Matcha Strawberry Black Sesame Cookies

Aaand I'm back after a long break from blogging! Residency has a way of getting into... life :/ I just finished my pediatric surgery rotation and on transplant now. So between organ harvesting and transplanting, I found myself with some extra time!

I met a lot of awesome people during my peds surg rotation, so I baked a batch of these cookies for them. I've been itching to make something with freeze dried strawberries, since I bought a pack and didn't know what to do with them. So on a whim, I thought matcha, strawberries and black sesame would go so well together. The cookies have a more cake like texture in the middle from the extra yolk and a fruity and nutty taste. They were quickly gobbled up by the residents!

Matcha Strawberry Black Sesame Cookies

Makes ~30 cookies

2 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp matcha powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp granulated sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 cup freeze dried strawberries, coarsely chopped
3 tbsp black sesame

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease baking sheets or line with parchment paper
2. In a large mixing bowl, sift flour, matcha powder, baking soda and salt
3. In a medium bowl, melt butter and then beat in sugar (brown and white), vanilla, egg + egg yolk
4. Mix dry and wet ingredients until everything is just incorporated
5. Fold in freeze dried strawberries and black sesame. Use a heaping teaspoon and place dough on prepared baking sheet about 1 inch apart. The cookies don't spread much
6. Bake until edges are just golden brown. Cool on rack for at least 10 minutes

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Crab Green Tea Ochazuke - 녹차 오차즈케

The weather in NYC is messing with us. It was so hot the other day and today, when I stepped outside for coffee it was freaking freezing. I wanted to enjoy the sun and warmth since we have no windows in the resident's lounge :( I can't imagine how vitamin D deficient I am.

Let me tell you about ochazuke. It's this Japanese dish where you place rice, some salty topping and pour in hot tea. It really doesn't seem like much, but it's so soothing to eat and also easy to make. Sometimes when you're sick or want a quick meal, you can whip up this warm dish and enjoy it under blankets 😊

Here I added on top of the cooked rice, some thinly julienned leek, crab, roe and furikake. I also torched some seasoned nagaimo as a side dish.

Crab Green Tea Ochazuke - 녹차 오차즈케

makes 1 bowl

1 cup cooked white rice
thinly julienned leek
cooked crab meat
1 tbsp roe
Handful furikake
1 cup freshly brewed green tea

1. Literally top all together in a bowl and pour hot tea over it

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Matcha Cinnamon Apple Scones

Whoa! It's been way too long since I updated the blog. Honestly when residency started, I thought I would never come back to it because on the little free time I had off I just wanted to veg on the couch or sleep. I'm now on night float so I've been able to make things during the day and werk, werk, werk all night.

I'm also updating just in time too for my favorite season! I love, love sweater weather and all things cinnamon and pumpkin spiced. For my comeback, I've made these matcha cinnamon apple scones that were adapted from King Arthur Flour.

 Unfortunately the weather was rainy and dark, so these pictures aren't the best :(

Matcha Apple Scones

makes 16 mini scones

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup white sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp matcha (I used panatea culinary grade matcha)
1 stick cold butter (cut into pieces)
1/2 cup finely diced apple
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup apple sauce

turbinado sugar to top
Icing sugar mixed with a little milk

1. In a large mixing bowel, mix flour, sugar, salt, matcha, baking powder and cinnamon. Cut cold butter into dry mix until crumbly. You'll have some larger chunks of butter but that's okay!
2. In a small bowl, whisk eggs, vanilla and apple sauce. Add wet to dry ingredients, toss in chopped apple and stir until just moistened
3. Line pan with silpat or parchment paper. Flour surface and your hands. Divide dough, which is pretty goopy) in half and pat each half into a 6" circle about 3/4" thick
4. Brush each circle with milk and top with turbinado sugar. Cut each circle into 8 wedges and pull them apart from each other just a bit so there is some space
5. Place scones uncovered into freezer for 30 minutes. This is important for best texture and rise!
6. Preheat oven to 425F. Bake scones 20-24 mins or until edges are slightly golden brown
7. Cool briefly on pan before transferring onto rack.
8. I mixed some powdered sugar with a little milk to glaze on top

This post was sponsored by panatea matcha. I was provided products to use, but all opinions are my own.

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Matcha Linzer Cookies with Lemon Curd

It's time to shower a little love to all the mums out there! My mum knows I love to bake, so whenever I come home to LA she makes me bake so much bread I sometimes feel like an overworked baker 😓. And that doesn't include all the sweet treats I make for her Sunday church meetings!

