Chai meets Gingerbread.

These bars, brought to us by Nika (who also shared the utterly delicious Red Curry Coconut Noodles), are the perfect addition to a steaming cup of coffee, cocoa, or tea. Curl up with your toes by the fire and savor a wonderful treat.

What really drew me to these Chai Gingerbread Bars was the unique list of ingredients. Real chai tea leaves. Fresh ginger. Whole wheat flour. The result is subtle flavors, a soft, chewy texture, and the perfect amount of sweetness.

First, gather your ingredients: whole wheat flour, cinnamon, allspice, chai tea, ground ginger, baking soda, butter, dark brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs, vanilla, and fresh ginger.

Preheat your oven to 350° F. Grease a 13×9-inch pan with butter or cooking spray.

Grate about a tablespoon of ginger.

Cut open a bag a chai tea and pour the contents into a small bowl.

Whisk together the flour, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, chai tea leaves, and baking soda.

Place the butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer.

Beat until soft.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add the ginger …

And the vanilla. Mix.

With the mixer on low, slowly add the flour and mix until blended.

Scoop the batter into your prepared pan.

Lightly grease with butter or spray with cooking spray an offset spatula. Spread the batter out evenly in the pan.

Sprinkle the top with more granulated sugar, if desired.

Bake in a preheated oven for 25 minutes. A toothpick should come out clean with a few moist crumbs clinging. If you can wait (I couldn’t), cool the bars completely before cutting.

Nika suggests that you chill the bars in the refrigerator. I really couldn’t wait that long. They were scrumptious at room temperature.

I don’t think I would change anything about this recipe. Perhaps I’ll try using more natural sweeteners next time. But the flavor is spot on.

Thank you, Nika, for sharing this lovely recipe with us.

Printable Recipe

Chai Gingerbread Bars

by nika on September 30, 2009 in Brownies and Bars, Desserts September 30, 2009 Brownies and BarsDesserts

4.77 Mitt(s) 18 Rating(s)

Prep Time: 20 mins

Cook Time: 30 mins

Difficulty: Easy

Servings: 16

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Description

Soft chewy gingerbread bars, with a bit of chai.

Ingredients

• 2 cups Whole Wheat Flour
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon Allspice
• 1 teaspoon Chai Tea Leaves
• 1 teaspoon Ground Ginger
• ½ teaspoons Baking Soda
• 1 cup Butter, Softened
• 1 cup Dark Brown Sugar
• ½ cups White Sugar
• 2 whole Large Eggs
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1 Tablespoon Fresh Grated Ginger

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven 350F. Spray a 9×13 baking pan.

In a bowl, put flour, all the spices, chai tea and baking soda. Mix together.

In your mixer, beat the butter with the sugars until soft. One at a time, add the eggs. Beat until they are combined. Mix in the vanilla and grated ginger. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture. Blend until the flour is blended in.

Scoop the batter into the pan. Spread it around evenly over the bottom of the pan. With a greased spatula (sprayed with a bit of cooking spray, because the batter is pretty sticky!), smooth out the batter. Sprinkle the top with white sugar (totally optional). I have a feeling that you might be looking in the bottom of that pan and start thinking that it just doesn’t look like enough batter. It is. Trust me.

Bake for about 25 minutes. When you poke it with a toothpick, it should come out clean with a few moist crumbs. Cool completely before cutting. And, if you can wait, put it in the fridge and let the bars get cold. They are even better cold!

And of course, ENJOY!

 
 
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Erica Berge shares her wonderful recipes and amazing food photography on her blog, Cooking for Seven. She also writes about crafts and posts more of her beautiful photography in her personal blog, EricaLea.com. There really isn’t much that this amazing young lady can’t do, and we’re thrilled she does some of it here.

 
We’re big hummus eaters at our house. Sometimes the only way I can get my little girls to eat raw vegetables is to place a bowl full of hummus in front of them. Lately I’ve grown weary of carrot sticks and cucumber slices and wanted to find something healthier to dip than a store-bought cracker. When I first stumbled upon this recipe for Bakery Style Rosemary Flatbread, I thought it was for a thin, soft bread, similar to naan.

Nope. Crunchier. Like a cracker trying its hardest to be a tortilla. But still a cracker. And the best part? There’s no yeast involved.

Today’s recipe comes from culinarycapers—a vegetarian TK member whose recipe box is filled with all kinds of delicious concoctions!

Let’s get started, shall we?

No mysterious ingredients here: flour (I used white whole wheat), fresh rosemary, salt, olive oil, baking powder, freshly ground black pepper, and some parchment paper.

