Mini Tea Bundt Cakes
I like little bundts.
Another installment of teas in my Sips by box! These were a special addition to my normal samples. I won't lie, I'm used to drinking and baking/cooking with loose leaf tea only. I'm sometimes a little snobby when it comes to loose leaf vs. tea bags BUT to each their own! I would normally use the milk or butter to infuse the loose leaf tea but since the tea in the bags is already ground I decided on a cake that I could thrown all of the tea into!
I recently found mini bundt pans at marshalls and thought that they would be the perfect way to make a cake but have it be special in it's own way.
I'm not a fan of licorice but the combination of these two flavors really have a wonderful fragrance which comes through wonderfully in the cake while it's baking and when it comes out of the oven.
This tea was pretty well ground but if you open the tea bags and there are any large pieces make sure to crush them up so that you're not getting a lot of crunch factor in your cake. You want the tea to be there visually and for taste but not to physically chew it up.
An important note for using these pans, you have to do something with them or the batter will stick. I've seen people use parchment paper but I opted to use my misto to spray with olive oil and then flour them. Make sure to knock off excess flour because it will stick to the cake.
Most things I bake taste pretty good but they're not always "magazine ready." This is a perfect example lol. I filled my tins almost to the top because I wanted to get as much cake as I could. They turned out fin but they don't really have a flat bottom so if you care about that make sure you don't fill the tin too high.
See the white on my cakes, that means I needed to knock off a little more flour. It didn't interfere with the flavor but here is a lesson! Especially if you're over concerned with how they look, make sure to have a thin layer of flour. You can however always cover it with glaze :)
I made my glaze pretty thick but thin enough to drizzle. If it's too thin it won't solidify but this part is completely up to you. I put 2 cups of confectioner's sugar in my recipe but use as much as you want to get desired consistency. MAKE SURE YOUR BUNDTS ARE COOL BEFORE GLAZING!!! Or else it will melt into your cakes.
These tasted fine the next day but oh my gosh they tasted SO GOOD warm. The cake is thick but soft and the tartness of the glaze goes so well with the licorice and cinnamon in the cake.
I want to get all sorts of bundt pans and try these! Do you have a favorite bundt pan?!
Matcha Swiss Roll With Almond Cream
Matcha Roll.
Another matcha recipe, are you surprised ?! So, I've been hooked on The Great British Baking Show recently and it's been giving me all sorts of recipe inspiration. One of the first episodes they made a "swiss roll" which is essentially a cake rolled around delicious cream! We get these all the time from the Iranian bakery near my house and I've always referred to them as roulette. These have so many styles but the essential idea is the same!
The trickiest part about this roll as I saw on the show and experienced when baking it, is getting it the right size, thickness and texture. On the show they referred to the roll as a "sponge." Well, I felt the pressure of the baking show when I made my first sponge because it was HORRIBLE! It didn't really rise and was not spongy at all.
The second time I changed up my ingredients and added honey. I also used cake flour which I think helped a lot. I spread it a bit too thin but it was still soft and delicious! In my directions I note to spread it but not too thin so you can have a thicker roll :) It's really important to roll up the sponge while it's hot so it will roll easier when it's time to spread on the filling!
If you remember I made almond cupcakes with matcha frosting recently and I LOVED the flavor combo. I decided to recreate that flavor combination in a different way. Not only did I add almond emulsion in the heavy cream but I decided to toast some almonds for the top. This gives the soft sponge some crunch! The almonds can also help cover up a not so great piping job :)
Even though I spread mine thinner than I wanted to, it was wonderfully tender. It also rolled really well!
My advice:
- Make sure your batter is well beaten and mixed before adding in the flour. The green color of the batter should get lighter.
- Make sure that you check your roll while it's in the oven. It will spring back slightly when it's ready. If you let it go too long it will be dry. This is especially important with a matcha flavored cake because the color isn't light so it's harder to tell when it's done.
I used some lovely culinary matcha from Mizuba Tea Co. for the roll and it was delicious! Keep your eye out for one more recipe with this matcha that I think you will love!
The best part about this combo is that the matcha flavor comes through really well. The cake and the heavy cream together are the perfect amount of sweetness.
Keep your heavy cream cool! It will make everything easier :)
Have you made matcha swiss roll? What is your favorite matcha flavored sweet?!
Sencha Ahi Tuna
I've noticed that green and puerh teas have such a rich and often earthy flavor so they pair so well with savory dishes. If you remember my Gyokuro Shrimp recipe, this is a similar idea but with some different spices and a longer marinating time. Tuna steaks are often seared quickly both sides and enjoyed with a somewhat rare inside. The key to this recipe for me is the hours it is marinated.
My marinade is fairly liquid due to the tea and lemon juice so the tuna is literally soaking it all up. Even if you cook these steaks to be rare or medium rare that meat will have the delicious flavor of the marinade packed into it.
