I have been making this miso-hojicha milk tea in a variety of desserts, on and off, for 2 years now. Needless to say, I have been trying to make miso-hojicha sugar happen with as much vigor as Gretchen Wieners from Mean Girls has with the word “fetch”. Also, side note, but did anyone else not realize her last name was the plural form of the word “wieners”? I literally did not until I was typing out this recipe, and I found that to be just hilarious. That all being said, this recipe is another attempt of mine to make miso-hojicha a thing. Because it is such a delicious combination, and I really do want to share it with the world! Almost all of my miso-hojicha recipes start with me toasting off white miso paste in a thin layer to make almost like a bark. This bark is then blended with other ingredients, either sugar or milk, just to infuse that roasted miso flavor into something. Depending on the recipe, I might toast off the miso paste with sencha green tea leaves to make my own hojicha from scratch, but in the case of this particular recipe, I am toasting off the miso with non-fat milk powder. A super popular trick that chocolatiers do is toast off milk powder to give it this fragrant nutty flavor, similar to butterscotch candies or brown butter! By toasting the miso with the milk powder, the two both develop this toasty flavor profile that is warming and perfect for the holidays! Originally, I was going to use that mixture, plus the hojicha powder, to just make milk tea, but then I got an even better idea – hot chocolate!

I was initially going to blend up the miso-milk powder toasted goodness with hojicha powder, milk, and sugar to make milk tea with. But then I got the idea to substitute out the sugar with white chocolate, and do a milk tea hot chocolate instead! One of my random favorite memories growing up was my dad buying the assorted pack of Lake O Lakes hot cocoa mixes from Sam’s Club and me getting to try the different kinds of hot chocolate powders during the winter. It was at that point that I realized that hot chocolate came come in a variety of flavors, ranging from chocolate-mint to chocolate-raspberry, and even using white chocolate. Fun fact, my favorite from what I can remember was the French vanilla one. Just because French vanilla reminds me of my aunt in Taiwan, who loved drowning her coffee in French vanilla creamer. With that in mind, that was why I decided to combine milk tea with hot chocolate. Hilariously enough, it worked really well. Since I subbed out sugar with white chocolate, the end result was a super creamy, warm milk tea situation. The miso adds just enough salt for it to taste like a salted caramel almost, while the toasted milk powder adds another layer of butterscotch-like goodness that makes this a super addictive combination with the hojicha, which is only being accented with everything else. For this recipe, I went with white chocolate, but you can totally use milk chocolate as well. I would recommend against using dark chocolate, however, because the cocoa intensity from any dark chocolate will just overpower the hojicha and miso. Overall, this recipe was a fun innovation, and one that I will be enjoying during every holiday on a go-forward!

Makes enough milk tea for 4 servings:
2 tablespoons white miso paste
1/4 cup non-fat milk powder
2 tablespoons hojicha powder
1/2 cup white chocolate
1 1/2 cups whole milk

Spread the miso paste in a thin layer onto a silpat lined baking sheet. Sprinkle on top of that the milk powder in an even layer. Roast the miso and milk powder in the oven at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes. Allow the miso to cool completely before attempting to remove from the sheet tray. Your end result should be a toasty, crackly kind of “bark”. Store in an airtight container and keep refrigerated if not using right away.

Combine all of your ingredients in a pot and bring to a simmer on low heat, stirring occasionally until everything is melted together. Alternatively, combine everything in a Vitamix blender and puree until fully combined.