In addition to being a full-time mother and wife, my mom is also a real estate agent. If you ask me, it's the perfect job for her. She's a big time people person and likes to talk. And trust me, the woman spends a great deal of time on the phone - something I would not want to do.
But she's not one of those 'let me sell you a house and have a nice life' type real estate agents. She's the type that becomes friends with her clients, genuinely cares about them, and sends them little gifts during the holidays to express her gratitude for them choosing her to help them make a rather large and expensive decision.
So this year she thought it would be nice to make a Chai tea mix and decorate little jars to give out to some of her closest clients. Wait - let me rephrase that. She thought it would be nice to make a Chai tea mix and have ME decorate little jars to give out to some of her closest clients. Of course, I was more than willing.
She found the recipe for the mix in the Christmas with Southern Living cookbook from 2007. The ingredients, you ask?
2 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom (optional)
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups unsweetened instant tea or decaffeinated instant tea
1 1/2 to 2 cups sugar
1 cup nonfat dry milk powder
1 cup powdered nondairy creamer
1 cup French vanilla-flavored powdered nondairy creamer
And preparation??
Combine spices and tea in a food processor or blender. Blend 1 to 2 minutes or until mixture becomes a fine powder. Pour into a large bowl. Add sugar to food processor or blender (without cleaning it), and process until superfine, about 30 seconds. Add sugar to bowl of spices. Stir in milk powder and creamers; blend well. Spoon mix into gift jars, if desired.
It makes about 5 1/2 cups.
To serve, you take 2 heaping tablespoons of the mix and mix into hot milk or boiling water.
Alright, alright. I'm not a big tea person. But I love this mix. Why? Because you can do so much with it. The cookbook so understandingly accepts that there are people out there that don't like tea. And therefore includes other ways to use it.
Chocolate Chai Mix (gasp. I love hot chocolate. This is like gourmet hot chocolate!): Just add 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa into the mix with the dry milk powder. Then serve the same, but recommended with milk.
Chai Shake: Blend 1/4 cup Chai Tea Mix, 1 cup milk, and 3 1/2 cups vanilla ice cream in a blender.
White Chocolate Chai: Add 1/4 cup finely chopped premium white chocolate (such as Lindt or Ghirardelli) to 1 cup Chai Tea Mix. Stir well. Follow serving directions above with 2 heaping Tbsp. per cup of hot milk or boiling water.
My mom bought these cute little jars to separate the mix into, but any jar would do.
I decided to go with a Texas winter theme. I bought little cowboy hats and boots, snowflakes, mittens, snowmen, etc., along with red ribbon and a a white beaded rope. All from Hobby Lobby. Be warned - if you are anything like me, you should stay clear of this place. Unless you are okay with spending hours and plenty of money here. I love it. Too much.
The little trinkets had a little loop piece on the back so that I could lace them onto the ribbon and rope.
Voilà. After this, I made little tags on the computer that had the different ways to use the mix. Unfortunately, I did not get a picture before my mom whisked them away. What I did, though, was took the printed directions and glued them onto some festive scrapbook paper, paper punched one corner, and slid it through the red ribbon before tying it into a bow. I took a hot glue gun and put a few spots around the bow and under the ribbon so that everything would stay put. As for the little green plant looking thing, I ended up tossing it in the end because it was just too much with the tag. Looked good for a little while though.
