green tea sweets

copy from Amai’s Green Tea

Amai’s Green Tea Sweet recipe is a finalist in the Best Bakery Recipe category for Pastryscoop.com’s Golden Scoop Awards. The three finalists in the category will compete in a blind taste test on June 14, and the winner will be announced on June 18, 2007 in an awards ceremony at the French Culinary Institute. I am so honored to be included as a finalist, and can’t wait to see the other recipes included in the category. I submitted the recipe for fun, but didn’t seriously consider being a finalist/winner. It feels good to be recognized as a chef. In my mind I’m still a computer nerd.

In honor of this award, I’d like to share the recipe with all Lovescool readers. Now you can make your very own Green Tea Sweets. Don’t worry, you can still buy them online if you don’t feel like baking. If you do make this recipe, please let me know how it turns out in your kitchen. I submitted the professional size batch to Pastryscoop, and I scaled it down for home kitchens for this post. I’d love some help with testing.

Green Tea Sweets

Ingredients
Yield (2” leaf shape): Approx 25

3/4 cup (2.25 oz) Confectioners sugar
5 oz Unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 3/4 cup (8.5 oz) All-purpose flour
3 Large egg yolks
1.5 TBS Matcha (powdered green tea)
1 cup Granulated sugar (for coating)

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
• Whisk the confectioner’s sugar and green tea together in a bowl.
• Add the butter and green tea/sugar mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix until smooth and light in color.
• Add the flour and mix until well combined.
• Add the egg yolks and mix just until the eggs are fully incorporated and a mass forms.
• Form the dough into a disk and chill in the refrigerator until firm (about 30 minutes).
• Roll the dough out to ½” thickness.
• Cut the dough with a leaf cookie cutter.
• Toss each cut cookie in a bowl of granulated sugar to coat.
• Place the sugar-coated cookie on a parchment lined pan. Bake at 350F for 12-15 minutes, or until slightly golden around the edges.

Baker’s Note: You can purchase Matcha (powdered green tea) from Asian grocery stores or specialty tea shops. In NYC try McNulty’s Tea House, Ito-En or you can order baking grade matcha online. The higher quality matcha you use, the brighter green the cookies will be. Store the cookies in a tin or other container that blocks out sunlight to preserve the color. The green color will fade when exposed to sunlight.

Matcha (Green Tea) Ice Cream

copy from Ice cream Ireland

Although I love green tea, I’m not sure that I’m really a fan of matcha. We had a request from a restaurant to make matcha ice cream, however, and we went to work. For green tea ice cream (or as a hot drink), I prefer using a green tea leaves, since the flavours are more complex and delicate, and I have a recipe for that here.

That being said, if you’ve had green tea ice cream in a Japanese restaurant and loved it, it’s almost certain it would be made with matcha. It’s a very different ice cream, more earthy with more kick, and I can understand why many people prefer it. Just so you know, matcha is usually quite strong, so I don’t add a huge amount. The strength could well vary, depending on the matcha you buy, so as always, use your tastebuds and if you want to add more, do so!

Here’s our version:

Murphys Matcha Ice Cream

Ingredients:

• 130g sugar
• 5 egg yolks
• 240 ml cream
• 220 ml milk
• 5 g matcha

What to do:

1. Put the milk in a saucepan and bring to a simmer.
2. Remove from the heat.
3. Mix the matcha with the sugar until there are no lumps.
4. Beat the sugar and egg yolks together.
5. Beat the milk into the eggs and sugar in a slow stream.
6. Pour the mixture back into the pan, and place over low heat.
7. Stir continuously until the custard thickens slightly (around 65-70C) and just coats the back of a spoon. Don’t over-heat, though, because at around 76C you will scramble the eggs!
8. Immediately remove from the heat.
9. Transfer the custard into a small container, cover, and refrigerate until cool (5C).
10. Whip the cream until it has doubled in volume (you should have soft peaks - don’t over-whip).
11. Fold the cream (gently stir) into the custard.
12. Freeze using a domestic ice cream machine.
13. You can also just cover and place in the freezer, stirring every few hours.
14. If you’re using a domestic ice cream machine, transfer to a freezer-proof covered container when the ice cream has achieved a semi-solid consistency (around 15 minutes). Place it in the freezer, and continue to freeze until it is solid.

Notes:

1. To pasteurise the eggs, heat the custard to 73C and maintain that temperature for at least 5 minutes. Use a cooking thermometer, though! If the custard goes any higher than 76C, the eggs will scramble. Immediately cover and place in the freezer until cool.
2. For our regular green tea ice cream, I like to add crystalised ginger, so do so if you wish (add it when you’re freezing).
3. In case you’re having trouble finding matcha in Ireland, we bought our’s from the Espresso Warehouse.
   

