Darjeeling Pusheen Pops

Pusheen Pops!

If you've followed me on instagram you probably know that I'm a pusheen fan! In the summer pusheen box, I got a bunch of cool items including super cute popsicle molds! On the same day I also go my monthly Sipsy by box and knew that I HAD to create another popsicle recipe. I love the way black tea popsicles so I chose this Darjeeling from Harney & Sons. 

I wanted to give the popsicles a bit of "spice" so I decided on fresh cinnamon and to sweeten them a bit I also added rock sugar. This is an optional part of the recipe and you can put as little or as much as you'd like depending on how sweet you want the popsicles. 

These molds are BPA free but they are made of plastic so you want to make sure your tea is cool before pouring teas into the molds. 

I filled these up not all the way to the top so there is space to pour some milk in later on! 

I kept checking on these and when they were semi frozen I poured a splash of milk in each one. You can kind of see the streaks of white on the pops! I added milk to give these a bit of a creamy taste so they aren't just frozen ice. 

Are these not the cutest popsicle molds??! 

Not advertising for pusheen box, I just loved what I got so much! Not pictured, pusheen ice pack, backpack, vinyl figure, luggage tag and passport holder!

Sage Rose White Rolled Ice Cream

Rose Roll Up. 

I had a familiar friend on the menu recently, Sage Rose White from Wight Tea Co! I used this tea in a post a while ago. This tea is so nice because it's light and floral thanks to the white tea and rose, it also has such a wonderful fragrance!

I know and love Wight Tea Co so much and was super excited that they are now a brand partner with Sipsby!  I mean, check out this tea. It is BEAUTIFUL! P.s. You can use code teathoughts to get 50% your first box! 

This tea is also delicate, so make sure to not over brew it. I have in my instructions to let it sit in the heated milk and cream for 2 minutes. Usually when I cook with teas, I like to increase the brewing time to make sure that the flavor or the tea can withstand any cooking but there is no cooking required in this recipe.   

A while ago I saw a bunch of videos of "rolled ice cream." The ice cream masters (this is my nickname for them) would mix your flavors of ice cream with whatever toppings on a freezing cold flat surface then spread the ice cream very thin and shave it off with what looks like a paint scraper. Of course, I thought that 1) I wanted that ice cream and 2) I bet I can remake it! 

From what I've seen this is a traditional Thai dessert so I did some research to see if the ice cream was made a certain way. I saw a bunch of diy recipes and they all seemed to look like regular ice cream ingredients so I followed suit. 

Next, I decided on salted pistachios. It took me a LONG time to decide on what to incorporate into this ice cream. The tea already has such a wonderful flavor and I didn't want to put something like cookies or chocolate into it and overpower the tea. I had some salted pistachios at home and my Persian roots decided that pistachios and rose make a lovely combo.

I've had salted caramel and also butter pecan which can sometimes have a slight salt flavor from the pecans and I love those both. I thought, why not the same thing with pistachios?! 

When you look at the recipe below you'll see that it's very simple but the rolling part was a challenge for me! I used a regular spatula but next time I want to go out and get something very thin like a paint scraper. If you look at the "roll" on the left, that was my first attempt and the one on the right is my second which came out much better! Some advice about rolling: Be confident in your roll and don't do it too slow because I think that gives the ice cream time to break. 

This is definitely an eat immediately dessert! I wanted to give a few notes about the Almond milk and cream. I used almond milk because it's what I had and wanted to test it out but the cream definitely is the main flavor. This was very creamy and delicious which I love but I think it's totally possible to substitute the cream with coconut milk to get the same consistency but with less cream and no dairy!  

In most cases I've seen the rolls topped with other ingredients like sprinkles, hot fudge etc but I decided to keep this plain and the salted pistachios are DIVINE! What flavors would you like to get on your rolled ice cream?! 

Golden Milk Tea Pops

Gold pops.

Golden milk is all the rage thanks to turmeric! Turmeric is known to have many health benefits, including decreasing inflammation within the body which is important for so many reasons. Growing up in a Persian family, I never drank turmeric as a drink but it's a central ingredients in most dishes and has always been apart of my diet. My favorite ways to cook with turmeric are including it with rice and on meat. 

Turmeric on it's own is a very strong flavor so it makes total sense to make tea blends or to make it with milk! When I got this Turmeric Tonic from the Tea Spot in my sipsby box it was a no brainer to create fun pops with it! 

This is a super basic recipe where you infuse the tea into coconut milk, freeze and tada! While the tea is infusing into the coconut milk that is your chance to put any sweetener you'd like into the mixture if you'd like any. 

To spice these popsicles up I melted a little chocolate as a topping and it was a delicious addition to the popsicles! Make sure to let the melted chocolate cool a tiny bit and that you are only putting them on popsicles right out of the freezer. The chocolate will harden on the popsicle and they are perfect to serve immediately! 

Fruity Black Tea Pops

Berry Delicious!

When it comes to tea pops, you can get really versatile! I've tried a bunch of different flavors and decided to try one of my favorites, black tea!

I was thrilled to try the liquid leaf house breakfast tea and use it in these tea pops! This tea is in tea bags so it's much easier to brew the tea and include it in the tea pops. 

