Best Ever Vanilla (or Spiced) Chai Mix

IT'S STORY TIME....if you have time...

I want to share a couple of stories along with this post. 

             If you're short on time today, just jump down for the recipe....

I am WILD about chai tea!  My daughter first introduced it to me when we lived across the country from each other!  

She had sent me an email one day saying she enjoyed a cup of spiced chai that day.  Soo...a few days later when I went away with a group of ladies for a convention, and we went to lunch...and chai tea was on the menu, 

I JUST HAD TO TRY IT!

(Chai is a creamy, sweet, sometimes spicy Indian tea.) 

I will never forget how we all passed it around at the table...smelling it...everyone tasting it with their spoon...and all the oohs and aahhs...comments like...

"WOW"!..."This smells like Christmas"..."MMMM good!".  

I have shared my love of it with others, who have become 'hooked' also...and told others, who told others...and so the story goes. 

And so....another story to go along with that one...

I have to tell you how I've always felt about people like Christy Jordan of 
Southern Plate .

I just figure that 'famous' folks like her don't need little ole me to follow them...I keep busy enough trying to keep up with all the blogs that I love....folks I can connect to via email and comments, and feel like these are mostly gals who 'live the kind of life I live'...not famous and all. 

I truly love & adore Paula Deen - I've even been honored to see her (on stage) in person and laughed til I thought my face would crack!  I don't cook like her (or atleast not like she USE to before becoming diabetic), but more like her son, who has the show "Not My Mama's Cookin"....healthier dishes. 

But I ADORE her life's story, her humility, her humor..everything!

So, truthfully...I have avoided anything of Christy Jordan's...just cause.

Don't judge me.  

BUT...that all changed when I saw her in an Operation Christmas Child video.  I head up that awesome ministry at our church, and so I got REAL interested when I saw that someone like Christy, cared about packing shoeboxes for poverty-stricken children. 

So when I decided I would go and check out her blog, I went NUTSO to see this wonderful recipe there, and made it within days of printing it. 

CHAI!  THE BEST EVER!? VANILLA CHAI!

She grabbed me by the neck..by the heart...and the taste buds too, and I am SO happy I made this wonderful mix.  I will be giving it as gifts for Christmas. 

IT.IS.FABULOUS!!! 

Christy even got her mama hooked on this, and those southerners rarely EVER drink tea hot...they are cold tea drinkin' folks! 

So...in looking at other chai recipes, I discovered that the recipe Cristy presents as 'vanilla' chai, really is spiced chai - MY FAVORITE!

The difference is just a couple more added spices, which are at the tail end of the list of ingredients, so you can opt to make 'vanilla' or 'spiced'.

Either way - I can promise you - it'll be the BEST EVER! 

(So since I've become SUCH good 'buds' with Cristy, should I tell her what I've discovered about her recipe?)  Just teasin....I wouldn't mess with a woman of HER status!  After all - a few months ago she had 114 comments on this post! 
I.CAN'T.IMAGINE!!!!

Anyway - enough of the gab....
here's a fabulous recipe that will make any recipient jump for joy!!!!!

You can make this 'very low sugar'(there is a little sugar in the nondairy creamer) and decaffinated also. 

This makes an awesome gift...if you can stand to give it up yourself. 
It's a terrific warm up for when it's frosty and chilly outside...or not. 

You might have to buy 2 or maybe 3 ingredients, but you probably have most of it on hand already. 

BEST EVER VANILLA CHAI MIX 

1 c. nonfat dry milk powder

1 c. powdered nondairy creamer

1 c. (sugar free) french vanilla powdered non dairy creamer

2-1/2 c. xylitol, splenda, ideal sweetener or sugar

1-1/2 c. unsweetened (decaf) instant tea

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

2 tsp. ground ginger

1 tsp. ground cloves

1 tsp. cardamom 

(no real substitute for this...it's what makes it chai!)

1/4 tsp. white pepper

(you don't really taste the pepper)

(If you want SPICED chai, add the next  ingredients)

1 tsp. nutmeg 

1 tsp. allspice

Place all ingredients into a food processor or large blender.  Blend until it is a fine powder.  Store in airtight container. 

To make chai, add 2 or 3 Tb. mix to 8 ounces of hot water or milk.

(I like using half water/half milk). 

Yield: about 6 cups of mix. 

Put into jars or you could fill small ziploc bags and place inside a coffee mug to give as a hostess gift. 

                                                                          

Linked to Weekend Potluck