These baked Chai Spice Donuts are a fun and delicious breakfast choice. Adding tea to the donut batter and glaze gives these donuts a unique and delicious flavor.
Growing up my mom had this little china tea set from my grandmother that we were only allowed to use when we were not feeling well. It was the only time those cups came out. For some reason drinking tea from those little cups always made me feel so much better.
My mom has passed that china tea set on to me now. I love to create special moments for my kids using the tea set from my childhood. Every once in a while I will get the tea set out and bake them some treats for a surprise tea party. By only doing it every so often, it keeps it special. They love to have the little cups of tea with lots of cream and sugar.
The first thing you need to do when baking with tea is to actually steep your tea. You start by heating milk and adding extra tea bags for a stronger flavor. The aroma coming from the tea cup filled my entire kitchen. I couldn't wait to infuse that amazing scent into my baked donuts.
I made my donut batter using some of the cooled tea. I also used Greek yogurt to create a softer texture in the donuts.
By adding more tea to the glaze, it increased the tea flavor even more in these donuts. Cinnamon sugar on the top was the perfect touch for the glaze.
When our kids got home from school and realized they were having donuts and a tea party, they were so excited to invite all their "friends". I love the excitement and happiness that these little tea parties give them.
My hope is that they will remember these fun moments and be able to continue sharing these moments with their children when they are older.
I cannot wait to pass on the family tea set to my daughter after she is married. But I don't want that happening any time soon, so for now I will enjoy my little ones and their cute stuffed animal parties!
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Recipe
Chai Spice Donuts
These fun baked donuts have chai in the donut and in the glaze. Such a fun breakfast choice!
Ingredients
For the Chai
- ¾ cup 2% milk
- 4 chai tea bags
For the Donuts
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- â…“ cup packed brown sugar
- ¼ cup raw honey
- 1 large egg
- â…” cup plain Greek yogurt
- 2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
- ½ teaspoon orange extract
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon cardamom
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon all spice
- ½ teaspoon table salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- â…“ cup strong brewed milk tea, cooled
- 2 cups all purpose flour
For the Glaze
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons strong brewed milk tea
- 2 tablespoons cinnamon sugar
Instructions
- Heat the milk on the stove top or in the microwave until hot and just slightly bubbly. You do not want it to boil. Add the 4 tea bags and let it steep for 5-6 minutes. Remove the tea bags and squeeze out the excess milk.
- Preheat oven to 375°. Spray a large donut pan with nonstick baking spray. Wipe out the excess spray with a paper towel.
- Beat the butter, brown sugar, and honey in a mixing bowl until creamy. Add the egg, vanilla paste, orange extract, and yogurt and mix again.
- Stir together the dry ingredients. Add the flour and the cooled tea alternately to the butter mixture, until everything is mixed in. Let the batter rest 5 minutes.
- Spoon the batter into 12 donut cavities filling them about ¾ full. Bake for 11-12 minutes or until the tops spring back when pressed. Let the donuts cool in the pan 3 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. After 10 minutes use icing tip 1M to cut out the centers of the donut.
- Wipe out the donut pan completely and spray again with baking spray. Bake remaining donut batter.
- Stir together the powdered sugar and milk tea. Spread the glaze on the cooled donuts one at a time, sprinkling with cinnamon sugar as you go.
- Store donuts in a loosely sealed container for 2-3 days.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 297Total Fat: 9gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 40mgSodium: 305mgCarbohydrates: 49gFiber: 1gSugar: 32gProtein: 5g
Nutrition facts are an estimate and are not guaranteed to be accurate. If you need special diet advice, please see a registered dietician.
Alyssa
These sound so good! I just bought a donut pan and have been collecting donut recipes to try. I absolutely love chai tea, so these will be perfect to try. But I have to say I'm not a fan of Bigelow's chai. It's pretty weak. I've tried every brand I can get at the grocery store and Celestial Seasoning's chai is my favorite by far.
Cindy H
These sound perfect for a fund-raising bake sale that's coming up. How much of the tea do you use in the batter and how much in the frosting? Also, can I substitute vanilla extract for the vanilla paste?
Jocelyn Brubaker
The amount of tea used for the batter and the frosting is listed in the recipe...1/3 cup for batter and 3 Tbsp. for the glaze. And yes, vanilla extract would be fine to use. I hope you enjoy making them.
Brandie (@ Home Cooking Memories)
Gosh, where do I start? 🙂 Your donuts look absolutely amazing and I bet they taste amazing too. I love your idea about putting the tea bags on the counter in a basket. I've been thinking about different ways to store my teabags so I might have to try that. I *love* the tip about the zipper bag to fill the donut pan!
Jocelyn Brubaker
These are the perfect tea bags to have out because of the packaging! The ziplock bag is such a easy way to fill those pans, plus it's one less thing to wash 🙂
Ashley @ Kitchen Meets Girl
I love Bigelow tea (I drink hot tea all afternoon in the winter), but I never thought about adding it to donuts. You are brilliant!
Jocelyn Brubaker
Awe I'm blushing now! My mind is racing with all the things I could make now with the tea in my cupboard! I'm thinking some sort of muffin next...
Jennifer @ Mother Thyme
I love baked donuts and this flavor sounds outstanding. How fun to have a tea party with your kids. I can't wait for my kiddos to get a little older to do that with them as well.