What can be made from tea leaves

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-13 00:26

Tea leaves can be part of a wide variety of dishes, from ice cream to pasta and aromatic baked goods. We will tell you how else you can use tea in cooking, and share a recipe for loose tea cookies.

Tea is undoubtedly one of the most effective ways to keep warm in winter or quench your thirst in the hot season, but the base of your favorite drink can be applied much more creatively.

Add tea to dairy products

Try brewing tea in milk, slowly warming up in a saucepan. Once completely cooled, strain the milk and use to make ice cream, puddings, oatmeal, and creamy sauces. Who would have thought that green sencha tea is good in béchamel, while herbal and fruit teas are good for crème brulee and ice cream.

Use in dry marinades

To make homemade seasonings for meat or poultry, grind some tea leaves in a mortar and add the resulting powder to the aromatic mixture. For example, traditional Chinese lapsang with a light smoky flavor is suitable for grating pork and beef steaks.

Mix with dough

The bright green matcha tea powder has long been used in many desserts and baked goods. A slightly more original way of using it would be to add it to the pasta dough. Ready-made tea noodles can only be found on the shelves of Japanese supermarkets, but you can make homemade pasta with a slight herbal flavor with your own hands.

Add to butter

We have already talked about some interesting recipes for fragrant butter, and with the help of crushed tea leaves, you can get another interesting option. Mash some bergamot tea, mix with soft butter and chill until hardened, then spread over hot baked goods.

Use in baking

One of the most popular tea leaf recipes is the cookie recipe. Tea goes well with sugar shortcrust pastry, giving it its flavor without affecting its texture. Definitely, you should start your acquaintance with tea outside of drinks with tea cookies.

Ingredients

For cookies:

• 360 g flour;
• ½ teaspoon of baking soda;
• a pinch of salt;
• 240 g sugar;
• 2 eggs;
• 1 teaspoon vinegar
• 115 g butter;
• 3 tablespoons of tea leaves.

For sprinkling:

• 2 tablespoons of sugar;
• 2 teaspoons of cinnamon.

Start by combining dry ingredients by mixing flour with baking soda and a little salt.

Separately prepare the egg and butter mixture by first whisking the soft butter into the cream and sugar, then, without stopping the mixer, beat the eggs into the cream, one at a time. Vinegar is added last to the oil mixture.

Combine the dry mixture with the butter mixture, without working the dough for too long with a spatula.

Prepare tea leaves. Black tea with a pronounced taste and aroma is best suited. Grind the leaves with a blender or grind in a mortar to a near-powdery state so you don't have to chew the leaves.

Divide the dough into 8 servings, roll each into a ball and roll in a mixture of sugar and cinnamon (the same we prepared for ours). Sprinkling sugar is optional, but it gives the liver more sweetness and provides a light crunchy shell.

Spread the dough portions on a parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving enough space between them as heat will spread them out to the sides. Bake at 190 degrees for 17-20 minutes, or until the surface is lightly blushed and the edges are hard.

These cookies are best served warm.