Cookbook author Hetal Vasavada grew up in New Jersey surrounded by her Gujarati family. Avid home cooks, they kept her well fed with the food from home; her childhood memories are scented with cardamom and chai. Vasavada’s dual identity – her Indian roots and growing up in America – are marvellously brought to life in her new cookbook, Desi Bakes. In it, she fuses Indian flavours with western desserts, and breathes new life into classics with lush decorations inspired by her Indian background and vibrant Hindu celebrations such as Diwali.
The book begins with a handy chapter on making the basics you’ll need through the rest of the book, such as rosewater and various doughs. It then leaps into the good stuff: almond-based badam burfi bark, cardamom and brown butter sandwich cookies, a fudgey coconut and cardamom burfi bundt cake, and a pear and cardamom bakewell tart. There’s also this zhooshed-up version of that US cuisine staple, brownies. Here they’re infused with coffee and chai for a sweet that’s a little American, a little Indian and very delicious.
“Dirty chai is a chai with a shot of espresso, and it’s what kept me going through grad school,” writes Vasavada. “The combination of chai spices, milky black tea, and bitter coffee is stellar. You can make this semi-homemade if you’re short on time by using boxed brownie mix. I promise I won’t judge.”
Head to the bottom of the recipe to find out how to make this recipe eggless.
Hetal Vasavada’s dirty chai cheesecake brownies
Makes one 23x33cm pan
Preparation time: 30 minutes, plus 1 hour cooling and 4 hours refrigeration
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Ingredients
Softened butter, for the pan
Coffee cheesecake
225g full-fat cream cheese
50g granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1¼ tsp instant coffee or espresso powder
¼ tsp kosher salt (sea salt or coarse non-iodised salt)
Chai masala
(Makes 48g, this recipe requires 2 tsp)
3 tbsp ground cardamom
2 tbsp ground ginger
4½ tsp ground cinnamon
¾ tsp ground cloves
¾ tsp ground anise seeds
¾ tsp ground fennel
½ tsp ground nutmeg
Brownies
150g plain flour
84g unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ tsp baking soda
143g unsalted butter
93g finely chopped dark chocolate (about 72% cacao)
3 large eggs
250g granulated sugar
2 tbsp light brown sugar
2 tsp chai masala (see above)
½ tsp kosher salt
½ tsp vanilla extract
77g semisweet chocolate chips
Gold lustre dust, for decoration
Method
Preheat the oven to 160°C. Grease a 23x33cm pan and line with parchment paper.
To make the coffee cheesecake, in a medium bowl, beat together the cream cheese and granulated sugar until smooth. Whisk in the egg, vanilla, instant coffee and salt until well combined. Set aside.
For the chai masala, in a bowl, whisk everything until well combined. (Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container for up to 6 months.)
To make the brownies, in a small bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder and baking soda and set aside.
In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Remove from the heat and stir in the dark chocolate until melted. Set aside to cool.
In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk, combine the eggs, granulated sugar, brown sugar, chai masala, salt and vanilla. Whisk on high speed for 6 minutes until thick and glossy. Slowly pour in the chocolate-butter mixture and mix until well combined. Sift in the flour mixture and mix until all the dry ingredients are incorporated. Fold in the semisweet chocolate chips until just combined.
Spoon half the batter into the baking pan and use an offset spatula to spread it into an even layer. Add dollops of both the brownie and the cheesecake batters on top and use a knife to swirl the two batters. Tap the pan on the counter four or five times to get rid of any air bubbles and to level out the batter.
Bake until the centre is set and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out with a few crumbs, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool the brownies for 1 hour and then refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving.
To decorate, dip a fluffy brush, like a blush brush, into gold lustre dust and tap the brush with your hand over the cooled brownies.
Make it eggless
For the cheesecake batter, instead of the egg use 3 tbsp of thickened cream or whole milk whisked with ½ tsp of cornflour. For the brownie batter, instead of the 3 eggs substitute 100g aquafaba and add an additional ½ tsp of baking soda.
This is an edited extract from Desi Bakes: 85 Recipes Bringing the Best of Indian Flavors to Western-Style Desserts by Hetal Vasavada, published by Hardie Grant Books. Available in stores nationally from October 1, 2024. Photography by Hetal Vasavada.