When I make a smoothies I usually add in some sort of liquid or yogurt and for these pops I just replace that with brewed tea. I used two tea bags where I would normally use one because I don't want the black tea flavor to get lost in the strong fruit flavors. 

I used a blender because frozen fruit is so much easier to work with once it's blended. I love to use mixed berries and a banana for sweetener. 

This mixture comes out pretty thick and is very fruity tasting but with a hint of the black tea flavor. 

Chai Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Sandwiches

Dairy Free!

I'll be honest, I don't usually post dairy free or gluten free recipes because it's not something that is part of my diet and my family and I are the ones who eat the end products of these blog posts. BUT, I found an easy dairy free ice cream recipe and decided to give it a try :) 

The Chai Box sent me this blend called sweet monsoon and I was so intrigued because there are mango and coconut pieces in it! A fun twist on traditional chai. 

It's a beautiful and fragrant blend!  Opening the package I was engulfed in the sweet aroma of the blend and it was teasing me throughout the whole ice cream making process!

You may have noticed I used the entire sample of the blend in my recipe because I wanted the flavor to stick out among the coconut milk and cashews which can be overpowering! 

I don't have a fancy or high powered blender but it worked fine! I suggest crushing up the cashews a bit first then adding in the other ingredients. The cashews should be soaked overnight so they are soft and shouldn't be a problem to blend. 

Do you see the frost on the container? I like to freeze the container beforehand to speed up the process of the ice cream making. I don't have an ice cream maker to use and my process is noted in the recipe below but if you have an ice cream maker this recipe is even easier!

I HAD to roll the sides of the sandwich in chocolate chips because it reminded me of the chipwiches you get from the icecream truck! I made these chocolate chip cookies but you could easily just buy chocolate chip cookies for this purpose. 

It's best if you let these sit out for a few minutes to let them soften. After assembling each sandwich I wrapped it in plastic wrap and kept it in the freezer so when you first take it out it will be hard. Once the ice cream softens a bit it has a similar texture to regular ice cream. 

The chai adds a wonderful flavor to the cashews. If you're not a fan of cashews this may not be the recipe for you because there is definitely a strong flavor of cashews that comes through.

 Coconut and cashews is such a delicious combination, I will definitely be making this again! Have you ever tried dairy free ice cream? 

Oolong Granita

Shaved tea!

Granita is a classically Italian ice dessert that is similar to sorbet but made by hand and therefore flakier. The granita I made kinda reminded of the "shaved ice" we use to get as kids but instead of being flavored with artificial sugar color, it's flavored with delicious Shangri-La oolong from Nepal Tea! 

It's summer so the majority of my Sips by teas are going to be turned into some sort of cool treat! 

The Shangri- La oolong is described as "spicy" and full bodied so I decided to add some cardamom pods to intensify the flavor but in a sweeter way. Green cardamom pods are so easy to incorporate into teas. For a stronger flavor, crack open the pods and throw them in the brewing tea. It will get strained anyway so no harm done if seeds sneak out of the pods!

It's important to use a container that is able to go in the freezer without cracking. I bought this glass bread pan from the grocery store and it can handle both hot and cold! I let the tea cool down in this dish. 

I wasn't able to get good photos of the progress but basically if you check on the granita every 20-30 minutes you will see it starting to harden. Make sure to push the edges of the granita into the center every time you check on it. 

What this will do is start creating the flaky type texture you see here. After there is no water left and all of the granita is frozen, scoop it out and enjoy! I missed a few chunks that were larger and they froze but I was able to run a fork along the chunks to shave them down. 

Do you have a favorite summer recipe that you want me to incorporate tea into? Share with me in the comments or contact me!

Tea Pop Sampler!

Creamy Pops. 

In my last Sips By box I received two different chai teas. I was so excited because the flavors in "chai" are amazing. I love the combination of spices used. I was really excited because these chais were slightly different and it gave me an idea...a sampler! 

I had a chai blend from Cozy Leaf and also another tea blend called white chocolate samoa that I added to the sampler. 

Here are the 4 teas I used. I used 2 teaspoons of each tea. I think if you use a tablespoon the pops will taste even better!

1. Cozy Leaf Country Chai Spice

2. Zhi Tea Cacai Chai

3. Rishi Masala Chai

4. The Necessiteas White Chocolate Samoa

Although chais tend to have similar characteristics, each of the 3 chais I used have something that stands out. The Zhi Tea has Peruvian cacao nibs, the masala has black pepper that is very prevalent in the flavor and the cozy leaf has anise! 

I added in the White chocolate samoa because it has coconut, caramel, and chocolate which I think can compliment the other 3 chai teas well without straying too much from the classic chai flavor. 

With these simple popsicles, feel free to add toppings or things to dip them in. I added coconut to some and also melted some salted dark chocolate to dip the popsicles in!

The milk in these blends gives the popsicles a creamy and more substantial taste than if it was the brewed tea alone. I think you easily substitute cow's milk here for any other type of milk you like. 

