Chai Town
Do you know what I’m craving? Some good ol’ chai. I know, I know. Maybe I shouldn’t be thinking about a nice warm, cozy cup of chai. It’s summer for goodness sake! It must be 80 degrees outside, 90 inside (we’re playing conservative and haven’t kicked the air-conditioner on yet) and the humidity is playing havoc with my hair. I suppose I could whip up a soothing glass of iced chai. I much prefer my chai iced anyway. But that just will not do right now. You see, I don’t think it’s the chai at all that I’m craving. I think what I’m really missing right now is the crisp, cool weather that won’t be back again until October. That is, if we don’t have another mild winter (I really need to move to a place where it snows on the regular)! I’m pretty much melting here as I type, longing for cooler temps which would make drinking a hot cup of chai most appropriate. With a slice of spice cake. How about roasted marshmallows over a roaring fire in the den? I’m a December baby. Winter is in my blood folks.
Ah, this was a wonderful fall day. Look at the nice mule
Fortunately, I know the perfect remedy for my sudden autumn nostalgia that won’t involve pouring scalding liquid down my esophagus on this late May day. Cookies! Oh, and I’m not saying just any cookie. No ma’am, I’m talking chai cookies! Mmm won’t that be nice with a frosty glass pitcher of milk. I can taste it already.
Of course, it seems there aren’t very many cookie recipes out there that include chai concentrate. Pumpkin cookies with chai icing, yes. It just so happens that I’m plum out of pumpkin…and I really want some yummy chai please. So we’ll just have to cross our fingers and create our own recipe, thank you kindly.
No problem (or so she says…dun dun duuuuuuun)! So, some ingredients, yes? Dos tazas de harina, un huevo grande, una cuchardita de vainilla…Oh wait! Got Spanish on the brain, haha.
Ingredients en anglais:
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp allspice (for autumn’s sake!)
- 1 stick buttuh (to clarify, that is butter in a husky southern drawl)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 egg
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 3 tbsp chai concentrate (I might have accidentally spilled a few extra tablespoons in there)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees please. Mix together flour, salt, cinnamon, allspice, and baking soda in one bowl. Cream together sugar and room temperature buttuh in another bowl. Then add egg, vanilla, chai concentrate, and if you’re anything like me, extra chai concentrate.
Now you can add the dry mixture to the wet mixture. Taste as you please before covering your bowl and popping it in the fridge for a bit. Go ahead and relax while you fantasize about your cookies just crying to be baked up.
Two minutes later
Five minutes later
Eleven minutes later
How long before 30 minutes again…?
Seventeen minutes later
Twenty-five minutes is plenty of time! Some chocolate chips fell into my batter.
Spoon spoonfuls of cookie dough onto a cookie sheet (I understand if you end up eating a quarter of the batter. It happens to the best of us. It’s okay). Bake for 12 minutes or until the cookie looks like it might be done. Let cool and repeat!
Now, since this was the first time I ever made this recipe there is, of course, room for improvement. But my friends all seemed to like these little babies so we’ll file them away in my recipe book. Next time I think I might cut out the sugar and double the brown sugar. You know, just to play around a bit.
Enjoy!
Tijuana
armadillas 