March 24, 2014 by Bonnie Eng

Homemade Green Tea Pocky

Welcome to Matcha Mondays here at Thirsty for Tea!

I’ve finally given into my obsession with matcha. Inspired with so many ideas for using my favorite green tea powder, I realized that dedicating Mondays to my matcha related posts is best way for me to celebrate this very special ingredient. After all, a boost of vibrance and some caffeinated pep could only make your Mondays that much better, right?

***Easy Brew Tip for a Frothy cup of Matcha: In a jam jar, add 1/2 – 1 tsp of matcha powder, then add 1 cup of water @ 175 degrees F. Screw the lid on the jar tightly, and shake for 1-2 minutes like a bartender… your tea will be unbelievably frothy! Truth be told, this is much more effective than using a matcha whisk, but you should still get one because they are just so unique and beautiful!

Just last weekend, my husband and I visited a Thai restaurant by my parents house in Rowland Heights called Coconut Bay. Paying for our bill on the way out, I saw the most delightful box of cookies peeping out just in front of the register…Matcha Cream Pocky! Despite that it was double the price of its chocolate and strawberry counterparts, they instantly became a must-try, must-buy item. You simply cannot be a tea-obsessed blogger and not report back on green tea flavored Pocky!

Inspired by my love and memories of Pocky as a child, I got to work on my Homemade Chocolate Pocky and Homemade Strawberry Pocky posts last week. I decided to post this Green Tea Pocky recipe as the last of my 3 part Pocky series because now that we’ve covered the basics we can get a bit more adventurous!

To make Homemade Matcha Pocky, you want to start with the best-quality matcha you can find. Being able to control the quality of the ingredients you are working with is what makes these biscuits worth making (and eating!) at home. From the Pocky boxes pictured above, you can see that both the strawberry and matcha varieties are artificially flavored. Using powdered freeze-dried strawberries (for Homemade Strawberry Pocky) and a brilliant natural matcha (for Homemade Green Tea Pocky), we get the most wholesome flavor and beautiful coloring in our stick biscuits. There’s simply no need for the fake stuff here.

Black sesame and coconut are the toppings I used for my Homemade Green Tea Pocky. The savory and slightly roasted taste of black sesame seeds cut through the sweetness of the white chocolate for a well-rounded, umami-inspired bite.

I also chose unsweetened, desiccated coconut to decorate with. Dried coconut gives a tropical touch to the stick cookies, and a light and fluffy looking finish. Try not to use regular sweetened shredded coconut here, as the combination will be way too sweet.

A pairing that will probably make you think twice is what I call my “Yin Yang Pocky.” If you’ve ever visited modern Chinese tea shops (the ones with boba milk tea) you might be familiar with Yuanyang, also known as Hong Kong Style Coffee-Tea. This drink is mostly tea with a bit of coffee added in for a boost in flavor and caffeine.

Not as harsh as coffee and not as mild as tea, this Yuanyang blend strikes the perfect balance between Yin (here, the stronger and darker coffee) and Yang (the lighter and brighter tea). For my Yin Yang Pocky, I sprinkled gourmet coffee vermicelli sprinkles atop my tea infused biscuit sticks. These are exceptionally delicious if you love the taste of Yuanyang!

Ok, I think it’s time for me to go on a bit of a Pocky hiatus now. For you Pocky lovers out there, I hope you’ve had a good time reading my last 3 posts! Pocky are really the quintessential Asian tea cookie, so nibble away at these lovely biscuits while slowly sipping your favorite brew (might I suggest a thick, hot cup of frothy matcha?). Keep that happy buzz going until the next Matcha Monday!

Homemade Green Tea Pocky

Makes about 20 stick cookies.