First, get the leaves off of the rosemary stems. The easiest way to do this is by grabbing it with one hand where the tough stem begins. With your other hand, pinch the stem, slide your fingers down, and …

ZIP! Off they come. The first time I did this I’m pretty sure I giggled at how easy it was.

You’ll need about three sprigs. Give those leaves a good chop.

Then put them in a big bowl with the other dry ingredients.

Whisk away.

Then pour in the oil.

And some warm water. (No, I didn’t rinse my measuring cup. You probably wouldn’t either. Admit.)

Stir until it comes together and gets clumpy.

At this point you may want to knead it a bit. Not a lot. Just to get it into a big ball.

Then cover it with a clean towel and let it rest for 30 minutes while you check your email, take a shower, eat one or two clementine oranges. Or eight. I’m so glad they’re back in season, aren’t you?

Meanwhile, stick a cookie sheet in the oven and preheat it to 450 degrees. If it’s rimmed, place it upside down so you can get the flatbread in and out of the oven easier.

When the dough’s ready, get a clean workspace ready by sprinkling it with flour. Have a rolling pin and a dough cutter (if you’ve got one) ready.

Divide the dough into 6 or 8 pieces, depending on how large you want your flatbreads to be. Dough cutters are great for this, but you could surely use a knife.

Place all but one section of the dough back into the bowl and keep them covered as you work. Sprinkle a bit of flour on the dough you’re working with.

Roll it out fairly thin. You could go paper thin if you’d like. Experiment with it and see what makes you happy. It doesn’t have to be perfectly round. Perfect edges and symmetry were soooo 5 years ago—lucky for those of us who are incapable of making perfect circles.

Using your dough cutter (or a spatula) loosen the dough from the workspace …

And transfer it to a smallish piece of parchment.

Brush liberally with olive oil.

Sprinkle with sea salt, then place it (carefully!!) on that screaming hot pan in the oven. I just picked up the paper and put it in there with my hands. You could also put it on another flat baking sheet or pizza peel and slide it into the oven.

Oh, and I’m pretty sure it says on my box of parchment paper that I shouldn’t use it in an oven hotter than 420 degrees. I used the same two pieces of parchment for all of my flatbreads and they did not spontaneously combust. I’m not a parchment safety officer, but I think it helps not to have excess (like, a LOT of) parchment around the dough.

And I like to live on the edge.

But, seriously. Keep an eye on it.

When it comes out of the oven it should look something like this. Golden brown with a few bubbles (or some giant ones) baked onto the surface. Yum.

Let it cool for a bit, then break it in to pieces. This flatbread would be great alongside some crudites and hummus (or any kind of vegetable dip) at a holiday gathering. It’s very light and has a subtle rosemary flavor that pairs well with all kinds of things.

Thanks for a great recipe culinarycapers!

Printable Recipe

Bakery Style Rosemary Flatbread

by culinarycapers on March 22, 2010 in Breads, Quick Breads March 22, 2010 BreadsQuick Breads

5.00 Mitt(s) 12 Rating(s)

Prep Time: -

Cook Time: -

Difficulty: Easy

Servings: 12

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I love these rosemary crackers by themselves or dipped in hummus or baba ghanoush. I use a spicy dark green extra virgin olive oil because I love the taste, but any olive oil will work fine.

Ingredients

• 3-½ cups Flour
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
• 2 Tablespoons Chopped Fresh Rosemary
• 1 Tablespoon Coarsely Ground Black Pepper (optional)
• 1 cup Warm Water
• ¾ cups Olive Oil
• 8 pieces Parchment Paper
• 1 cup Olive Oil For Brushing
• 8 dashes Medium Coarse Sea Salt

Preparation Instructions

Place a large rimless baking sheet or an inverted rimmed baking sheet in the oven and heat to 450 degrees.

Whisk flour, salt, baking powder, rosemary and black pepper together in a large bowl. With a wooden spoon, stir in the water and olive oil until a medium stiff dough forms. Knead gently if necessary to combine. Let rest in the bowl covered with a plate or plastic wrap for 30 minutes.

Divide dough into 6 to 8 portions, depending on the size of your cookie sheet. One at a time, roll dough out with lots of flour into a paper-thin rustic round; the thinner you roll it, the thinner the cracker will be. Experiment to find just the thickness that suits you.

Place on the parchment paper and brush excess flour off the dough, then brush liberally with olive oil and sprinkle with a little sea salt. With another cookie sheet or pizza peel, transfer to the hot baking sheet and bake for 8 to 12 minutes until lightly browned on the edges with specks of brown throughout. Remove from the oven, cool and break into large pieces. Repeat with the remaining dough.

 
 
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Be sure to check out Natalie’s own beautiful food blog, Perrys’ Plate, where you can see her growing collection of lovely recipes. There’s always something new to see there. Go visit now!