Showing posts with label matcha. Show all posts
Showing posts with label matcha. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 3, 2017
matcha buttermilk chess pie
matcha buttermilk chess pie
Last October, I dragged Erlend out to Gowanus to pick up a couple slices of pie from Four & Twenty Blackbirds. It was my first time at the pie shop, missing previous opportunities to go there (first when it was closed for the holidays, second when I had to abandon a Brooklyn breakfast crawl early to catch my flight). From the outside, the bakery lived up to its hype, with its mismatching tables and chalkboard menu giving it a twee, cozy vibe.
Because it was October and no fruits were really in season, they didn't have too many fruit pies to offer. Instead, they had a handful of buttermilk custard based pies, including a matcha buttermilk pie. Matcha (that is, green tea powder) is one of my favorite ingredients to bake with as it can give classic baked goods an interesting, unique twist (case in point: this recipe for matcha marble pound cake, or these matcha white chocolate macadamia cookies). It can be tricky to work with though — too much can make desserts too bitter, too umami (sometimes it can taste like seaweed!), and too little can be bland.
I'm sorry to report that, despite the brilliant green color of Four and Twenty Blackbirds' matcha pie, all three of us (Erlend, my friend Julie, and myself) found the pie too flavorless. There was no hint of matcha flavor in the custard at all — it seemed like Four and Twenty had played it too safe and ended up with a custard that was too bland. I returned back to San Francisco with a new goal of trying to create my own matcha buttermilk pie that would live up to my standards.
It took a few tries to get the recipe right. I first started experimenting with the buttermilk chess pie recipe in their cookbook, assuming that this was the recipe that they'd created their matcha pie with (though they also had a chamomile buttermilk pie recipe that the matcha pie could have been based on, so maybe I'm just flat-out wrong, which would make this entire post moot... but whatever).
The first iteration turned out to be... fine, just fine. The custard, which I'd spiked with three tablespoons of matcha, was far more flavorful than the version I'd had in their shop. The bigger problem was the crust. Since I'd recently discovered the magic of lard pie crusts, I'd foolishly decided to use one as a base for the matcha custard pie and it just didn't work. Together, the custard and the lard crust was almost... savory. Blegh.
So for the second iteration, I went with an all-butter crust. Even though I'm still a bigger fan of lard crust ('cuz even despite the icky factor, they're seriously much easier to work with), the all-butter crust's flavor and richness complemented the matcha custard far better. The weird, savory taste was completely gone.
But interestingly enough, the all-butter crust highlighted some problems in the matcha custard that I hadn't noticed before when it was paired with the lard crust. The original recipe from the cookbook uses both sour cream and vinegar (for some reason), both of which were overpowering the delicate flavor of the matcha. Not wanting to add more matcha, I decided to replace the sour cream with crème fraîche (its much milder sibling) and omit the vinegar entirely. And BOOM. Third time around, I think I nailed it.
So without further ado, the recipe for the matcha buttermilk pie Four and Twenty Blackbirds should be serving. No need to trek out to New York, no need to trek out to Gowanus. Their same pie, just better, fresher, and homemade.
You're welcome.
Some baker's notes:
- Matcha is available online, or in Asian grocery stores and specialty tea shops. Matcha tends to come in two different grades — ceremonial or culinary. Don't go for the ceremonial variety; it's used in traditional Japanese tea ceremonies and made with young tea leaves that give it a much more delicate flavor than the culinary variety. Plus, it's significantly more expensive too. Stick with the culinary grade!
- In general, when baking a pie with a liquid-based filling (like custard or cream), you'll need to "pre-bake" the pie beforehand. Pre-baking, also known as "blind baking", basically gives the crust the additional baking time that it needs to turn into the crispy and flaky pie crust that we all know and love, since custards and creams usually don't need as long to bake. Also, pre-baking helps to prevent the pie crust from getting soggy, which is incredibly important — you don't want a sad, soggy-bottomed pie! Unfortunately, pre-baking also sucks up a crazy amount of time since there are a ton of steps that require working the dough and letting it rest appropriately. Whenever I bake a pie, I always break it up into three days. If I want a pie by the weekend that has a crust that needs prebaking, I make the pie crust on Thursday night (and let the dough rest overnight), roll it out on Friday night (and let the shaped and fitted dough rest overnight), and finish it up (pre-baking, making the custard, and baking one last time) on Saturday. It sounds like a marathon, I know, but for somebody like me who works a full-time job in addition to blogging, I find that it actually gives me more time back for the weekend.
- Also, to prebake the pie, you'll need some sort of pie weight to hold the crust down during its first bake. You can buy classic pie weights, or, if you don't want to spend money on something so specialized, you can substitute with a heat-conductive material liked beans or rice. The beans/rice will get a little toasty in the oven, but will still be edible!
- It took me many, many, MANY times filled with trial and error until I finally got comfortable with making pie crusts and started getting the results I wanted. This recipe for salty honey pie from last year contains a great summary of all my best pie baking tips — it's worth a read if you're embarking on one of my pie recipes, helping you understand why I'm so persnickety about the temperature of the ingredients and why I do things the way that I do.