Ingredients:

12 oz package of vanilla candy melts or 11 oz bag white chocolate chips

1 Tbsp matcha powder

1 tsp vegetable oil

1 package of grissini, cut into 5″ pieces with serrated knife to make 20 sticks

matcha powder for dusting

unsweetened, desiccated coconut flakes

black sesame seeds

coffee sprinkles (I used Cacao Barry Coffee Vermicelli)

Equipment:

serrated knife

double boiler

small bowl

rubber spatula

tea towel

small sifter

large baking sheet fitted with parchment paper

small baking sheet or plate fitted with parchment paper

tall, narrow drinking glass, at least 6″ tall

Directions:

Step-by-step photos of the dipping process are in my Homemade Chocolate Pocky post!

1. Fill bottom of double boiler with water, making sure the water doesn’t make contact with the base of the top bowl of the double boiler. Bring water to a gentle simmer (bring water to boil, then reduce to very low heat). Place white chocolate or candy melts in top bowl of double boiler. Using rubber spatula, gently melt the chocolate. In a small bowl, mix matcha powder with 1 tsp of vegetable oil. Add this matcha oil/paste to the melting white chocolate and mix in until you get an evenly green colored dipping chocolate. If you are using white chocolate (not candy coating) you may need to mix in another 1-2 tsp of oil to get a nice dipping consistency. Remove the bowl of chocolate from heat, and wipe steam off the outside of the bowl with a tea towel.

2. Carefully pour the melted chocolate into the drinking glass to a height of 4″.

3. Dip the cut grissini into the melted chocolate leaving the top 1″ undipped. As you get further along in dipping, you may need to tilt the glass to distribute the chocolate upwards so that you are able to cover all 4″ of each grissini with the chocolate. Gently shake off any excess chocolate, then place the dipped cookie on the small baking sheet or plate fitted with parchment. Let the Pocky stick sit here for about a minute to allow any excess chocolate to pool onto the parchment/paper plate.

4. Transfer the stick to the large parchment lined baking sheet to fully dry. Repeat the dipping process with the remaining grissini. If you use white chocolate, the Pocky take about 1 hour to fully dry/harden. If you use candy melts, they will take about 20 minutes to dry. In a pinch, you can place the dipped cookies in the fridge to speed up the drying process. Homemade Pocky are best eaten within a day or two, as the bread sticks tend to soften with time.

Variation: Generously or lightly scatter desiccated coconut, black sesame seeds, or coffee sprinkles on the dipped Pocky before transferring the cookie sticks to the large parchment lined baking sheet to dry. Alternatively, you can sift a light dusting of matcha powder atop the drying cookies. The residual heat of the chocolate will help the the matcha to bloom and intensify in color.

March 21, 2014 by Bonnie Eng

Homemade Strawberry Pocky

The first time I ate Pocky was in the late 80’s when there were only two flavors of Pocky to choose from: chocolate and strawberry. At the time, I would score a box of the yummy sticks about once every month or so at the Sanrio store. My mom would bring me to look for Hello Kitty treasures and a box of the cookies would come with. In the dental office next door, my older sister would be getting her braces tightened, while I shopped away. Her pain was my gain.

Strawberry Pocky always seem to play second fiddle to Chocolate Pocky. If I remember correctly, the box for Strawberry Pocky circa 1989 was always smaller than that of the chocolate variety, and it wasn’t as widely available either. This was frustrating for a gal who loved everything pink (and purple) at the time.

Now that I’m much older and know how to cook, I’ve created what I consider the perfect recipe for Strawberry Pocky, every bit as delicious as the chocolate kind. My secret ingredient? Freeze-dried strawberries!

These light-as-air strawberry pieces are really great for snacking, and came out on the market a few years back. They are very sensitive to air and moisture, so pulverize them in your spice grinder immediately before you plan on making the chocolate, otherwise the strawberry dust has a tendency to clump and cake up. Powdered freeze-dried strawberries are ideal for adding a punch of vibrant fruitiness to melted white chocolate, mousses, and frostings, and they also help to create the most lovely shade of pink .

