“Dirty” Chai Bars

1) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and flour a baking pan; somewhere around 7″x11″ will work, though 9″x12″ is also fine (your bars will just be thinner).

2) Cream the butter and sugar in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Add the egg, tea, and vanilla. Mix well.

3) In a smaller bowl, thoroughly mix the flour, spices, and coffee. Add to the butter mixture a little at a time, fully combining before each addition, until you have a well-mixed “dough” (it’s not quite a dough, nor is it a batter … it’s in between-ish).

4) Press your dough into the prepared pan and smooth the surface with a spatula until it is nice and flat.

5) Bake for 20-25 minutes until the dough appears slightly “golden” (it’s whole wheat, so maybe “bronzed” is a better adjective?). If your oven heats unevenly like mine, rotate the pan 180 degrees halfway through baking. Let cool.

6) If you so desire, you may frost these with a simple icing made of 1 cup of powdered sugar, a pinch or so of ginger, a pinch of espresso grounds, and some water. If you’re like me, you’ll just eat these plain, or maybe crumble them over applesauce for your breakfast. Either way, I hope you enjoy these. They really are delicious!

Note: I used salted butter, which worked fine for me. If you like, use unsalted butter and just add a pinch of salt with the flour mixture.