Dirty Chai Oat Muffins (with chai glaze, gluten-free)

Have you ever had a dirty chai?

I remember my first dirty chai like it was yesterday… I was at an internship in college and had gone to a coffee shop with one of my fellow interns. She ordered a dirty chai.

Me: Wait… “What is that?”

Friend: “A dirty chai??”

Me: “YES!”

Friend: “It’s like a chai with coffee. I’m not exactly sure how they make it… I just know that it’s delicious!”

Okay, chai AND coffee??? To me that sounded like delicious in a cup. So, I ordered it and dang. Yeah. It was good. If you ever feel like your coffee order is getting boring give a dirty chai a shot.

A dirty chai is a chai tea with a shot of espresso added into it; so imagine a creamy coffee filled with spices like cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and cardamom.

Instead of spending extra money on a weekly dirty chai though, what about baking something dirty chai flavored for breakfast? Oatmeal? Maybe. Pancakes? Maybe. Muffins? Always.” …You might have heard of my obsession with muffins in my Carrot Coconut Oat Muffins post. So my mission began to make a gluten-free Dirty Chai Oat Muffin.

I love using oat flour to bake with, because:

• It’s an easy gluten-free (if certified gluten-free) flour alternative, rather than testing out several, expensive gluten-free flours. Sometimes gluten-free flours tend to be gummy or sandy textured, and I don’t find that when I use oat flour.
• Oats are a whole grain, super filling food. They’re full of fiber, vitamins, and antioxidants.

For the sake of ease and to ensure your baked goods turn out and aren’t a crumbly mess, I recommend buying oat flour for muffins. Unless you have a high powered blender and can get your oats blended up as fine as the oat flour you can buy in a store. For example, my blender does a great job blending up oats, but my food processor does not blend my oats up fine enough.

Tips and tricks to make these gluten-free Dirty Chai Oat Muffins a success?

You’ll need to be able to make espresso to add to the wet ingredients. You can make your own espresso, or you can find some instant espresso powder like this Cafe Bustelo Espresso Instant Coffee, I found mine at Target.

I prefer to use instant espresso packets because all you do is add the espresso powder to water or milk and BAM! You have espresso. I recommend adding it to milk for more of a creamy addition to your muffin.

The added bonus of this Dirty Chai Oat Muffin is that it comes with a Dirty Chai Glaze.

Maybe I went a little over the top this time 😉 A glaze is simple to make though and it really takes the chai flavor and kicks it up another notch. This Dirty Chai Oat Muffin has a touch of coffee flavor in the background, with a mouthful of chai spices from the chai glaze. Just the way I like it!

So, now I have some homework for you. What, you thought you were done with homework since you were done with school, or since its summertime? Nope. Here it is:

1. If you haven’t tried a dirty chai yet, go try one. Pretty please 🙂
2. After you’ve had said dirty chai, and are addicted for life, make these muffins.
3. Let me know what you think in the comments below!

Hopefully I’ve converted a few of you to join in the dirty chai obsession with me!

Looking for other fun, gluten-free muffin recipes? Check out my Orange Carrot Oat Muffins or Zucchini Oat Muffins.

5 from 1 vote

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Dirty Chai Oat Muffins (with chai glaze, gluten-free)

Prep Time

10 mins

 

Servings: 12 muffins

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cup oat flour (certified gluten-free)
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice

Wet Ingredients

• 1/2 cup coconut oil (melted)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup applesauce (plain, unsweetened)
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup espresso, cooled

Add-In's

• 1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)

Chai Glaze:

• 1 cup confectioners sugar
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp ginger
• 1/8 tsp cardamom
• 1/8 tsp allspice
• 3/4 tsp vanilla
• 1-2 tbsp maple syrup

Instructions

For the Dirty Chai Oat Muffins

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. In a large mixing bowl, mix all of your dry ingredients together (oat flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, allspice). 

3. In another mixing bowl, mix together your coconut oil and sugar. Add in your applesauce, eggs and vanilla. Finally, whisk in your espresso.  *Make sure your espresso isn't too hot as you will be mixing it together with your eggs and you do not want your eggs to get cooked by it!

4. Combine your wet and dry ingredients and mix till all is well incorporated. Add in your chopped walnuts and stir again.

5. Scoop your muffin batter into your muffin tin, filling each cavity about 2/3 way full. Bake for 16-18 minutes, or until tops are springy.

For the Chai Glaze:

1. In a small bowl, blend together your confectioners sugar and spices (cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, allspice). 

2. Add in your vanilla and maple syrup. Whisk until well combined. If the mixture is too thick you can add a teaspoon of water till it reaches the right consistency.

3. Drizzle over your muffins and devour!

Recipe Notes

*I recommend storing these muffins in the fridge, in an airtight container and they will last about a week.