Matcha Chia Pudding and Buckwheat Shortbread Crumble

An easy 10 minutes of planning the night before will give you this delicious breakfast pudding, aka breakfast dessert.

If you’re like me, you like to have something sweet in the morning, but you’re slightly conflicted by the need to start the day off healthy. While traveling through Japan, I’m making my recipe simpler (and healthier) by using oishii berries, which are *just* the most perfect strawberries. Matcha is found at any grocery store or even the 7-Eleven here, as is coconut milk. Chia seeds are harder to find, but they are out there if you know where to look. The easy part is that in Japanese, chia is chia. Most grocery stores have it these days, even our small towns in the middle of Canada.

A batch of matcha pudding from a weekend of private cheffing in the Hamptons many years ago.

Matcha Pudding

6 servings

Pudding

Matcha Powder 3 teaspoons

Coconut Milk 6 cups (1.5 L)

Chia Seeds 1 1/2 cups

Honey 1/4 cup tablespoons

Pulse in your blender until chia is broken and matcha is blended. Pour into 6 mason jars or parfait glasses and cover them all with lids or bees wrap and leave overnight in the fridge for the chia to engulf the coconut milk. For a fluffier or mousse-like pudding, let the mixture sit overnight in a 2-qt container and whip or whisk up in a bowl before serving.

Buckwheat Shortbread:

Buckwheat Flour 130g / 1 cup

Sugar 50g

Butter 75g, room temp

Salt 1/4 ts

Vanilla 1/2 ts (optional)

Cream the butter and sugar, and then add the buckwheat flour. Mix until flour is combined. Press into a 9 1/2'' x 13" sheet pan, cover and chill for 1-2 hours. Preheat oven to 375 F / 190 C. When dough is chilled, uncover and bake for 5 minutes, then break up with a spatula until crumbled. Bake for another 5 minutes, and mix again with the spatula. Bake for the last 2-4 minutes or until slightly browned. Let cool and break up again as needed for your topping.

Serve each pudding with a dollop of coconut cream, strawberries, and the buckwheat shortbread cookie. A drizzle of honey, black sesame or a dusting of extra matcha powder is also a beautiful touch.

Notes: Sometimes I like to add more sugar to the shortbread recipe, or honey. It will be crumbly on purpose, so if you want more of a cookie recipe then I would suggest adding xanthan gum or cornstarch to bind together. Pudding can be made with any variation of milk, oat milk or rice milk are my favorites but whole milk or hazelnut milk would be great options as well. If you want to make other chia puddings, you can leave the seeds whole, and flavor with anything your heart desires. The 4:1 ratio of milk to chia is the always the way to go...