Gimme My Carbs: Green doesn’t just have to be salad- matcha dates loaf

Sometimes MuscleBoy would hide his protein whey in one of the cupboards and I hate playing hide-and-seek with that 5lb bottle of protein. So, making protein treats would seem quite hard and I will start ransacking the cupboards to make something simple, but something that we would both like (yes, MuscleBoy acts like a girl more than I am because he is so fussy about his protein cakes).

Green tea/ matcha and dates were my best friends at one point at university. Dates were plentiful and they have this natural sweetness that differs so much from honey, whilst green tea was, well, a rarity in a European country. Without really thinking much, when I found both ingredients in the cupboard, I started creating something that I had not even considered the possibility that it would be inedible: matcha dates loaf.

It is edible, I promise you. For green tea fans out there, this is absolutely amazing- the bittersweet taste that lingers after, and that aesthetically beautiful green visuals the loaf comes out with that is so appealing. It’s really really easy to make for lazy bakers out there that need a quick fix. It’s clean but perhaps you would like to modify with it with a scoop of protein powder. If so, add half a cup more of almond milk so that your loaf does not come out tasting like bricks.

Matcha Date Loaf

Ingredients

1. 225g almond flour
2. 8 dates
3. 2 eggs
4. 100ml almond milk (or normal milk)
5. 5 tsp baking powder
6. 2 tbs matcha powder (I’m crazy about the taste, so I added 3 tbs instead- if you intend to do so as well, add an additional 2 tbs of almond milk as matcha powder is naturally dehydrating)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
2. Add eggs, and milk into a mixing bowl, and mix well.
3. Blend the dates, and egg-milk mixture until almost smooth.
4. To another mixing bowl, add almond flour, and baking powder together.
5. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry, and mix, a little at the time.
6. Pour into a tin (personally, I like to bake in smaller tins just so that they will cook faster) lined with baking paper.
7. Bake in the oven for 45 mins.
8. Remove from the oven and completely remove the cake from the tin. Let it sit on a wire rack to cool before serving.

For a large tin.