Green Tea Cupcakes

For some odd reason, I went from not being a cupcake-eater at all to ultimate obsession - in particular with diverse flavours (I don't think I've ever even made plain vanilla cupcakes). So today, let's feel green. The recipe is dedicated to Martina who absolutely adored these cupcakes.

If you do not have matcha green tea powder (I myself have only recently come into possession of it), just use some other Japanese green tea (Sencha, Gyokuro) and try to pulverise it as much as possible. The colour will not be quite as bilious, but the taste is just as good.

Ingredients (makes 24):
For the dough:

240g flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

340g caster sugar

170g butter

2 large eggs

10ml milk

2 tbsp matcha green tea powder (or crushed sencha or gyokuro tea leaves)

For the topping:

200g butter

200g Philadelphia (or any other cream cheese)

600g icing sugar

1 tbsp matcha green tea powder

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 175ºC. Mix together the dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder and matcha powder). Place the butter into a separate bowl and beat until soft (do not melt it!) and then add the caster sugar. Mix the two until you obtain a pale and fluffy mass. Add the eggs and sift in the dry mix. Add the milk. Fill the cupcakes forms until 2/3 full and bake for 15-20 minutes until the tops are soft to the touch and a toothpick comes out clean. 

While baking the cupcakes, put the Philadelphia in a bowl and beat until creamy. Place the butter and 1/3 of the icing sugar into a separate bowl and mix until fluffy. Sift in the rest of the sugar and matcha powder and at the end, add the cream cheese. Chill until ready to pipe, then decorate the cupcakes!

Homemade Müesli (Granola)

This post has been sitting in my drafts for a very long time and it just didn't want to be published... But then, what better way to start a weekend than with a homemade muesli? Hence why this draft now finally makes it onto my blog... And I have to admit, it brings back lovely memories of the colourful and tasty Iraqi pomegranates (I would bet that they are amongst the best in the world, if not the best).

Ingredients:

1 cup of rolled oats (I just used Quaker oats)

1 cup of rolled buckwheat groats

2 cups puffed oats (the ones that look like "Smacks")

5 tbsp. honey (the liquid kind)

3 tbsp. coconut oil (liquid)

1 vanilla pod (scratched out seeds)

1 tsp. cinnamon

Pinch of salt

Handful of crushed almonds

Handful of crushed walnuts

Handful of dried apricots 

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 150°C and line a baking tray with baking paper. Do not overheat your oven as you are guaranteed to burn your granola (yes, speaking from experience)! Combine dry ingredients (oats, salt and cinnamon) in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the oil with the honey and vanilla seeds. Then combine the two - best done with your hands and massaging the honey into the oats until they are evenly mixed. Spread out the mixture onto the baking tray, using a spatula to ensure that it is spread evenly. Put the tray into the oven and bake the mixture for 30 minutes, stirring it every 10 minutes so that it doesn't burn (again, trust me, it happens). After 30 minutes add the chopped apricots and nuts and put the tray back into the oven for another 10-15 minutes. Do not add dried fruit or nuts earlier as they will burn (I feel like I am repeating myself here…)! Once the granola looks golden and crunchy, take the tray out and let the mix cool down so it can clump. Finally, put the Müesli in airtight containers (like glass jars for example) for storage.

I always add fresh fruit to my granola just to make it a little less dry. These days, it's mostly pomegranate as the season has really started here. The best pomegranates in Northern Iraq come from Halabja, allegedly. I think I will abstain from speculating why that would be…