Chai Spiced Tea Loaves And Muffins

I already have a plan for how make them prettier, but I think the deliciousness is just about right.

Found this recipe on Pinterest, of course. (Of course!) I waited to make the glaze until the following morning, and it was very easy. The whole recipe was specific, but easy.

The adventure began as I was on my way home and twisted my ankle walking out of Duane Reade. Which ankle? The one I sprained about two months ago. The one that hadn’t quite healed yet. The one that hurt like HELL right afterwards for five excruciating minutes, and then settled down enough for me to walk, and then felt mostly fine. I was okay enough to stop off at the new spice market at Grand Central to see if they had chai spice.

They didn’t.

They had cardamom, which was the only ingredient I needed to make my own, but they had this test-tube type container full of pods for $7, and not only did I only need a tiny bit, I don’t own a mortar & pestle (since it’s not 1895), so I had to settle for a pre-made mixture from McCormick. My loving husband did the grocery store expedition for me, having greeted me at the door with a bag of ice for my ankle.

On to the baking!

Step one was brewing some tea. I’ve been a tea snob since I was a kid, so I used Twinings English Breakfast Tea. Nothing’s better.

While the tea was steeping, I mixed the dry ingredients together.

Then I took the tea, and mixed it into vanilla yogurt. (And, as you can see, checked my email at the same time.)

I creamed the butter, added the sugars, threw in the eggs — five of them! — and mixed.

And then I mixed in the two other bowls, switching back & forth between the dry ingredients and the yogurt & tea mix, until everything was in. Every time I use those colorful bowls with the pouring lips I love them a little more.

There was a LOT of batter….like a LOT.

Now the original recipe said it would make 6 mini-loaves, and I realized right away that she meant six of those individual mini-loaf pans. I have a large pan that has 8 mini-loaves in it, and those are significantly smaller. I made the mistake of putting far too much batter in them, unfortunately. Look how much was left even after way overfilling:

I pulled out the muffin tin, and got 10 muffin cups filled, then sprinkled the tops with a Turbinado sugar/cinnamon mixture.

The loaves were done first, and yes, there was MUCH too much batter in each one. They were too big, sticking out over the edges in a less-than-attractive way. But the muffins looked beautiful.

Then I woke up at 6:30 the next morning and did the glaze. Yes, I woke up at 6:30 thinking about glaze. It’s a little odd, isn’t it?

Next time, I will make sure not to overfill the loaves, and get a full dozen muffins out of the batter. They taste fantastic, they clearly help with ankle pain, and they just need that little push to make them look as good as they taste. They DESERVE to look better, that’s how good they are.

But see? They really could have looked a lot nicer than this: