I’m writing this post from the beautiful Basque country, where I’ve spent most of my summers since I was a little girl. Although I grew up in a bustling Parisian setting, our family would always find the way to get together and spend some quality time in a family home near Biarritz. Living so far from France today, it’s always a wonderful feeling to come back to the same house, same surroundings and spend a little time closer to where I’m from. A lot of people vacation on the south east coast of France – where popular beach towns fill up during the summer, but the south west is a tad more rugged, with waves the size of mountains, real summer thunderstorms and beautiful scenery.
This is truly one of the places besides Paris where I fell in love with good food. The tables of ‘charcuterie’ (cured meats), beautiful fragrant cheeses, full glasses of sangria, grilled fish, and plums straight from the tree are a few of the staples I’ve been feasting on every summer. The proximity to Spain allows us to spend a few blissful days a year across the border every time we come here, and I always look forward to the tapas we enjoy standing up on the stone streets of the old San Sebastian. The delights here are truly my kind of food: rustic, generous, pungent foods without unnecessary sophistication. It’s a lot of good olive oil, garlic and herbs – everything I love.
How does this relate to the recipe I bring you today? Well, it doesn’t really.. but I made these matcha muffins right before leaving and didn’t get a chance to post the recipe until now. I’ve been experimenting with matcha powder for a little while – and thanks to a gift from one of my good friends – I’ve been able to use matcha powder directly brought from Japan. I can’t decipher any inscriptions on the package but the results have still been lovely! For those of you who haven’t tried using matcha powder in your baked goods, I strongly recommend it! It’s incredibly fragrant – a tiny amount only is needed – and it brings a great new layer of flavours to baked goods. So here goes!
Matcha and Chocolate Swirl Muffins
Adapted from Kirbie’s Cravings
Makes about 14 muffins
2 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon instant espresso or coffee powder
1/3 cup dutch-process cocoa powder
1 cups sugar
1 whole egg
1 egg white
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup low fat yogurt
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1.5 tablespoons matcha powder
Preheat your oven to 350 F. Line muffin baking pan with cupcake liners.
In a bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Sift together. Set aside. In another small bowl combine the espresso powder, cocoa and 1/3 cup of the sugar with 1/4 cup of water. Whisk until smooth. Set aside. In another small bowl, whisk whole egg with egg white. Set aside.
Cut the butter into pieces and place in an electric mixing bowl. Beat for 1 minute to soften. Gradually add remaining sugar and beat at high speed for about 3 minutes. Add in the egg mixture, beating constantly for about 2 minutes. On low speed, beat in a third of the flour mixture. On medium-high speed, beat in half of the yogurt. On low speed, beat in half of the remaining flour. On high speed, beat in the rest of the yogurt and the vanilla. On low speed, beat in the remaining flour.
Measure out 1 1/2 cups of yogurt batter and mix into the cocoa mixture. Set aside. Add the matcha powder to the rest of the yogurt batter in the mixing bowl.
Using a large spoon, scoop some of chocolate batter in the bottom of each cupcake liner. Then add a spoonful of green tea batter and another small spoonful of chocolate batter. Using a toothpick, swirl the mixture so both flavors create a nice swirled pattern.
Bake for 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center of the muffin comes out clean.
Enjoy the read!
Choclette
August 7, 2010 at 2:49 pm (14 years ago)These look so pretty. I’m a recent convert to matcha powder too. Mine also came in an indecipherable packet from Japan. I made a matcha and chocolate marble cake which was delicious.
Torviewtoronto
August 7, 2010 at 3:10 pm (14 years ago)Beautiful muffins
M.
August 7, 2010 at 3:56 pm (14 years ago)I haven’t tried cooking with matcha powder yet…you made ma really curious about it.
Your muffins look so beautiful, love the color combination!
Basque country sounds like an amazing place to fall in love with good food. I really enjoyed reading about it. Great post!
Xiaolu @ 6 Bittersweets
August 7, 2010 at 5:19 pm (14 years ago)These are cute as a button. Luckily, I have almost a full bag of matcha waiting for a worthy recipe like this :).
Evan @swEEts
August 7, 2010 at 6:08 pm (14 years ago)How wonderful that you get to spend summers in France! These muffins looks fabulous.
Chanel11
August 7, 2010 at 8:42 pm (14 years ago)Enjoy your time -I can only imagine how lovely it must be there 🙂
Katie
August 8, 2010 at 2:54 am (14 years ago)So pretty, the swirl is beautiful and I love the spotty muffin cases
Chele
August 8, 2010 at 4:28 am (14 years ago)I must get my hands on some matcha powder! These muffins look amazing. Enjoy your holiday.
Unique Chocolate Gifts
August 8, 2010 at 5:52 pm (14 years ago)Thank you for posting. Those muffins are great,they look delicious.Thank you for the recipe you’ve shared. I will try this one soon.
Karmel-itka.
August 9, 2010 at 1:13 pm (14 years ago)beautiful. yummi! oh,delicious.
i like matcha too. mmm. very, very pretty ;]
naomi
August 9, 2010 at 4:59 pm (14 years ago)These are so beautiful! Wow! I love it.
Kirbie
August 9, 2010 at 6:14 pm (14 years ago)Yours came out beautifully!
Cakebrain
August 10, 2010 at 12:56 am (14 years ago)I love the colours green and brown together and the matcha and chocolate flavours sound like a heavenly match! Yum!
Patricia Scarpin
August 10, 2010 at 9:16 am (14 years ago)I haven’t baked with matcha yet and I feel I am missing out something! These are beautiful, Jen (love the paper cases!)
Chocolate Shavings
August 10, 2010 at 1:05 pm (14 years ago)Patricia Scarpin: You should definitely give it a try, it’s a fun ingredient to use. I love those cupcake liners too – I got them at this specialty baking store in London and they’re great!
Kitty
August 11, 2010 at 7:56 am (14 years ago)They look scrumptious! I’ve got a lot of matcha in my pantry atm, just waiting to get eaten… I think I’ll give these a try 🙂
pigpigscorner
August 11, 2010 at 4:34 pm (14 years ago)Love matcha and chocolate combo! Have a great vacation!
anna
August 11, 2010 at 6:44 pm (14 years ago)So cute! I really adore matcha.
Lynda
August 11, 2010 at 7:37 pm (14 years ago)I’ve never used matcha, but would like to try. Your muffins look wonderful. Lucky you to enjoy some time near Biarritz!
Indie.Tea
August 13, 2010 at 8:02 am (14 years ago)This looks and sounds so delicious. I do love cooking with matcha….
ovenhaven
August 17, 2010 at 11:38 am (14 years ago)I’ve never tried matcha in my bakes, since I’m not a fan of the matcha drink. But if I ever decide to be brave and try it, I’ll give these muffins the first try!
Jamie
August 19, 2010 at 10:51 am (14 years ago)Two things: we drove down to Basque country where we spent a divine – and delicious – week a year ago and I fell in love! If I had the chance to live there I would move in a second! And the other thing: I’ve been looking for a recipe with matcha powder in it and I think I’ve found it!
Chocolate Shavings
August 19, 2010 at 11:03 am (14 years ago)Jamie: It’s really a beautiful region, isn’t it? Let me know if you give these muffins a try!
Eva
September 18, 2010 at 2:17 pm (14 years ago)These look delicious. I was just looking for more recipe to use my matcha powder with(:
I am bookmarking this right now! Thanks for dropping by my blog(: I love your blog&photos!!
polwig
December 2, 2010 at 12:23 pm (13 years ago)I love green tea ice cream and have been wanting to make some cakes with matcha, this is perfect thank you.