chai spice – zezoo cooks

Chai-spice Pumpkin Brownies

american, baking, black tea, chocolate, cookies, dessert, fall, freezer friendly, gluten free, seasonal, snack, sweet, tea, tea pairing, tea pairing cover, vegetarian, winter

Disclaimer: This page contains affiliate links to Simple Loose Leaf products. ZezooCooks may receive a commission if purchases are made via these links (at no additional cost to you).

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The Simple Loose Leaf Pumpkin Spice Black tea is Fall in a cup for tea lovers. It is the tea lover’s answer to all the “Pumpkin Spice Latte” madness that takes over the United States come September – temperatures in the 90s notwithstanding – and can be a bit much if you are not a fan of adding cinnamon to everything just because its “Fall”. As it usually is with tea, the Pumpkin Spice Black is understated, warm and delicious, and a perfect accompaniment to these easy, one-bowl, gluten-free pumpkin brownies.

To elevate the brownies to the tea’s level, I added some homemade ground Chai Spice to the mix, along with cinnamon (I’m strong but not that strong…it is October after all). It adds a layer of warmth to the brownies that goes really well with chai spice in the tea itself, making this a perfect fall treat!

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Pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

american, baking, cake, california, celebration, cupcakes and muffins, dessert, fall, freezer friendly, general announcements, recipe card, seasonal, snack, southern, sweet, thanksgiving, whole grain, winter

A nice little Fall treat to accompany your afternoon coffees and breakfast alike – comes together in no time, no special equipment needed!

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Chai-spiced Applesauce cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

american, baking, birthday, cake, california, celebration, cupcakes and muffins, dessert, fall, freezer friendly, frosting, general announcements, indian, recipe card, seasonal, snack, southern, sweet, whole grain, winter

A perfect recipe for the Fall when you have way too many apples and way too much applesauce! Can also be made with pears/pear sauce for a twist. The chai spice (recipe below) is a nice change of pace from the typical pie spice that’s floating in the air – try it in place of pie spice or pumpkin pie spice in Fall/Winter baking for variety, or add it to your latte!

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Savory Tea Biscuits (shortbread cookies with carom seeds)

baking, black tea, cookies, eggless, indian, maharashtrian, make ahead, savory, snack, tea, tea pairing, vegetarian, whole grain

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Disclaimer: This page contains affiliate links to Simple Loose Leaf products. ZezooCooks may receive a commission if purchases are made via these links (at no additional cost to you)!

You can use my discount code AMRUTA10 to get 10% off a one-time purchase on @simplelooseleaf teas via links in my post!

To get this delicious tea, and to browse many other Fall and Winter teas, check out the Simple Loose Leaf website!

It’s not often that the world changes so dramatically in a span of just a few weeks. When I started this tea pairing challenge a few weeks ago, none of us had any idea what was coming our way. In most parts of the world at this point in time, life as we know it is upended. In some parts of the world, people are fighting for a chance to live in the resources their hospitals can afford them, while elsewhere, others are separated from their families, far far away. Such stories are normally reserved for third world countries, but it is heartening to see it happen in US and Europe. This pandemic has brought the world to its knees, and we don’t know how life will be in its wake.

Whoa, not something you would expect to read if you were browsing for a nice teatime biscuit recipe, huh? Well, it is rather uncomfortable – talking about tea and biscuits like everything is alright in the world. I’ve written myself into a corner here – there are no elegant segues from this topic to tea pairing, so I’m just going to put a pin in it for now (as we are all trying to do by self-isolating…here I go again!), and talk about my favorite thing in these bleak times: tea.

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Vegan Chai-spice Pumpkin Bundt Cake

american, baking, black tea, breakfast, cake, california, dairy free, dessert, fall, freezer friendly, indian, make ahead, seasonal, snack, sweet, thanksgiving, vegan, vegetarian, weeknight, whole grain, winter, winter tea

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I wasn’t the biggest pumpkin purée fan all these years, and the culprit was definitely its association with cinnamon and “pumpkin spice”-everything. I don’t hate cinnamon but in the US, like clockwork, everyone craves cinnamon come September and it just don’t stop until New Years!. Anything made with pumpkin purée (store-bought) is just a cinnamon-scented assault.

But then I made pumpkin purée at home for the first time (thanks Instant Pot!) and ate a small portion of it warm, drizzled with coconut butter and just a dusting of cinnamon+nutmeg, and I was converted. I made pancakes with it, these brownies were wonderful too (vegan and gluten-free!), and then felt ready to graduate to cakes.

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