But, I love watching my mum ooh and aah over the things I make and the hard work totally pays off. Besides, whenever I'm home I have sooooOoo many demanding requests for home cooked foods. I guess I shouldn't really complain about a tray or two of cookies 😜. I love these cookies because they're not too sweet due to the matcha powder and the zing of lemon curd just brightens them up! My whole family gobbled them up in no time.

Matcha Linzer Cookies with Lemon Curd

adapted from allrecipes.com
makes 20-30 cookies

Cookies
10 tbsp butter, unsalted, softened
2/3 cup white sugar
2 cups all purpose flour, sifted
1 3/4 cups almond flour
3/4 tbsp matcha powder
1 tsp vanilla extract

Lemon Curd
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
zest of 1 lemon
1/4 - 1/2 cup sugar
6 tbsp butter, unsalted
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks

1. For the lemon curd: Whisk all ingredients in a small pot and heat on medium - medium low flame. Continue to whisk until it has thickened considerably and will stick to your whisk (about 5-10 mins). It will cool even further when placed in the fridge, so no worries. Cover layer with plastic wrap once off the heat and let cool. Place in fridge once at room temperature.
2. For cookies: 
• Beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy in standup mixer. Add flour, almond flour, matcha and vanilla. Stir until all ingredients just becomes into a stiff dough
• Split dough in half and roll to 1/8 inch thick on floured surface between wax paper. Place into refrigerator for at least 2 hours or place in freezer for 15 mins
• Preheat oven to 325F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper
• With a 2 inch linzer cookier cutter, cut out as many circles as you can. Knead leftover scraps of dough into a ball and roll out again on floured surface. If the dough becomes too soft, you can always place in freezer. The dough can be quite sticky and difficult to handle so freeze often!
• These don't spread in the oven so you can place them a little less than 1 inch together. Refrigerate any trays of cookies while working on remaining dough
• Bake cookies until lightly brown on the edges, 9-12 mins. Let cool in tray until they stiffen for 5 mins and then cool completely on wire rack
3. Assembly: spread a coating of lemon curd on each cookie round and press two together to make a sandwich

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Lemon Curd Creme Puffs with Matcha White Chocolate Ganache

I'm done with my surgery rotation and I finally have time to meddle in the kitchen! Even if I was waking up at 4am and sleeping 4 hours everyday, I'm going to miss the excitement of being in the operating room. Surgery has been hand downs my fav rotation and I got to work with so many amazing people (including an attending who may be reading this...but I only have high praises for him hahaha ;))

I can't believe I spent all of winter in the OR and it's almost spring! Here, I made some cream puffs filled with fluffy lemon curd cream and topped them off with matcha white chocolate ganache and edible flowers. Don't they just look like spring and sunshine?

Don't let the long list of instructions fool you! These are actually very simple to make. You can make the lemon curd cream the night before, so all you need to make are the puffs and matcha ganache the next day. If you have a kitchen aid mixer, making the dough will be a breeze. I have mixed the dough by hand before and I think that's why my right arm is twice the size of my left :P. Hope you guys are enjoying the warmer weather!

Lemon Curd Creme Puffs with Matcha White Chocolate Ganache

makes 20-25 mini creme puffs

Pâte à Choux (made here too!)
1 stick butter, cubed
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp white sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup flour
4 large eggs

Whipped Lemon Curd
2 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
juice of 1 large lemon and zest
pinch of salt
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp powdered sugar

Matcha White Chocolate Ganache
1-2 tsp matcha powder
1/4 cup white chocolate chips (I used ghirardelhi)
1/4 cup heavy cream

• Cream puffs: 

1. Preheat oven to 425 and line a large baking tray with parchment paper or a silicone mat
2.  In a medium sized pot, put in the butter, milk, water, sugar and salt. Place on medium-high heat and stir frequently. Once it has all melted and starts bubbling on the top, reduce the heat to low
3. Dump in the flour and stir with a heat proof spatula. It will start coming together and form a giant shiny yellow ball (less than 5 minutes)
4. Place the dough in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and stir slowly to cool for about 2 minutes. Crack 1 egg at a time and mix on low until it is thoroughly incorporated. Repeat with the other eggs. Now the dough will be smooth, yellow and thick.
5. Transfer into a pastry bag with a 1/2" tip. Pipe out 1.5" mounds on the prepared tray about 1 inch apart (they don't spread too much). Using a wet fingertip, smooth the top of each mound where you pulled the dough away from the tip so they don't burn in the oven. 
6. Place in the oven, reduce the temp to 350F after 1 min and bake until puffs are golden brown (~30-35mins). DON'T open door while baking or all the puffs will deflate! Once they come out, take a paring knife and poke a hole in the side to let the steam escape and transfer to a cooling rack.

