Green Tea Noodle Soup
It’s National Soup Month! Is it because it’s cold or something because it was hovering around 80 here in LA for most of January…Anyway, to celebrate I’m posting soup!
Green tea noodles make this soup special. Then again so do lightsaber chopsticks.
ingredients:
1-1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon mirin
1 bundle green tea udon noodles
1/4 cup roasted chicken
2 Tablespoons edamame, shelled
2 Tablespoons sweet corn
3-4 slices kamaboko
fried nori chips
In a large pot of boiling water, cook the green tea noodles until soft, approx 6 mins. Drain (do not rinse) and set aside.
In a saucepan heat the chicken broth, soy sauce and mirin on medium high until hot.
Pour the soup into a bowl, add the noodles and top with the chicken, edamame, sweet corn, kamaboko and nori chips. The beauty of this is you can put in anything you have around. I even added two gyoza for the heck of it.
As many ingredients as this has, this is still a fairly light soup – perfect for a cold day or…an 80 degree winter day at the beach.
Mocha Matcha Cupcakes
My friend Deb is a cartoonist – her strip “Bento Box” is currently running in the Honolulu Star Advertiser. I am lucky to have friends that love comics and food as much as me and when they come bearing gifts, I always know it’s going to be good!
Back in July at SDCC Deb stopped by my table and gave me a can of Matcha cocoa. Very cool stuff! The minute she put it in my hand I knew exactly what I was going to do with it…
ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup Valrhona cocoa powder
3 Tablespoons Matcha cocoa
2 cups flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup coffee
chocolate frosting
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prep a cupcake pan with liners.
In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, matcha cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In the bowl of an electric mixer cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.
Add the eggs, one at a time. Then the vanilla.
Alternating the flour mixture and the buttermilk until combined. Add in the coffee.
Pour the batter into the prepped liners. Bake for 15-20 minutes depending on your oven. Let cool on a wire rack.
Frost with chocolate frosting and serve!
Hulk ice cream sandwiches (Green Tea Spice Cookie + Milk Chocolate ice cream)
When the I got the Marvel cookie cutters the first obvious cookie recipe that came to mind, with Hulk being green and all, was of course my matcha (green tea) sugar cookie recipe. If it was good enough for Yoda it was good enough for Hulk. But Hulk has a slight temper and I thought spicing them up would be a good bet.
Then I filled the cookies with a smooth homemade Milk Chocolate ice cream. Such a delicious combo it might even keep Bruce Banner calm as can be.
ingredients:
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
pinch of salt
1 Tablespoon matcha (green tea powder)
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 egg
Milk Chocolate Ice Cream (recipe here)
Matcha is a fine, concetrated green tea powder. You can find it in asian markets, the asian section of your grocery store, or online.
In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, salt and matcha. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the butter and sugar until combined. Add the egg and the lemon juice.
Slowly add in the flour until it is incorporated. The dough will form quickly, and when it starts to pull away from the bowl, it’s done!
Split the dough into two and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill until you are ready to use.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Prep baking sheets with silpats.
Start rolling out the dough. I use powdered sugar instead of flour so it doesn’t get that dough-y taste and the sugar adds a slight sweetness. Roll the dough to about 1/4 inch thick. The best things about these cutters is they don’t stick!
Use your cutter to cut out the shapes and transfer onto the silpat lined baking sheet.
Bake for 8-10 minutes depending on your oven. Let cool on a wire rack.
When the cookies are cooled, scoop the Milk Chocolate Ice Cream on one side (face down) of the cookie. Then press the other cookie on top to make a sandwich. Keep in the freezer until you are ready to serve!
Watermelon Ice Cream Cake
While I make my Watermelon Ice Cream Bombe on the regular, I wanted to somehow incorporate cake. My family LOVES ice cream cake.
So I made a ‘green’ base by baking a matcha (green tea) cake, and then layering it with a fresh watermelon ice cream, studded with mini chocolate chip ‘seeds’. It came out beautifully and the family loved it!
watermelon ice cream ingredients:
5 cups watermelon, cubed (will become 2 cups watermelon juice)
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1-1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup mini choco chips
In a blender, blend the cubed watermelon until it becomes fully liquid.
Pour into a cheesecloth and strain out the pulp. Keep 2 cups of pure watermelon liquid.
In a bowl mix together the watermelon liquid, sugar, lemon juice, and heavy whipping cream until the sugar is dissolved.
Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker and churn per the manufacturer’s directions. In the last 5 mins, add in the mini chocolate chips.
Keep in an airtight container in the freezer until ready to use.
matcha cake ingredients:
4 eggs, separated
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup cake flour, sifted
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon matcha powder
Pinch of salt
Matcha is a highly concentrated green tea powder, you can find it in the tea section of most asian markets. It’s…pricey. But nothing can compare. Nothing will give you a full rich taste green tea taste like powdered matcha.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prep a springform pan.