My new blogger friend, Ngan, of Ngan Made It, added a comment to my Homemade Chocolate Pocky post the other day where she mentioned how she enjoys plain biscuit sticks that are paired with dipping cream. Yan Yan is a brand of these snacks. Like a cousin to Pocky, you eat these cookies by using them to scoop out a globs of thickened strawberry cream, bite-by-bite.

If you want to enjoy these strawberry cookies with minimal fuss, you can actually serve the strawberry flavored chocolate in small bowls as a dip. This is also a great way to use the leftover dipping chocolate. When the temperature of the dip is slightly warm (but not hot), its consistency becomes frosting-like and pleasantly goopy–the perfect time to start scooping away!

Today I’ve used some unsalted, chopped pistachios, French dark chocolate sprinkles, and Omega-3 rich ground flax seed to decorate these cuties. My adornment of choice are actually the same freeze-dried strawberries that are used in making the chocolate, finely chopped into little bits. The tartness of the unsweetened freeze-dried berries balances the sweetness of the white chocolate just perfectly.

I hope you have a good time making these Homemade Strawberry Pocky. This is an ideal cooking project for little kids or for anyone who’s a kid at heart. With a fresh and brilliant boost of natural strawberry goodness, this simple confection becomes surprisingly sophisticated and incredibly delicious–a delightful treat for both children and adults alike!

Homemade Strawberry Pocky

Makes about 20 stick cookies.

Ingredients:

1-11 oz package of white chocolate chips

3/4 cup freeze-dried strawberry slices (I used Trader Joe’s brand), pulverized into powder with a spice grinder

2 Tbsp + 1 tsp vegetable oil

1 package of grissini, cut into 5″ pieces with serrated knife to make 20 sticks

finely chopped freeze-dried strawberries

finely chopped pistachios

crushed flax seeds

sprinkles

Equipment:

spice grinder

serrated knife

double boiler

small bowl

rubber spatula

tea towel

large baking sheet fitted with parchment paper

small baking sheet or plate fitted with parchment paper

tall, narrow drinking glass, at least 6″ tall

Directions:

Step-by-step photos of the dipping process are in my Homemade Chocolate Pocky post!

1. Fill bottom of double boiler with water, making sure the water doesn’t make contact with the base of the top bowl of the double boiler. Bring water to a gentle simmer (bring water to boil, then reduce to very low heat). Place white chocolate in top bowl of double boiler. Using rubber spatula, gently melt the chocolate. In a small bowl, mix powdered freeze-dried strawberries with 2 Tbsp of the vegetable oil. Add this strawberry paste to the melting white chocolate and mix in until you get a evenly pink colored dipping chocolate. Mix in another 1 tsp of oil, then remove the bowl from heat, and wipe steam off the outside of the bowl with a tea towel.

2. Carefully pour the melted chocolate into the drinking glass to a height of 4″.

4. Transfer the stick to the large parchment lined baking sheet to fully dry. Repeat the dipping process with the remaining grissini. The Pocky take about 1 hour to fully dry/harden. In a pinch, you can place them in the fridge to speed up the drying process. Homemade Pocky are best eaten within a day or two, as the bread sticks tend to soften with time.

Variation: Generously or lightly scatter finely diced freeze-dried strawberries, chopped nuts, crushed flax seeds, or sprinkles on the dipped Pocky before transferring the cookie sticks to the large parchment lined baking sheet to dry.

March 19, 2014 by Bonnie Eng

Homemade Chocolate Pocky

If you aren’t already familiar, Pocky are those easy-to-eat stick biscuit cookies from Japan that come in that catchy red box. These handy and delicious biscuits are popular enough now that you can commonly find them in the Asian food aisle of your local market. Having an almost cult-like following, Pocky are easily the most loved cookie in Asian American culture, like an Oreo cookie of the East!

Pocky are really such a perfect snack, you may wonder why anyone would ever bother making them at home. My answer to this is that making Pocky at home is almost as delightfully fun as getting to eat them. For me, the challenge is making them with as much precision as possible, the way I imagine they are made at the Pocky factory, wherever that may be.

