Green Tea Cupcakes recipe

I've always been a tea lover, whether it as a drink, ice cream flavor, in chocolate or whatever. So when I found a recipe combining 2 of my loves (tea and cupcakes), I just had to try it!
The recipe is from Cupcake Bakeshop by Chockylit

Green Tea Cupcakes
(makes 36 mini cupcakes, or 12 regular cupcakes)24 cupcake papers or 1/2 sheet pan / 350 degree oven

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter (room temperature)
1 cup of sugar
1 large egg (room temperature)
1 large egg yolk (room temperature)
1-1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup of milk (room temperature)
1 tablespoon matcha tea

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin tins with cupcake liners.
• In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
• In a separate bowl, whisk the matcha in with the milk.
• With an electric mixer, beat the butter on high until soft.
• Add sugar and continue to beat on medium-high until light and fluffy.
• Add the egg and egg yolk one at a time. Beat well after each addition.
• Add the flour mix to batter. Mix to combine.
• Add the matcha/milk to the batter and mix until combined.
• Spoon the batter into the cupcake liners.
• Bake for 22-25 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean. 
  ** For mini cupcakes, bake for about 15 minutes.
• Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, frost with icing! 

Matcha Buttercream

1 stick butter, room temperature
2 tablespoons half and half or light cream
1 tablespoon matcha powder
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

•  Mix matcha in with the light cream to make a paste.
• Beat butter until soft, scrape bowl. 
• Add the sifted powdered sugar and matcha paste. Beat until smooth.

Some Notes
-For the buttercream, you can substitute the cream for milk, if you don't have any at home..
-For the cupcakes, I would advise to mix in the flour and the matcha/milk by hand: the cupcakes will be fluffier this way.
-The cupcake recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of matcha, but I always put a bit more: you can taste the green tea better ;)
-If you are not frosting your cupcakes right away, store your buttercream in an air tight container and refrigerate. Before frosting, leave it out for about an hour or two or until it is at room temperature, and beat it with the mixer for a few seconds. Then you're good to go!


Hope you'll like this recipe as much as I do!

Heavenly cookies....

I think I just found the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe!! Actually, it's a recipe for peppermint chocolate chip cookies and they are DELICIOUS!

Now, I'm not a big cook, but I love to bake. Cookies, cupcakes, cakes, brownies, anything sweet, I'll (try to) do it. I LOVE sugar and chocolate. Sometimes, I even dream about desserts and brownies...

Seriously. What would this world be without chocolate and sugar?! I don't even want to think about it.

I stumbled upon this recipe from Une Gamine dans la Cuisine last week and I just had to try it!

They have a soft, chewy-gooey melty chocolate center with a light thin crisp around the edges.

I made a batch (approximately 20 cookies) and made half of them super fat or "puffy" and the other hald thinner, so that my "guests" can pick which kind they like better.

I love the hint of mint and it's a perfect twist to the good ol' chocolate chip cookie.

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cups of all purpose flour
• ½ tsp. of salt
• ¼ tsp. of baking soda
• ½ cup of butter at room temperature
• ½ cup of tightly packed light brown sugar
• 1/3 cup of granulated sugar
• ¼ tsp. of peppermint extract
• 1 egg
  
• 1 cup of chopped dark chocolate.

Method:

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In larger bowl, beat the butter and sugars togerther on medium speed until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). On low speed, slowly add the beaten egg and peppermint extract. Beat to combine, scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Add the flour mixture and beat just until there are no more streaks of flour. Stir the chopped dark chocolate by hand. Cover and refrigerate for an hour. (You do not have to chill the dough if you are in a hurry)

Preheat the oven to 375F. Line the baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop out well rounded tablespoonfuls of the dough and roll them into balls. Leave about 2 inches between each ball. Bake for 8-9 minutes. If you prefer crispier cookies, increase the baking time by 1-2 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before removing.


The recipe calls for baking soda, but I used baking powder instead and it was still as delicious as ever! I know substituting baking soda for baking powder can change the texture but I thought the final result was pretty good.

Also, I heard that using mint extract tastes better than with peppermint extract (I used mint and peppermint extract, since that's the only type I could find). I guess you could also substitute the mint/peppermint extract with vanilla. It all depends on what you have and prefer.

These cookies were soo good! I think you should all bake a batch!
Enjoy!