Pistachio-Chai Muffins

This recipe was featured in the latest issue of Cooking Light (in fact they had a whole section on muffins).  The recipe directs you to open up two bags of chai tea and dump it into your muffin batter.  I thought it sounded a little odd, but I'll try anything once.  

They turned out pretty good, not overly sweet at all.  Would be absolutely perfect with a spot 'o tea.

Here's the recipe, the only thing I did differently was add a wee bit of cinnamon. 

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Ingredients

• 7 9/10 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1 3/4 cups)
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 chai blend tea bags, opened
• 1 cup low-fat buttermilk
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract, divided
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• Cooking spray
• 1/3 cup shelled dry-roasted pistachios, chopped
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon water

Preparation

• 1. Preheat oven to 375°.
• 2. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 4 ingredients (through salt) in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Cut open tea bags; add tea to flour mixture, stirring well. Make a well in center of mixture. Combine buttermilk, butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and egg in a bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Add buttermilk mixture to flour mixture, stirring just until moist.
• 3. Place 12 muffin-cup liners in muffin cups; coat liners with cooking spray. Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle nuts evenly over batter. Bake at 375° for 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes in pan on a wire rack.
• 4. Combine remaining 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, powdered sugar, and 1 tablespoon water, stirring until smooth.  Drizzle over muffins.  

*according to Cooking Light, these only have 192 calories and 6.2 grams of fat, if you care about such things.

On a side note, I used the Tyson Grilled & Ready Chicken Breast Strips that I received as a part of Foodbuzz's Tastemaker program.  I used them to make a quick and easy chicken fajita quesadilla for dinner last night.  

this pic came from my cell phone since I had let my other camera die

It really was easy, and I like the idea of having chicken already cooked, sliced, and ready to go.  Certainly simplifies things when you're trying to get dinner on the table in time to watch Dancing With the Stars :)  (I was particularly impressed with Romeo last night...I loved his dance with chelsie)