We all get in a baking rut now and again. I feel like I'm in one right now, actually. But then I was lucky enough to stumble across a little bit of inspiration last week: baking with tea leaves!
Spice expert and food writer, Monica Bhide, wrote a piece for NPR on using tea in baked goods, especially cookies. She interviewed chef Carla Hall who became interested in how tea can be used in recipes in a very deliberate way and can really be paired with other flavors — just like wine.
I'd heard of making tea infusions to impart flavor into batters and doughs but I'd never heard of some of the tricks that Hall recommends, and some of the wonderful flavor combinations she's devised. Here are a few of my favorite tips:
• Grind loose tea into a powder and mix in with the flour
• Subsitute strongly-brewed tea for wine or liquor in a recipe
• Infuse tea into one of the wet ingredients in a recipe. For example, steep flavor into cream or make simple syrups.
For More on Using Tea in Cookie Recipes: A Twist on Tea and Cookies
Related: Recipe: Peach and Spice Tea Muffins
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One of the best things I've made lately was madeleines with linden tea in them.
They were delicious, but they were sort of a "concept cookie" as well. I'd reread the famous passage from Proust about the madeleine provoking memories of childhood, and it turned out that it wasn't the cookie itself, but the lime blossom tea that brought back the memories. Turns out lime blossom tea is linden leaf tea, and, as it happens, the smell of linden flowers is one of the most beautiful, evocative smells I know. The flavor is lovely - sweet, mysterious, subtle.
one of my favorites - earl grey cupcakes with lemon buttercream frosting. http://www.patentandthepantry.com/2008/09/21/earl-grey-cupcakes-with-lemon-buttercream/
Sprinkle Bakes posted this a little while ago: http://www.sprinklebakes.com/2012/04/hibiscus-tea-and-poppy-seed-shortbread.html
And they bake purple!!
I've been experimenting with steeping all kinds of things in the milk or buttermilk that goes into a cake recipe - like saffron, various spices, and especially teas. Recently I did this with thai tea to make thai iced tea cupcakes and people went crazy for them! Recipe here: http://bowenappetit.com/2012/05/30/thai-iced-tea-cupcakes-with-condensed-milk-buttercream/.
Love these earl grey and poppyseed cupcakes http://plumcakeandpowertools.wordpress.com/2012/05/13/earl-grey-poppy-seed-cupcakes/
One of my favourite cookie recipes (and the one I get the most requests for) is this one for earl grey shortbread cookies: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/claire-robinson/earl-grey-shortbread-cookies-recipe/index.html
So good! The tea leaves give a wonderful texture and flavour.