(Featured Recipe: Chai Coconut Dessert Tea) 

My favorite beverage pairing with confections of all kinds, including chocolate, is hot tea. It’s a wonderful thing to begin the morning, or to relax at the end of a long day, with a cup of hot tea and a petite pastry. Tea has many health benefits, and it is very soothing and pleasant. So when I pair it with some type of confection, I feel it provides me with an experience that is amazingly calming and enjoyable. 

Dessert and Plain Tea

Because of the sweetness of the confections, I don’t add any sweetener to my tea. I prefer to drink it plain. Occasionally, I will prepare a Chai dessert tea and serve it with a mildly sweet pastry, or a chocolate confection that has a more bitter or subtle sweetness. I use Tazo Chai Classic (which has lush, exotic aroma and flavor) to make Chai Coconut Dessert Tea. The simple ingredients I add when I prepare this tea are coconut oil, raw sugar, and unsweetened almond milk (or almond coconut blend). Sometimes I like to enhance my tea with a little somethin’ somethin’ for even more flavor, so I use a bit of Kahlúa. You can view the full recipe below. 

Adding Coconut Oil

I love to use organic, unrefined coconut oil (and other coconut products) in many of the foods I make. In the mornings, I add about a teaspoon of coconut oil to a creamy hot oat bran cereal that I make for breakfast. And, on some occasions, I use brewed chai tea to make my oat bran cereal. After it has cooked, I add coconut oil and raw sugar to it. If you would like to learn about some of the great benefits of Coconut Oil, you can view the article What Are the Health Benefits of Coconut Oil? by Dr. Mercola. 

Green, Ginger, Sweet Rose, & More

When I make tea to pair with my sweet confections, these are some of the tea brands I use:

Tulsi Tea- Ginger, Raspberry Peach, and Sweet Rose 

Carrington Green Tea- Original Green, Lemon, Mint, and Jasmine

Carrington Peppermint Tea

Lipton Purple Acai Blueberry Green Tea  

Celestial Seasonings Antioxidant Max Green Tea Blackberry Pomegranate

Celestial Seasonings Antioxidant Max Green Tea Blood Orange Star Fruit 

Trying Is Believing

So, don’t just take my word for it- Try It! I think you’ll be highly satisfied when you sit down to relax with a cup of hot tea and petite bite-size chocolate gourmet goodie, or other sweet treat. I enjoy my tea with Chocolate-Bottom Peanut Butter & Honey Cookies, German Chocolate Bon Bons, and other confections I like to prepare as well as specialty desserts I purchase. I would love to know what your favorite tea is and what food you enjoy pairing with it. If you’d like to share with us, please leave a comment below. 

The variation of this recipe includes Chai Coconut Dessert Tea with Kahlúa.

CHAI COCONUT DESSERT TEA Recipe By Shirell Dalton, The Simple Chocolatier Total Time: 8 minutes  Yields a single serving Ingredients: 1 cup (8 ounces) hot water 1 tea bag (Tazo Chai Classic Tea) 1 tablespoon raw sugar (or natural sugar alternative such as coconut sugar or stevia, sweeten to taste) 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk (or other non-dairy alternatives such as almond coconut blend and coconut cream) 2 teaspoons coconut oil Toppings: So Delicious CocoWhip Coconut Whipped Topping, ground cinnamon, chocolate shavings or curls

Directions:Fill a microwavable glass or ceramic mug with 1 cup of water and place in the microwave for 2-3 minutes. Remove and add raw sugar and one Tazo Chai Classic tea bag to the hot water. Raw sugar has large, coarse granules. The hot water will cause the granules to dissolve so that your tea will not have a grainy taste. Allow the tea bag to steep for 5-6 minutes. While removing the tea bag, gently press the tea bag against the side of the mug to remove the excess tea from it. Stir the almond milk and coconut oil into the tea. Top the Chai Coconut Dessert Tea with coconut whipped topping then sprinkle with ground cinnamon. Also top with chocolate shavings or curls.

Variation:Chai Dessert Tea with Kahlúa– For this version of the recipe, add 1 tablespoon of Kahlúa to the dessert tea before adding the toppings. Because of the sweetness of the Kahlúa, omit or reduce the amount of raw sugar. Recipes developed by Shirell Dalton – The Simple Chocolatier  Copyright ©2015 Shirell Dalton, All Rights Reserved

Yes! More RECIPES :)

Chocolate-Bottom Peanut Butter & Honey Cookies

Chocolate Cups with Cranberry Crème

German Chocolate Bon Bons

Jumbo Peanut Butter Cookies with Dark Ganache

Mini Coconut Pie Delights

White Chocolate Ganache Salted Caramel Filled Cups