Vegan matcha pancakes

I woke up earlier than I needed to today and because I knew I wouldn't have time today to do anything new, I decided to use up the last of my matcha powder and make some matcha pancakes. 

I did a quick Google search and came across a great recipe for fluffy vegan pancakes from the website Post Punk Kitchen. I've always had the trouble of my pancakes never being thick and fluffy enough, so I put a lot of hope into these ones. 

To my total and utter delight, these were by far the best pancakes I have ever made. Ever. In my whole 21 years of life. Hands down, today's were the best. I should frame this pancake recipe for sure. 

So the recipe on the Post Punk Kitchen site was actually just for normal buttermilk pancakes, but they tasted just as good with the matcha powder. I made a few substitutions which I've included below, but the Post Punk Kitchen recipe is a bit more user friendly.

With or without the matcha flavouring, nothing can spoil a day which starts with these pancakes. 

Vegan matcha (greentea) pancakes

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon matcha
1 cup vanilla soy milk  
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar  
1 tablespoon ground flax seeds  
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons sunflower oil

In a large mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Add the matcha and mix to combine. Make a well in the center.

Measure the milk into a measuring cup. Add vinegar and ground flax seeds, and use a fork to vigorously mix the ingredients until foamy (I used a hand blender on high). This will take a minute or so.

Pour the milk mixture into the center of the dry ingredients. Add the water, sunflower oil and vanilla and use a fork to mix until a thick, lumpy batter forms. That should take about a minute. It doesn’t need to be smooth, just make sure you get all the ingredients incorporated.

Preheat the pan over medium-low heat and let the batter rest for 10 minutes.

Lightly coat the pan in oil. Add 1/3 cup of batter for each pancake, and cook for about 4 minutes, until puffy. Flip the pancakes, adding a new coat of oil to the pan, and cook for another 3 minutes or so. Pancake should be about an inch thick, and golden brown.

Vegan matcha cupcakes with cream cheese icing

I'm going to have to rush this post. I like to try and get all my posts in before the day ends and this one is late because my brother and I stayed up and watch the movie Bridge to Terabithia. I had seen it back in 2007 when it first came out but I didn't remember it being quite as sad as it was when I watched it for the second time tonight. Maybe I wasn't as emotional then as I am now. Good or bad thing, I'm not sure.

Anyways, for a while now I had been wanting to try a green tea latte. It's not actually made with green tea leaves, but it is made from matcha powder which is green tea in a fine powder form. On my trip to Sydney, I finally got that chance and ordered a green tea latte at the Starbucks we stopped into. To be honest, I didn't enjoy the taste all that much. It's a strange flavour to describe, but mine is only one person's opinion so please go and try it for yourselves before deciding whether or not you like it.

Now even though I had that one bad experience, I didn't want to put matcha into my 'dislike' pile because I figured maybe it was just a one time thing. I had the opportunity to go into an Asian grocery today and I bought myself a bag of matcha powder. When I got home, i decided to whip up some vegan matcha cup cakes instead of a latte. 

I found a recipe on the website Pea Soup Eats for vegan matcha cupcakes with vegan matcha frosting. I substituted the natural sweetener Stevia for the granulated sugar. Instead of the matcha icing, I made some vegan maple cream cheese icing which I made last month (recipe here). The cupcakes were super delicious, fluffy on the inside and perfect to satisfy my always active sweet tooth. But they're just too good, I can't stop at one...

So the moral of the story: if you try something you don't like maybe just try it in a different recipe!