my last installment of For Tea's Sake blends I was sent and due to the ingredients (pieces of banana and cocoa!) I wanted to do something with chocolate. 

The result: Tea bark! This is a really simple recipe but it's unique and perfect for any tea lover on your list! 

You will need: 

1) 24 ounces semi sweet chocolate. I used mini chocolate chips because I think theyre easier to melt. You can alternatively use some semi sweet and some bittersweet !

2) Triple Banana Split tea blend from For Tea's Sake.

3) Baking sheet

4) Parchment paper

5) Christmas sprinkles (optional) 

6) Double Boiler 

Step 1: Crush up the tea blend. This will make it a bit more palpable on top of the chocolate. The image below shows the tea crushed by hand. You could also use a food processor. 

Step 2: Melt the chocolate in a double boiler and then spread onto the parchment paper covered baking pan. You don't need an actual double boiler to melt the chocolate. I used a rounded pot filled with boiling water and a flat pan that fit on top of that. 

Step 3: Sprinkle crushed tea on top of the chocolate while it is still hot. Use sprinkles here as well if you are adding them. I wanted to give the chocolate a little bit of a Christmas feel with these white dots...almost like snow! 

Step 4: Place the pan in the fridge for 2 hours or until chocolate is set. 

Step 5: Break apart the chocolate with a knife or your hands. If you reach under the chocolate you should be able to free it from the parchment paper easily and break it up!

Step 6: ENJOY! or if you're making this as a gift, pack it up in a sweets box and keep cool until delviery. 

Have you ever made tea bark? What is your favorite bark recipe?! 

Chai Pumpkin Pie

Spicy Pie.

I'm not much of a pie maker but for Thanksgiving I make an exception! I wanted "spice up" the normal pumpkin pie recipe I use and turned to my good old friend Wight Tea Co for their Chai! You're probably thinking, oh gosh here she goes again about that Chai. Seriously, IT IS THE BEST. My friend Brittany, who is the boss lady behind Wight Tea Co got the blend just right! 

Chai tea milk, yum. 

First thing I did was find out how to use regular milk instead of sweetened condensed or evaporated. Regular milk is key so that you can heat it (not boil) and place the leaves in the milk to brew. 

Ingredients 

• 2 eggs slightly beaten

• 2 cups pumpkin (maybe a bit more) 

• 2 tablespoons Wight Tea Co Chai

• 1/4 cup milk (heat and brew tea then drain) 

• 3/4 cup brown sugar

• 1 tablespoon flour

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• pinch of salt

• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

I used a Jiffy pie crust mix. It's super simple, just add water and roll out! Next time I think Ill get two boxes so that I can make a pretty dough braid around the edge!

Stir together eggs, pumpkin and milk. Make sure that after you brew the tea in the milk, you let it cool before adding it to the mix. 

Add in flour, salt, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, vanilla and cloves. Mix. 

Pour batter into the pie shell! If you want the crust to brown better you can cover it in egg wash. 

Bake at 375 for about an hour. depending on your oven it may take less time than this so check often! You can also try baking at 425 for 15 minutes then reducing the oven to 350 and baking for about 30 minutes. 

Yay! 

Do you have a special ingredient you include in your pumpkin pie like this chai? Share with me!

Home Sweet Home Honey Cake

Majestic & Moist.

I opened up this Home Sweet Home blend and had a little freak out. There are candy snowflakes and Christmas trees in it! If you follow me on Instagram you know that I'm a bit Christmas crazy, so this tea only encouraged my Christmas spirit.

This blend is very festive! The other ingredients include black tea, cloves, cinnamon, star anise and jasmine pedals. It smells like what I hope my house smells like throughout the holiday season. The cinnamon scent really pops.

I try to create my own recipes but when I came across this cake recipe, I couldn't resist: Majestic and Moist honey cake. The spices in this cake sealed the deal for me, I knew they would go well with the taste of the tea. 

Here is the recipe to check out and follow: Majestic & Moist Honey Cake Recipe

I made a few changes!

• First, from the choices given I used a bundt pan. Make sure to butter the pan before pouring any batter into it.

• I used all brown sugar instead of some white and some brown

• I used applesauce in place of the vegetable oil

• I used Home Sweet Home tea blend from For Tea's Sake

• I didn't use almonds but only because of the audience I created the cake for, feel free to use them!

This recipe is SUPER dense but delicious. At first glance, I wasn't sure that all the ingredients mixed together would produce a yummy cake but I was wrong! The tea really gives the cake a wonderful aroma. This is the perfect cake for the holidays! 

I've posted a few times about the blends from For Tea's Sake and I thought it would be fun for you to learn a bit more about the company. I had the opportunity to ask Sarah, their social media marketing manager a little more about the company. I love her answers, especially about the versatility of tea <3

1)       How was the name 'For Tea's Sake" chosen for the company? 