• Lemon Curd (made the night before):

1. In a small pot, whisk egg yolks, sugar, lemon zest and its juice and salt. Heat on medium flame and continuously whisk until thickened slightly. Whisk in cornstarch and keep whisking until it is the consistency of greek yogurt (taste test here and add more sugar if needed). Take off heat and cool for a few minutes. Place saran wrap directly on the lemon curd surface and stick it in the refrigerator
2. In a clean and cold mixing bowl, whisk heavy cream and powdered sugar on high until stiff peaks form. Whisk in vanilla
3. Fold the now cold curd with the whipped cream. You don't have to use all the cream if you think it's too much. I put in 3/4 of it I think
4. Only pipe in the cream when you are about to eat/serve it, otherwise the puffs can get soggy.

• Matcha Ganache
• Stir matcha powder, chocolate chips and heavy cream in a small bowl. Microwave in 10 second bursts and stir. Mine was done in 14 ish seconds. I always have trouble with white chocolate seizing on me, so now I have chocolate PTSD and check every 5 seconds
• Drizzle this over lemon curd cream filled puffs and serve!

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Homemade matcha udon noodles

I thought making udon would be like making kalguksu (or Korean knife noodles), but it definitely required a lot more arm muscle. Maybe it's because I tried to make 4 times the amount and my biceps have atrophied from disuse :( I did have a lot of fun stomping on it though. Yas, with my feet. Don't worry, the dough was heavily wrapped in a sturdy gallon ziplock bag ;)

But, you seriously need your body weight to smoosh the dough down. If you have kids then use them, plus you'll also get them tired so they'll sleep early! Tiring out my little brother out everyday by making him fetch things used to be my strategy back in the days (not because I was lazy haha).

I separated the dough in half so I could have normal udon noodles and some matcha ones. For the matcha noodles, the flavor shines if the broth is kept simple (like the soy sauce dashi one below). I may have to up the amount of matcha though by about 1/2 to 1 tsp next time and try a cold udon version. I also prepared a miso version by diluting the broth I made below in a 1:3 ratio with water and adding miso paste to it. When you try the freshly made noodles, the texture and flavor is so so so......handmade(?), unique(?), bouncy (haha it's hard to describe), I guess all the arm grease and time that went to making this was worth it!

Matcha Udon Noodles

adapted from instructables.com
serves 4-5

Noodles (Sanuki style)
2 1/2 cups bread flour (plus more to dust)
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3 tsps salt
1.5 cups water, at room temp
1 tsp culinary grade panatea matcha (for 1/2 the dough)

Broth
5-8 dried shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated in 2 cups water overnight
1 5x5" piece of kelp (aka konbu or dashima)
3 cups water
10 pieces dried shrimp
10 pieces dried anchovies
1-2 tbsps soy sauce (or to taste)
1 tbsp mirin

1. Noodles: dissolve salt in the water and set aside. Mix the flours together in a large bowl. Add salt water to the flour and mix with your hands until a shaggy dough is formed. If it doesn't come together, you can add a little water each time. The dough will feel hard and crumbly, just try to knead it so it comes together.
2. Put the dough in a gallon size zipper bag and stomp on it until it is flattened. Like use your feet and stomp! I seriously tried to knead with my hands and a kitchen aid mixer, but the dough is just too hard. Once it has flattened. Take it out of the bag and separate the dough into two pieces. For one half, I kneaded in 1 tsp matcha. This will be difficult and it will looked streaky (but no worries, it will blend all together with subsequent stomping)
3. It will still be hard at this point. So with half of the dough, roll it up like a cinnamon roll and place it back in the bag to stomp and flatten. I alternated between the two halves of the dough, so that I could give the dough a rest for 10-15mins if it was too difficult to work with. You'll be stomping on this about 5-6 times until the dough is really smooth and rubbery
4. On the last flattening/stomping, pinch the edges of the dough together to make a ball, it may not come together on the bottom but as long as the top is smooth, it's okay. Wrap the dough in seran wrap tightly and place in a warm area for 2-3 hours. I preheated my oven slightly and switched it off to mimic a really hot summer.
5. While the dough rests, time to make the broth! In a large pot, place rehydrated shiitake and the water it was soaking in, kelp, 3 cups water, shrimp and anchovies. Bring to boil and let it simmer for 15 mins. Add soy sauce and mirin and adjust to taste. Fish out the shiitake to slice up and use for later and then strain your broth.
6. Now the dough should be well rested (you can test this by checking if it remains indented after you poke it)! Dust your work area with a generous amount of bread flour. Working with one ball of dough at a time, roll to a rectangle that is 3mm thick. Fold the long edges in like you would fold a letter in thirds to put in an envelope.  Cut 5mm thick strips for noodles. Toss cut noodles in bread flour so they don't stick.
7. To cook the noodles, bring a large pot of water to boil and then place them in there for 7-8mins. Separate them with chopsticks at the start and middle of boiling because they can stick together. Drain and serve with the broth, plus toppings including green onions, naruto (Japanese fishcake), mushrooms or eggs
8. You can store the cut noodles in the fridge for 2-3 days.

