Chai Tea Concentrate

In my group of friends, I'm known as the tea lady. No, seriously. I have an entire cabinet and wall in my kitchen dedicated to all the delicious tea I collect and drink on a daily basis.

I think I may have an addiction... One that can easily be fed with this delicious recipe.

It's a cheap alternative to the store bought stuff, and I can guarentee you'll never want coffee shop chai lattes ever again!

Start out by boiling a large pot of water.

In the meantime, get together your ingredients: black tea bags, cinnamon, star anise, cardamom pods, whole cloves, chopped fresh ginger, orange zest (I didn't have any oranges on hand, so I used orange spice tea bags), ground nutmeg, ground black pepper, vanilla extract, honey, and brown sugar.

When the water comes to a boil, throw in the tea bags and spices. Take the pot off the heat.

Stir all the ingredients together and allow this mixture to steep for about 20 minutes or so. You can steep it for longer if you want stronger tea, like I do.

When the steeping is done, line a wire strainer with cheese cloth or paper towels, and pour the tea through.

This process may take a little while if you don't have any cheese cloth. Paper towels work but not as well; they aren't as porous. 

When you're done, mix in the vanilla, brown sugar, and honey until everything has dissolved completely.

Pour the concentrate into a storage container. It'll keep fresh in the fridge for about a week or two.

You could also freeze some of it to use in coffee or smoothies in the future!

And to make the perfect chai latte for a crisp fall evening: mix 1 part chai with 1 part milk. Now grab a blanket and Harry Potter, and you'll be good to go!

Chai Tea Concentrate

(Makes 8 cups)

9 cups of water

2 sticks of cinnamon

1 inch piece of ginger, chopped

14 whole cardamom pods

5 whole star anise pods

20 whole cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg 

2 teaspoons orange zest, or two orange spice tea bags

20 black or green tea backs

1 1/4 cup brown sugar

1 Tablespoon honey

2 Tablespoons vanilla

1. Bring water to a boil. Mix tea bags and spices into the water and take off of the heat.

2. Allow tea mixture to steep for 20 minutes, or more. 

3. Strain the mixture through a cheesecloth-lined wire strainer into a large bowl 

4. Stir in the vanilla, brown sugar, and honey until all dissolved.

5. Pour into sturdy storage containers, or chill in ice trays. 

6. To make chai latte: mix 1 part concentrate with 1 part milk. Ratio differs by taste. 

Pumpkin Pancakes for Halloween

So it's Halloween, you have canned pumpkin in your cabinet, and your boyfriend suggested pancakes for breakfast? 

I've totally got you covered.

First, get together your ingredients: milk, eggs, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, vanilla extract, canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling!), flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ground nutmeg, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, and ground ginger.

Mix together your spices in a medium sized bowl. Careful of the fumes. If you're not careful, you'll be smelling Christmas for days!

Add all the rest of the dry ingredients on top of that. 

And mix them until blended. Set this bowl aside for the time being.

Grab a new, large-sized mixing bowl. 

Add the rest of the ingredients and whisk them all together...

Whoops! Almost forgot the vanilla.

Take those sitting dry ingredients and add them to the wet mixture very slowly until everything is incorporated. 

It should look like this!

Take about 1/3 cup of batter and pour little circles onto your heated griddle. I usually set mine to 300-350 F. 

They're ready to flip when the sides look dry and the batter starts to bubble.

Lovely! A good pancake has a wonderful golden-brown color. Let them cook for another 5 minutes or so. 

The first batch goes onto the serving plate!

Repeat this process until all of the batter has magically transformed into delicious, pumpkin pancakes!

That's a good looking stack of pancakes.

A completed breakfast worthy of Halloween. Don't forget a drizzle of honey or pure maple syrup. 

Pumpkin Pancakes

(Makes 16-20 pancakes)

Ingredients:

1.5 cups milk

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 egg

2 Tablespoons olive oil

2 Tablespoons vinegar

1 Teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups flour

3 Tablespoons brown sugar

2 Teaspoons baking powder

1 Teaspoon baking soda

1/2 Teaspoon salt

1 Teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 Teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 Teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 Teaspoon ground ginger

1. Preheat griddle to 300-350 F.

2. Mix all dry ingredients in a medium sized mixing bowl. Set aside. 

3. In another larger mixing bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients until incorporated.

4. In small batches, slowly mix the dry mixture into the wet mixture until everything is combined.

5. Spoon 1/4-1/3 cup of batter onto the preheated griddle.

6. Cook pancake for 5 minutes on each side, or until the pancake is golden-brown and cooked through the center. 

7. Serve with breakfast!