I really want to like chai! I don’t drink coffee and this makes it slightly awkward every time someone suggests we get coffee. I feel like saying “well, ok. But I’m probably not going to get a coffee. Or pay 3.50 for a teabag.
So let’s just go get ice cream instead?” But that just doesn’t fly in the real world. Chai would be the perfect solution to this! You drink your skim cap, I drink my chai latte. Everyone is happy and we are all being trendy and maybe we should make it soy.
But when I was little I poured a huge mug of it down my shirt and had to rip it off on a busy street in India. Now the smell of it reminds me of burning skin, green polo shirts, and blushing humiliation. There isn’t a particular element that I don’t like. It’s not the cinnamon, ginger, or milk, it’s the actual combination together.
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It just makes my skin crawl.
Last week I was at an ice cream shop with friends and one of them ordered a scoop of chai gelato. I had the tiniest bite to see what it was like, and a strange thing happened. It wasn’t that bad.
I wouldn’t have eaten the whole scoop but the coldness of the ice cream meant it was different enough from the drink that my brain didn’t go into its usual panic mode of chai? CHAI! RUN!.
I thought maybe if the elements were taken far enough from the original I could actually like it. Thinking about it, each part of chai is actually really awesome. Spices like cinnamon, and ginger, I use all the time in so many things. And steamy and warm too? Yes, please.
So these chai cupcakes were born. The cupcakes themselves are gently spiced banana cupcakes that are gluten and refined sugar-free, but so moist and flavorsome! The texture is so soft it’s almost like a steamed pudding, and you get the slightest hint of coconut from the flour.
For those that are dairy-free these cupcakes are good enough on their own without the icing, especially warmed up for breakfast.
But the yogurt cream! Oh my goodness. I’ve been thinking about something like this for ages and finally got around to trying it. Strain yogurt, called labneh, looks like ricotta cheese and tastes like cream cheese, but it’s way better for you.
As well as this it is full of probiotics and often the level of lactose is low enough for intolerant people to enjoy as well.
Here the labneh is flavored with honey and chai spices to top the cupcakes. It is so delicious. You could eat it over fruit, as a cream on a sponge, on its own with berries, nuts, granola, anything! It’s rich and smooth and creamy and perfect.
The longer you drain it the thicker it will be, but I wouldn’t go much longer than eight hours or it will get very strong in flavor.
Once iced, it’s best to keep these cupcakes in the fridge because of the yogurt topping. However, the texture of the base won’t suffer! They taste great cold too.
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Photos & Recipes by Lillian Crowther Gibson. Sugar&Cinnamon.
