glazed chai muffins!

Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone.  I hope that you all had a most wonderful time with family and friends, being thankful for your blessings, and eating some good food!  I enjoyed the company of my husband's hunting friends (mine too - we just call them that. Love ya M and J), as well as my husband's family.  There is always a big to-do an Grandma's house and we all bring potluck items and enjoy a huge turkey...love turkey.  Then of course is the extra yummy pumpkin pies and desserts that I of course tried both, and topped off with a generous helping of whipped cream.  I AM THAT THANKFUL!!!

I love the smells of Thanksgiving and fall cooking, the comfort of spices, pumpkin, apples, etc.  I am really enjoying cinnamon right now and I am using it in ALL my baking.  I recently made these lovely muffins that are inspired by chai tea. (another fall favorite of mine!)  I have never used cardamon before so this was a lovely introduction to this unique spice.  It is what gives the muffins its "chai-ness" I couldn't find the spice anywhere until I went to my local Farmer's Market, and there it was!!!  So I rushed home and made these muffins.  I love the glaze that they are dipped into as well.  Really finishes off the perfection of this muffin.

So continue to revel in the wonder of thankfulness and autumn beauty, finding comfort in a great chai tea and these lovely little muffins!

Glazed Chai Muffins 

adapted from:  My Baking Addiction

What you need:

For the Muffins

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup milk

For the Glaze

3 tablespoons butter; melted
1 cup icing sugar;
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon milk
  

What you do:

 1. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Lightly grease a standard muffin tin, or line with 12 paper muffin cups.

  2. Cream together the butter, vegetable oil, and sugars until smooth, add the eggs one at a time, beating to combine.

3. Stir in the baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, allspice, black pepper, salt and vanilla. Mix well to fully incorporate.

4. Add the flour into the butter mixture with the milk, stir to combine.

5. Distribute the batter evenly into the prepared pan, filling the wells nearly full.

6. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes, or until they’re a pale golden brown and a cake tester inserted into the middle of one of the center muffins comes out clean. Prepare the glaze.

For the Glaze

1. In a medium bowl, mix together the melted butter, icing sugar, spices, vanilla and milk. Whisk until smooth.

2. When muffins have cooled slightly (about 5 minutes), dip the muffin crown into the glaze and allow the glaze to harden. At this point, you can leave them as is or go for the double dip. I glazed my muffins twice.

3.  Enjoy with a hot beverage. Store muffins in an airtight container for up to a week.