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Matcha Crinkle Cookies

So excited my favorite holiday is coming up! I especially love the cold weather, because I can layer and layer and layer clothing and you will never see how much weight I'll be gaining from all the Christmas treats :P. I can't tell if it's the cold weather that makes me so hungry, or I just get enticed by all the creative spicy and chocolate-y names people come up for xmas treats or how pretty they look.

The only thing I don't like about the holidays is that my birthday falls a few days after. Which means I only get ONE present for both christmas and my birthday :( I think I've been complaining about this every year since I was born (yes really, right out of the womb). Also, back in the days, I had to share a birthday with my twin, so my six year old self was obvi not too happy with only half the attention :P. Now that I'm super old and don't have parties with clowns and balloons like I used to, I'm totally cool with it (maybe, maybe not haha).

Anyway, finally time to get started on baking holiday cookies myself! It's been a while since I've added something to my matcha recipe list, so I added matcha to one of my fave chocolate crinkle cookies! They're really chewy and fudge-y and not tooth-achingly sweet. They keep pretty well in a sealed container and make beautiful presents for cookie-swapping.

Matcha Crinkle Cookies

adapted from bettycrocker
makes 2 dozen cookies

1/4 cup vegetable oil
2-3 oz white chocolate chips (~about 1/4 cup)
1 cup granulated sugar (minus about 2 tbsps)
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs, at room temp
1 cup + 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tbsp matcha powder (using Panatea culinary grade matcha)
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
powdered sugar (about 1/2 cup)

1. In a mixing bowl or large bowl, mix flour, matcha powder, baking powder and salt.
2. In a medium sized boil, melt chocolate chips over hot water. I have a lot of trouble melting white chocolate in a microwave. I don't know why it doesn't melt as easily as real chocolate. I guess fake chocolate is just annoying like that! So I place a medium boil over a small pot with water and melt it slowly like that. Let it cool for a bit, then add sugar, oil, vanilla and beat in the eggs
3. Stir in white chocolate mixture into the dry ingredients. Mix until well incorporated. But don't over-beat like crazy :P. Your batter may seem pretty goopy and you will even question if it is really a cookie batter and not a semi-cake batter. But trust me, it will stiffen in the fridge! Cover and refrigerate overnight (or at least 4 hours).
4. Line baking pan with a silicone mat or baking paper
5. Prepare a shallow bowl with powdered sugar. Roll about 2tsp of dough into a ball with your palms and drop into powdered sugar. Roll around powdered sugar to coat fully. Place on cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. These will really spread.
6. Place pan in the fridge for a bit while you preheat the oven to 350F. Once the oven is ready, bake for 11-14mins or until the edges barely get a little golden. Immediately remove the cookies from the pan. I simply slid my silicon mat off the pan and onto a wire rack.

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Matcha Portuguese Egg Tarts

Woo, I'm done with internal med. Medicine was a tough two months. I feel like I need 4 holidays before I start school again :P. I did feel pretty fatigued and didn't have time to do anything, but study and go to work. I survived on purple sweet potatoes and granola bars. Seriously, every meal had so much fiber and I hardly drank any water since we had long rounds... can you imagine how my belly felt??!! I did get really burned out (and constipated :\), so it has taken a bit of time to starting blogging again. But in hindsight, I guess I did enjoy medicine. I think that's how I feel about just anything... like baking a 5 layer cake, riding rollercoasters, spending time with my brother haha...

Now I'm on neurology! I'm actually just writing up this post after brain cutting lab. The knives literally looked like cake knives and I thought, wow, I'm making cake brain layers! And then I remembered I owned a blog and should probably update it :/

Growing up in Hong Kong, I ate unlimited egg and Portuguese egg tarts.  Macau is about an hour away and I would eat these tarts all day long. Also, because I couldn't gamble, so all I did was eat :P. I gussied up these tarts with some matcha custard instead and the combination of flaky crust and silky smooth custard is to die for. 