I decided that I would go with tart and spicy on this marinade with the lemon juice, peel, fresh garlic and ginger. I also used a little bit of basil to cool it down, especially if you choose to use some red pepper flakes like I did.
I've recently been watching The Great British Baking show and one episode they had to make tea loaves. I thought this was fun because I had recently made tea infused bread (recipe coming soon). I was shocked when one of the judges said that he was impressed with everyone's bread because tea is a difficult ingredient to incorporate into baked goods and food. EXCUSE ME? If you've noticed that my blog has been dominated by recipes lately it's because I'm here to prove that notion wrong!
When I think of a recipe, it's basically anything that includes water or an ingredient of some sort that I can either use tea as a substitute or brew the tea into the ingredient. Marinades are often liquid so I simply brew my desired tea and use some of it to marinade the tea! You can also use the entire leaves as well as the brew but it's important to pay attention to how bitter the tea will become. Give the leaves a taste before you incoporate them into the dish.
I grew up brewing tea not paying any attention to brewing times. Persians like their tea dark, or at least my family did and it was always more about color and aroma than how long it had been brewing. Green teas are different. As a general rule, you should follow brewing times carefully so that your tea does not become so bitter, especially if you are using it for food!
The first brew time suggested 60 seconds which is what I followed. I think that because the meat is raw, it's better if you allow it to cool before adding it to the marinade. If you add hot tea in right away you risk the heat from the tea cooking the ingredients as well as the meat while it marinades.
Instead of plopping the tuna into the marinade I think it will turn out better if you really soak the tuna. I spooned the liquid over the meat a few times and made sure some of the spices were sitting on top of the tuna. In my directions I mention turning over the tuna during the marinade time, don't forget to spoon the liquid over the tuna again at that point.
I think the tuna turned out delicious but I didn't SEAR it like you see in many recipes because I poured the marinade over the tuna in the pan. If you want a crisper outside, simply place the tuna into the hot pan without the liquid!
We enjoyed these steaks with sushi rice and some baked green beans. I have made this sushi rice recipe many times and it's so easy to follow. I only suggest using 1 tablspoon of sugar instead of 3...unless you like super sweet sushi rice!
Bon Appétit !
I would LOVE to know if you try this recipe, feel free to leave me a comment or shoot me an email :)
Tiramisu Truffles
Unicorn Truffles.
If you saw my post about the Sips by subscription box, know that I have a bunch of interesting teas to work with! Although truffles are pretty simple and classic, I couldn't resist using the Pinky Up Tiramisu blend to make truffles. With black tea, cocoa, white chocolate, cinnamon and a few coffee beans, how could I not make truffles?!
These take time to make due to refrigeration time but they are so so simple! What you end up with is a perfectly chocolate packed little ball. The tiramisu tea adds that black tea flavor and the cinnamon is an excellent addition to this classic dessert.
Lesson Learned: Chop, chop chop that chocolate up! I'm not sure what I was thinking leaving it that large. smaller pieces will melt a lot easier and your mixing arm will thank you!
Rolling: Even though the truffle mixture had been in the refrigerator for hours and had solidified, it melted FAST! I would suggest cooling whatever instrument you use to scoop out the balls to help slow the melting a little bit.
When choosing your rolling topping, I think you should be a little adventurous! Cocoa is a very common coating but these truffles are hardcore chocolate flavored. Adding in a different type of coating gives them more depth in the flavor department.
As you can see I used some fun sprinkles to roll the majority of my truffles. These are of course from my favorite sprinkle shop, Tiny Kitchen Treats! She not only makes fun names for all of her sprinkles but they actually TASTE good. They taste real. A lot of sprinkles I've bought from the store have a strange flavor to them.
The tiramisu tea was excellent in these truffles, it was almost like biting into a piece of tiramisu. Flavors were more dominated by chocolate but the notes of coffee were there. This blend has both black tea and coffee so it smells AMAZING and your truffles will hold that aroma as well. Make sure that when you're heating the cream with the tea that you let it get hot enough that the cream is actually brewing the tea or the entire addition of the tea is pointless.
If you could roll your truffles in whatever flavor you wanted, what would it be?!
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??!
Sips by Tea Subscription Box
Sips on Sips.
One of the best parts of joining the world of tea is realizing that I'm not alone!! Growing up a tea drinker in the US was often lonely. My friends would get so excited to go to starbucks and I would dread it because tea bags can't hold a candle to my beloved loose leaf. I've tried to like coffee, but it doesn't suit me. Then I became a tea blogger...
There are so many wonderful bloggers and businesses who are run by their passion for tea, like me! It seems like I can't even go a few days without discovering someone new. Most recently I've collaborated with Sips by and It's been awesome!
When you sign up for a Sips by account or login with facebook you will be asked about your tea preferences and what I loved about it was how comprehensive it was. It not only asks about teas but also about flavors. If you have a strong preference against a certain flavor for example (fruity for me!) you can note that and it won't be in your box. Meaning you won't get any teas you don't like! Yay!
