These matcha latte mini muffins took several trials to perfect. The beautiful rise happened right from the start, but getting just the right sweetness and gentle green tea flavor while keeping that wonderful crumb was a little trickier. Fortunately, I finally succeeded.
The inspiration behind this recipe was derived from a few things. First was the new mini muffin tin I’d just purchased. I’d been wanting one for years, and finally spotted a deal I couldn’t pass up.
Second was the desire to create something wholesome, yet gift-worthy for Mother’s Day. Basically I wanted the perfect little breakfast or afternoon treat for her to savor with tea or coffee. These matcha latte mini muffins definitely qualify, but I think each bite would be welcomed by family and friends any time of year. And since they are incredibly easy to make, that’s a real possibility.
Third was the package of So Delicious French Vanilla Creamer that I’d just picked up. This truly dairy-free creamer has a wonderful sweetness and rich texture that I felt could easily double for both the liquid and the sweetener in a muffin, perhaps even reducing the oil requirement. It did not only that, but also provided the “latte” inspiration for the muffin flavor.
But why matcha, and what is it? Matcha powder is made from stoneground green tea leaves, and is considered to be very high quality, antioxidant-rich powdered green tea. It may look pricey at first glance, but one bag should last many recipes. You can also find numerous cost-effective brands at Asian markets.
And of course, I couldn’t resist including an icing option. So easy to whisk together, the sweet vanilla topper makes these matcha latte mini muffins border on a cupcake dessert. This gave me an excuse to serve them on my nice new Arborescence platter. Pretty, isn’t it?
We ended up enjoying the regular matcha latte mini muffins with big mugs of green tea in the morning, and the iced ones with glasses of the very lightly sweet new Vanilla Almond Milk from So Delicious for an afternoon treat. It was the perfect comforting, dairy-free dessert compliment.
This post is sponsored by So Delicious, but the opinions and mini matcha latte muffins recipe are my own. It was also a darn good excuse to use my new mini muffin pan!
Special Diet Notes: Matcha Latte Mini Muffins
By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, egg-free, optionally nut-free, peanut-free, soy-free, vegan / plant-based, and vegetarian.
Please note that I did use almond milk beverage in the icing, but for nut-free matcha latte mini muffins, you can certainly use another dairy-free milk beverage, like unsweetened coconut milk beverage.
- 1 cup white-wheat flour
- 2 teaspoons matcha powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup vanilla dairy-free creamer (I use So Delicious French Vanilla Coconut Milk Coffee Creamer)
- 3 tablespoons oil (I use Ellyndale rice bran oil or melted coconut oil)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Icing, optional (recipe below)
- Preheat your oven to 400ºF and grease 18 mini muffin wells. If using cupcake liners, it helps to lightly spray them with cooking spray as these muffins have a delicate crumb.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, matcha, baking powder and salt until well combined.
- In a mixing bowl, stir together the creamer, oil, and vanilla. Gradually add the flour mixture, stirring until just combined.
- Divide the batter between the muffin wells, they should be about ¾ full.
- Bake for about 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
- Remove to a wire rack to cool. Let cool completely if using cupcake liners or if you plan to ice them.
- If icing, dip the tops of the cooled mini muffins into the prepared icing, turn upright, and place back on your wire rack. The icing should set up within a few minutes. Optionally dust with an extra little sprinkling of matcha powder.
42 Comments
This was an interesting recipe but unfortunately it didn’t work for me for a number of reasons. I followed the recipe as written, except instead of using dairy free creamer (my store didn’t carry the brand mentioned), I used a vanilla dairy creamer that was sugar free but had other natural sweeteners in it like stevia. Not sure if this is what caused the issues, but it doesn’t seem like it should have been. My first issue is there wasn’t nearly enough batter for 18 mini muffins and the batter didn’t rise much, so all of my muffins are like “half mini muffins”. Most muffin batters I’ve made require more than 1 cup of flour, so I guess that should have been a hint that it might not be enough. My second issue is that, despite spraying my little paper cups, the muffins are sticking to them like glue and the bottoms get completely ripped off when you try to unwrap it so you lose half of the already tiny muffin. I will say the muffin batter is pretty tasty and the frosting is delicious. Something tells me this batter could work for pancakes. I may try that as it is easy to mix and I love everything matcha.
Hi Jessica, it sounds like you have two issues here. Yes, the creamer substitute you made is definitely problematic. Without sugar (real sugar) from the creamer, the batter won’t perform properly. This recipe isn’t meant for use with sugar-free sweeteners. This likely caused the sticking, among other issues. Also, the proteins and other properties in milk will alter the recipe. This recipe is tested with dairy-free ingredients, not milk. There can be differences, especially when it’s a core ingredient. This swap could have also affected the rise, but not rising would be an issue with your baking powder. To test it, place a small amount in a bowl and add some boiling water. It should fizz and bubble up immediately and vigorously. If it just bubbles a bit, then your baking powder is losing steam. Get a new canister. (sometimes age of the baking powder doesn’t matter.) With the ingredients as listed and fresh baking powder, this does indeed make 18 fluffy mini muffins. The recipe was tested many times.
Could you use full fat coconut milk in place of the creamer?
I would use lite canned coconut milk. Full fat might work well too (haven’t tested it), but lite will have a more similar consistency and fat to the creamer.
Can you sub unsweetened vanilla almond milk for the creamer? Thanks!
Definitely! It just won’t be a sweet cold brew then. But you can sweeten to taste, if desired.
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Hi Alisa!
I made these tonight and they tasted delicious so thank you for this amazing recipe!
I did substitute the creamer with soy milk and although it still tasted great, it didn’t rise like the beautiful ones in your picture. Do you think this is due to needing more baking powder (or soda), or that I may have overmixed?
Thank you!
Hmm, this is hard to say. It might just be due to the soymilk swap – it has less fat than the creamer and this can affect the consistency and the rise. If they rose well, and then fell, it is actually a sign of too much leavener. If they just never rose enough, then you can bump up the leavener a touch. I would try just 1 1/4 teaspoons. I do bake at higher altitude (where things rise more), but had these tested at lower altitude, too, so I’m surprised by any rising issues! Thanks Joelle!
Oh, and if you used traditional whole wheat flour rather than white-wheat flour, that can also increase density a bit. Just thought I’d note that 🙂