Vegetarian Matcha Almond Muffins (绿茶杏仁小松饼）

INTRODUCTION

If you like Japanese green tea – Matcha, you will like this muffin. This recipe is an eggless, butter less and milk less recipe specially designed for vegetarians

It is a pure, aromatic matcha flavour muffin and  the fragrance was not masked by butter and eggs. However, if you want to have eggs and butter fragrance, feel free to use my other earlier muffin recipes and add 1-2 tablespoons of matcha powder. Then the matcha flavour will not be that distinct.

I have to be frank that I am not happy with the colour inside the muffins. After baking, it turned slight brownish and I am puzzle why some of the images in the internet appeared to be bright green!

Out of curiosity, I prepared another batch of muffins with a slight twist of adding 2 tablespoons of vinegar. Yes, the outcome is encouraging with a green interior.  It somehow “confirm” my suspicion that without green colouring in the recipe, acidic medium like lemon juice or vinegar may be able to inhibit the oxidation of green tea and prevent colour changes. However, this shall not be construed as a confirmation since the experiment was not done in a scientific manner.

In this recipe, I have adjusted to add 2 tablespoons of the lemon juice or vinegar to the batter and I hope that the final colour are greener than what is in my illustration here. Some may be wondering about whether the taste will blend! Surprising, the vinegar flavour is not distinct at all. It remain the same flavour as the first batch.

The muffins are healthier, definitely edible. For those who prefer a stronger flavour, you can add additional 1/2 tablespoon more of matcha powder but I have to caution that adding too much matcha powder may make the muffins bitter.

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WHAT IS REQUIRED

Servings: Prepared 5-6 cupcake size muffins

• 200 grams of self raising flour
• 135 grams of sugar
• 50 grams of almond flakes or almond nibs
• 75 grams of cooking oil
• 100 grams of plain water
• 1-1.5 tablespoons of matcha green tea powder
• 2 tablespoons of lemon juice or vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda

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STEPS OF PREPARATION

• Pre-heat oven to 170 degree Celsius.

• Shift the flour, baking soda and green tea powder in a mixing bowl. Add all other dry ingredients. Make a well in the centre. Add in the cooking oil and water in 3 stages. Use a knife or fork to lightly mix it. Slight lump is acceptable. Transfer to the cupcake cups and bake in the pre-heated oven of 170 degrees for 25-30 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Note that timing will very much depends on the size of your muffins. Final test is the skewer test. To avoid browning too fast, placed the muffins at the lowest rack of the oven.

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CONCLUSION

I have to be frank with you that today, I have in fact prepared 3 batches of muffins. The first batch is with milk, eggs and butters. However, I am unhappy with the interior colour and the weak matcha flavour, I have decided to prepare the second batch. For the second batch, I have transformed it to a vegetarian version of excluding eggs, butter and milk in the muffins. The taste is okay but the interior is slightly brownish that make me try to make the third batch by adding some vinegar to the batter. Yes the third batch meet my expectations, both in terms of colour, texture and taste. The headache I have now is my house is full of muffins now… to be exact, 18 muffins but none shall be thrown away……

Hope you like the post today. Cheers and have a nice day.

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