Matcha Portuguese Egg Tarts
adapted from bbcgoodfood
makes 12 tarts

2 Egg yolks
1 Egg
2 Tablespoons Flour
1 Teaspoon Vanilla extract
½ Cup Sugar
1½ Teaspoon Matcha powder
1½ Cup Half and half
1 Puff pastry sheet

1. Whisk egg yolks/egg, sugar, flour, matcha in small pot
2. Gradually whisk in half and half and vanilla extract until smooth. Put on medium heat and whisk until it it is very warm but not hot (not thick)
3. Preheat oven to 400F. Thaw 1 sheet of frozen pastry dough for 20mins. Cut in half and stack on top of each other. Should be 12cm in width
4. Lightly flour surface. Roll up tightly. If it cracks, leave to thaw more
5. Use a ruler and indent dough every 1cm and you should have 12 slices
6. Flour surface again and a rolling pin. Roll dough to about 10cm circles
7. Press into greased muffin tin. Pour runny custard into it (I strained the custard to get rid of lumps and to make it super smooth). Bake for 12-15mins or until pastry is golden and some burnt sugar spots appear
8. Cool in pan and transfer to wire rack. Serve warm or cold. Can keep in fridge for few days.

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Matcha Pocky Sticks

I'm back with another matcha recipe! I know...NOT another one! If I'm doing too many, lemme know :P. I can't promise you that'll stop me, but I'll consider it ;) I was going to post this on November 11, because that's Korea's Pepero day (11/11). Pepero (빼빼로) is the Korean name for the Japanese Pocky. It's kind of like Valentine's day, but you buy your crush or significant other pepero. I don't really know the reason why, but you just do it because pepero is freaking addictive to snack on.

I just thought that straight stick pocky is kind of boring, so why not make all kinds of pocky shapes and sizes? With a homemade squeezable dough, you can make glasses, hearts, stars and everything else. These are so much more fun to gift (or to eat by yourself :D).

Matcha Pocky Sticks

adapted from food52

makes about 50 sticks and shapes

4 tbsps unsalted butter, at room temp

1/4 cup white sugar

1 large egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 cup bread flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1-2 tbsp water

1.5 cup white chocolate chips (or 9 oz)

1 tbsp Panatea culinary grade matcha

toppings: black sesame seeds, shredded coconut, sprinkles (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 300F. In a mixer, beat butter and sugar until fluffly. Stir in egg and vanilla on medium. Add flour, baking powder and salt and stir, then add water until a smooth dough forms (you may need to add more water if too stiff). Dough should feel malleable, otherwise it will be extremely difficult to pipe
2. Transfer dough into a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4" tip. Pipe onto parchment paper into straight lines, hearts, glasses...whatever you like!
3. Bake for 18-20mins or until golden brown around the edges. Allow to cool and harden for 5 minutes before transferring onto a rack to cool completely
4. Melt white chocolate in a water bath. I have really bad experiences with microwaving white chocolate...real chocolate seems fine but white just doesn't work for me! Just place the chocolate chips in a small tall bowl into small pot with constant warm/hot water. Once it melts, whisk in matcha powder
5. Dip and spread your shaped cookie sticks into the melted chocolate. Scrape off gently any excess chocolate and lay on silicon mats or baking paper. Decorate with toppings.
6. Let chocolate harden or transfer to the fridge to quicken the process

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Homemade Matcha-mallows S'mores

A quick hello before I go to sleep (I guess goodnight?)! I'm kinda excited to share a marshmallow recipe with you guys, that contains no corn syrup! Honestly, I don't know what's up with all the bad hype about corn syrup and don't want to read about it, since I already have to read about bowel obstruction for my patients (hehe sorry). I've been meaning to make marshmallows, so I actually bought a bottle of corn syrup, but found a recipe just using sugar. Now, I have no idea what to do with the corn syrup :/

The addition of something bitter/earthy like matcha to marshmallows is such a genius move. Usually, I find marshmallows way too sweet and absolutely will not eat them unless sandwiched in s'mores. This was before I made some homemade ones. I kid you not... they are like fluffy pillows that instantly melt in your mouth. You can eat so many of them, because they aren't too sweet and I guess they're somewhat healthy (because of matcha???).

I'm excited to introduce you guys to the culinary matcha that I've been incorporating into new recipes you'll be seeing more soon! I'm super in love with matcha!!! I could run to the rooftop and shout out my love for it! It has such an unique earthy and healthy quality to it, I find myself sprinkling it on everything.

