National Hot Tea Month

Did you think the holidays ended for a while at 12:01am January 1st?

Well, you would be wrong, my friend.

January is National Hot Tea Month. Thirty-one days to revel in warm, herbal goodness.

January is also the California Dried Plum Digestive Health Month, National Clown College Month, Radon Action Month, and Manuary (apparently an official 31-day period when it's okay for men to grow facial hair). While the opportunity to celebrate effective digestive health, clean air and rugged men is overwhelming, hot tea seems to be a safer bet for the crockpot. And, clowns are never a thing to be celebrated. Have you ever seen IT?

Recent research findings have reported that drinking black tea may improve the body’s defenses and quicken the response to bacteria and viruses. This, coupled with the fact that my sister-in-law is 7 months pregnant, gave me the perfect excuse to try out a new crockpot Chai Tea recipe at a Baby Shower I threw for her this past Saturday. Chai Tea is black tea with milk and spices. Pair a cup of the warm tea with lemon blueberry biscotti and you'll almost forget that you don't have a day off of work until Memorial Day.



Chai Tea and Lemon Blueberry Biscotti


Crockpot Chai Tea (original recipe from the official Crock Pot website)

Combine the following ingredients in the insert of a slow cooker:

2 quarts water
8 bags black tea
1/2 cup sugar
16 whole cloves
16 whole cardamom seeds, pods removed
5 whole cinnamon sticks
1 cup milk

Cook on high until the tea boils. Then turn to warm until ready to serve.

Bonus Recipe!
Lemon Blueberry Biscotti

Ingredients:
1 tsp baking powder
4 large eggs
4 cups flour
2 cups sugar
Zest of one lemon
1 package (or 1 1/2 tsp) of vanilla sugar (available in specialty grocery stores)
1/2 cup dried blueberries
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/8 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix together eggs, sugar and vanilla sugar until creamy. Add the lemon zest, dried blueberries and almonds.

In a separate bowl sift flour with salt and baking powder. Then add flour to the creamy mixture to make a dough. Add flour if dough is too sticky to work with. Cut the dough in 2 pieces and roll out each one into a sausage shape on a floured surface. Flatten each roll to 1/2 inch thick rectangles.

Lower the oven to 375 degrees. Place dough on lightly greased cookie sheets. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden in color. Cool and with a serrated knife, slice diagonally.

Lower the oven to 350 degrees. Place slices on a cookie sheet and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes to make the biscotti "twice-baked".