What happens when you divide 1 1/4 by 3?

TWD: Japanese Roasted Green Tea Creme Brulee with Macha Almond Tuiles

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What happens when you divide 1 1/4 by 3?
5/8?!?! what was i thinking? so i admit it was a stupid calculation error on my part. How in the world could i have gotten 5/8 when its supposed to be 5/12?!? by golly. that was so much of a difference.. I'm such a terrible role model for my tution kids. Bleah... *turning to them*..'now kids, that's why i say maths is important!'

towards the end of the incredibly long baking trip, i was faced with an uncanny seperation of two layers in my ramekin cups.. EWWW.. gross. isn't that fats? what in the world was going wrong? then i frantically stumbled through the Q&A section for this week's bakes only to find that no one else had encountered the same mishap as me.. hmph.. i begin to suspect that i had made a silly mistake somewhere down the line. And after a little investigation into the matter.. i found out that i had added excess cream!!! and quite a lot more since I had already reduced the portions to 2 servings instead of 6. ARGH!!!

dammit.. after all that inspiring thoughts of having a wonderful roasted green tea infused creme brulee. Still, I gently tipped the cup to remove the immiscible layer of oil into the sink and chuck them into the fridge for some hardcore chilling before i worked the sugar crust layer on top in time for after dinner dessert.

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I accompanied the lovely dessert with a macha almond tuile which was essentially the star of the show. Crisp round the sides and moist in the centre, these thin cookies embodied the rich taste of macha as well as a gentle lingering of almond in the background. Lovely... plus they so conveniently made use of that extra egg white!! *woots* The creme brulee however had little taste of the roasted green tea. Too subtle for a large impact. and slippery as it was.. it was a little too sweet for my liking. Bless the small portions...*phew*.

Recipe for cookies as follows:

Macha Almond Tuiles
adapted from Martha Stewert Cookies
makes 1 1/2 dozen cookies

1 large egg white
1/4 cup superfine sugar
1/4 cup all purpose flour, sifted
Pinch of Coarse Salt
4 teaspoon unsalted butter, melted
2 tsp heavy cream
1/4 tsp pure almond extract
1/2 tsp Macha Powder

  1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius.
  2. Line a baking sheet with Silpat or non stick baking mat
  3. Whisk Egg white and sugar until combined. 30 seconds
  4. Reduce speed to low and add flour, salt, macha powder until combines
  5. Add butter, cream and almond extract; mix 30 seconds
  6. Place stencil (optional) and spread batter in a thin layer in the desired shape.
  7. Bake until golden brown 6 to 8 mins. Lift cookies with a offset spatula and drape over wooden rolling pin quickly to cool. Repeat with the remaining batter
  8. Store cookies btw layers of parchment in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

Please go to the TWD blogroll to check out the other creme brulees and of course to a million thanks to the dearest hostess Mari of Mevrouw Cupcake for the recipe for the lovely creme brulee

38 comments:

Jamie said...

Wow, green tea...great idea and the Macha Almond Tuiles look delicious!

The Food Librarian said...

Oh, I love, love all macha (I'm Japanese American so all green tea products are in my blood!) :) These cookies look great!!!!!

Marthe said...

Your creme brulees look great, despite the mishaps... I hope you liked them!!

Anonymous said...

oh, it's always so disappointing to make a simple error like that. my first TWD, i forgot the baking powder. which i never do. DOH. glad your cookies worked so well!

vibi said...

Really, with all the nicely achieved cooking and baking you publish, I was serioulsy starting to wonder about your blog's name - there was never much flawing...
This morning, after reading your post, it makes a bit more sense! LOL Yeah, well... math is not my thing either! LOL
I do have to admit, Japanese green tea sounds terribly nice, though!
BRAVO!

Lauren said...

Love the tuiles. Last year I could have used this inspiration when developing an Asian creme brulee for one of my clients. Next time. Thanks.

Christine said...

Green tea, great idea! Looks delicious!

Pamela said...

Everything looks so pretty on your colorful background. Great job.

Mari said...

I love it that your paired your crème brûlée with tuiles and tweaked them both with macha! So creative! Well done!

Anonymous said...

Way to save it! I love the green tea idea and the tuiles are gorgeous!

Peggy said...

