Hey!  You guys!

What are your holiday dinner dessert traditions?

 No, seriously, I want to know!  See that comments section at the bottom of this page?  Never noticed it?  Scroll down….I’ll wait…..

See?

I’m curious!  Do you make pumpkin pie because you can never get enough at Thanksgiving?  Is is a plate of Christmas cookies and squares?  Pecan pie?  You can’t go wrong with pecan pie.  Is it rum-soaked and maraschino cherry studded, or full of candied fruit peel that no one actually likes but eats because it’s tradition? 

This chai cream pie has been living in my imagination for quite some time, really, until one day I realized that it would make a really great twist on the traditional holiday dessert.  It’s indulgent, and spiced with my favourite warm winter spices like cinnamon and cardamom, but a complete diversion from the usual Christmas dinner fare.

If you frequent this site, you’ll know that I’ve recently become somewhat obsessed with variations on the cream pie theme, including this coffee cream pie with hot fudge sauce which is an adaptation of this incredible Peanut Butter Banana Cream Pie from Annie’s Eats that I discovered over a year ago (also, if Annie’s Eats isn’t in your list of bookmarked blogs that you LOVE to read, get it there!  Annie is awesome!).

So here’s the plan with this one.  For the crust, you’re going to use ginger snaps that have been finely ground in a food processor.  About two cups of ground ginger snaps and 1/2 a cup of melted butter mixed well in a bowl makes your crust.  Press the crust mixture into a pie pan and bake at 350F for about 8 minutes.  Cool.

Referring to the coffee cream pie recipe linked above, begin making the cream part of the pie, but leave out the espresso, using water instead.  When you warm the milk, pop three chai tea bags in to steep.  For my pie, I used Celestial Seasonings Bengal Spice, which is an herbal variation on chai tea that I am utterly obsessed with.  Also add 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, a scant 1/2 teaspoon of cardamom, 1/4 teaspoon each of nutmeg and ground cloves, and a quick pinch each of black pepper and ground ginger. (Um, and obviously remove the tea bags before adding the milk mixture to the eggs).

Those are the only adaptations!  Enjoy!