Green Tea and Ginger Ice Cream

copy from Ice cream Ireland

A reader of this blog emailed me asking for a green tea ice cream recipe, so here it is! It’s a recipe that will be in the upcoming book, and it’s one I love.

In New York, where I grew up, Asian food was part of the staple diet. Whether Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, or Korean, the standard was high and the variety amazing. Some of the best meals I have ever eaten were Asian cooking, and my dessert of choice, when available, was green tea ice cream.

Here in Ireland, I have also come across green tea ice cream in some of the ever-proliferating Asian restaurants, so perhaps you have tried it as well. If so, just be aware that since we don’t believe in food colouring, we use green tea leaves (see photo right) and not the matcha (green tea powder) that is usually used for ice cream. This means that it will not be bright green and will have a slightly different taste, but I think it’s even more delicious.

For this recipe, I like to add crystallised ginger, a real favourite of mine. I love the spicy sweetness and intriguing consistency of the ginger, and since it’s coated in sugar it stays soft in the ice cream.

Murphys Green Tea and Ginger Ice Cream

Ingredients:

• 130g sugar
  5 egg yolks
  240 ml cream
  250 ml milk
  2 tablespoon green tea leaves (4 bags)
  60 g crystallised ginger
  1 tablespoon honey

What to do:

1. Heat the milk to a low simmer over medium heat.
2. Add the tea and honey and maintain at a simmer over low heat for about 10 minutes.
3. Remove from the heat and remove the tea bags.
4. Beat the sugar and egg yolks together until thick and pale yellow.
5. Beat the milky tea into the eggs and sugar in a slow stream.
6. Pour the mixture back into the pan and place over low heat.
7. Stir continuously until the custard thickens slightly (around 65-70C) and just coats the back of a spoon. Don’t over-heat, though, because at around 76C you will scramble the eggs!
8. Immediately remove from the heat.
9. Transfer the custard into a small container, cover, and refrigerate until cool (5C).
10. Chop the crystallised ginger into small pieces.
11. Whip the cream until it has doubled in volume (you should have soft peaks - don’t over-whip).
12. Fold the cream (gently stir) into the custard.
13. Freeze using a domestic ice cream machine, or cover and place in the freezer, stirring every few hours to break up the ice crystals.
14. Add the ginger once the ice cream has become semi-solid.
15. If you’re using a domestic ice cream machine, transfer to a freezer-proof covered container when the ice cream has achieved a semi-solid consistency (around 15 minutes). Place it in the freezer, and continue to freeze until it is solid.

Yield: 8 servings

Note:

To pasteurise the eggs, heat the custard to 73C and maintain that temperature for at least 5 minutes. Use a cooking thermometer, though, and keep stirring! If the custard goes any higher than 76C, the eggs will scramble. Immediately cover and place in the freezer until cool.

KEM TRÀ XANH

Công thức kem này là bản quyền của Mẹ Coolkid, WTT

Nguyên liệu :

- 3 lòng đỏ trứng

- 1/4 lít sữa

- 200ml - 250 ml whipping cream

- 100gr đường

- 2-3 mcf bột trà xanh ( tuỳ khuẩu vị muốn thơm nhiều thì cho thêm nhưng hơi bị chát nhé, Trâm lại thích vị chát này)



Cách làm :

- Cho sữa vào nồi đun cho ấm sữa

- Bỏ lòng đỏ trứng và đường vào bát lớn, đánh đến khi kem trứng nổi màu trắng thì đổ nồi sữa từ từ vào bát kem trứng trong khi tay vẫn đánh đều theo một chiều.
_ Sau đó đổ tất cả trở lại nồi, cho lên bếp đun thật nhỏ lửa, vẫn vừa đun vừa khuấy đều tay, đến khi nồi sữa cảm thấy hơi đặc 1 tí thì tắt bếp.

- Cho thìa bột trà xanh vào một bát khác, đổ chỗ kem tươi vào đánh thật đều
( cho từng chút một, bữa hôm Trâm cho luôn 1 lần thì bị ốc trâu, quậy mãi chẳng đều nên phải rây qua rây )

- Đổ bát kem tươi, trà xanh vào bát sữa lớn vừa làm xong, khuấy thật đều, chờ nguội hẳn rồi cho vào tủ đá khoảng 1h
_ Sau 1 h kem lạnh rồi thì cho vào máy quay kem khoảng 30-45'

_ Làm thủ công thì cứ 1h30' lấy ra dằm nát hoặc cho vào máy sinh tố xay nhuyễn rồi lại cho vào tủ đông, làm khoảng 3-4 lần là được.

hinh hop che Matcha: