Recipe: Tai's Matcha Made in Heaven

Your name: Tai Davis Your pronouns- He, Him, Kween

Your recipe title: Matcha Made in Heaven

Links to your social and/or website: Instagram and Twitter @iofthetyler;  Website: www.tai-davis.com

Introduce yourself: Tai Davis, multidisciplinarian focused on food, food inspired art and recipe development. I love food, and the various ways in which it can be not only therapeutic, but nourishing to all the senses as well.

What were you doing in the service industry before COVID-19, and how has that changed?: Before the pandemic I was doing exactly what I am now, except, business has been great since people are in the house, eating their woes away, trying to make the best of the pandemic.

Tell us about this recipe; flavors, suggested pairings, your inspiration, etc: My all time favorite dessert is fresh or macerated berries with vanilla ice cream or sorbet. I have never been a fan of really sweet desserts, and for some reason that combo just slaps for me. I wanted to think of a new way to add color and a distinctive flavor profile that would be delicious as well as healthy, and thus the Matcha Made in Heaven was born.

What’s exciting to you about working with this Big Heart ingredient? And/or, what do you love about working with tea in general? I love utilizing Big Heart Tea's Matcha Powder and Cup of Love Tea,, because the quality and flavor is sublime. This recipe really needs a good Green Tea Powder or the end result will be too bitter. And the Cup of Rose Honey is so versatile and can be used in numerous ways to sweetened your favorite confections, tea, lemonade or buttercream.

About how many servings will this make? This recipes serves up to 2 people with extra granola and infused to use at your leisure.

Matcha Granola

• 2 cups rolled oats.
• 1/2 cups toasted almonds.
• 1 Tablespoon of Chia Seeds
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons oil (Coconut Oil, Avocado Oil or Butter work well too)
• 3 Tablespoons of Honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup dried blueberries
• ½ cup dried cherries
• 2 teaspoons Hattori matcha powder

Method: Preheat oven to 250º F. In a large bowl, combine oats, nuts, salt and brown sugar.

In a separate bowl, combine oil, honey, and vanilla. Pour over oat mixture and toss to coat. Spread mixture out onto baking sheets and bake 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.

Remove from oven and scrape mixture into large bowl. Let cool for a few minutes then sprinkle matcha over. Add dried berries and toss to combine.
Keeps in an airtight container for several weeks.

Cup of Love Infused Honey

• 2 Tablespoons of Cup of Love Tea
• 1 cup of Honey
• 2 Tablespoons of Aronia Berry Syrup (Feel free to sub Elderflower syrup, Raspberry jam, Cassis or freeze dried berry powder)
• 2 Tablespoons of water

Method:

In a small sauce place add all ingredients. Heat on low and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let tea infuse into honey for 5 minutes. After infused, strain honey though a small strainer to remove tea, and store in an airtight container.

To assemble your parfait, take your favorite Greek yogurt and place 1 cup of it into a bowl or mug.

In a different bowl, pour 1 cup of your favorite fresh berries and drizzle 3 Tablespoons of the infused honey on top. Mix gently with a spoon and let sit for 1 minute. Spoon mixture onto yogurt, top with a few tablespoons of granola and serve.

*Pro Tip: Marinate the berries drizzled with infused honey in the fridge overnight.

I also love using the berries and granola on my favorite vanilla bean ice cream.