Chai Spiced Baked Donuts

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I had a dinner party to attend with some friends and I had this plan to make these "healthy" cookies that I found on Pinterest. Well, I don't know what happened, but they didn't quite pan out and I had to improvise so they turned into brownies (somehow)!

Don't get me wrong, they were absolutely delicious, like some addictive chocolatey goodness, but just not what I wanted to bring to my friends dinner party. My husband and I also ended up eating a lot of them so there weren't many left over by the time the day of the dinner party had rolled around (oops).

I had to think fast and bake something I had already ingredients for since I had no time to run to the store. I'd been dying to use my new donut pan that I got for Christmas (thank you in-laws!), along with my new donut cookbook. I flipped through the book and these Chai Spiced Baked Donuts caught my eye. I was also had everything on hand already so they were perfect. Especially the chai tea, since we make our own organic tea blends for our Etsy shop. And our Peaceful Masala Chai Tea Blend is my ABSOLUTE favorite.

I was a little intimated since I've never made donuts before, but wow, these donuts were SO easy to whip up. It really only took me about 35 minutes in total to bake from prep to finish.

The Chai Glaze was also super simple and fast to make. The end result was the best part of these of course--dipping these babies into their smooth chai glaze and watching them drip down the sides was a mouth-watering experience.

When I finally brought these to the dinner party and tried one, I was impressed. My friends were also impressed and there wasn't a clean plate in the house. Score! These donuts are soft, luscious, and loaded with warm notes of cinnamon and chai spice.

This recipe yields 6 donuts.

Here's What You Need:

For the Chai Baked Donuts

• 1/2 cup milk (plain almond milk is okay too)

• 3 chai tea bags

• 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (or 2/3 c whole wheat flour)

• 1/3 cup granulated sugar

• 1 tsp baking powder (NOT soda)

• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

• 1/4 tsp allspice (or a blend of ginger, nutmeg, and clove)

• 1 large egg

• 3 tbsp vegetable oil

• 3 tbsp yogurt OR sour cream

• 3/4 tsp pure vanilla extract

For the Chai Glaze

• 1 cup powdered sugar

• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract

• Remaining chai milk

Here's What To Do:

1. Preheat the oven to 375º F. Grease a donut pan with cooking spray.

2. In a small pot, heat milk over medium-high heat until just shy of boiling. It should be hot, steamy, and small bubbles will appear around the edge. Remove from heat and submerge the chai tea bags in the milk. Allow to steep for 5-10 minutes. Remove the tea bags, using the back of a spoon or your fingers to squeeze out all the milk that may have been absorbed by them. Set aside.

3. Meanwhile, whisk together flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and allspice in a large bowl. Add the eggs, vegetable oil, 3 tablespoons of the chai infused milk, yogurt (or sour cream), and vanilla. Stir the batter until all the dry ingredients are incorporated.

4. Refrigerate the remaining chai milk until you're ready to make the glaze.

5. Transfer the batter to a large zip top bag (or piping bag) and snip off one of the corners to allow enough space for it to squeeze out. Alternatively, you could use a couple of spoons to scoop the batter into the pan.

6. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until donuts are springy and lightly browned. Be careful not to over bake. Remove from the oven and allow donuts to cool for 5 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

7. While the donuts are cooling, prepare the glaze. Add powdered sugar to a small bowl along with the vanilla extract and about 1 tablespoon of the chai infused milk.

8. Stir the glaze until smooth and shiny, adding a few drops of chai milk at a time until the desired consistency is reached. You probably won't need all of the chai milk. The glaze should be thick but slightly runny enough to slowly drip down the sides. If it gets too runny, just add a little more powdered sugar. If it's too thick, or if you run out of chai milk, you can use regular milk to thin it out.

9. Dip one side of the donuts in the glaze and return to the cooling rack to let it set. Sprinkle with addition cinnamon on the top if desired.

10. Donuts are best eaten right after baking and adding the glaze, but will stay fresh at room temperate in an air-tight container for up to 2-3 days.