It's a beautiful, snow speckled Sunday afternoon in Northern Virginia. Curled up in bed with the lap top when I should have gone to the gym, walked to grocery store, and started studying. Alas, this is far more cozy. Who am I to
argue with a Sunday afternoon? Imprints of a dream are still dancing in
my head- luscious green mountains and walking down a rugged trail. The boy is
playing "Skyrim"- my least favorite of games to watch in recent memory.
Mass Effect II had a far better plot and sucks you in. We're a
little bit geeky.
I wanted to post these Almond Cupcakes with Green Tea frosting (from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking) on 1 January because they were made in celebration of the new year. Better late than never. Something about fortune cookies and starting a new year seemed to go together.
Cliche? Maybe. But it made me think about New Year's Eve a few years back at the Sham/Shek home. The entire family sat around the kitchen table with shreds of paper and pencils. Everyone wrote down their resolutions, one by one, on shreds of paper, folded them up, and put them into a small glass jar.
It was very peaceful.
I've made custom fortune cookies in the past and this sounded like a perfect pairing of ideas: personal resolutions inside home-made fortune cookies.
The almond cake was moist with a slight crumble. I really enjoyed its texture and the flavor was not super sweet. The ingredients were basic and easy. The frosting, on the other hand, was a pain. Finding matcha without a Wegman's grocery store was harder than I anticipated. I ended up buying green tea WITH matcha powder, hence the small flecks of tea leaves. Regardless, it turned out fantastic and again, was not overly sweet. This is the only book I've seen frosting made on the stove top and it's crazy.
Add a fortune cookie on top and you have a playful combination of crunch, smoothness, and flavor! The author's of Baked have created a perfect flavor profile with these cupcakes.