Separate the whites and the yolks. Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry and set aside. In another bowl, beat the egg yolks until light. Add the sugar and vanilla, and mix well.
In a bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, and matcha powder. Add the flour mixture to the egg yolk mixture. Fold in the egg whites.
Pour the batter into the springform pan. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until done, depending on your oven. Let cool on a wire rack.
Once the ice cream has set and the cake has cooled, now you can assemble!
Level off the cake and place it back into the springform pan. Warning, the cake may have shrunk.
Spoon the watermelon ice cream on top of the matcha cake, speading evenly.
Gently press the ice cream down to form an even layer. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the freezer until you are ready to serve.
When the cake is cut you will have sweet, delicious slices of fresh watermelon…in cake and ice cream form! Perfectly refreshing for summer!
Matcha Cookie Forest
Way back during Christmas-time (remember 4 months ago? Me either.) I wanted to make some sort of edible centerpiece for my table, something that didn’t require TONS of work like my other grandiose ideas.
Not wanting to use dye, I decided to make matcha cookies of various sizes, in the end I had enough trees for a mini cookie forest in the middle of my table!
ingredients:
matcha cookie dough (recipe, here)
chocolate cookie dough (recipe, here)
I have these cool Cuisipro holiday cookie cutters
Roll out the matcha dough and cut the cookies out in a bunch of different sizes.
Now before you put them in the oven, cut off the stumps…
And then roll out the chocolate dough, and cut ONLY the stumps. Get it? A little bit of work, but it will look cute, I promise.
Then put the chocolate stump, back onto the bottom of the match cookie. Whew! You still following me? Good.
Now bake in a 350 degree preheated oven for 8-10 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack. I deliberately singed some of them, giving them brown edges so they’d look a bit forest-like. Whether or not that worked, it certainly made them nice and crispy and easy to stand.
Once the cookies were cooled, I used some white royal icing to adhere the cookies into place on my platter. I used large and small marshmallows to help stand them up, and also sprinkled a bunch of the mini ones around the base of the trees. A little bit to look like snow but moreso for the kids to grab and eat throughout Christmas day.
This was an easy and tasty centerpiece for the holidays – but could also be used for a garden party or shower! Who wouldn’t like an edible centerpiece made out of cookies?! Maybe just for everyday use as a centerpiece on your kitchen table? Hm. Delicious.
Boba Fett Ice Cream Sandwiches
(green tea cookies + red bean ice cream)
What is a Mandalorian warrior’s favorite dessert when he goes out for Japanese food? Green tea cookies + red bean ice cream sandwiches…of course? Hm. Maybe not. But these are a good dessert in any case.
Since my kids were dressed as Boba Fett and Jango Fett for Halloween, it was a like a Fett family reunion at my house. What better way to pay homage than with a delicious cookie+ice cream dessert? What can I say – I told you I had so many more ideas for the Ultimate Star Wars Party that I threw, maybe I’ll have to do a part two electric boogaloo…
ingredients:
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1 Tablespoon matcha (green tea powder)
2 teaspoons of lemon zest
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
red bean (azuki) ice cream
This cookie recipe is the same one I used for the Yoda Oreos, except this time I’m filling it with deliciously cold, creamy, ice cream. Yum.
Matcha is a concetrated green tea powder that makes things the most perfect color of green without the dye. It’s what you’d use for green tea ice cream (recipe, here) and you can find it in asian markets, the Japanese section of your grocery store, or online.
In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, matcha and lemon zest. To me, the lemon just adds a little something, almost undetectable, yet adds so much flavor. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the butter and sugar until combined. Add the egg.
Slowly add in the flour until it is incorporated. The dough will form quickly, and when it starts to pull away from the bowl, it’s done!
Split the dough into two and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill until you are ready to use.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Prep baking sheets with silpats.
Start rolling out the dough. I use powdered sugar instead of flour so it doesn’t get that dough-y taste and the sugar adds a slight sweetness. Roll the dough to about 1/4 inch thick.
Use your cutter to cut out the shapes and transfer onto the silpat lined baking sheet.
Bake for 8-10 minutes depending on your oven. Let cool on a wire rack.
Red Bean (aka azuki) is common in Japanese desserts, most notably in mochi. It’s sweet, and full of flavor. Not at all ‘bean-y’ if that’s what you’re afraid of. In ice cream form it’s a nice subtle pinkish color. A nice offset to the green cookie.
Soften up the ice cream a bit, then place a scoop into the center of a turned over cookie (flat side up), press another cookie on top to form the ice cream sandwich.
Eat immediately or wrap in plastic wrap and keep in the freezer.