I have a whole recipe gallery dedicated to matcha! If you want to try it, I'm partnering with Panatea and offering 10% off their culinary grade bag (Code: mhpculinary)

They also have awesome matcha tees and tanks for those super matcha-afficionados. I've been debating on getting some, but they've run out of the smallest sizes D:

Homemade Matcha-mallows S'mores
makes 30-40 s'mores
adapted from kitchenfrau

Matcha marshmallows
1 cup water (divided)
2 packages gelatin (about 4.5 tsps)
2 cups white sugar
1.5 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt
2-3 tbsps Panatea's culinary grade matcha
powdered sugar
corn starch

1. Prepare a 9x13" pan by lightly greasing with butter and powdered sugar. Tap out excess powdered sugar from pan.
2. Stir 1/2 cup of water with gelatin and allow to bloom (it should be like a clump of jelly fish :/)
3. Meanwhile heat sugar and the other 1/2 cup of water in a small pot until dissolved. Add the gelatin into the pot and bring to boil while stirring. Once bubbling, take off heat, add salt and stir (it will turn whitish and make sure sides are scraped down as well). Cool to room temp
4. Once cool, add vanilla and pour into a stand mixer (the cooled mix will look translucent and yellowy). Beat on high for 6 mins, the coagulated stuff will magically turn white and fluffy! Stop and add matcha powder and beat for 2-3 mins more
5. Dump into prepared pan. I mean dump, because the mixture will be sticky and difficult to handle. Smooth out layer as even as you can. Let cool and dry overnight
6. Cut into desired shape: I cut it into squares and circles to the size of my crackers. Always wipe your knife or plastic when slicing so it doesn't stick too badly. Toss marshmallows into a half and half mix of matcha and powdered sugar or corn starch. Allow to dry on a rack for a few hours

Graham crackers
1.5 cups all purpose
1 cup whole wheat
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp salt
1 stick frozen butter (cut in tbsps)
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup whole milk
2 tbsp vanilla

1. Pulse flours, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a food processor just to mix. Add frozen butter and pulse until you can see small pea-sized lumps amongst the dry mix
2. Whisk honey, milk, and vanilla to food processor and pulse until dough comes together. You can take it out and knead the dough so it forms a ball. It will be soft and sticky. Cover with plastic wrap and stick in the fridge for at least 2 hours
3. Roll out dough on floured surface and roll to slightly thicker than 1/8". Cut into squares of desired size (I did 1.5x1.5"). Place on silicon mat or parchment paper. Prick cut graham squares with a fork. Chill for at least 30 mins
4. Preheat oven to 350F and bake chilled crackers for 18-24mins or until nicely browned on the edge. Cool on rack

Assembly

- I used nutella as my (chocolate layer), but a ganache dark chocolate layer would put this over the top!

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Matcha Watermelon Cake

I'm all about reading unmotivated/demotivated posters and memes currently... Sometimes, I get these spurts of energy to do stuff and then I fall into a lull, and just want to sit on my couch with a bag of Cheetos on my belly and lick cheese dust off my fingers. I'm also in a fairly chill rotation right now with no stress, no early mornings or late nights.

I should be feeling pretty good, but it's kind of like that stillness before the storm. In two weeks, I'll be on internal med rotation and all hell will break loose. It'll be back to panda eyes, frizzy hair, caffeine IV drip and mismatched clothing. <-- haha, sometimes I seriously don't notice what I put on in the morning at 4.30am and I'll go to work in an all olive green ensemble looking like a pickle (true story).

I'm taking advantage of all this free time to do lots of baking though! I recently made a lot of matcha stuff, just because I love matcha and want more of my friends to be exposed to it! I have a whole recipe page dedicated to it here. For this post, I have a light as air matcha almond cake base, sandwiching a watermelon layer with almond scented whipped cream. It's then topped with fresh strawberries, almonds and dried petals. The cake is quite reminiscent of Japanese/Asian bakery cake density...something like a chiffon cake. The watermelon really works as a layer here. It's super refreshing and unexpected. My roommate and I devoured this cake in 2 days... but then we're also your no-so-typical-vigorous eaters ;).

