Recipe: Matcha cinnamon rolls

It finally feels like summer here. The weather has been sunny for many days after the continuous rain. I could wear my flip flops, wear sunglasses, and not wear any jacket. As funny as it sounds like, it is hard to experience real summer here. Once you have it, you just have to make out the best of it. 

Ph.D. life is good. I love doing my work, and I have many friends that I can talk. Whenever the weather is warm and sunny, I and my peeps will eat outside, sit on the grass, and enjoy the sun. We talk about our work, life, and bull shit stuff. We have different nationalities, and we always make fun of the stereotypes that we have about one culture to another. Ahh...I just love hanging out with them (you know who you are ;) ). 

If there's anything that I miss about my home country when living abroad, it will be about my family, nature, and food. Well...I can't do much with the first two, but I always try my best to prepare food that I miss so much or recreate something that reminds me of home.

So okay, matcha is not something common back home, but I love the flavour, and I try to create something new out of it. If only matcha is not expensive here (then again, what is cheap here? oh yeah...dairy products..), I would go crazy inventing more matcha based food. Anyway, this is one of them. If you like to have stronger matcha taste, just put extra matcha powder. 

Matcha cinnamon rolls

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Ingredients:

Dough:
3 large eggs, room temperature
2 tablespoons sugar

6 tablespoons butter

180 ml buttermilk, room temperature

4 cups flour, or more

1 tablespoon matcha powder

1 package instant dry yeast, approximately 2 1/4 teaspoons

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Filling:

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup brown sugar

100 gm milk chocolate bar, cut into pieces

2 tablespoons butter, melted

Icing:

100 gm white chocolate

200 gm cream cheese

3 teaspoons matcha powder

Directions:

1. In the stand mixer with the dough attachment, whisk the eggs, sugar, butter, and buttermilk. Add 2 cups flour, matcha powder, yeast and salt, whisk until combined. Add more flour on low speed for about 10 minutes until the dough forms a ball. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for 30 seconds using hands. 
2. Lightly oil a large bowl, and transfer the mixture into the bowl. Cover and let it rise for about 2 to 2 1/2 hours.
3.  In a small bowl, combine the cinnamon and brown sugar together, set aside.
4. Butter a large baking pan. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Shape the dough into a rectangle. Roll into an 18 x 12-inch rectangle. Brush the dough with the melted butter, and sprinkle the cinnamon and brown sugar mixture. Rearrange the milk chocolate onto the dough, and roll the dough into a tight cylinder. 
5. Cut the dough into 12 rolls. Rearrange them in the baking pan. Cover with plastic wrap and leave in the refrigerator overnight.
6. Fill a shallow pan with hot water and set it at the bottom of the oven. Take out the rolls from the fridge and place it on the rack above the hot water. Turn on the oven to 160 C and bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
7. Melt the white chocolate in a microwave and combine it with the cream cheese and matcha powder. Pour the icing onto the freshly baked rolls. Serve immediately