I’m doing a Pocky Series this week, where I’ll be sharing 3 easy recipes for Homemade Pocky in some tasty variations to make your time worthwhile. Today we’ll start with the classic: Chocolate Pocky, the most popular and recognizable of all Pocky varieties.

It all starts with toasted grissini, or thin Italian bread sticks. I found mine in the bakery section of Safeway/Vons here in California. I like to use the grissini that are most uniform in size and shape. These thin bread sticks also come in more rustic style where each stick is more free form and not as straight, so it’s totally up to you which type you use, just make sure to grab the package that is plain in flavor…no garlic bread sticks here! Since grissini are super long, you’ll use a serrated knife to cut them to a more Pocky-like height before dipping.

Use only the best quality chocolate can find here. I like to mix a good semi-sweet chocolate with Swiss dark chocolate for a bit of bitterness and depth. And since we aren’t going through all the effort of actually tempering, be careful not to over heat the chocolate during the melting process. Just when it’s gently melted and beautifully glossy, it’s ready for dipping.

And as a riff on the original, I’m also making some decorated Pocky with crushed hazelnuts. Some other yummy toppings might be salty roasted peanuts, sesame seeds, or even some macadamia nut bits for a Hawaiian twist!

I’m decorating another set of the cookies with some naturally dyed sprinkles I found at Homegoods the other day. The just-off primary colored sprinkles make the Homemade Pocky look extra charming and party ready–a fun twist on Pocky that you can’t just grab off the grocery market shelf. If you are interested in these all-natural sprinkles, I found some online, where they have several other colors to pick from.

Homemade Pocky make a festive confection for parties, yet they can also make the most elegant light dessert with a cup of after dinner tea. I consider them like chocolate bark on a stick–super easy to make, even easier to eat, and always a crowd pleaser.

If you love Pocky treats, stay tuned! I have a few more Pocky-licious creations that I’ll be posting about in the next few days!

Homemade Chocolate Pocky

Makes about 30 stick cookies.

Ingredients:

12 oz semi-sweet chocolate

6 oz dark chocolate

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

1 package of grissini, cut into 5″ pieces with serrated knife to make 30 sticks

1 cup finely chopped hazelnuts

sprinkles

Equipment:

serrated knife

double boiler

rubber spatula

tea towel

large baking sheet fitted with parchment paper

small baking sheet or plate fitted with parchment paper

tall, narrow drinking glass, at least 6″ tall

Directions:

1. Fill bottom of double boiler with water, making sure the water doesn’t make contact with the base of the top bowl of the double boiler. Bring water to a gentle simmer (bring water to boil, then reduce to very low heat). Place semi-sweet chocolate in top bowl of double boiler. Using rubber spatula, gently melt the semi-sweet chocolate. When the semi-sweet chocolate has almost all melted, add the dark chocolate and mix together. When all the chocolate is just melted, mix in the vegetable oil, remove from heat, and wipe steam off the outside of the bowl with a tea towel.

2. Carefully pour the melted chocolate into the drinking glass to a height of 4″. Keep the remaining melted chocolate aside, preferably in a warm place.

3. Dip the cut grissini into the melted chocolate leaving the top 1″ undipped. Gently shake off any excess chocolate, then place the dipped cookie on the small baking sheet or plate fitted with parchment (I used a paper plate). Let the Pocky stick sit here for about a minute to allow any excess chocolate to pool onto the parchment/paper plate.

4. Transfer the stick to the large parchment lined baking sheet to fully dry. Refill chocolate in glass to 4″ as needed. Repeat the dipping process with the remaining grissini. The Pocky take about 2 hours to fully dry/harden. In a pinch, you can place them in the fridge to speed up the drying process. Homemade Pocky are best eaten within a day or two, as the bread sticks tends to soften with time. You can use leftover dipping chocolate for baking or fondue!

Variation: Generously or lightly scatter finely chopped nuts or sprinkles on the dipped Pocky before transferring the cookie sticks onto the large parchment lined baking sheet.