A lot of our inspiration and ethos comes down to one simple moment. Enjoying a cup of tea. It’s such a simple concept, and we loved the play on words. (For Tea’s Sake!)

2)       Do you all have a specific process for choosing your blends? 

We do a ton of research on blends, food trends, and what’s emerging in major tea markets. From there we built out our three classifications (CORE, WELLNESS & ARTISAN). Everything we create comes back to these pillars so it’s a real foundation for us. We wanted to appeal to tea consumers at all levels and each of our classes allows us to do that.

CORE – for those know what they like, and expect certain standards for their tea.

WELLNESS – for those looking to focus on the healing and wellness benefits in tea, much more health-centric

ARTISAN – big for gift giving, moments, and occasions  

We also source our tea’s from farms world-wide, ensuring everything we produce is natural (no artificial flavors), authentic, and pure. Quality is a big focus for us!

3)       If you could have tea with anyone past or present who would it be and where?

We’d love to share a cup of tea with Thomas Edition. His passion for innovation and creation is simply unparalleled. His commitment to his craft is all kinds of inspiration.

4)       How would you convince someone to switch from coffee to tea? 

We’re a big believer in education, so for us a priority is always helping our customers understand what they are putting into their bodies. The most compelling part of tea drinking for us is the range of purposes it can have in your life, it’s so versatile. It can be consumed to give you a jump start to the day or it can help you unwind and relax for a cozy night in. Not to mention it’s the second most consumed beverage in the world! We’d definitely use our knowledge to educate coffee drinkers on why they might want to consider making tea a stronger part of their routine because of the different purposes it fulfills.  That said, coffee drinkers are certainly stead-fast in their commitment, so a convert would be a big accomplishment!

5)       What is your current favorite tea blend? 

This is a tough one! One of our original blends that still delights us is SLEEP WELL. Some of us over here have becomes addicted to it nightly!!!

6)       What is your favorite part about drinking tea?

As we mentioned, definitely a fan of the versatility but we’d also call out the health & wellness benefits as being a huge plus. Every blend serves a unique and important purpose and we love being able to constantly evolve with new blend trends.  

7)What is your favorite tea pun?

How can we choose! Let’s just say it’s always a par-tea when we’re involved ;)

If you want to try this recipe using the same tea blend I did, you can use Naza15 for 15% off your first order from For Tea's Sake.

Have you tried a honey cake recipe that you loved? Share with me!

Mile High Chai Muffins

You have to Chai these!

Are you in the mood for muffins? Who am I kidding? Muffin mood is 24/7! When I received this Mile High Chai from The Tea Spot., I couldn't help but smell the spicy goodness and decide to make muffins with it!

Let's take a second to admire this gorgeous tea. This blend includes black tea, ginger root, cinnamon, allspice, peppercorn, cloves and natural chai flavoring. 

This is a very basic muffin recipe that I adapted to include tea! There were a few things that didn't go as planned and I have included them at the end of the recipe for your consideration, make sure to read the whole recipe before starting to bake! 

Ingredient list:

• 2 cups of flour
• 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar **
• 2 tablespoons of Mile High Chai
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup applesauce
• 1 egg**
• Extra raw brown sugar for sprinkling
• Paper liners **

** See notes at end of recipe 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Heat milk, add in 2 tablespoons of Mile High Chai. Let steep then drain milk. I used the insert of the brewing mug from The Tea Spot
3. Mix together all the dry ingredients
4. Lightly beat all the wet ingredients together (make sure the milk has cooled) 
5. Add wet mixture to dry mixture 
6. Mix until combined, do not over mix
7. Fill liners 3/4 full and sprinkle sugar on top
8. Bake for 15 minutes or until a toothpick or fork comes out dry when muffin is poked 

Lessons: 

1. Increase 2 tablespoons of sugar to 1/2 cup sugar
2. Either grease paper liners or use silicone baking cups 
3. Next time I might consider adding one additional egg to the recipe to make the outcome a bit more moist

I liked the idea of low sugar recipe but definitely could stand for them to be a bit sweeter, especially because these don't have frosting! 

The applesauce makes them dense but I prefer this slightly healthier option by replacing the butter. 

I liked the chai flavoring in the muffins, very subtle but adds to the spiciness. I think these tea muffins would go great with a glass of black tea! Perfect for dunking :) 

As mentioned in my notes, I didn't anticipate the batter sticking to the paper liners so much but this can always be fixed! 

Despite some of the hiccups, these turned out wonderfully. Yet again I'm reminded that tea is not just for drinking. What a wonderful item that can consumed in so many different ways. This mile high chai was especially perfect for muffins because of the ginger and peppercorn flavor in the blend, a fall fav! 

What is your favorite tea recipe?! Ill be sharing more of these types of posts so stay tuned!