Available link for download
Thursday, April 20, 2017
matcha egg cream
matcha egg cream
With the world warming up, it's probably a good plan for us to find other ways to cool down besides air conditioning, ice cream, and swimming pools. I mean, nothing against any of those things, I'm just saying that we give ourselves more options since it looks like we're in this for the long haul, ya know? And more options are always good, especially if they're different and exciting like this matcha egg cream:
If you shuddered at the words "egg" and "cream" brought together in such a cavalier fashion, you are not alone. Because gross! A drink containing an egg and, well, cream? No thank you. But fortunately, an egg cream doesn't actually contain either of those ingredients and instead consists of milk, chocolate syrup, and carbonated water. It's basically chocolate milk, but with some bubbly water to give it a little bit of a fizz. Apparently it originated in Brooklyn, but nobody really actually knows because that's how these things go.
And if you're wondering why my egg cream doesn't look like chocolate milk at all, it's because I kinda went all rogue and made a matcha variation. All you need to do is combine some green tea powder, whole milk, and sweetened condensed milk in a mason jar and give it a good shake, shake, SHAKE:
At this point, the mixture will be a pretty pale green — you're basically making matcha milk. Pour the milk out into ice-filled glasses, and top with fizzy water. BOOM! Matcha egg cream.
The recipe comes from Food with Friends, a new cookbook celebrating the art of, well, eating food with friends. I've been a fan of Leela Cyd's work for the Kitchn and various blogs for so long, and her cookbook is another example of her awesome work. The food is whimsical and fun, and this matcha egg cream is no exception.
featured:
food with friends cookbook || weck juice jar || weck tulip jar || ball mason jar
crate and barrel harry rocks glasses
Some baker's notes:
- Matcha is a vivid green powder made from compressed green tea leaves; you can also use it to make green tea, matcha lattes, and of course, baked goods. Matcha usually has a "grade", which is determined by the age of the leaf that is milled for the tea. Ceremonial grade matcha is made with younger leaves are more delicate and flowery, and ultimately used for traditional tea ceremonies in Japan. As a result, it is very expensive. I would recommend getting culinary grade matcha, which isn't as delicate (quite frankly, ceremonial grade matcha will probably have too delicate of a flavor for baking), but is within a more reasonable price point. It is available online, specialty tea stores, and some Asian super markets.
- If you're working with especially cold ingredients, it might take a little bit for the matcha to fully dissolve and integrate with the rest of the ingredients. If you're lazy like me, you can get around this by using a fine-mesh strainer to remove any clumps. If you're a big planner, combine the whole milk and matcha in a small pot and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Transfer to a mason jar and cool to room temperature, before refrigerating until chilled and then following Leela's original recipe.
Available link for download
Friday, February 17, 2017
Matcha and Pistachio Cookies
Matcha and Pistachio Cookies
Today February 19 is Chinese New Year. Happy New Year to all my readers who are celebrating. May this year of the Goat or Sheep bring you lots of happiness, health and prosperity. I decided to make some cookies for the occasion as I am going out for a celebratory meal with some friends so I wanted to make little gift bags. These are not traditional chinese new year cookies but I thought they would suit the occasion. Its a recipe that I saw online and I was intrigued by the flavour combination of matcha and pistachio. I also wanted something that was easy to transport and give as gifts.
I love this recipe as its so quick and easy to make and the results are fantastic. Its a mix all in one recipe (with a food processor) and you can keep the dough in the fridge until you are ready to bake. You can also freeze the dough and bake cookies when needed. I added a sprinkling of sesame seeds for aesthetic reasons and was really pleased with how it turned out. I also experimented with chia seeds but the sesame seeds looked better.
The cookies are really buttery and crunchy and the predominant flavour is of the matcha powder. The pistachio complements the green tea flavour well and added a layer of texture to the cookie. The cookies are not sweet at all which helps the green tea flavour shine through.
Im sending this to Foodie Friday hosted by Helen from Casa Costello.
#FoodYearLinkup hosted by Charlotte from My Recipe Book. The link up is open to any foodie posts related to events in the Food Bloggers Calendar for February. These are for Chinese New Year.
plain flour, icing sugar, matcha powder , pistachips, butter, egg 
dough wrapped in cling film. It should be a square shape but mine is quite uneven! 
Optional toppings - sesame seeds or chia seeds 
I love the vibrant green colour of the dough 
I love how the sesame seeds look 
little gift bags Makes 40-45 cookies depending on the size of your cookies
350g plain flour
15g Japanese matcha powder
250g unsalted butter, cut in cubes
150g icing sugar, sifted
1 egg, lightly beaten
50g pistachios nuts, lighty toasted - Id suggest increasing the amount if you want a nuttier bake
Optional - sesame seeds or chia seeds
- In a food processor, mix the flour, matcha powder, icing sugar and butter until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
- Add in the egg slowly and continue mixing.
- Finally add in the pistachio nuts and blitx until a smooth dough forms.
- Roll the dough in a log or square shape and wrap in cling film.
- Refrigerate for a few hours or preferably overnight to allow the flavours to develop.
- When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 200C.
- Slice the dough and arrange on a lined baking tray.
- Sprinkle with sesame seeds if using.
- Bake for approximately 13-15 minutes or until just brown.
- Allow to cool on the tray for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Available link for download
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