Chai is a great mix of spices, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, cloves sometimes other spices can be included such as all spice, turmeric and more. It gives a warm flavour and scent which is great in shortbread.
Shortbread is a holiday staple. I found this full proof shortbread recipe when I was younger on the back of a Canada Corn Starch box and everyone loved it. But it’s just a classic shortbread. Nothing wrong with that! When I started looking at cooking with tea I came across an Earl Grey shortbread then a matcha shortbread.
Rose water is used a lot in Middle Eastern cultures in particular when preparing sweets. In Arab countries, Pakistan and India rose water is used to flavour milk and dairy based dishes as well some desserts such as jallab. In Malaysia and Singapore red-tinted rose water is mixed with milk to make a sweet drink called bandung. Rose water may be used as halal substitute for red wine and other alcohols. Marzipan has been flavoured with rose water for a long time now. American and European bakers used rosewater for flavouring until the 19thcentury when vanilla became popular. The English country of Yorkshire used rosewater as the flavouring for Yorkshire curd tart.
I have come across earl grey shortbread recipes in the past and other variations on the shortbread but decided to go with a classic shortbread recipe and modify it myself. In this case I just added in some black tea I had.
There are different types of yogurt whether it’s from different parts of the world or made with different ingredients. There is the regular yogurt that we are all used; Greek yogurt that has become popular and has a greater protein content and has a thicker consistency than regular yogurt; then there are yogurts made from milk that is NOT from a cow such as goats milk or sheep milk yogurt; Skryr is Icelandic yogurt and it is the thickest of the yogurts; Australian yogurt is somewhere between regular and Greek and Icelandic yogurt; Then there are the non-diary yogurts such as soy yogurt, almond, coconut yogurts; yogurt drinks are another great invention, kefir being one example.
Christmas baking in our house was a hallowed tradition as our grandmother arrived with her little box of recipes, each painstakingly written out on a a little index card in tiny precise handwriting, and each a closely guarded secret to be passed on only very late in our grandmother’s life.
