Is anyone else getting ready for their St. Patrick’s Day celebration? Well, I, for one, am excited. I love any holiday because it gives me a reason to celebrate … and bake sweet treats. Yum.

In my younger days, St. Paddy’s Day meant late nights filled with bar-hopping and green beer. I’m not even a beer drinker, but I just had to try it. These days, I celebrate St. Paddy’s Day with my family, usually baking something sweet and coordinating my kids’ green outfits for school. I know, I’m a real party animal.

This year, I wanted to try something different instead of making my usual, festive green cupcakes – something a little healthier.

Over the past couple of months, I’ve been experimenting with matcha green tea and made some really great recipes, including No Bake Super Matcha Bars. Matcha green tea has a very distinct taste, so you have to be careful and pair it with something that complements its flavor.

Pairing the matcha green tea with lemon was the perfect marriage. These Light and Fluffy Matcha Lemon Muffins turned out great. The taste was subtle and not too sweet. It paired well with my daily cup of coffee.

Light and Fluffy Matcha Lemon Muffins. (Andrea Mathis / Beautiful Eats & Things)

Light and Fluffy Matcha Lemon Muffins

Click here for a printable recipe.

Ingredients

• 1¾ cups flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1¼ tablespoons matcha green tea powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup sugar
• ¾ cup unsweetened almond milk or regular milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ¼ cup oil
• 1 egg
• Juice of 1 lemon (mine yielded about ¼ cup of juice)
• ½ teaspoon lemon zest

Lemon drizzle (optional):

• ½ cup confectioner’s sugar
• 1-2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, matcha, salt and sugar. Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, mix together milk, vanilla, egg, oil, lemon juice and lemon zest.
4. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until combined, but be careful not to over-stir. Over-stirring will result in tough, dense muffins.
5. Add muffin liners to muffin tins or spray tins with nonstick cooking spray.
6. Distribute the batter evenly into the muffin tins and bake for approximately 15-17 minutes or until fork comes out clean.
7. Transfer to wire rack.
8. Optional: For lemon drizzle, mix confectioner’s sugar and lemon juice until desired consistency. Drizzle lightly over muffins and let muffins sit until drizzle slightly hardens.

Recipe notes

Nutritional information – 1 muffin (without drizzle): calories 151, carbohydrates 28 grams, fat 4 grams, protein 3 grams, saturated fat 1 gram, fiber 1.2 grams, sugars 10 grams.

Andrea Mathis is a registered dietitian and owner of Beautiful Eats & Things. For more great recipes, visit beautifuleatsandthings.com.