Matcha Watermelon Cake

inspired by black star pastry
makes a 5 inch layer cake

Cake	Frosting
2 eggs, room temp 1/2 cup powdered sugar 1/2 cup almond finely ground meal (plus more) 1 tbsp Panatea matcha 3 tbsp flour 3 egg whites, room temp 1/8 tsp cream of tartar 2 tbsp white sugar 1 slice watermelon	1.5 cups heavy whipping cream 4 tbsp sugar 1/2 tsp almond extract 1 tsp vanilla extract 1 pint strawberries sliced almonds dried petals (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 and place parchment paper on bottom of a 5 inch spring form pan.
2. Beat eggs, powdered sugar, almond flour on low-med until pale yellow. Mix in matcha and flour. Transfer to another bowl and wipe clean mixer bowel (or if you're lucky, whip out your other mixer bowl)
3. Whip on low egg whites and cream of tartar. Add sugar and whip on high until stiff peaks form. Fold egg white mixer and matcha cake mix gently until all incorporated
4. Pour batter into pan and bake for 30-40 mins. At 20mins you make need to foil the top because it will brown easily. Test with skewer for done-ness. Once out of the oven, immediately flip over on a cooling rack and allow to cool completely in it's pan
5. While you're waiting for your cake to cool, cut a 5 inch watermelon slice about 1-1.5cm thick. Sprinkle both sides with sugar ~1 tbsp and allow to macerate on a rack for 30 mins
6. Mix heavy whipping cream, sugar and extracts on high until stiff (but not too long that it separates). Set aside
7. Stick cake once cooled into the freezer for 10 mins, so it is easier to slice in half. If you used 2 pans, then forget about this step.
8. Place top layer of cake cut side up and spread frosting over it. Sprinkle almond meal over it (absorbs extra watermelon juice). Pat watermelon layer with kitchen towel and place over frosting. Sprinkle almond meal over watermelon and then spread more frosting over it. Top with final layer and more frosting.
9. Refrigerate cake for 1-2 hours to firm up. Cut up strawberries into quarters and halves. Decorate cake with sliced strawberries, sliced almonds and petals. Will keep for a few days!

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Matcha Affogato (no-churn)

My arms are full of babies this week! I'm currently working a week at the newborn nursery, and I see tiny hands and feet all day. I'm not one for babies usually, but I see their scrunched up faces and rolling chubby folds in their arms and I just melt. Omgee, my womanly hormones must be finally kicking in. I'm learning so many life lessons every day from the nurses and residents (that is if I ever decide to have children), that I almost feel like a regular baby expert haha! Then I see the faces of exhausted mums and dads and they're so tired that even their words are slurring... and I think, yea... I have no idea what having a child is like :P

But seriously, all my friends are getting married or having babies. There must be something in the water, or I'm just becoming an old fart. Although, med school has me all tied up for the next gazillion years, so I better freeze my eggs now!  

It's becoming almost unbearably hot and humid in Richmond. I get to the hospital at the crack of dawn and it is still so stiflingly hot. Sometimes I wish I had a gigantic ice cooler strapped to my chest while I walk to school. I just crave all things cold, so I've made this cooling dessert just for summer. It's a play on an Italian dessert called affogato (literally translates to "drowned"), where you take one scoop of cold vanilla gelato and then dump a shot of hot espresso over it.



This is my matcha take on the popular affogato dessert. A cold scoop of no-churn coconut matcha ice cream, topped with a shot of freshly whisked matcha!

Matcha Coconut Affogato
makes 6 servings

2 cans coconut milk or 1 can coconut cream (refrigerated overnight)
2 tsp vanilla
1-2 tbsp Panatea matcha (add to your discretion, I really like it strong so I even go up to 2-3tbsp)
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup honey (optional: adjust to taste)

1. Take out refrigerated coconut milk, open one side of the can and scoop out ONLY solid portion into a mixing bowl. Save left over coconut water for shakes or just drink it! Whisk on high speed until light and fluffy.
2. Whisk in vanilla, matcha and condensed milk. If it seems a little liquid-y, it's okay... it seems to freeze just fine!
3. Fill up a pint container, freeze overnight. When ready, allow to thaw outside a little so it is easier to use an ice cream scooper
4. Whisk 3 tbsp boiling water and 1 tsp of matcha powder in a small bowl. Scoop 1/2 cup ice cream into a short glass or small dessert bowl. Pour 1 hot matcha shot over ice-cream and serve immediately.

Disclaimer: This post is in partnership with panatea matcha. All opinions are my own.

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Roasted Strawberries Matcha Popsicles

I just started pediatrics rotation, which is kind of cool because I get to play Wii all day with the kids. Well, not really... I had a week of peds hematology and oncology, so it's been somewhat emotional on the floor and with the patients. Some kids are super well and happy, some not so much. Although, I really did play dance Wii, and got in a great workout, so I'm pretty much set for the rest of the month as far as exercise is concerned haha.

