vanilla chai pumpkin bread
How delightfully orange and yellow The FMG homepage has become with this fall-a-palooza I’ve christened.
I’m frantically trying to write this recipe up before I’m torn away from my dashboard by a virtual doctor’s appointment and a trip to a midday Rays game. One is exciting, one is annoying. Guess which is which?
If you sniggered and quipped “clearly the doctor is more fun than a Rays game,” you can scooch your ass to the door, mate. No Vanilla Chai Pumpkin Bread for you.
Continuing forth with autumn foodscapes and a big loaf of spiced pumpkin bread for your afternoon nibble needs. If you’re a fiend for a certain giant corporation’s sugar-filled hunk of flour, try this and you might be delighted by the realization that no, you don’t need a whole pound of sweetener and a dozen preservatives to make a good snack bread.
What really shines through? An infusion of naturally sweet vanilla and vivid chai spice swirled into a thick pumpkin batter. Oh, and I guess a little cinnamon sugar cap because it’s fun and rather appealing to look at. That’s the stuff.
Tea Time!
The first thing to do is steep some chai tea bags directly in a pot of milk. The fun part about this step is, depending on the chai blend you use, each loaf of pumpkin bread will boast a different personality since all brands use varying proportions of the different spices. I opted for an espresso chai variety myself, which proved very effective.
Heat the milk with the tea bags in a small sauce pan until simmering. Once the bubbles steadily pop and fizz on the surface, shut the heat off and move the pot away from the burner. Cover and steep the tea 20 minutes, longer if you have time, but 20 does the job. Pull the bags from the milk, squeeze any excess milk out of the mesh (important! Often that liquid is the most flavorful.) Discard the spent bags.
Get that oven hot and bothered at 350 degrees. Grease a bread pan with oil or butter.
Grab a big bowl for the batter. Yep, just one. No double bowl-fisting here. Whisk together some pumpkin puree, brown sugar, coconut oil, and 1/3 cup of the chai milk. Then, beat in two eggs, one at a time, and vanilla extract.
For the dry ingredients, you need flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and some cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, and clove. The additional spices accentuate the chai already present in the batter. Stir these in until a smooth, relatively clump-free mix emerges, but don’t overmix.
Sugar Daddy
Meaning cinnamon sugar, you perv.
Toss together some white sugar and cinnamon. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan, smooth it out with a greased spatula (minimizes batter losses via sticking to the rubber), then sprinkle the cinnamon sugar evenly across the top. It’s fine if some sinks into the batter!
Bake the loaf for 40-50 minutes, until a knife or toothpick set in the center comes out mostly clean. Let the bread cool in its house for 5 minutes, then flip onto a wire rack, flip again, and cool another 15 minutes or so to let the crumb set.
My best advice? Serve with a smear of butter, a hot cup of chai tea too if you want to be extra matchy matchy. Maybe a Creamy Coconut Espresso Chai White Russian if it’s after 5?
Tried this recipe out? Leave a comment below with your thoughts, and don’t forget to come say hi on Instagram and show me what you made!
Ingredients
- 2 chai tea bags
- 2/3 cup whole milk
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup melted coconut oil
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 3 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder, divided
- 1/2 tsp cardamom
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp cloves
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease a 9 x 5 inch bread pan.
- Set milk and tea bags in a small saucepan and heat to a gentle simmer. As soon as the bubbles start, remove from heat, cover, and steep 20 minutes. After that time elapses, squeeze any excess liquid out of the tea bags into the milk. Discard the tea bags.
- In a large bowl, whisk together 1/3 cup of the chai milk, pumpkin puree, brown sugar, and coconut oil, until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, then mix in the vanilla. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, clove, and salt. Beat until just combined. Do not overmix.
- In a shallow dish, toss together remaining 2 tsp cinnamon and the sugar.
- Pour bread batter into prepared loaf pan and spread with a greased spatula until evenly distributed. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar overtop. Bake 40-50 minutes until a knife or toothpick inserted in the center emerges mostly clean. Cool 5 minutes in the pan, then invert onto a wire rack, flip again so the flat side is against the rack, and cool at least 15 minutes longer. Slice and serve with butter.
