Holiday Matcha Shake with Moonlit Matcha

A frosty, matcha shake infused with fresh nutmeg and sweetened by Kahlua is thick with creamy cashews that makes a healthy and delicious treat!

I always have two different types of matcha in my fridge. One is for baking, a lower grade matcha that's best for donuts, waffles, smoothies and the like. The other is best for drinking, a higher grade matcha that I usually drink plain whisked into hot water using my little bamboo whisk. I don't usually make matcha lattes or anything like that, but every so often I'll crave a sort of frosty matcha shake. Today I thought I'd share my holiday version of this yummy drink and a give you a tip on where to get some fantastic high quality matcha.

For drinking, you'll want a premium or ceremonial grade matcha. Cooking grade matcha is best left to be incorporated into baked goods or smoothies. I've been buying this same ceremonial grade matcha from an ethic shop in Anchorage (50 miles from where I live) for many years, but since I don't work in town anymore and nobody sells it near where I live, I am happy to be able to purchase it online. This ceremonial grade matcha gifted to me for review by, Moonlit Matcha by Hybrid Herbs, shocked me when I opened it. 

I'm used to matcha being somewhat dull and lacking luster. This matcha was bright and lofty. When I mixed it into my water, the tea shown a vibrant and deep green color. I'd never seen matcha like that before! It was grassy, smooth, and earthy; not in the least bit bitter at all. I knew I had a keeper! 

I really love that Moonlit Matcha is also 100% organic and comes packaged in Miron violet glass jars which block light and keep items fresh for much longer than regular glass or aluminum packages. The glass is also recyclable,  but I'll keep mine to store ground flaxseed, herbs, and other such food items. 

This is definitely my new drinking matcha, and I am so happy to have discovered it. Do you have a favorite matcha brand? You can find Moonlit Matcha on Amazon, where it ships directly from Japan for free with Amazon Prime! It's priced the same as other ceremonial grade matcha but with the benefit of being organic, packaged in Miron glass, and is the brightest, sweetest matcha I have tasted yet. I definitely recommend it!

And now, onto the recipe!

Holiday Matcha Shake

Recipe by Kathleen Henry @ Produce On Parade

A frosty, matcha shake infused with fresh nutmeg and sweetened by Kahlua is thick with creamy cashews that makes a healthy and delicious treat!

Serves 1.

Ingredients

• 1 cup cold water
• 1/4 cup raw cashews
• 1 tbsp Kahlua
• splash of agave nectar or maple syrup, to taste
• 1/4-1/2 tsp Moonlit Matcha
• pinch of kosher salt
• dash of freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp xanthan gum (optional)

Cooking Directions

1. Place all the ingredients in a high powered blender and blend until smooth. If you don’t have a high powered blender, soak the nuts for 2 hours in cold water prior to use.
2. Pour into a large glass and serve chilled.

*DISCLAIMER*  PRODUCE ON PARADE IS A PERSONAL BLOG WRITTEN AND EDITED BY MYSELF ONLY, UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED. MY REVIEWS ARE COMPLETELY BASED ON MY OWN OPINION OF THE PRODUCT REVIEWED. THESE PRODUCTS WERE SUPPLIED TO ME AS GIFTS TO TEST AND REVIEW. OTHERWISE, IF I MENTION A COMPANY BY NAME AND THERE IS NO DISCLAIMER AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST, I AM MERELY WRITING ABOUT SOMETHING I LIKE, PURCHASE AND/OR USE. THE FACT THAT I DO RECEIVE A PRODUCT AS A GIFT TO TEST AND REVIEW, WILL NEVER POSITIVELY INFLUENCE THE CONTENT MADE IN THIS POST. 

Green Tea Doughnuts w/ Crunchy Coconut Glaze

Baked doughnuts with powdered green tea mixed right in the batter! Adorned with a sweet and crunchy coconut-nutmeg glaze, these are easy to make and brimming with green tea flavor. A perfect and unique treat for St. Patrick's Days!

I love making baked doughnuts. They are so easy to whip up and Todd absolutely loves them. I confess he was more smitten with my cookie dough doughnuts...but my taste buds prefer these green tea ones or my chai spiced doughnuts. To each their own!

If you need of a festive and unique dessert to star on St. Patrick's Day, look no further. I've got you covered!

“You gotta try your luck at least once a day, because you could be going around lucky all day and not even know it.”

— Jimmy Dean

Green Tea Doughnuts w/ Crunchy Coconut Glaze

By Katie Henry - Produce On Parade

Baked doughnuts with powdered green tea mixed right in the batter! Adorned with a sweet and crunchy coconut-nutmeg glaze, these are quick to make and brimming with green tea flavor.

NOTES - Be sure to use culinary grade matcha. You don’t want to be using up all your expensive drinking matcha. If you don’t have coconut oil, I use olive oil all the time and I swear you can’t taste it.

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup vegan sugar
• 2 tbsp matcha, dry
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¾ cup water
• ¼ cup coconut oil, melted
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract, divided
• ¼ cup coconut milk or other plant-milk
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• ½ tbsp matcha, dry
• pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
• heaping ¼ cup finely shredded coconut flakes

