chai spice

A Thanksgiving table isn’t complete without pumpkin pie, right?

Well, can I admit something to you? This is a safe space right? Pumpkin pie….is not….my favorite.

There, I said it. If this were grade school and we were picking teams for kickball, pumpkin pie would be the kid in class I picke last.

I think it’s because I had a bad experience with pumpkin pie as a kid that I just haven’t completely gotten over. But I have made some major progress over the years. For instance, I have jumped on board the pumpkin spice bandwagon, just like every other millennial female. Also, I do a lot of baking with pumpkin. It’s just when it’s in pie form, well, that’s when I lose interest.

Until….

This chai spiced pumpkin pie. This pie was a turning point for me. While chai spice is essentially pumpkin pie spice with some cardamom, the added cardamom takes the average pumpkin pie to the next level!

This chai spiced pumpkin pie would not be picked last for my kickball team.

I will also admit to you (again, safe space), that I was debating over whether to use store-bought pie crust or make my own. Clearly, you can see which one won. And I am glad it did. It offered me the opportunity to add ever more chai spice to the pie crust!

Making pie crust really isn’t all that hard. Actually, my version is pretty easy because I let the food processor do all the work for me (work smarter, not harder, kids). After the pie dough has a chance to chill in the fridge for a bit, all you got to do is roll it out and trim it.

Next is a very crucial step. How crucial? Well, do you want a soggy bottom pie or a not crispy crust pie? No one wants a soggy bottom, so to avoid that you must partially bake your pie crust. It only takes a few minutes. Just cover your pie crust with a layer of foil or parchment and fill it with pie weights. Pop it in the oven for about 20 minutes, and you will have a just barely cooked pie crust. But it’s enough that once you add your super wet filling, it will be able to crisp up even more while it bakes.

Meanwhile, you can make your filling!

The filling for this pie is almost exactly like the classic pumpkin pie. Except in place of pumpkin pie spice, I added chai spices. For those of you who aren’t familiar, chai spice contains:

Cardamom
Cinnamon
Ginger
Clove

Sometimes it also contains nutmeg or allspice. In this case, since I was adding it to a pumpkin pie, I did add both. I also added a bit of tumeric to boost that color. It doesn’t add a whole lot of flavor, so you can easily leave that out.

Once all the filling ingredients are mixed up and smooth, pour it into your partially baked pie crust and then pop it back into the oven.

While the oven bakes, kick back and relax. Have a glass of wine. Or get back to work concocting some sort of pie cruat design to put on top.

It’s clear which one I did.

If you are like me, and follow a lot of bakers on Instagram, you may be seeing a lot of amazing pie crust designs. I absolutely love them! However, since I rarely make pies, I never get to recreate my favorite pie crust designs.

This pumpkin pie created an opportunity to do my very own pie crust design. Since I was making a chai spiced pumpkin pie, I wanted to create a simple mandala-like design on top. I used my extra pie crust to make various shapes, mostly circles (using the ends of my #10 piping tip) and tear drops (using a clay cutter from the craft store). I assembled them in the design i wanted on a piece of parchment, then put them in the freezer to chill.

Trouble is, pumpkin pie (or any custard pie), isn’t the best pie to add a crust design on top. If you put pie crust on top of the pumpkin pie filling, the pieces will just sink to the bottom. But if I am one thing, it’s ~~persistent~~ stubborn, and I will get it done no matter what.

There are two methods to adding a crust design on top of a custard pie.

1. Bake the pie until it is almost done, mostly set from the crust in, then take the pie out and add your pie dough design on top. Then put it back in the oven to continue baking. (This is what I did)

2. Bake the pie dough pieces seperately in the oven. Then when both the pie crust pieces and the pie itself are completly baked, remove from the oven and assemble. (This is what I wish I had done.)

Either way, the pie turned out beautiful and delicious! And the latter is what’s most important.

And boy is it! I have never finished even a slice of pumpkin pie before. With this pie, I not only finished 1 slice, I had another. I also may or may have also eaten it straight from the pan. Don’t judge. We all have our weaknesses. Mine is dessert.

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My love affair with chai tea started in high school. I wasn’t a big coffee drinker until after college. So instead of feeling left out when all my friends would get their Starbucks Mocha Frappuccinos (which, at 16, was the most coffee they could handle), I decided to make the Chai Creme Frap my drink of choice.

As I’ve gotten older, I have maintained my love for chai. I just swap my overly sweetened, calorie dense Frappuccino for a warm cup of honey-sweetened tea. My favorite is Rooibos Chai, which is naturally a bit sweet and has a warm vanilla flavor. The rooibos chai is also not quite so spicy as some chais tend to be. Cinnamon isthe dominant flavor, but its balanced nicely by the citrusy cardamom and spicy ginger.

Which is why I have always maintained that chai can be a wonderful baking spice! And it perfectly translates to the snickerdoodle cookie! Sure, a plain old cinnamon-sugar snickerdoodles are great. But I think adding in a couple more spices could only make it better.

The spice mixture I use is a combination of cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, all spice, and vanilla bean. Because I ended up making these cookies for my cookie swap, I toned down the cardamom (which is pretty prominant in chai tea) just in case not everyone had the same appreciation for chai tea as I do. But if you like chai tea, then follow the exact recipe below. If not, you can adjust the spices as necessary.

To make the cookies, I portioned out about tablespoon size portion of cookie dough using my favorite cookie scooper. Then I rolled them into balls and into the sugar-spice mixture so that they were thoroughly covered.

These cookies do spread out and puff up, so I placed the cookies on the baking sheet about 1-2 inches apart. If you like your snickerdoodles a little flatter and not so puffy, you could use a fork to press them down (like I did in the original recipe). But I kinda like them to be nice and puffy.

I did some experimenting on the perfect baking temperature. The first batch was baked at 350 degrees and while the spread out a lot, then didn’t really get that signature snickerdoodle crack. I tried 400 degrees next (which is the temperature most snickerdoodle recipes call for), and the cookies cracked, but didn’t really spread out. They also seemed to be a bit crunchier.

The last batch was baked at 375 degrees, which seemed to offer the best of both temperatures. They cookies spread out a bit, but they also cracked and weren’t overly dried out.

While these cookies (like most cookies) are best straight out of the oven, they actually keep for quite a while. I had a couple cookies left over even a week after the cookie swap, and while they weren’t as soft, they were still delicious!

And of course these cookies are the perfect pair for a nice warm cup of chai tea! The flavor is relatively subtle, which makes these cookies great for anyone. But they will be especially well received by my fellow tea-drinkers.

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