One of my resolutions entering year 31 was to create something. Every day.  Making breakfast/lunch/dinner does not count.  And it surely didn’t need to be a big opus of a spectacularly well-lit, VSCO-filtered, photo shoot.  If it was paid work, that was even better.  But nonetheless, I wanted to start to grab my unending curiosity by the balls and give it a kick (thank you, Elizabeth Gilbert).    Put that un-exercised energy to work.

Sidenote: why did I just assign my curiosity to be male?

Meanwhile, I had lately become obsessed with green tea.  Lattes, all-matcha-only-matcha cafes, baker blog posts. And that colour! Everything. So when Laetitia flew off to Japan, I immediately asked her to bring me back some matcha…in exchange for some baked goods of course.  Because that’s how I roll.

Matcha is the finely ground powderized form of green tea.  Which means it’s healthy for you.  It also originates from ancient China, and was brought over to Japan by a monk, where it was further refined. Which means it’s even more healthy for you.  In my case, I wanted to combine this healthy thing with sugar and a bunch of other dairy products for my first foray into baking with matcha.  There have been too many quickbreads in my life recently, so I decided to go the mochi-route. And for the health-conscious, I can tell you that this recipe is gluten-free. Ha.

Matcha & Coconut Mochi Cake (adapted from Food52 by Kendra Vaculin)

Ingredients
1 stick butter, softened
4 eggs
1 12 oz can of evaporated milk
1 13.5 oz can of coconut milk
1.5 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups glutinous rice flour
1 pinch of salt
2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp matcha (baking/cooking grade)
1 big handful shredded coconut

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a 9×13 inch baking pan with parchment paper, with paper hanging over edges.
2. In a large bowl, beat butter and eggs together until smooth. Add milks and vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together sugar, flour, matcha and baking powder.
4. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Whisk together until well-incorporated with a consistency like pancake      batter. It’s going to smell like you’re in a Japanese bake house at this point and be prepared for that brilliant green!
5. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 60-70 minutes (until fork comes out clean).  Careful to not burn the bottom of your mochi!
6. Allow to cool slightly before removing from pan (lift the parchment paper out). You might need to flour your knife         before cutting into 24 squares.

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All photos by Tiffany Tsang. Please request permission for use. C+T is not liable for any hyperglycemia that results from over consumption of this matcha mochi.