Yum, I want a macha almond tuiles.. .it all looks delicious!

Flourchild said...

Sorry about your mishaps making this...I know it freaks me out then something goes wrong. But...your brulee looks so tasting and I love the tuiles you made too. Thanks for the recipe..I may have to try it soon!

Jodie said...

Fun idea. Those tuiles looks delicious!

CB said...

aawww it happens to the best of bakers. I can't tell you how many times I've messed up my calculations. But mistakes inspired creativity right? Love those tuiles. Great job!
Clara @ iheartfood4thought

Judy said...

I love macha,and if/when I find some, I will give it a try with the creme brulee. Oh yum. My feeling is that these would work for any occasion, so I'd say go for it!

Cathy said...

You know, I actually thought about halving or thirding (is that a word?) the recipe, but I knew that I would never be able to figure out how to divide 1 1/4 by anything. Fraction division scares me even more than blowtorches. Yours looks great though -- nice carmelization! -- and the accompanying cookie treat looks wonderful, too!

Anonymous said...

At least the tuiles turned out ok! And I do math like you do, at times!

Unknown said...

Mmm, green tea. That makes this creme brulee health food! Nice job!

Mary Ann said...

I was trying to divide the ingredients in thirds and couldn't quite figure it out exactly. It still looks amazing and the tuiles too!

Rachel said...

Ha I always have problems when I try to divide measurements as well...Your pictures are beautiful though! Love the striped towels.

Steph said...

That was a really creative TWD post fo this week! I was having a little trouble with dividing this recipe too. I was going to make 1/3, but then chose to go lower and make 1/5th. I didn't have visible oil separation before chilling, but I did have a waxy white layer after they were chilled in the fridge (I'm guessing that's similar to your oil version) Btw.. I love that Jason Mraz song!

Jen said...

Ooh, those tuiles look delicious! Love the green tea idea! This recipe was so fun!

Rigby said...

The green tea idea sounds wonderful! Kudos! :)

Linda said...

Based on these pictures, looks like you rebounded just fine! Love the matcha flavor addition, and those lovely tuilles... delicious!!!

Unknown said...

oh no! i'm so sorry about your brulees :( glad all was not lost though!!

Heather B said...

I almost did green tea creme brulees myself! Your brulees do look tasty! Love the tuiles!

Nancy/n.o.e said...

I did 2/3 recipe, and it was quite the math exercise. Thank goodness for my digital scale! I posted the quantities, if anyone needs them - good way to use 2 yolks. Boy, I came *this* close to using green tea, but ended up with black tea instead. Your cookies really are superstars. I'll have to try those.
Nancy

steph- whisk/spoon said...

good job saving your brulees...darn those tricky fractions! with the tuiles, it looks like a great dessert!

steph- whisk/spoon said...

good job saving your brulees...darn those tricky fractions! with the tuiles, it looks like a great dessert!

Shandy said...

I absolutely love that you jumped in and tried something new like that! Anyone can follow a recipe exactly. I idea was a great one. You had me cracking up about telling your children that is why math is important. Too cute =D
Your picture of the Brulee with the Almond Tuile still looks really yummy. . .I say Great job!

Liz said...

At least the story has a happy ending! I love tuiles, I think they class up any dessert. And your flavor combination sounds fab. Just one more excuse to revist creme brulee in the future, right?

kimberly salem said...

haha, that is why i need to have a calculator right next to my cookbooks! :) great job salvaging them, they look great and so do the tuiles!

Sandy Smith said...

I love that you made tuiles to go with your creme brulee! I have 3 egg white sitting in my fridge going to waste . . . wish I would have thought of that! :)

Your creme brulee looks delicious!

Jacque said...

At least part of your baking was successful. Sorry about the creme brulee :(

Sherry Trifle - Lovely Cats said...

Jolly good try with the Green Tea. I think someone should invent an electronic scale that automatically calculates fractions of portions and another gadget that gives baking time by portion size!

LyB said...

Slippery crème brûlée! lol! Well, it sounds like you salvaged it pretty good, it looks great! And the tuiles are a great idea.

Qataria said...

What an amazing variation. Simply beautiful!
And what a great way to use up the egg whites!

PlayKitchen said...

Hi,

may i know where to get the stencil?
Thanks.