Each of these popsibles had their own flavor. As shown in the photos above, they all had different colors. I liked them each individually for different reasons but I think the Rishi tea was my favorite because of it's spicy flavor. It was a bit heavier than the other popsicles and I loved it! 

I had 8 mold and the tea was enough to fill 2 molds. I have to say that covering the popsicles in coconut flakes was my favorite. The white chocolate samoas had coconut in them but still taste great with a boost of coconut. 

Next up...boozy popsicles! What are your favorite types of popsicles?!

Bangkok Popsicles

Bang! 

May's Sips by box has some delicious tea in it! It's been super hot since I got home from my trip to Italy and I thought that tea popsicles were the perfect solution! The Bangkok tea blend from Harney & Son's that was in my box has green tea, coconut, ginger and vanilla. Um.....can you say YUM or what?! These are all light, summer time flavors in my opinion that would go perfect as a popsicle. 

Part of me wanted to just brew this tea, let it cool and then freeze them because it has so many wonderful flavors. BUT, I decided that I needed to add one ingredient to spice things up.   

I chose cardamom because it's not only fragrant but also very flavorful. I used to eat these sugar candies that had whole cardamom seeds in them and they were one of my favorite things to have with tea! Even though cardamom is potent I think it goes well with a lot of different flavors. 

I've seen so many posts about ice cream that have fancy styled shots and I was on the hunt for popsicle sticks and metal molds. My local grocery store didn't have what I was looking for but something even better! These colorful popsicle molds are so cute AND do you see that straw? You can sip the melting popsicle so it doesn't run into your hand, it's awesome!

I let my tea brew for a bit longer than I said in the recipe and they were quite potent but I liked them. I wanted to make sure that they got a nice color because splitting the tea between all these mold would certainly weaken the flavor. 

These are great ice pops, they have a wonderful flavor and aren't heavy. The only thing I didn't like which I'll have to find a solution for is that the bottom of the mold and what turned out to be the top of the popsicle were much more flavorful than the rest of the popsicle. 

I've been enjoying these the past few nights and really like how light and refreshing they are. I didn't use very much honey but they still have sweetness to them to make them feel like dessert. 

Watch out for another ice cream/popsicle recipe coming very soon! Do you have a favorite tea pop?!

Peach Matcha Cake

Peachy Cake.

Are you sick of the matcha recipes yet? I don't think I ever will be! Something new I've come across is flavored matcha! The Matcha Reserve provided some peach matcha to experiment with. 

I was a little skeptical at first about flavored matcha. Matcha is known for it's health benefits so the idea of adding flavor worried me a bit. I was pleased to find out that the flavoring is natural and sugar free! What the flavoring did do was add a wonderful fragrance and taste.  

I used a very basic cake recipe here because I wanted the peach flavors to come through really well. I placed almonds on top of the heavy cream in the center and on top but that could easily be replaced with fresh fruit to pair with the peach flavor!

My parchment paper wasn't smooth around the edges to give the cake a little texture. If you want them perfectly round you can follow this tutorial on cutting the parchment paper or simple butter and then flour the pans, making sure to tap off excess flour. 

As you probably can tell I'm very fond of almonds. As mentioned before, I think fresh fruit would also go well in the middle. The cake was very tender and what the almonds do is give the cake a nice crunch. 

On top, I was more delicate with the almonds. I tried to sprinkle them gently and some ended up sticking up which I really liked the look of. This matcha is so good I sifted some extra powder on top of the cake. Not only does this give you an extra punch of matcha but also a lovely aroma of peach for the whole cake!

The heavy cream was not super binding but it did the job. It almost turned out like a matcha sandwich! 

What I really enjoyed about this flavored matcha was that the peach flavor wasn't overbearing. It lightened the taste of the matcha which is nice because matcha can often have a heavy flavor. Peach flavor is such a wonderful summer flavor and as summer approaches, you want this cake in your oven! 

The matcha reserve has 8 different flavors to choose from. You can find flavors from peppermint to blueberry! I think any of their flavors would taste great tn this cake! You can use code NAZANINMATCHA for 15% off your purchase on the matcha reserve website. 

Puerh Raspberry Jam

Tea Jam. 

I always get a lot of questions about how I choose my recipes. Sometimes it's a random guess or an experience I've had before but most of the time I look at the ingredients in the tea. One thing I love about the Sips by box is that it came with a card that describes the teas, their flavors and sometimes what they go well with!

The rain butter tea as notes of macadamia and hazelnuts and for some reason I thought that would pair well with raspberries! 

I had continually seen people making jam on The great British Baking Show and wanted to give it a try. My favorite fruit and jam flavor is raspberry. Jam is pretty simple to make so I decided to use the brewed pu'erh tea as the "water" that I add to the fruit. 

The result was delicious! This is not very sweet jam although you can make it sweeter by adding more sugar. I like how rich the flavor is. The tart raspberries and the tea make the perfect jam that is right in the middle on the sweet and savory scale. 

Mr. Tea Thoughts likes to put jam in his oatmeal and LOVED this flavor because it was still sweet enough to cut the oatmeal but not super sweet. 

Very simple recipe and one that you can make over and over to fill your summer with jam!