Staying home this Saint Patrick’s Day? So are we. We thought we’d share a recipe to help pass the time with a healthy outlet for your creative energy, to entertain the kids so they don’t drive you crazy, to mark the holiday with celebration, and to remind you that you can enjoy your own company.
These Pistachio Ginseng Matcha Chocolate Cups were born out of a desire to create a beautiful green vessel for our Pistachio Ginseng Cashew Butter. We have been eating spoonfuls of it straight out of the jar, which is a perfectly acceptable way to enjoy it. But these cups allow for sharing with family while playing board games, bringing in your pocket on a quiet woods stroll, or as a proper Saint Patrick’s Day dessert.
By the way, to encourage homebound celebrating, we are putting both of our “green” flavors on sale. Get 15% off 6.52 oz and 16 oz Pistachio Ginseng Cashew Butter and 6.52 oz and 16 oz Cashew Cardamom Almond Butters this week.
Recipe for Pistachio Ginseng Matcha Chocolate Cups:
Makes about 16 mini cups
Ingredients:
- 12 oz White Baking Chocolate (Ghirardelli)
- 2-3 tsp Matcha powder (Aiya Matcha, Grade C)
- 1 6.52 oz jar (roughly 13 Tbsp) Jem OrganicsPistachio Ginseng Cashew Butter
- 16+ pistachios, for garnish*
Equipment:
- Mini cupcake tray
- Mini cupcake paper liners
- Spatulas
- Double-boiler or small saucepan and ceramic bowl**
- Sifter or very fine mesh strainer
- Fill the saucepan halfway to ¾ full with water, depending on how your bowl sits in the pan. For a double boiler you don’t want the bowl submerged or touching the water in the pan. Bring to a boil.
- Meanwhile, rough chop white chocolate into chunks, then place the chocolate in the bowl.
- Once the water is boiling, place the bowl on the rim of the pan, so that the steam warms the bowl from below.
- Stir the chocolate continually until just melted, then remove from heat. At this stage, it’s important to not overheat the chocolate, or let any moisture come into contact with the chocolate.
- Sift in the matcha, a bit at a time. Stir the matcha into the chocolate thoroughly to check it's color. You choose the amount of matcha you would like. Matcha is a potent green, so I erred on the side of pastel green, which is usually visually perceived as more appetizing in confections, depending on the crowd. It did darken slightly as it cooled. If you do want a more dominant matcha flavor, feel free to go darker green. Matcha is notorious for small clumps, so sifting makes this process much easier.
- Line cupcake tray with papers. Scoop a spoonful of melted chocolate into the paper, spreading it up the sides to nearly the top of the paper. Reapply more chocolate to make it thick, so that no gaps where paper shows through are left. Repeat for all 16 papers. You should use over half of the chocolate in the bowl, but leave some for the tops!
- Refrigerate for at least 20 min.
- Scoop about 2.5 tsp of pistachio nut butter into each chocolate shell. Be sure your level of filling is under the top rim of the cooled chocolate outer shell, so that a good seal can be made with the top, but so low that the cups become sunken or too convex once finished.
- Slowly reheat the matcha chocolate, which will have cooled in the bowl, on the double boiler setup, stirring constantly until just melted again.
- Scoop chocolate to top the nut butter in the cups, one at a time, and smoothing with a spatula and gently shaking the tray back and forth and tapping it on the counter as you go, to get a nice smooth top and a good edge seal.***
- Top with a single pistachio while the chocolate is still warm.
- Chill for at least another 20 min. Enjoy!
*Tip: For brighter green pistachios, buy them in the shell, rather than pre-shelled. For even brighter pistachios, shell then blanch the nuts briefly, and let dry completely before use.
**Tip: It has been said that matcha and stainless steel do not agree, so I used ceramic instead. Use caution to not let it overheat.
***Tip: The scooped chocolate will harden quickly, so smooth and tamp each one before measuring out the next cup topper, to avoid a blobby, unsealed mess of a top.
