The Adventures of Making Chai Cupcakes

Here's a question to chew on for a few seconds: How do you make chai cupcakes without possessing any chai tea powder? Well, the obvious answer would be to just pass over this recipe and try something else. Of course, the above solution only applies to those who think things out rationally. I, on the other hand, act on impulse and decided, rather boldly, that I would push on and deal with that rock in my path when the time came. Originally I intended to just buy the ingredients and make the chai powder myself. It wouldn't be hard, at least thats what the recipe that I found online implied. Just dash some different spices together along with a few other things and, presto, chai tea powder. Of course, that plan went up in flames when my mom came home from the store and informed me of the ridiculous prices for some of the spices (ha, a rhyme). Did you know that the spice cardamon (I have never even heard of it until yesterday by the way) costs sixteen dollars? Umm, no thanks. With that little setback I decided that I needed to get creative and think outside the box. Can you guess what I decided to do as an alternative? No? I used the chai tea powder found inside a few of my mom's packets of vanilla chai tea. Pretty clever huh?

As an additional bonus, the tea would supply a nice vanilla undertone. As least, that's what I hope it did. You see, I have yet to actually eat one of the four different cupcakes that I baked today. Yes, you read that correctly; four. Four slightly varied cupcake recipes in one go. Talk about an exercise in baking skills. This was really something for the books. Though I must say, I'm really impressed at how nearly flawless this whole process was. I didn't spill any ingredients onto the table or floor (a first for me ;) ) nor did I set anything on fire. Talk about negative thinking, but I foresee myself setting at least one thing on fire at some point throughout this whole challenge. I'll be very impressed if that never comes to fruition.

So chai tea cupcakes. From the feedback I've gotten from my parents it seems like I have once again performed baking magic. My dad proclaimed these to be the best he's ever had. Of course, he ate the cupcake with the most interesting ingredients. Who knew cinnamon and orange zest would taste will together? Well, technically I still don't know what this combination tastes like but the batter smelled delicious! And check out how beautiful all of the dry ingredients looked together!

That cinnamon color really popped when tossed on top of the flour, salt, baking powder, and of course, chai tea stuff. The other recipes I made were simple chai tea, chocolate chips and chai tea, and white chocolate and vanilla chai tea. Now, the problem wasn't that any of these recipes required any particular skills or and stuff, it was more that the process itself was tedious. Since each recipe made a dozen cupcakes, I cleverly decided to turn to my trusted recipe converter and divide the recipe by .33. Since three goes into twelve four times, I assumed that each converted recipe would produce three-four cupcakes. How wrong was I!It turns out that my converter isn't as fool proof as I thought it was. In the end, each recipe produced 5-6 cupcakes! Until today, I still had cupcake leftovers from my first baking. I'm thinking of going around and just handing off my cupcakes to some of my and my sisters friends. That should help dwindle the numbers, right? I also assumed that this would make the baking process easier as well, another thing I got wrong. The first time I baked I knew it would take me awhile, but at one point, I felt like throwing in the towel. Each recipe took fifteen to twenty-five minutes to put together. My poor stick of butter was completely melted by the time I popped the cupcake pans into the oven. I guess the one good thing that came out of all this was that I perfected my skills with eggs. Last time, I only used the yolks, this time, I had to master the art of just getting the egg whites. This was actually harder then I thought it would be, since I had to be extra careful to not let any of the yolk fall in. Only once did some yolk fall in, but I doubt that this did anything to recipe overall.

Lengthy prep time aside, I really enjoyed making these cupcakes, probably because I had pandora radio playing through my blue ray player while I baked. I know I mentioned this last time, but baking to music just really relaxes me. Then again, people use baking as a relaxant and stuff so I'm not that surprised by my mellow attitude. I hope this vibe sticks around; I'll need mellowing out after classes end. At the same time, munching on the ingredients and leftover batter doesn't hurt either. Yea, that's probably why I really liked baking these cupcakes; I got to snack on both dark and white chocolate chips while I baked. 

Thankfully I've managed to keep up with my running this summer so there's no harm in a few indulgence here and there. In fact, I'm gonna try and run four miles tomorrow before working together with my mom to try another vegan recipe from the "Happy Herbivore." I have a good feeling about this recipe and I'm crossing fingers tightly that I don't have a repeat of the black bean brownie incident. Those things have sorta became a legend in my household. Whenever someone mentions bad food, one of my family members kindly quips in a jab at those brownies. Poor things, still getting picked on nearly a week after being thrown away. Some day I'll redeem that recipe from the bottom of the literal and figurative trash can. But at the moment, I can relish in another cupcake triumph. And tomorrow, I'm going to ice a few of them and try my hand at a simple form of cupcake decorating. Hopefully this will turn out well. If not, at least I'll have a bowl of frosting to nosh on.

Anyway, I'm watching Across the Universe right now and have forgotten how much I love this movie. Good music, good acting, a good looking British actor with a killer accent; this movie has everything going for it. And now that my job at camp has come to end (at last I have money!) I have one more week to bum around town before heading back to Clark (hallelujah). And since I feel like being lazy, I've crafted a survey (see right side of the window) to help me decide what recipe I should try next. Yes, I kept the categories pretty broad, but I'll narrow it down myself. Right now, I just want an idea of what sort of direction I should go for my first baking at Clark. So, do a girl a favor and do my little survey, please!

Until next time, or tomorrow,

Jill