Green Tea Muffins

I used to bake muffins a lot when we were in St Louis. Initially, they came from the premix boxes. And then, as I slowly got the hang on baking from scratch, I baked out of magazines and books. Nowadays, I draw my inspirations from all the amazing food blogs. In fact, my favorite Raspberry Chocolate Chips Muffins comes from here.

One day, as I was surfing for muffin ideas to bring to a friend's place, someone mentioned green tea muffins. Being a huge matcha fan, that piqued my interest, and I had to have it. Unfortunately there was no recipe accompanied it.

Undeterred, I make a few tweaks on a recipe from my favorite online recipes source- Epicurious.com and come up with my version of Green Tea Muffins. Because I see muffin as morning food, I prefer mine lighter and not too sweet. With almost 2 teaspoons of matcha powder, the green tea flavor comes through, but it may not be everybody's cup of tea. So adjust the amount of matcha powder to suit your preference. For sweetness, I add 1/2 teaspoon of sweetenend azuki beans into each muffin, and find them compliment each other really well.

As with many matcha recipes I have tried, the green tea muffins turn dry easily. We learn our lesson when we absent-mindedly let them sit uncovered for a few hours. I think an extra splash of milk or an additional tablespoon of melted butter should be sufficient to counter the dryness.But I need to try it again this weekend just to be sure.

Green Tea Muffins
adapted from Epicurious.com

2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 cup milk
1/4 cup melted butter
2 teaspoon matcha powder
canned sweetened azuki bean, (1/2 teaspoon for each muffins)

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Butter muffin pans. Mix the flour, matcha powder, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a large bowl. Add the egg, milk, and butter, stirring only enough to dampen the flour; the batter should not be smooth. Spoon into the muffin pans, filling each cup about half full, dropping 1/2 teaspoon of azuki beans into each over and cover with more batter, until the cup is two-thirds full. Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes each. Or until the cake tester inserted comes out clean.