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375° F. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour through and including the salt. Make a well in the center with a large spoon.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the water, oil, vinegar, and 1 tsp vanilla. Pour into the dry well, while stirring. Stir until just combined.
3. Scoop the batter into a regular doughnut pan coated with a nonstick cooking spray. The wells should be filled about ¾ the way full. Too full and the doughnut hole will close in, not filled full enough and the doughnut will have a huge hole in the center. If you have a six doughnut pan like me, you will bake them in batches. If you have a twelve doughnut pan, you can do them all at once, just be sure they are cooled for about 20 minutes before glazing.
4. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for a minute. Then, run a butter knife blade around each doughnut to loosen it from the pan. Tip the pan upside-down to remove the doughnuts. Place them on a wire cooling rack. Repeat with remaining batter.
5. Once the second batch of donuts is done baking and has cooled for about 5 minutes, it’s time to make the glaze. Whisk together the remaining ingredients and 1 tsp vanilla, excluding the coconut flakes. In a small saucepan, excluding the coconut flakes, over low heat for a couple minutes until runny and there are no matcha clumps. Remove from heat and stir in the coconut flakes.
Then, immediately dip the doughnuts face-first into the glaze one by one. Dip them in the glaze for about 5 seconds, then pick them up and allow the excess glaze to drip off. Set back on the cooling rack.
6. Then repeat again for a second glaze dip. Allow the glaze to harden while the doughnuts rest on the cooling rack. It will take a couple hours for the glaze to set and be hard. After it’s hardened, store in an airtight container.
   
   Prep time: 15 minutes
   Cook time: 00:10
   Total time: 00:25
   Yield: 12 doughnuts
   

Save Money!

If you're looking for a quality culinary-grade matcha, I use this organic one. 

It’s only $5.50 per oz versus almost $8 per oz at my grocery store.

More Donut Recipes and Matcha Recipes

Chai Spiced Baked Doughnuts

Vegan Cookie Dough Doughnuts

Vegan Holiday Matcha Shake

Vegan Matcha Mint Chia Pudding

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Dutch Word of The Day

Luck --> geluk (heh-look)

Information for The Day

A little humor for today from BuzzFeed - 21 Things That Happen When You Don't Eat Meat.

Matcha Mint Chia Pudding & A Review

I love matcha.

I love it prepared traditionally (as much as a white, Alaskan girl can...). I love it whisked into cold coconut milk with maple syrup. I love matcha lattes, and thrown into my smoothies too! Of course the stuff can be expensive. Especially if you're buying the ceremonial, high quality matcha. 

However, there are several different grades of matcha. Simply, they can be organized into culinary matcha (used for recipes, baking, smoothies, etc.), quality drinking matcha (best for matcha drinkers who don't require a super high quality matcha for their tea...like me), and then finally ceremonial super-premium matcha (very expensive and I'm no where near rich or exquisitely-palated enough to purchase it, though sometimes I wish I was).

Matcha is so beneficial because it's basically the baby green tea leaves just completely pulverized, so you're consuming the entire leaf (as opposed to just soaking it in hot water, like most teas). Try buying regular green tea leaves in the bulk section and tossing them into your smoothies for equal nutrition but a little more wallet friendly. However, if it's the matcha taste you want, then it's best to use actual matcha. If it's solely the nutrition of the actual tea leaves though...give plain green tea leaves a try. 

Today, I've created a smooth and creamy pudding made with chia seeds and non-dairy milk, featuring bright green matcha and sweetened with agave nectar. It's made with Kiss Me Organics Culinary Grade Organic Matcha, which was gifted to me to test. 

I was thrilled to try this matcha. Normally, I buy matcha from an ethnic market in Anchorage, but it's the middle of the road matcha that I use for drinking and I would never put it in my smoothies or recipes. The Kiss Me Organics matcha is great for recipes though. It lends a bold matcha flavor that's perfect in dishes. I whisked it into cold coconut milk, which was wonderful. However, I didn't prefer it to my other matcha when drinking hot tea. No surprise there though, it's not for that!

Because I don't buy culinary grade matcha, I haven't made many recipes with it, so this was fun and exciting! I can't wait to possibly bake with it and make other fun matcha infused recipes. 

I'll definitely buy this matcha again. It's $6.25 for one once. The same brand of matcha I normally buy is $13.65 for one ounce. The same brand, but culinary grade is $8.69 for one once and the ceremonial grade is $18.08 for one once, for comparison. 

Have you added matcha to your recipes? What's your favorite way to use culinary matcha? I want to make cupcakes soon!

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Matcha Mint Chia Pudding

by Katie @ Produce on Parade September-8-2014

A smooth and creamy pudding made with chia seeds and non-dairy milk starring bright green matcha and sweetened with agave nectar. Inspired by Detoxinista.

Ingredients

• 2 cups non-dairy milk of preference
• 6 Tbsp. chia seeds
• 2 Tbsp. agave nectar
• 2 tsp. culinary grade matcha
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• small pinch of kosher salt
• 6 fresh mint leaves

Instructions

Place everything in a high speed blender and blend on high for a few minutes until smooth and it begins to gel. Place in fridge for about 3 hours to set.

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: Total time: 3 hour 10 mins Yield: 2 cups

German Word of The Day

Green tea --> Grüntee (groon-teeh)

Good Deed of The Day

Guess what? You ladies can keep wearing yo' bras. Damn. Check out this article on the new study that was conducted to find out whether or not bra-wearing gave women an increased risk for breast cancer. It didn't

*DISCLAIMER*  PRODUCE ON PARADE IS A PERSONAL BLOG WRITTEN AND EDITED BY MYSELF ONLY, UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED. MY REVIEWS ARE COMPLETELY BASED ON MY OWN OPINION OF THE PRODUCT REVIEWED. I AM NOT PAID TO WRITE POSTS. THESE PRODUCTS WERE SUPPLIED TO ME AS GIFTS FROM THE COMPANY TO TEST AND REVIEW. OTHERWISE, IF I MENTION A COMPANY BY NAME AND THERE IS NO DISCLAIMER AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST, I AM MERELY WRITING ABOUT SOMETHING I LIKE, PURCHASE AND/OR USE. THE FACT THAT I DO RECEIVE A PRODUCT AS A GIFT TO TEST AND REVIEW, WILL NEVER POSITIVELY INFLUENCE THE CONTENT MADE IN THIS POST.