I’ve been trying to cut back on sweets just a little lately, mainly because my 1 year old is a snackaholic and I can’t even look at a snack while he’s awake without being forced to give him some. My 3 year old was never, and still isn’t, that into sweets, and would take raw veggies over a cookie any day. I’m thinking all my sweet tooth genes are condensed and amplified into Kfer’s sweet, stocky little body. Poor guy. He got my height genes and my sweet tooth – I’m sure he’ll curse me some day, as he looks up from his 5’5″ish height at his thin, willowy 6 foot tall sister.
What can ya do, right?
Well, in the meantime you can make muffins! Somewhat sweet, somewhat spicy, and they make your kitchen smell like the best kind of fall.
If you like chai tea, even at all, you need to try these. I’ve mentioned before that I am a huge fan of EATING my calories, but one drink I’ll occasionally make an exception for is Starbucks’ Chai Tea Latte. These muffins encase all the spices and flavours I love about a good chai tea latte – cardamom, allspice, cinnamon, ginger, & black pepper. Adapted from the amazing Jamie at My Baking Addiction, they were a huge hit. My kitchen smelled phenomenal while these were mixing and baking, and the taste was everything the smell promised. The dunk in the glaze made them even more special, and I could have (may have) drank the glaze straight from the bowl.
- ¼ cup butter
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup brown sugar, lightly packed
- 2 large eggs
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cardamom
- ½ tsp ground allspice
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2⅔ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup milk
- FOR GLAZE:
- 3 Tbsp melted butter
- 1 cup confectioner's (icing) sugar
- ¼ tsp cinnamon
- ⅛ tsp EACH ginger, cardamom, and allspice
- ¾ tsp vanilla
- 1½ Tbsp milk
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees and line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.
- In a medium bowl, cream butter, oil, and sugars until smooth. Add the eggs, beating well to combine.
- Mix in the baking powder, baking soda, spices, salt, and vanilla.
- Add the flour into the mixture alternately with the milk, making 2 additions of each, and mixing until just combined.
- Divide the batter over 12 muffins and bake for 15-17 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.
- Let cool in pan for a couple minutes while you prepare the glaze.
- For glaze, mix all ingredients in a small bowl until smooth. When muffins are just cool enough to handle (3-5 minutes), dunk them upside down into the glaze and set on cooling racks to cool. Double dunk if necessary to use all the glaze :)
- Serve warm, or let cool and freeze in an airtight container and reheat in the microwave as needed.
Enjoy…now I can’t wait to try Jamie’s Chai Spiced Cookies!
I love chai so I know I’ll love these and I have cardamom in the cupboard just waiting for an excuse to bust loose!
I tried to give this recipe a 5-star rating, but it kept stopping on two for some reason! That’s happened to me before. Maybe time to find a new rating system.
Good to know about the stars, thank you! Let us know how you like them :)
These muffins look fabulous! In reading the ingredient list I would say they are deliciously spicy as well. I will need to try these-great post!
Your muffins look so scrumptious!! I love the photos and the recipe! Yum!
Erin loves chai tea. I will have to try these with gf flour and soy milk and see how they turn out.
I was actually thinking the strong spices would lend themselves well to a gluten free muffin – let me know how they turn out!
I made some chai scones a few months ago, and it was the first time I’d baked using chai. Now I’m hooked and use it all over the place when I cook!
Ooh, chai scones sound amazing! I’ll definitely have to try those.