Pistachio-Chai Muffins and A Bake Sale Update

[donotprint]Remember a few months ago when I told you about the food blogger bake sale I was organizing with some fellow food bloggers to raise money for Share Our Strength? Well, said bake sale occurred on the same day this happened, and I’m just now getting around to telling you what I made … and what a success the bake sale was!

I am happy to (finally!) announce that we raised over $800, all of which will be used to support Share Our Strength’s efforts to end childhood hunger in America by helping fund afterschool and summer feeding programs. I’m so proud to have been a part of this great event, and I’d like to thank my fellow bake sale co-hosts, Stefani of Cupcake Project and Andrew of Andrew Mark Veety for their teamwork and support; you must check out their blogs!

I also want to thank everyone who baked for and volunteered at the event, Sappington Farmers’ Market for hosting the bake sale, and finally, all of the wonderful businesses who donated items for our raffle: Whole Foods Market, Whipt Cream, Free Range Cookies, Sweet Art, Sugaree Baking, Serendipity, and Companion.

So, what was my culinary contribution to the bake sale? In a nutshell, one of the most delicious muffins I’ve ever made … and a low-fat muffin to boot!

These pistachio-chai muffins, from the May 2011 issue of Cooking Light, are moist and nutty with a delicious chai-spice flavor, the right amount of sweet, and just a hint of salt. I tweaked the recipe a bit to amp up the flavors and my adapted recipe is below. Enjoy!

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Pistachio-Chai Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 chai blend tea bags
• 1 cup low-fat buttermilk
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract, divided
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup shelled, salted, dry-roasted pistachios, chopped
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 2 to 3 tablespoons water

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.

2. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 4 ingredients (through salt) in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Cut open tea bags; add tea to flour mixture, stirring well. Make a well in center of mixture. Combine buttermilk, butter, 2 teaspoons vanilla, and egg in a bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Add buttermilk mixture to flour mixture, stirring just until moist.

3. Place 12 muffin-cup liners in muffin cups; coat liners with cooking spray. Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle nuts evenly over batter. Bake for 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes in pan on a wire rack.

4. Combine remaining 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, powdered sugar, and 2 tablesoons water, stirring until smooth (add more water if necessary to create thin glaze). Drizzle evenly over muffins.

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