Tagged with holiday

Green Tea Sandwich Cookies with Honey Cream Cheese Filling ♣

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I like St. Patrick’s day because it gives me an excuse to make and eat green food. Other than that, I don’t really celebrate it — in fact I’ve never even seen a green beer! These cookies are naturally colored with some beautiful sencha green tea powder gifted to me by Sugimoto America. This sencha powder had a nice strong earthy taste that paired naturally with the honey cream cheese filling.

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The recipe for these cookies came from my co-worker who had brought them into the office but I never got to try them. I usually avoid making sandwich cookies since they’re twice the amount of work for one cookie, but these just might be worth it. Not as much work as linzer cookies, but a little more work than whoopie pies. I also got to try out my new rolling pin so that I could make sure the dough was uniform in thickness.

If you’re in the mood for a seasonal treat that isn’t tooth-achingly sweet, these are right up your alley. I’ve stuck a few in the freezer to give to my friend this weekend when we meet up for the NYC Coffee & Tea Festival; I’ll report back on how they fared.

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This recipe is very easy and has a limited number of ingredients. I added heaping tablespoons of green tea powder because I had only a little left in my container (total amount = 227 grams). The cookie is a little dense, but lighter than shortbread. When eaten fresh, the filling will ooze out a bit. I stuck them in the fridge overnight and the filling firmed up for easier chomping.

Single Origin Teas: Candied Chestnut

Dry Leaves
Brewed Tea
Wet Leaves

Tasting Notes

The dry leaves smell of rum and sugared nuts (think of those roasted nut stands in Asia).

The smell of the brewed tea is of roasted nuts and smokiness with a hit of sweetness at the end. The liquor is a light amber. The sip starts buttery and sweet and finishes with a woodsy smoke reminiscent of tobacco. The finish is brought back to an earthy sweetness.

I enjoy this tea and its complexity. It is great as an “oolong” because black tea would be too astringent (it is a black tea made in an oolong style). This tea borders on being almost too astringent, but it pulls itself back from the edge with the sweetness and smokiness. From the leaf I thought it would be much sweeter, but it is actually quite well balanced. I could see this becoming more indulgent with sugar and cream, but I like it just the way it is.

Flavors: Autumn Leaf Pile, Brown Sugar, Chestnut, Earth, Rum, Tobacco

Description

Candied Chestnut is one of our holiday teas! Made with candied chestnut pieces on a black tea base, this sweet tea is perfect for the season (or any time of the year). Made using marron glace pieces, French chestnuts that undergo a candying process, our Candied Chestnut tea is one of a kind.

This Chinese black tea is made in an oolong style. The tea brings out a delicious nutty taste many people associate with an oolong (despite the fact that this tea was fully oxidized)!

Available through Single Origin Teas (Limited Edition).

Packaging

Disclaimer: This tea was sent to me by Single Origin Teas. All notes & opinions are my own.

Espresso Biscoff Birthday Cake

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Last week I celebrated my 27th birthday. It’s hard to believe that 10 years ago I was starting college and dating my-now-fiance Dan. We’ve started a tradition where each year Dan bakes me a cake for my birthday. Last year he baked this amazing Coffee & Donuts cake and this year we decided on an Espresso Biscoff concoction.

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This recipe, also from Sprinkle Bakes, was sure to be a winner. I love coffee and speculoos, so there was no risk. I also had a super cute dinosaur candle I had picked up a few years ago while on vacation and was waiting for just the right moment to whip out.

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Since Dan didn’t cut the cake into a heart and pipe the frosting on, he sprinkled some crushed chocolate-covered espresso beans on it.

All in all, the cake tasted good, but the cake part itself was lacking a bit of flavor. Though there was a lot of Biscoff cookie spread and espresso in the batter, it tasted plain in comparison to the filling. If I were to make this again, I would change the cake to be a deep, dark chocolate cake with brewed coffee in the batter. The bitterness would help the Biscoff filling and Biscoff-mocha frosting stand out more. I would also see if it were possible to fill the cake with pure Biscoff instead of adding the sugar and butter to it. It tasted great, but without a bold cake, the filling got too sweet for me rather quickly.

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This slice of cake was a perfect excuse to whip out my new Anthropologie plates! My best friend and I had this cake for breakfast, warm from the oven, before heading out to a local flea market and holiday popup. I do think this cake might taste better the day(s) after, when the coffee-flavor has had time to become more pronounced.

The only thing that could have made this birthday better was if it were warmer outside (I hate the cold)!