Friday, January 18, 2008

ARF / 5-A-Day: Asian-Style!

Why is it so hard to bake pretty things that are also good for you? Sigh... I guess I will never have a destiny as a food photographer, but I figure that if I can write the recipes and feed the camera crew (on my make-believe Food Network set), someone else can worry about those details. After all, eating's more fun than styling, isn't it? Besides, beauty is really only in the eyes of all beholders this go-around. These are yet another result of me playing with a combination of several factors: 1) my new, awesome food processor, 2) leftover rice in our freezer that no one was going to eat, 3) super-quality, imported whole-leaf Chinese green tea and 4) way too much time on my hands. Though I started out attempting to make cookies that were crisp around the edges and chewy in the middle (like my favourite "Family Secret" cookies), what emerged was very different, and according to Andrew, very tasty.

So, though theses are more like chewy, free-form mini-cakes than cookies, these are healthy snacks are filled with the goodness of green tea, whole grains, ginger, rice and almonds! Andrew (like I said before) said they were a great treat for his midday snack with (what else?) a cuppa the good green stuff! The tea leaves and fresh ginger ground into the dough adds a great boost of antioxidant power, and helps these snacks shuffle their way into Sweetnick's ARF / 5-A-Day roundup this week! A testament to these "cakies" awesomeness is the fact that even though Andrew hates ginger in all forms, he downed two of these today and replied with a very satisfied, sugar-high happy "mmm... these are amazing, hon!".

Well, I guess tomorrow will be sans-post, seeing as I'm off to Week 2 of school and all, but I will be sure to tell you about my apple-pie class when I get back (you know, in case this recipe wasn't good enough... the prof threatened 2 kilos of apples though, so I may never want to look at another one of the fruits again!)

Japanese Tea-Cakies
Serves 12
1 cup cooked white rice
1/2 cup brewed whole-leaf green tea (with leaves)
1" piece fresh ginger root, peeled and chopped
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp stick margarine
1/2 cup raw sugar
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup rolled (not instant) oats
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup slivered almonds

  1. Preheat oven to 375F and lightly grease 2 baking sheets.
  2. In a food processor, blend together rice, tea with leaves, ginger, cornstarch, extract and vegetable oil until smooth and thick.
  3. In a bowl, cream margarine and sugar.
  4. Add processed ingredients and mix well.
  5. Stir in flour, oats and baking soda until blended.
  6. Fold in almonds.
  7. Scoop equal pieces onto prepared sheets.
  8. Bake 10 minutes, cool 5 minutes on sheets and then (with a lifter) transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 126.4
Total Fat: 4.1 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 45.2 mg
Total Carbs: 21.0 g
Dietary Fiber: 1.4 g
Protein: 2.3 g

2 comments :

  1. These sound fantastic--they are exactly the kind of thing I love to eat and bake (or bake and eat, in that order, I guess). What a great way to use up rice. I can't wait to try these!

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  2. I love baking with green tea. You may want to try something like this next time you make this recipe - cooking matcha.

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Thanks for the feedback!