What to Do with Matcha Powder?

[RuthWells]

For my birthday, my hubby bought me some matcha powder to play with. Where shall I start?......

[Kayakado]

Shortbread cookies, cupcakes, ice cream, waffles??? There are lots of recipes out there. Most just sub a few Tbs of flour with the matcha. There is also another thread around here.

[RuthWells]

Shortbread cookies, cupcakes, ice cream, waffles???  There are lots of recipes out there.  Most just sub a few Tbs of flour with the matcha.  There is also another thread around here.

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Thanks, Kayakado -- subbing the powder for some of the flour is exactly the guidance I needed!

[HYoungJoo]

matcha pastry cream?

matcha whipped cream?

anything that you would use a regular vanilla base in....

[ejw50]

Pierre Herme makes a white chocolate Matcha truffle covered with pistachios.

THis is in his Larousse book I think.

PH's book PH10 has a lot of recipes (all on the same theme) where he takes a single flavor combo - Matcha + some other flavors (can't remember now) - and puts them in cake, macaroon, ice cream, tart, and chocolate bonbon.

Edited June 30, 2009 by ejw50 (log)

[haresfur]

For my birthday, my hubby bought me some matcha powder to play with.  Where shall I start?......

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My best results were with Matcha Sour Cream Cookies. Take Betty Crocker's Old-fashioned sour cream drop cookie recipie (p. 182 in the first edition ) and add about 1/4 cup of matcha powder. Sprinkle the top with Cinnamon sugar before baking. I tried making matcha sugar but that didn't cut it.

[Matsu]

matcha pastry cream?

matcha whipped cream?

anything that you would use a regular vanilla base in....

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Matcha creme brulee is good too!

[RuthWells]

Yum, great suggestions, all. Hubby is a big fan of creme brulee, so I may give that a try...

[Fibilou]

Matcha macarons are delicious - especially sandwiched with chestnut creme au beurre

Or you could just enjoy some matcha tea..

[Sethro]

Remember to keep it in the fridge. Matcha can take on some really nasty flavor properties (fish, metal) if it sits around warm.

As far as suggestions, matcha raspberries have always been a big winner for me:

1 pint raspberries

2 T sugar

2 T lemon juice

1 tsp matcha

1/8 tsp salt

Just macerate in the fridge till the sugar is dissolved.

Edited July 1, 2009 by Sethro (log)

[Peter Green]

Alan Koh had done a very nice green tea mousse back at WGF5 in 2004. I've tried that at home and it's simple and works well alongside things like basil meringues.

And, of course, green tea ice cream goes well alongside a lot of things! (But that's not baking)

[Sethro]

Remember to keep it in the fridge. Matcha can take on some really nasty flavor properties (fish, metal) if it sits around warm.

As far as suggestions, matcha raspberries have always been a big winner for me:

1 pint raspberries

2 T sugar

2 T lemon juice

1 tsp matcha

1/8 tsp salt

Just macerate in the fridge till the sugar is dissolved.

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Oops. That is definitely supposed to be "1/2 tsp matcha".

Hope nobody ruined a pint of raspberries...

[dystopiandreamgirl]

you can make a green tea opera cake;

a green tea tiramisu;

a *gorgeous* marbled bundt cake (scroll to see all the lovely macros)

or just knead it into some marzipan:

[Darienne]

I finally decided that I should find out what Matcha tea/powder was.

When I was in Grade 9, back in 1954, before most of you were even thought of, my teacher, Miss Rorke, had just come back from Japan...a most unusual thing to do in the early 50s, and we did a special unit on Japan that year. This experience included making tea with a bright green powder. I do remember that it was lovely. And now I know that it was matcha. Thanks for bringing back that memory.

Perhaps I can buy some at our local Asian market and try it again...and in ganache and ice cream.

[sanrensho]

Matcha pound cake, matcha chiffon, matcha madelaines and matcha whipped cream. I would go easy on competing flavors, as it doesn't take much to overwhelm the matcha.

[Darienne]

Can't find a matcha ganache recipe anywhere.

Approximately how much matcha powder to say, 9 oz of chocolate?

[HQAntithesis]

My scales are a bit unreliable for smaller weights but I think you'd be looking at around 1.5T of matcha powder for that much ganache. It may be easiest to start with a very conservative amount though and to keep on tasting. Be sure to sift the matcha powder or, preferably, immersion blend it into the ganache to minimise any chance of lumps.

[Darienne]

My scales are a bit unreliable for smaller weights but I think you'd be looking at around 1.5T of matcha powder for that much ganache. It may be easiest to start with a very conservative amount though and to keep on tasting. Be sure to sift the matcha powder or, preferably, immersion blend it into the ganache to minimise any chance of lumps.

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Many thanks.

[RuthWells]

you can make a green tea opera cake;

a green tea tiramisu;

a *gorgeous* marbled bundt cake (scroll to see all the lovely macros)

or just knead it into some marzipan:

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Oooh, thanks for the links. And your cake is gorgeous!

[Darienne]

Finally. In our small city of 60,000 or so I have found two sources of matcha tea.

One, the bulk food/specialty store carries it at $12.99 for 50 grams and the second, the Asian market carries one by King Ping Best Tea, and if I can figure it out...that's about the only English on the entire package...it's 60 grams for $4.99. Does that mean that the less expensive one is not good quality or that the expensive one is overpriced?

Next: matcha ice cream and matcha ganache. David Lebovitz has the ice cream recipe and Dede Wilson the ganache...except that I am going to use mixed milk chocolate and 72% chocolate seeing as that's about all I have at this point.

[Richard Kilgore]

I have not baked with matcha powder, only drunk it as a tea. The prices for both the matcha powders you have found are very low, indicating food grade matcha...not something you would want to drink. High quality matcha runs about $24 per 20 grams plus shipping from Japan. Good quality drinking matcha runs about $15 for the same amount.

Has anyone baked with both food grade and drinking matcha? Can you tell any difference in the results?

[Darienne]

I have not baked with matcha powder, only drunk it as a tea. The prices for both the matcha powders you have found are very low, indicating food grade matcha...not something you would want to drink. High quality matcha runs about $24 per 20 grams plus shipping from Japan. Good quality drinking matcha runs about $15 for the same amount.

Has anyone baked with both food grade and drinking matcha? Can you tell any difference in the results?

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Aaarrrggghhhh!!!

[pastrypez]

I use matcha for coloring/flavoring Italian Buttercream at work. I use it on petit fours that I make with a pretty simple sponge cake. I make some simple syrup with Cherry Rose tea (also a green tea) from Remedy Teas (http://remedyteas.com/) and brush that onto the cake layers. I find that gives the bite a bit more depth.

[CanadianBakin']

I use matcha for coloring/flavoring Italian Buttercream at work. I use it on petit fours that I make with a pretty simple sponge cake. I make some simple syrup with Cherry Rose tea (also a green tea) from Remedy Teas (http://remedyteas.com/) and brush that onto the cake layers. I find that gives the bite a bit more depth.

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I've also seen it matched up with an almond cake.

[helenjp]

Food grade vs drinking grade matcha...in my experience there is some difference in the fineness of the powder, but the food grade matcha will likely have better color (though the drinking matcha may have better flavor, the finer points will probably be lost during baking or in combination with other ingredients anyway).

If you can find matcha specifically for baking, it may contain chlorella (which has a high chlorophyll content and therefore a strong green color) in addition to tea.

I keep matcha powder in the freezer and don't attempt to "save it up" - use it while it is fresh, as both color and aroma fade.