Matcha Brownies

Hello all!

I have been loving Matcha green tea since it became a thing 6-7 years ago. Since I don’t have a sweet tooth and my sweet tolerance is quite low, I simply love the earthiness and that Matcha brings into a your mouth and ends every bite with a very delicate floral aftertaste. I feel that Matcha  flavor can be both bold and subtle at the same time. It is strong enough to be a stand-alone flavor and versatile enough to be married with other bold flavour like chocolate.

I came across Matcha Brownies on Pinterest awhile back and I have been wanting to try making them. My family members (whom I live with) are not exactly avid dessert eaters. They would taste the desserts, love the desserts but not indulge in the desserts. I, on the other hand, love making desserts more than eating them. Hence I always try to find an event or a get-together to try making any kinds of desserts or else it will stay in the fridge for weeks!

I tried this recipe a few months back for a friend’s birthday and another friend of mine simply loved it and asked me to bake another one. So I did!

The original recipe came from here: http://www.ful-filled.com/2016/10/17/matcha-cheesecake-brownies/

  

Ingredients

Matcha Cheesecake:

250g  of cream cheese, room temperature

2/3 cup sugar

1 tbsp Matcha powder

1 egg, room temperature

1 teaspoon of green coloring (optional, if needed)

Brownies:

6 tbsp (85g) unsalted butter, diced

1 cup or 160g semi-sweet chocolate chips/coins

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 tbsp cocoa powder

1/4 tsp salt

Instructions

1.   Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit or 180 degree Celsius and line an 8 x 8 inch baking pan

Matcha Cheesecake:

2.    Using an electric mixer,  beat the cream cheese and sugar until smooth and fluffy.

3.    Sift the Matcha powder into the mixture and continue beating.

4.    Mix in the eggs and continue beating until well combined. Set aside.

Brownies: 

5.    In a microwave-safe bowl, melt butter in the microwave.

6.    Stir in the chocolate and add in another 10 to 20 seconds extra in the microwave (if needed)

7.    Mix in the eggs. (if the mixture is a bit too hot, do wait for a couple of minutes to ensure that   the eggs do not scramble)

8.   Add the vanilla, flour, cocoa powder and salt into the mixture and continue mixing until well combined.

9.    Pour ¾ of the brownie batter into the baking pan evenly.

10.  Slowly pour and spread the Matcha cheesecake batter on the brownie batter.

11.  Dollop the remaining brownies batter onto the Matcha cheesecake batter.

12.  Using a skewer or a butter knife, swirl the dollops of brownie batter to create a marble effect

13.  Bake for 30 minutes or until the middle of the brownies no longer jiggle and not sticky to     touch.

14.  Let cool completely before serving (or not, your choice).

 

I like that this brownie recipe is not overly sweet. Do add or reduce the amount of sugar to your liking. The green-ness of the Matcha cheesecake depends on the quality of your Matcha powder. Some can be browner than green. So you may add a bit of colouring if you want the green-ness to pop out a little :)

Enjoy!

Kunafe/ Kunafa

Hello there!

As usual, my life is crazy busy juggling work and my studies at the same time. I have no idea how I managed it for the whole year last year, so I’m pushing myself a lot harder for this year as well. I have very few resolutions for this year. First  is to cook more and second is to try cooking other cuisines as well. So here is one of my experiments for this year.

I remember falling in love with Kunafe/Kunafa during Frosh around 8 years ago (oh my god, it was that long ago!). I remember being so intrigued with this sweet yet salty dessert. Shreddded pastry that encases melted cheese and sweetend with orange blossom syrup. Oh wow, oh wow. Since then I have been dreaming to try my hands at it, but never did. I mean, come on, Al- Baghdadi, a Middle-Eastern Bakery was so close to our university. I could just get the Metro and get my cravings fixed. My bestfriend’s mom was also kind enough to share her recipe with us. There we were three girls following her around her kitchen and observing how this dessert was made. She was an amazing cook! I still miss her food to this day. J

Since I moved back to Malaysia, I have not had Kunafe/Kunafa since. Until mom told me that the restaurant near our house had it. I was so excited, but was a tad bit disappointed. I learned that there are different kinds of kunafe/kunafa, and the version that they serve at the restaurant was the creamy (no cheese) one. I was determined to make one myself, the way I like it! I was googling for good recipe to follow and as usual, traditional recipe as such has different variation. I was quite upset to see recipes that require a “kunafe pan”, “ a big pan”, “ a wide pan”. I mean hello? How big is big? How wide? Are the measurements using the metric system? Anyways, I stumbled upon this recipe here: Kunafa Nabulsi . The recipe is straight forward and so easy to follow. Since I did not have a 10 inch pan, I used an 8 inch instead. I have tweaked the recipe a bit, to my liking.

  

Kunafe/Kunafa

1 tablespoon butter, melted (for oiling the pan)

1/4 teaspoon orange liquid food coloring

1/2 cup melted butter

400 grams of shredded filo dough (kataifi), thawed

1 cup (250g) of ricotta cheese

1 ½   cups  of mozzarella cheese

1 tablespoon of sugar

1 tablespoon of orange blossom water

Pistachios for garnishing (Optional)

For the syrup

1  cup of sugar

3/4 cup water

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon orange blossom water

1.     Preheat oven to 180 Celsius.

2.     Butter your 8 inch cake pan. Add a few drops of colouring  and spread evenly on the bottom  and sides of the pan. Add some more colouring if needed. Set aside.

3.     In a big bowl, combine the cheeses, sugar and orange blossom water together. Set aside.

4.     In a different bowl, mix together the shredded pastry and melted butter.

5.     Place  and press half of the shredded pastry into the cake pan.

6.     Add the cheese mixture on the flattened shredded pastry.

7.     Cover the cheese mixture with the remaining shredded pastry.

8.     Bake for about 30-35 minutes or until slightly brown. Let rest for a couple of minutes before inverting it.

Sugar Syrup

1. On a medium heat, combine the water, sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan.
2. Simmer for about 5 minutes or until the sugar dissolves.
3. Turn off heat and add the orange blossom water.
4. Let cool slightly. Drizzle on kunafe/kunafa.

Note.

The Syrup can be a tad bit sweet so you can put a minimal amount of syrup on top just to coat the pastry and serve the extra syrup on the side.

As you can see, I DID NOT spread the colouring evenly! :p Oh well, first try! Nonetheless, it was a glorious glorious dessert.  My mom still preferred that creamy Kunafe/Kunafa served at the Middle-Eastern restaurant over mine. *eye roll* To each their own, I guess. K mom, k.

Till next time,

Soffy