Aw, Boba Fett never looked so sweet. Perfect for a snack or an all out Star Wars Party!
Yoda Green Tea Oreos
Made for the Ultimate Star Wars party (here)
Yoda-Oreos? Yod’oreos? Yodos?
I got the cool Star Wars cookie cutters from Williams Sonoma. When I bought them the FIRST thing I thought of was making a sandwich cookie, much like the Hello Kitty Oreos I made a few months ago. I mean look at him. Yoda is just screaming to be a cream filled cookie.
I made the dough with matcha powder aka green tea – which not only added a nice flavor but the PERFECT Yoda color. If only I had made these back when I was doing WWYE:What Would Yoda Eat…himself!
ingredients (cookie):
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1 Tablespoon matcha (green tea powder)
2 teaspoons of lemon zest
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
ingredients (filling):
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Matcha is a fine, concetrated green tea powder. It’s what make green tea ice cream (recipe, here) so delicious. You can find it in asian markets, the asian section of your grocery store, or online
In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, matcha and lemon zest. To me, the lemon just adds a little something, almost undetectable, yet adds so much flavor. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the butter and sugar until combined. Add the egg.
Slowly add in the flour until it is incorporated. The dough will form quickly, and when it starts to pull away from the bowl, it’s done!
Isn’t the color LOVELY? So very Yoda. Split the dough into two and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill until you are ready to use.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Prep baking sheets with silpats.
Start rolling out the dough. I use powdered sugar instead of flour so it doesn’t get that dough-y taste and the sugar adds a slight sweetness. Roll the dough to about 1/4 inch thick.
Use your cutter to cut out the shapes and transfer onto the silpat lined baking sheet.
Bake for 8-10 minutes depending on your oven.
Let cool on a wire rack. While the cookies are cooling, start the filling.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter while carefully adding the powdered sugar. Add the vanilla and beat until creamy.
Using a piping bag or a spatula, place the filling on the (flat) side of one cookie. Use another cookie to press on top and form your ‘sandwich’.
There you have it. The most edible Jedi master in the history of Star Wars. Deliciously cute and full of sweetness!
WWYE: What would YODA eat? – Matcha roll cake
The kids are back to school and boy are they NOT feelin’ it. Every morning is a struggle, I don’t blame them, I know two weeks off is a long time AND their brand new Christmas toys are waiting at home. Still, life moves on so suck it up. You’ve got a lot of school ahead of you kids.
Not only do I have to pack the Kid’s lunch for school, but snacks too. While I am generally opposed to pre-packaged things, I do use them for the kid’s snacks, as they are individually wrapped and fairly sturdy. Once in a while I try to surprise him by putting in a little something different.
Today I made a matcha roll cake. Roll cakes are waaaay easier than you’d expect, don’t be afraid of them. This one is a green tea cake and the filling is a sweetened red bean. The cake is stunning in color, not overly sweet – and heck, doesn’t it just look like something Yoda would eat for snack??
Matcha Roll Cake recipe, here.
I like Big Bundts
Hard to believe it’s finally the end of Food Librarian’s ‘I like Big Bundts: 30 days of Bundt Cakes‘.
Yesterday she came over and dropped off the cutest little tiny bundt cake ever. It was made with my fave ingredient – mochi! Matcha Mochi Bundts, too cute! I want to slice these up and have a miniature tea party.
Check out all 30 recipes, here.
Strawberry Green Tea Cupcakes
I decided to throw together some yogurt cupcakes, but with a twist. A nice green ribbon twist to be exact. I used strawberry yogurt mixed with green tea matcha powder
I love they way they came out – and the MOST important thing – moist and tasty.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup strawberry yogurt
1/2 cup of melted butter
2 drop pink gel food food coloring
1 Tablespoon green tea matcha powder
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Tablespoon milk
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Prep a cupcake pan with liners. In a bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the eggs and sugar until well mixed. Carefully add the flour mixture. Add the yogurt – mix well. Carefully add the melted butter until stirred in.
In a small bowl, mix the powdered green tea and sugar with the milk, mixing it into a paste. (Much like you’d do for green tea ice cream…) Add 1/2 cup of cake batter until it turns a lovely green.
With the leftover batter, I add two drop of gel food coloring – pink. It gives a lovely balance to the green of the green tea. And for some reason it tricks the eye (and stomach) into believing that the taste is more ‘strawberry’. Sight is a funny thing. Now in your prepped liners, alternate the two batters by spoonful until you get to about 3/4 of the way full.
To get the nice marbled look, take a knife, toothpick, chopstick – whatever you have and make figure 8s in the batter. You’ll be surprised how well this works.
Bake for 17-20 minutes until you get a clean toothpick. Let cool on a wire rack.
Dust with powdered sugar if desired – serve.
