The Matcha-Berry Thing…

left: Corynn’s tart, right: Jennifer’s tart

Hey faithful readers of our little blog! It’s Jennifer just barely making it out of these insane past few days. You know it’s going to be a packed semester when your second day consists of you already working on the homework for the class you have in a half hour… This week Corynn and I started our spring semester! It has definitely been a crazy busy week for us, so this post really provided us with some culinary therapy. If we’re going to be completely honest, we struggled a little trying to figure out what exactly to post. We didn’t want to take on too much, but we also didn’t want to give you a dry post…

Last minute, Corynn came up with this genius idea of tarts. The idea of tarts isn’t even the most genius part about it. It was her inspiration and idea for what we were going to fill the tarts with! She was so inspired by our new favorite boba place in Santa Monica/West LA area called Percolate! One of their signature drinks is the Matcha Royale which is a matcha drink made with oat milk and a berry purée. It’s layered so beautifully and tastes like liquid gold. She texted me the idea and I immediately had ideas rushing through my head, as she did too I’m sure.

We both came up with tart recipes inspired by the drink. My tart is made with a honey graham cracker shell, filled with a berry jam/coulis/tart filling type thing, and topped with a lightly sweetened matcha whipped cream. I thought it looked a little bare at the end, so I even sprinkled a little matcha over the top to give it a little color. Corynn’s recipe is below as well.

Here is Jennifer’s recipe:

Honey Graham Cracker shell:

1 sleeve of graham crackers, crushed into crumbs (tip: put the sleeve in a big zippy… no sponsors yet… plastic bag and use a rolling pin or empty wine bottle to roll over the bag)
½ teaspoon of salt
⅔ cup of flour
1 large egg
6 tablespoons of butter, melted

Add dry ingredients together and mix until incorporated. Add the egg and mix and then add the butter and mix until everything is well incorporated. Blind bake* the shell at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.

*Contrary to popular belief, blind baking does not mean baking with a blindfold on, nor does it mean taking wild guesses… both of which I am guilty of. Just kidding! It’s far too dangerous to take wild guesses 😉

Berry Filling:

1 cup of frozen or fresh berries of choice
⅓ cup water
⅓ cup of juice (I used pomegranate juice)
The juice of ½ a medium sized lemon and its zest
⅓ cup sugar
2 tablespoons of cornstarch

Add all the ingredients into a small pot and bring to a boil (boil? I mean just watch until it bubbles) while constantly stirring, which will take around 5-7 minutes. Continue to cook the filling until most of the water you added evaporates and the cornstarch does its magic. Strain the berry concoction into a glass measuring cup or something similar to give it a space to cool down and settle a bit.

Matcha Whipped Cream:

1 cup of heavy whipping cream
⅓ cup sugar
2 teaspoons of matcha (about 1 ½ for the cream and the rest for dusting)

Whip the cream until it has soft peaks and then add the matcha and sugar, beating only slowly until everything is incorporated. Rather than stiff peaks, soft peaks are easier to spread on the tart and have a smoother consistency.

Assembly:

Pour the cooled berry mixture into the cooled tart shell and with a spatula of some sorts (I used an offset spatula… aka one of the best tools in the kitchen) and spread the berry layer evenly across the bottom. Next, add a hefty dollop of whipped cream on top of the berry layer and spread with your spatula tool of choice. At this point, the berry layer is still pretty runny, so be careful and gentle when spreading that whip. Use the spatula to create a swirly texture and design on the whip. Dust with matcha and refrigerate overnight… or at least a couple hours if you’re as impatient as I am.

Corynn here! Yes we are OBSESSED with this new boba drink and it therefore HAD to make itself into another digestible form for the blog. Today, it’s by way of the tart! Mine is gluten free, vegan, and refined sugar free too so you can consume without any major gut frustrations. I used almonds and oats for the crust and then made a creamy matcha filling with berry whip on top!!

Here is Corynn’s recipe:

Almond Oat Crust:

1 1/2 C toasted almonds
1 1/2 C oats
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 C coconut oil
2 T maple syrup

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Add almonds, oats, and sea salt to a blender and blend until the oats and almonds have been ground to a flour-like texture. Transfer mixture to a bowl and mix in melted coconut oil and maple syrup and until dough starts to stick in crumbly chunks. Press crust into greased tart pan, evenly dispersing the mixture. Bake for about 12-15 minutes and let it cool. Once cool, cover and place in fridge until ready for tart assembly!

Matcha Filling:

3/4 C raw cashews
1 C coconut cream
1/4 C maple syrup
2 tsp matcha powder (can add more or less according to preference)
1 tsp vanilla
¼ tsp salt
1 Tbsp coconut oil

Cover cashews with water and let soak overnight or for one hour in boiled water. Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth. Pour mixture into prepared crust and allow to set overnight.