Sweet Patootie

I absolutely adore Woolworths Vanilla Chai tea. I’m not usually a fan of chai teas, chai tea lattes, etc. but this vanilla chai tea is an exception. It smells divine and tastes even better. The same friend that introduced me to the baklava cheesecake, introduced me to this vanilla chai tea

A couple of months ago, my family went out for breakfast and unfortunately I was not able to join them. They surprised me with a take away, from the restaurant. I can’t remember the restaurant’s name right now, I will update this post when I do. They bought me some buttermilk vanilla chai pancakes. They were served with spiced whipped cream, and poached pears that were red. The pancakes had a lovely, fragrant, spicy flavour, but were far too sweet.

I really enjoyed their flavour though, and decided to recreate them at home. This is the recipe I used, adapted from these sites: http://greedygourmand.blogspot.com/2009/07/chai-spiced-buttermilk-pancakes.html & http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2009/03/chai-spiced-buttermilk-pancakes/

Vanilla Chai Buttermilk Pancakes

2 eggs
2 cups flour (I used 1 C wholewheat flour, 1 C bread flour, and added 1/2 C wheat germ)
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp mixed spice

1/2 tsp – 3/4 tsp masala tea spice mix

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon crushed black peppercorns (or a dash of freshly ground black pepper)
1 1/2 cups buttermilk (or 1.5 tbsp white vinegar and remaining amount milk)
1/2 cup brewed vanilla chai tea

2 Tablespoons milk OR brewed vanilla chai tea
4 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled (used 2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons Canola Oil)
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

•   In a large bowl beat eggs. Add buttermilk, vanilla chai tea, butter and vanilla and mix well. Add flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt. Add extra milk/vanilla chai tea. Mix well until mostly smooth. Let batter set for a few minutes.

•  Heat griddle or pan over medium heat. Add a teaspoon of oil to the pan or spray with cooking spray. You can test to see if the pan is hot enough by adding a few drops of water, when the drops start to dance its hot enough.

• Pour 2 Tablespoons of batter onto the griddle. Cook on the first side until bubbles that form start to pop. Flip the pancake over with a spatula and cook until golden brown. Repeat until all the batter is gone.
  

The spices are just a guideline, if you don’t have mixed spice or masala tea spice mix, use a combination of cardamon and cloves (1/4 teaspoon of each), as the original recipe stated. You may want to add more or less spices, it’s really a matter of personal choice. The first time I made these, I was a bit apprehensive and guarded when adding the spices. Especially the black pepper… I really did not know about that one. Trust me, it’s good   The second time i was more liberal, and really spiced it up! I just shook those spices freely into the pancake batter.

These pancakes were delicious served with syrup, and poached pears. Yes! I had to have poached pears, lol, I had to recreate what I ate. The pears were poached in vanilla chai tea, marsala wine, lemon zest, vanilla pods, a little sugar, water, and a bit of rum.