Happy Almost-December! You may or may not be wondering what is up with me as far as posting multiple times this month. I decided that for next year, I’ll most likely be posting more than once a month and so I just wanted to try it out!

I’ve made these about 4 times(!!!), so clearly this turned into a labor of love. The more I worked with these ingredients, the more I fell in love with them. I really love the…interplay?…the interplay between the Matcha green tea powder with the white chocolate and the almond. When I made one version using bittersweet chocolate, it almost completely masked the Matcha.

I feel that if one is going to splurge and get good quality Matcha tea powder, it pairs a lot better with white chocolate, which doesn’t overpower it. I really like almond extract, as it really intensifies the almond paste, but feel free to leave it out if the almond extract is not your thing. Also, if you leave them to sit overnight, the dusted Matcha on top has more of a dark and wet look (scroll to the bottom picture), which initially I didn’t like, but now, for some reason, I actually quite like. And that is it! Enjoy!

white chocolate almond matcha brownies

ingredients 

7 ounces almond paste, broken into small pieces

3 Tablespoons granulated sugar

6 ounces (12 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into tablespoon-sized pieces

3 large eggs, room temperature

1 teaspoon almond extract

6 ounces white chocolate, cut into small pieces, melted but cooled somewhat yet still pourable

3 Tablespoons light corn syrup

1/2 cup (2.5 ounces) all-purpose flour

 1 Tablespoon matcha tea powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

method

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. 

Line a 9” x 9” x 2” square pan with parchment paper on the bottom and let the parchment paper overhang slightly on two opposite sides. (You can use a slightly smaller square pan, such as 8″ x 8″, just increase the baking time and brownies will be thicker.) Set aside.

Sift together flour, matcha, and salt to a bowl or large piece of parchment paper and set aside.

Place the white chocolate pieces into a heatproof bowl and set the bowl over a pot with boiling water, making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water and stirring often with a rubber spatula until the white chocolate has just melted. Be careful not to get the white chocolate too hot, or it might separate. Remove from heat and set aside to cool somewhat until ready to use. (You can also melt the white chocolate by putting the bowl in intervals of several seconds at a time in a microwave, stirring after each interval until melted.)

In a bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, add the almond paste into the bowl and put it on low speed for a minute or two. Let it go longer if the almond paste is hard. Add the sugar, a teaspoon at a time every several seconds. The sugar helps break down the almond paste into smaller granules. Continue to mix on low until the almond paste has broken down to small pebbles no larger than peas. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides and bottom, if needed.

Add the butter, one tablespoon at a time until all the butter is mixed in. This should take about a minute. Once it is all mixed in, stop the mixer and scrape down the sides and bottom again and turn back on and let it go until all the butter is creamed well with the almond paste.

With the mixer still on low add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides and bottom as needed. After all the eggs are added in, add the almond extract and continue to mix on low.

Slowly drizzle the white chocolate into the batter, continuing to mix on low, until white chocolate is all mixed in.

Add the corn syrup in the same way with the mixer on low until incorporated well into the batter.

Stop the mixer and remove the attachment and sift the flour/matcha mixture again this time directly on top of the batter and scrape the bottom and sides with a rubber spatula and fold the flour mixture a few times into the batter to ensure all the flour mixture ingredients are mixed in.

Pour batter into prepared pan and level the top with a small offset spatula and place the pan in the center rack of the oven.

Bake at 350 degrees F., and let it bake for about 25-30 minutes just until the center is solid and no longer looks wet, take out of the oven and let sit on a wire rack until cooled completely. Cut into desired squares or rectangles and sift extra matcha green tea powder, if desired. Do not sift matcha over the top until it has cooled completely.  If you don’t like the way the Matcha on top looks after several hours, don’t dust with Matcha until just before serving.