October 10: Chocolate Chai Mini Loaves

Today’s recipe turned out soooo tasty and was a huge hit at my house. I saw it in a year-old Taste of Home Simple magazine I found in my house. (I have this habit of setting aside magazines with the intention of going back through them at a later date and making all the recipes in them. Often, I don’t get around to it and then, one day in a flurry of cleaning, I’ll get frustrated at the clutter pile and end up chucking the lot of them. Though usually not before a quick flip-through with slightly higher standards of what looks “good,” and then I’ll rip out the recipes I can’t let slip away.) This was one such recipe. 

These Chocolate Chai Mini Loaves were incredibly tasty and my family of 4 devoured all three in short order. (Seriously. I think they lasted 2 days.) There was even a minor mishap (in the form of overflowing pans! Yikes!) which ended up being a happy accident because, boy, those scraps were TASTYYYYYYYY. 

The original recipe includes a frosting for the top, too. However, I just didn’t think it sounded like it needed it. I bet it’s delish, but I didn’t feel like we needed those extra calories so I didn’t bother with it. If you want to make it, you can find it in this recipe link. 

What it lacks in photographic beauty - because, yeah, this crop of pix is particularly...brown - it makes up for in flavor. Note to self: chocolate food cooked at night on a dark pan within a kitchen with dark counters looks...dark. Live and learn.

Chocolate Chai Mini Loaves

(adapted from Taste of Home) 

Ingredients:

2 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped

½ cup water

½ cup butter, softened

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

3 Tablespoons chai tea latte mix (for this, I used 1 packet of a powdered unsweetened cardamom chai mix, plus 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla caramel latte powder)

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup sour cream

Directions:

1.     Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

2.     Grease three 5 ¾ X 3 X 2-inch loaf pans. (This was the size recommended by the original recipe and the size I used. However, I had some over-spilling of my batter while they baked. So just be aware of that and maybe use larger pans or use 4 instead of 3 or don’t fill them as high.) Set aside. 

3.     In microwave, melt the chopped chocolate with water; stir until smooth. Cool slightly.

4.     In medium bowl, combine flour, chai latte mix, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

5.     In stand mixer, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. At least 2-3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each one. Beat in vanilla, then chocolate mixture. 

6.     Alternately add flour mixture and sour cream to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour. 

7.     Pour an equal amount of batter into each greased loaf pan. (I measured mine on a scale and had 10oz in each pan. Which, for the record, seems like it was a little too much… so perhaps adapt accordingly) 

8.     PLACE YOUR LOAF PANS ON A COOKIE SHEET, then bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean. 

9.     Cool 10 minutes in loaf pans before removing cakes from pans to a wire rack to completely cool.

These smelled AMAZING while baking. When I opened the oven to check on them (which I think was around the 30 minute mark), I gasped. Huuuuuge mess all over my underneath cookie sheet. I said, “Oh no! I guess they’re ruined, and look at all that wasted cake batter.” But when they came out of the oven not long after, it was like a special treat. Those snakey pieces had a little crisp to them and tasted like a chocolate spice cookie. My girls and I snacked on them while the cakes cooled enough to be sliced.

Holy overflow, Batman!

I dusted one with powdered sugar for its photo shoot, but it didn’t NEED the powdered sugar. 

While warm, the light hint of chai spices were more discernible. After the cakes cooled, I thought the chocolate flavor was much more prominent. We found them delicious in both states, and I look forward to making these again.

This was one case where I’m glad I took one more pass through the stack of old mags because this would’ve been a sad one to miss out on.