Chai-Spiced Nut Butter

The warming, sweet + spicy flavors of a chai latte infused into a creamy, spreadable snack? Yes, please! This homemade chai-spiced nut butter jazzes up any boring breakfast and makes a sweet holiday gift for friends and family.
Just 20 minutes and 9 in…

Chai-Spiced Nut Butter

The warming, sweet + spicy flavors of a chai latte infused into a creamy, spreadable snack? Yes, please! This homemade chai-spiced nut butter jazzes up any boring breakfast and makes a sweet holiday gift for friends and family.

Just 20 minutes and 9 ingredients are required for you to check homemade holiday gift giving off your to-do list. Let’s make nut butter!

How to Make Homemade Chai-Spiced Nut Butter

This creamy, warming spread begins with lightly roasting cashews and almonds to bring out their natural richness.

Chai-Spiced Nut Butter from Minimalist Baker →

To Bake Like a Scandinavian, Reach for the Cardamom

“The smell of freshly ground cardamom is strong and pungent, and it reminds me of eucalyptus or menthol,” said Nichole Accettola, whose new book, Scandinavian From Scratch: A Love Letter to the Baking of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, hit shelves this we…

“The smell of freshly ground cardamom is strong and pungent, and it reminds me of eucalyptus or menthol,” said Nichole Accettola, whose new book, Scandinavian From Scratch: A Love Letter to the Baking of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, hit shelves this week. Admittedly, it’s a difficult flavor to describe, defying easy categorization. Like cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg, cardamom is considered a “warming” spice—but, depending on who you talk to (and the variety of cardamom you’re tasting), it can just as easily be described as “peppery,” “smoky,” “citrusy,” “sweet,” “fresh,” “resinous,” or “floral.”

With origins in South India and grown today in India, Guatemala, Sri Lanka, and Tanzania, the practice of using cardamom in cooking and medicine is not a new one. From the earliest recorded mention of the spice in Vedic texts from 3000 B.C. to its use as a perfume, aphrodisiac, and digestive aid in Ancient Greece and Rome, cardamom has, for the last thousand-or-so years, also maintained a stronghold in Scandinavia’s baking scene. “Historians trace its arrival in Scandinavia back to the Middle Ages, when the Moors settled in Spain and traders from the north got hold of the spice,” said Nichole. When used in baked goods, the spice “has a yellow citrusy (lemony-pomelo) pungency”—akin to lemon zest “but with even more depth in flavor.”

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Strawberry Banana Bread

Moist, flavorful banana bread studded with chunks of fresh strawberries, a hint of cardamom, and brushed with a sweet strawberry glaze. Take your favorite banana bread recipe to new heights with fresh strawberries for a flavorful twist you’ll simply adore. The sweet strawberry glaze on top is—literally—the icing on the cake! The theme of this […]

The post Strawberry Banana Bread first appeared on Love and Olive Oil.

Moist, flavorful banana bread studded with chunks of fresh strawberries, a hint of cardamom, and brushed with a sweet strawberry glaze.

Take your favorite banana bread recipe to new heights with fresh strawberries for a flavorful twist you’ll simply adore. The sweet strawberry glaze on top is—literally—the icing on the cake!

Loaf of Strawberry Banana Bread with a pink glaze, two slices laying down to show the interior texture, and strainer with strawberries in the background.

The theme of this spring’s recipes is red and yellow, apparently. Strawberry + lemon, strawberry + passionfruit, and now, strawberry + banana.

I can’t help it if strawberries are just so darn versatile, it’s one of the reasons they are one of my favorite ingredients to bake with.

Unfortunately this recipe used the last of my spring berries, marking the official end of strawberry season here in Tennessee.

I was lucky to get in two good picking sessions this year, though all the rain we’ve had has made the season particularly short (the last time we went, half the fruit in the field was rotten. It was very sad, indeed.). Still, I managed to get 3 good strawberry recipes out of them, which I certainly consider a successful strawberry season!

And actually, make that 4 good recipes, I forgot I’ve got something chilling in the freezer that’ll ultimately work with all different kinds of fruit, not just strawberries, so I’ll be sharing that one later this summer.

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Vegan Chai-Spiced Coffee Creamer

Your mornings are about to get a LOT cozier thanks to our new chai-spiced coffee creamer. Made with dairy-free milk, maple syrup, and warming spices in a blender in just 5 minutes, it’s like having a coffeehouse in the comfort of your own home! 
A…

Vegan Chai-Spiced Coffee Creamer

Your mornings are about to get a LOT cozier thanks to our new chai-spiced coffee creamer. Made with dairy-free milk, maple syrup, and warming spices in a blender in just 5 minutes, it’s like having a coffeehouse in the comfort of your own home! 

Add this EASY, versatile creamer to black tea for a quick chai latte, to a cup of coffee for a dirty chai, or to roasted dandelion root tea for a cozy, caffeine-free option.

Vegan Chai-Spiced Coffee Creamer from Minimalist Baker →