It's pretty exciting working in the hospital instead of studying at the desk all day! I'm constantly surrounded by smart people all day, so I'm learning a lot but also feeling incredibly stupid everyday :P. Anyway, one of my patients looked like a mix of Dora the explorer and Strawberry Shortcake. She's so cute! Plus, she has this insatiable sweet tooth, so these popsicles kind of reminded me of her :D.

Roasting strawberries is a pretty new idea to me, but I've been seeing a lot of blog posts about them so I thought I'd give it a try. Roasting them really caramelizes the sugar and intensifies the flavors (berry berry yummy...haha I had to say it). Do try it while it's berry season!

Other amazing roasted strawberries ideas:

• This Roasted Stawberry-miso Ice Cream. Miso what?!
• Roasted Balsamic Strawberry Ginger Ice Cream. Taking a trip to flavor town!
• Roasted Strawberry and Dumpling. Anything in skillet please
• Roasted Strawberries over Honey whipped ricotta. Like heaven on a pillow

Roasted Strawberries Matcha Popsicles
adapted from withfoodandlove

1/2 lb strawberries
3 tbsp honey
1 can coconut milk (lite or full fat)
1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 tbsp PANATEA matcha (cooking grade)

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Cut Strawberries in 1/2, drizzle with honey and roast for 15-20mins or until soft.
2. Allow to cool and then mash roasted strawberries in a small bowl. Add 1/4 cup coconut milk and distribute the mix into the molds
3. In a blender (I used an immersion blender), blend remaining coconut milk, sweetened condensed milk and matcha powder. Pour matcha mix carefully over the roasted strawberries. Freeze for a few hours or overnight
4. Run mold under warm water for a few minutes to help the popsicles unstick

Disclaimer: This post is in partnership with panatea matcha. All opinions are my own.

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Matcha Checkerboard Shortbread Cookies

Ummah 엄마 - that's what mothers are called in Korean. And I love my ummah and she loves me like crazy (well... most of the time :P). When I lived at home before college, I wanted to get out of the house as soon as possible. My mum was one of those tiger mum types. If I slept at midnight, she'd yell and tell me that while I was sleeping there were other kids up way past 2am with bleeding noses because they were studying so hard. My mum expected us to use encyclopedias as pillows and to study until the crack of dawn. Every night, she would camp out on the living room sofa and my sister and I would come out of our rooms to study on the living room table so she could keep an eye out on us. Of course, by 11pm she'd be fast asleep on the couch, except you could never tell because she sleeps with her eyes open!

Sometimes, we'd take turns to wave a hand in front of her face and make sure she's sleeping. If we were lucky, we would hop straight into bed and then hear our mum a few hours later waking up groggily and walking back to her room :P. We'd hold our breaths until we heard the squeak of her mattress sink under her weight. Sometimes, we weren't so lucky in our endeavors... And when you have a mother who sings soprano at a Korean community church, you can be sure you'll be hearing that voice for miles. Thinking about it, my sister and I probably really needed an iron fist when it comes to studying, because we were such lazy kids haha...

Despite the draconian studying, our mum was always looking out for us. Every summer when I left Hong Kong for Houston, I lugged two very full suitcases; one filled with my clothes and another filled with all my favorite home-cooked foods. She was always so worried I would starve myself even if I was already on a meal plan in college. Needless to say, my suitcases were always overweight or needed extra time in security, because I was carrying stinky things like kimchi (scared the sniffing dogs) or suspiciously dense frozen blocks of Korean rice cakes. By the time I was going to graduate, I had enough food left over in the freezer for a zombie apocalypse. But, now I'm so grateful that she can still cook and pack food for me :D

Mum - I love you and thank you that you've always been there for me.

Happy Mother's Day!

Matcha Checkerboard Shortbread Cookies

1-1/4 stick butter, softened
1/3 cup powdered sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
2 cup flour
1 pinch salt
3 tsp PANATEA matcha

1. Beat softened butter until light and fluffy. Cream together powdered sugar, yolks and vanilla. Mix flour and salt to the butter mixture until a lumpy dough starts to form. Using your hands, press the lumps and knead until dough is smooth.
2. Separate dough into 2 balls. Knead matcha into one ball until it is uniformly green. Separate each ball in half again.
3. For each ball, roll/pat into a long cylinder about 12" and then pat to make 4 sides (like a long square). Arrange them on top of each other to make a chessboard and pat lightly together.
4. Wrap firmly in seran wrap and pat lightly on a flat surface to make the dough log more square.
5. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
6. Preheat oven to 360F. With a sharp knife, cut out 1/4" cookies and lay on a baking sheet with parchment paper.
7. Bake for 9-12mins or until slightly browning on the edges.
8. Let cool for at least 5 minutes.

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