Chai'll be there for you [Brownies]
After my recent visit to Malai in Brooklyn, NY, I've been inspired to experiment with Indian flavors in desserts. What started off as a recipe for chocolate brownies ended up being a chocolate + masala chai brownie recipe. A ChocolaTea brownie if you will...yes, I made a bad pun, what are you gonna do, sue me? Coincidentally, I'm typing this as I'm sipping on a "Chai Tea" Latte <rant>(*cringes*) at Starbucks. Please fix your nomenclature folks, haven't you read enough BuzzFeed and Huffington Post articles pointing out your redundancy?! </rant> Well anyway, here is my recipe for these brownies below:
Ingredients:
For brownie batter:
-2 cups of all-purpose flour
-2 cups of sugar
-1/2 cup of cocoa powder
-1/2 tbsp of green cardamom powder
-1 tsp of salt
-1/2 tbsp of baking powder
-1 egg
-4 oz of melted unsalted butter
-3 oz of whole milk
For brewing tea:
-1 cup of water
-2 cups of whole milk
-1/2 inch stick of cinnamon
-4 green cardamom pods, crushed open
-2 cloves
-2 petals from star anise
-1/4 inch of ginger, sliced into circular discs
-3 tsp of sugar
-2 tbsp of loose tea leaves (English breakfast should be fine, though I personally go with the Wagh Bakri brand, found in Indian grocery stores). Red Label is another option you can go with.
Preparation:
To brew the tea:
-Mix all the ingredients in a tea pot an put on low - medium heat.
-Stir so the sugar and tea leaves get mixed well.
-Let the tea brew till you get some milk-fat (malai) forming on the top and color is a dark tan. You want a strongly brewed masala tea.
-Put the tea through a strainer and set aside to cool.
For the batter:
-In one bowl (wet ingredients), mix 1.5 cups of the chai (any tea that's left over can be can be had to fuel you while baking), melted better, and the egg together. Make sure the wet ingredients are at room temperature, as baking is best done with your ingredients at room temperature.
-In another bowl (dry ingredients), mix the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, cardamom powder, salt, and baking powder.
-Combine the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk till you get a thick batter.*
-The 3 oz of whole milk may be used at this point if you feel your batter is too thick. Fold this in in 1 oz increments as you don't want too runny of a batter.
-Pour the batter into a 13 x 9 baking pan. Mine was 2 inches in hight and filled half way, so it will be a thinner brownie.
-Use a rubber spatula to help scrape of the sides and get as much batter into the pan.
-Preheat the oven to 300˚F (to save time, you can do this while you're brewing the tea).
-Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes, or until you can put a toothpick/fork through the center and it comes out clean. The reason this is on a lower heat and longer time is so we don't end up with burnt or extra browned edges.
-Remove from the oven and set aside for about 1 hour to cool.
-Cut it in to squares/rectangles and serve.
-Optional: Top off with some chocolate syrup, almonds, pecans, whipped cream, ice cream, etc.
Notes:
*A thick batter would be along the lines of a cake batter, so the texture of these brownies will be closer to a cake. Fudge like brownies will have more fat, such as butter or margarine, added to it.
**I believe Nutella still is a bit better. I'm not too fond of white chocolate in general, so the white chocolate swirled in hazelnut spread isn't really up my alley, but you can top this off with anything you choose :)
Ingredients:
For brownie batter:
-2 cups of all-purpose flour
-2 cups of sugar
-1/2 cup of cocoa powder
-1/2 tbsp of green cardamom powder
-1 tsp of salt
-1/2 tbsp of baking powder
-1 egg
-4 oz of melted unsalted butter
-3 oz of whole milk
For brewing tea:
-1 cup of water
-2 cups of whole milk
-1/2 inch stick of cinnamon
-4 green cardamom pods, crushed open
-2 cloves
-2 petals from star anise
-1/4 inch of ginger, sliced into circular discs
-3 tsp of sugar
-2 tbsp of loose tea leaves (English breakfast should be fine, though I personally go with the Wagh Bakri brand, found in Indian grocery stores). Red Label is another option you can go with.
Preparation:
To brew the tea:
-Mix all the ingredients in a tea pot an put on low - medium heat.
-Stir so the sugar and tea leaves get mixed well.
-Let the tea brew till you get some milk-fat (malai) forming on the top and color is a dark tan. You want a strongly brewed masala tea.
-Put the tea through a strainer and set aside to cool.
For the batter:
-In one bowl (wet ingredients), mix 1.5 cups of the chai (any tea that's left over can be can be had to fuel you while baking), melted better, and the egg together. Make sure the wet ingredients are at room temperature, as baking is best done with your ingredients at room temperature.
-In another bowl (dry ingredients), mix the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, cardamom powder, salt, and baking powder.
-Combine the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk till you get a thick batter.*
-The 3 oz of whole milk may be used at this point if you feel your batter is too thick. Fold this in in 1 oz increments as you don't want too runny of a batter.
-Pour the batter into a 13 x 9 baking pan. Mine was 2 inches in hight and filled half way, so it will be a thinner brownie.
-Use a rubber spatula to help scrape of the sides and get as much batter into the pan.
-Preheat the oven to 300˚F (to save time, you can do this while you're brewing the tea).
-Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes, or until you can put a toothpick/fork through the center and it comes out clean. The reason this is on a lower heat and longer time is so we don't end up with burnt or extra browned edges.
-Remove from the oven and set aside for about 1 hour to cool.
-Cut it in to squares/rectangles and serve.
-Optional: Top off with some chocolate syrup, almonds, pecans, whipped cream, ice cream, etc.
Ready to bake.
Baked! :)
I topped this off with some Vintella**
*A thick batter would be along the lines of a cake batter, so the texture of these brownies will be closer to a cake. Fudge like brownies will have more fat, such as butter or margarine, added to it.
**I believe Nutella still is a bit better. I'm not too fond of white chocolate in general, so the white chocolate swirled in hazelnut spread isn't really up my alley, but you can top this off with anything you choose :)
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