After speaking with Staci, one of the founders of Sips by, I found out there is also a human element to the creation and choosing of the samples. The algorithm that uses your preferences to make tea decisions is just a baseline. Sips by will also look at these results and make sure they are accurate to the flavor profiles.
As someone who loves dark sweet teas I was SO happy with my box selections! Tiramisu black tea?? Are you kidding me?? YUM!
I got 2 black teas, one green tea and a pu er tea! This was a jackpot especially because I've recently fallen in love with Pu-er tea and I've never tried a sencha before.
Probably one of the best parts about Sips by is the true partnership between these brands. Once you are a subscriber you have access to coupons to their brand partners! Let's pretend you got your box and loved a tea blend in it, you can get yourself another batch of it at a discount, just for being a subscriber. How cool is that?
I'm glad I got this excellent haul from Sips by and boy oh by is it tea time! If you're a tea lover it's definitely time to check this company out! Look out for some fun recipe collaborations between Sips by and Tea Thoughts coming your way soon :)
You will get 4 personalized teas a month that will make 15 cups of tea (or 45 re steeped) for only $15 ! Start your subscription with Sibs by today!
Green Tea Kale
Kale Tea.
Every time I cook or bake something I like to see if there is a way to incorporate one of the many teas in my cabinet! Basically anytime there is a recipe that has milk, water or butter, there is a simple way to incorporate the tea!
I got this Kenya Green Kapchorua tea in my Tea Tim Box. When I first sampled the taste I knew it would be great for cooking. It's low in caffeine and high in Antioxidants!
I started eating kale in college after I watched a TED Talk about how kale is great food for your mitochondria. Because the mitochondria are the power houses of the cells, it's important that they get something nutritious so that they work well. Kale was difficult to get used to at first but overtime I found out that it really soaks up the flavor of whatever you cook it in.
I usually add a broth of some sort to the kale to help it cook through and soften. I decided that instead of adding broth, I would add brewed tea and it would have the same effect. It was a huge success!
Not only is this a fun way to consume tea but its also an easy way to enjoy both the health benefits of tea and kale at the same time!
Just like broth, the tea gave the kale a flavor boost and made it much easier to stomach. Kale gets a bad reputation because of its texture but when prepared well, I think it's very similar to spinach, which I love!
Trader Joe's sells kale already chopped and it's really easy to separate the leaves from the thick stems. I've never really been able to enjoy the stems so I stick with the leaves!
The combination of sauteed garlic and tea bring out this powerfully savory flavor in the kale. I added mushrooms to my dish because I love them with kale but feel free to add your favorite pairing. I would choose something that can cook fairly quickly.
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 :)
Green Tea Shrimp
Green Tea For Dinner.
I've been sitting on this Gyokuro imperial sample from Zhi Tea for a while, not knowing if I wanted to just taste it as is or be a little more adventurous. One Thing that was mentioned by several people on my 2017 Tea Thoughts survey was that it would be fun if I incorporated tea into food! I created a marinade/sauce for green tea shrimp using the Gyokuro!
After taking in the aroma of the Gyokuro I knew that it would be great in a savory dish. After researching a bit I also found out that green tea is often used in seafood dishes!
Gyokuro is a special tea. The name of the tea means jade dew and it is a very high grade tea. I learned that like Matcha, Gyokuro is grown in the shade which increases it's nutritional benefits. This similarity to Matcha gave me an idea about the recipe.
Matcha differs from other teas because the leaves are ground up and you are actually ingesting all parts of the tea as opposed to brewing and throwing out the leaves. That is why I decided to not only include the brewed tea in the recipe but the leaves as well! Double the power of the tea!
I've created a simple graphic to help you create the sauce to cook the shrimp in!
This is a very simple sauce and I will also go through the process of cooking it with other ingredients but feel free to cook with it however you'd like! For this recipe I bought large raw shrimp.
I decided to use yellow and orange peppers as well as asparagus. I chopped up all of these ingredients as well as some garlic.
Heat about 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet on medium heat, once hot, throw in the garlic and let it simmer. Once the garlic is browned or has become aromatic, add in the raw shrimp. Stir the shrimp until it becomes slightly colored.
Add in all of your vegetables and stir with the shrimp. Pour the sauce over the shrimp and vegetables. Make sure that it is all mixed in and covered well.
Cover your skillet with a lid and turn it to low. Let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes checking on the shrimp to make sure it's not overdone. To check to see if the shrimp is done, cut it open and make sure it's opaque.
This pairs really well with garlic jasmine rice. I have been making this recipe a lot and it was all inspired by a blue apron diner we tried!
This combination was so good because there is a lot of sauce in the shrimp and veggie skillet to pour over your rice. I suggest serving rice and adding a bit of the sauce and sesame seeds. Top it all off with shrimp and veggies! The green tea tastes great with shrimp! Do you incorporate tea in your recipes?