Matcha, a new found love I have discovered lately. I know I am a bit late, and this is definitely not new, however I just never really knew what to do with it. Also it is pricey, and I didn’t want to buy it and never use it. After reading so much about it and all its health benefits, I finally took the plunge and bought some, tried it, and loved it. So today’s weekend inspiration are Matcha Leaf Biscuits.
What is Matcha?
So what is Matcha anyway? It literally means powdered tea. They take high quality green tea leaves and crush them into a fine powder. When making matcha tea you are drinking the crushed leaves making it more potent and giving you added health benefits over the regular green tea.
Health Benefits
Some of the amazing health benefits of matcha are that it is packed with antioxidants to help with anti-aging, as well as aiding in heart health, possibly preventing cancers, helping regulate sugar in the blood and lowering cholesterol.
It also boosts metabolism to help burns calories (a.k.a. weight loss), helps the body with detoxing naturally, and helps calm and relax the mind and body, while still providing clean energy.
Since you are eating the whole leaf, Matcha is rich in fiber, chlorophyll, and some vitamins and minerals like vitamin C, selenium, chromium, zinc and magnesium. It can also help enhance moods and aid in concentration.
How to drink it?
Ok enough of all the health benefits. What do you really do with Matcha? The most common way to consume it, is drinking it. You only use about a teaspoon of tea, in half a cup of hot water, and whisk it until it dissolves into a green frothy drink.
Traditionally they used a bamboo whisk to mix it up for best results, but you can use other whisks as well (I do). The taste is strong, so many enjoy it with milk or non-dairy milks to give it a bitter, yet creamy taste. Of course you can add something to sweeten it if you need, like honey or coconut sugar. I really love iced matcha latte, which I make with coconut milk and lots of ice, great for a hot summer day.
Cooking with Matcha
So once I got the hang of the matcha drinks, I decided to experiment with it in cooking and I fell in love with the bright green color. I made a delicious matcha nice-cream dessert which was refreshing and bursting with flavor (recipe coming soon to the blog). In that recipe the matcha flavors were not so dominant, as the bananas and lime were the stars. It did however give a gorgeous green color to the dessert making it come a life.
Today I want to share another matcha experiment – Matcha Leaf Biscuits. Since I was in the mood for something sweet and crispy to snack on; I decided to play around and combine a few ideas that I have been thinking about. As usual I switched up a vegan shortbread recipe to suit my grain free lifestyle, added a little of this and that, and came up with these cookies.
I must say, I did spend more time on them then normal because I did not have a leaf cookie cutter. Actually I cut each cookie out by hand, and it did take a while, not recommended. If you really like the leaf shape then do yourself a favor and buy one, otherwise use any cookie cutter you want. I will definitely invest in one for my next batch.
These Match Leaf Biscuits are fun and delicious treat, not only does it look great, it’s fun to make and tastes good too. Let me know what you think and always – Happy Cooking!
Ingredients
1 cup almond flour
1 tbsp coconut flour
1/2 cup tahini, or nut/seed butter of choice
1 tsp gluten free baking powder
1 tbsp tapioca flour
2 tsp matcha powder
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 tsp almond extract
Directions
Preheat your oven to 325F.
In a large bowl, combine almond flour, coconut flour, tapioca flour matcha and baking powder.
In a smaller bowl mix wet ingredients- maple syrup, tahini and almond extract in a bowl. Whisk to combine until smooth.
Pour wet mixture into flours and mix well until dough forms.
It should be moist, and will be a bit sticky. If too sticky add a sprinkle of tapioca flour. Mix well until you can mold in hands and it does not stick to everything.
Roll dough about 1/4 inch in thickness between 2 pieces of parchment paper.
Using a cookie cutter, cut out your desired shapes. Use excess edge of dough and re-roll to continue until all the dough is cut.
Bake for approximately 10-12 min, keeping in mind the cookies will firm up after baking. Keep an eye on them to make sure they do not burn.
Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 min before moving to a cooling rack to cool completely.
