Whether you're a tea lover or not, we've all heard that tea has a lot of health benefits to offer us. But that doesn't mean all types of teas have equal amounts of health benefits. And neither does it mean that all teas taste good.
But you're in luck! Earl Grey Tea has a variety of health benefits to offer and is extremely palatable.
Now that you're convinced about the health benefits. The big question is, how do you consume it? You can always steep it in some hot water and drink it or choose a more fun and yummy way and make desserts out of it. Nothing that you already don't know, nothing complicated, your regular desserts but with a twist of Earl Grey Tea. Here are my top 7 picks!
Eclairs with Earl Grey Pastry Cream
These Eclairs make for a delicious and light dessert. Plain choux pastry filled with a soft and luscious Earl Grey infused pastry cream and lightly coated in a milk chocolate/white chocolate glaze. This makes for an excellent variation on a regular chocolate eclair. Feel free to follow your regular recipes. Simply bake plain choux pastry or profiteroles and white chocolate glaze. The variation you have to make is in your pastry cream, which is one simple step. While making the pastry cream, heat the milk and steep earl grey tea leaves in it, and then simply strain it. Now follow your regular recipe, and you'll have beautiful eclairs with a twist f earl grey tea.
Earl Grey and Raspberry Soufflé
This is one of those unique combinations that require a careful balance. If you nail that balance between earl grey tea and raspberry, it's the best flavor combination ever. But that doesn't mean it can't go wrong. If you go overboard with either raspberry puree or earl grey tea, it can easily overpower the other flavor. So striking that perfect balance is very important. You can follow any raspberry soufflé recipe. The only modification you have to make to the recipe is when you heat the milk at the beginning of the recipe, heat the milk and steep earl grey tea in it, and strain it. Then follow the rest f your recipe. Keep in mind that the ratio of raspberry and earl grey tea is for every 1/4 cup of raspberry puree; add 1 tsp of earl grey tea leaves for steeping.
Orange and Earl Grey Cookies
I had recently posted a recipe for No-Fuss Zesty Orange Cookies. They are the perfect combination of the zestiness of oranges and the lusciousness of butter. This is a simple and straightforward recipe for when you feel like having a wholesome yet light cookie. And don't want to spend hours in the kitchen. But now I've found the perfect way to step it up a notch. Bring in the flavor of Earl Grey Tea in one simple step. In a saucepan, melt the butter on medium-low heat. Then turn off the heat and add 2 tbsp of earl grey tea leaves and cover the pan. Let the tea steep in the butter for 4-5 minutes. Then strain the butter and let it come down to room temperature. Continue with the rest of the recipe, and you'll have some fantastic Zesty Orange Cookies with a kick of Earl Grey Tea.
Tea Creme Brûlée
We've all enjoyed our fair share of creme brûlées and caramel custards. But I feel now those recipes have become too mundane and predictable. Some may think, why tweak or modify such classic desserts? However, some minor and friendly tweaks can do no harm. Giving our Creme Brûlée a twist of Earl Grey Tea is one such friendly tweak. Creme Brûlée in its classic and traditional form, is a very one-dimensional dessert, yet the taste and flavor are complete. We don't even realize what we're missing out on until you've tried one such variation. Adding Earl Grey Tea to Creme Brûlée adds an entirely new dimension to it. It adds a fragrant and floral touch to it without actually overpowering the delicate vanilla flavor of the creme brûlée custards. These two flavors are complementary and go really well together, like a harmony for your palette.
Lavender and Earl Grey Macarons
French Macarons have to be one of those desserts that have been overly experimented with. Some of those experiments result in outstanding flavor combinations, while some have been straight-up disasters. Given that macarons are high in sugar content, that makes it very difficult to make flavors work without making them overly sweet, especially floral flavors, lavender being one such flavor. That's where earl grey tea comes in. Though earl grey tea has its own floral notes, it also brings a slight bitterness which beautifully balances out the floral and sweet notes of lavender and the sugar in the macaron shells and buttercream/chocolate ganache filling. Unlike most recipes, the flavors are not supposed to be infused in the filling/buttercream. It is instead added to the macaron shell itself. Simply blitz the Earl Grey tea leaves until very, very small and add them to the macronage along with the lavender extract. And follow whichever recipe you like.
Earl Grey Tea Tiramisu
When we hear the word Tiramisu, we think of coffee, marsala wine, rum, and mascarpone. We immediately visualize a coffee-soaked lady finger, topped with a generous layer of mascarpone cream dusted with cocoa powder on top. But to my surprise, I have come across many people who do not appreciate coffee in their desserts. This variation is especially for them. it's a TEA-ramisu (pun intended!) Steep some earl grey tea in hot water and soak the ladyfinger in it. Then follow the rest of the recipe as you would for a coffee-flavored tiramisu. You'll be pretty surprised how good this dessert tastes. Though, please do keep in mind that earl grey tea is a much more subtle and mellow flavor as compared to coffee. It'll be lighter and less dominating on your palette.
Earl Grey and Dark Chocolate Tart
Earl Grey Tea and Dark Chocolate, in my opinion, is a highly underrated combination. When we think of tea and chocolate as a combination, white chocolate is what comes to mind. This variation of a classic dark chocolate tart is made using a thin shortcrust pastry tart shell filled with a luscious and rich chocolate ganache, either finished off with some whipped cream or left as is and finished off with a generous sprinkling of sea salt flakes. The only difference is that the chocolate ganache is infused with earl grey tea. If you wish to reinforce the Earl Grey flavor and make it predominant, you can also infuse the whipping cream with the tea and use it to pipe on top of the dark chocolate tart.
These desserts I have mentioned above are a few possible variations to include Earl Grey in your desserts. If you come to think of it, the possibilities are endless.
Happy Baking!
Question: What other desserts do you think will taste great with a twist of Earl Grey tea?
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