These delicious recipes will help you get into the holiday season! Fall desserts have so much to offer with delicious cheesecakes, pies, breads, muffins, brownies, pastries, and more. Many of these desserts are made of fruits that are in season like pumpkins, apples, pears, grapes, pomegranates, figs, cranberries. (even blackberries, raspberries, peaches, and plums but they might be more difficult to find after October).

For those of you who are unfamiliar with chai, it’s a frequent tea flavor. Chai originates from India, the flavor is similar to gingerbread, or pumpkin spice. It tastes of cinnamon, ginger, cloves, cardamom, and sometimes even vanilla. In very broad and simple terms the difference between tea and chai is that tea is the drink made from loose leaves and enjoyed plain or with a spot of milk, while almost all chais use a strong CTC base which is balanced by the addition of milk and intensified in aroma and flavors by the addition of spices. 

Step one in this 5 star recipe is to make the homemade chai spice mix. “This blend of 4 fairly available kitchen spices makes the delicious chai spice flavor. Grab some cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, and allspice. This mix will be used in both the cupcake batter and buttercream, as well as the garnish on top.” And don’t forget to preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (Fahrenheit) on a baking setting. Step two is to add the Spice mix into a vanilla cupcake mix but instead of using regular milk use chai infused milk which is ½ a cup of warm milk with a tea bag, the longer you leave the tea bag in for the more chai flavor you will get. Then take out the tea bag and pour the infused milk into the batter. Then bake the batter for about 20 minutes.  Step three is to make the frosting, this recipe uses vanilla buttermilk frosting with added chai spice in it and then sprinkles some extra chai spice on top. 

Vanilla Cupcake recipe

Cake flour: Cake flour is much lighter than all-purpose flour and helps to produce the softest, lightest cakes and cupcakes you’ll ever eat. It’s sold next to the regular flour in the baking aisle and I promise that you’ll use up the entire box in no time after you taste these!

Softened butter: A base of creamed butter and sugar (instead of using melted butter or oil) often helps achieve a soft, cake-like structure. Make sure it’s proper room temperature butter. 

Egg whites: While egg yolks are rich in fat and moisture, they can weigh down your baked goods. Skip the egg yolks and use the whites purely for giving structure to the cupcakes. Since we are losing a little fat from the missing egg yolks, we add it back in with sour cream and whole milk.

Sour cream: This is a power ingredient because it lightens and moistens the crumb.Though plain yogurt could be used in its place, I find that cupcakes made with sour cream are lighter.

Vanilla Extract & Vanilla Bean: For the most well-rounded vanilla flavor, use both vanilla bean and vanilla extract in the cupcakes. You can usually find vanilla beans in the baking aisle, but if you’re looking to purchase them online, I recommend these vanilla beans. See recipe Note if you’re skipping the vanilla bean or if you want to use vanilla bean paste.

Whole Milk: Milk with fat such as whole milk or 2% milk is your best choice here. Non Dairy milk is great in a pinch. Buttermilk is used in this vanilla cake recipe, which is typically a fine substitution for both sour cream and regular milk in baked goods. For these cupcakes, however, the crumb stays a little tighter when using sour cream + whole milk. Make sure ALL cold ingredients are room temperature before beginning

Vanilla Buttercream frosting

Beat butter until creamy. Make sure your butter is softened to room temperature before beginning. Use a hand or stand mixer to beat until smooth and creamy.

Add sugar, cream, and vanilla extract. Beat on low speed until these ingredients are incorporated, then bump up the mixer to medium-high speed. At this point, you can add more confectioners’ sugar if the frosting is too thin or a splash of heavy cream if it’s too thick.

Taste and salt. Add a pinch of salt to offset the sweetness.