Making and Using Spice-Infused Milk

Martha Stewart Living (December 2012)

In the front of each issue of Martha Stewart Living, there's always a section called "Good Things." It's just a collection of all sorts of ideas for food, crafting, home decor, organization, repurposing a old car muffler as a festive centerpiece -- you know, typical Martha stuff. 

We always read these with great interest, though we seldom put any of them to use. But who knows! Perhaps someday soon we'll find ourselves wanting to make our own bath sachets or turn a steamer basket into storage for sewing supplies. You never know!

But we loved the idea of this Spice-Infused Milk as soon as we saw it in "Good Things." It screams "DRINK ME THIS WINTER ON A SNOWY DAY!" No? You can't hear it?

Anyhow, we decided to get our spiced milk on....

Infusing milk with spice is incredibly easy. You just select your spices (ideas are included below), combine them with milk, heat them up, and let them steep. An hour later, you have spiced milk.

We went fairly straightforward (but also heavy) on our spices, opting to use star anise, cinnamon, cardamom and cloves. The scent was incredibly comforting. We ate it poured over steel cut oatmeal and it was absolutely delicious.  

We'll spice milk again this winter, hopefully on a day when there's snow on the ground and there's no rush to get out of the house. 

Bring on the snow!

 

 

Spice-Infused Milk
Martha Stewart Living (December 2012)
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Notes From Zach and Clay:

For what it's worth, we used skim milk rather than whole milk. 

Directions

Heat milk with the spices and aromatics in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring once or twice, just until steaming. Cover pan, and let spices steep in milk for 1 hour. Strain, and reheat if necessary. Or refrigerate, covered, up to 3 days; reheat gently before using. 

Ideas for aromatics: Ginger, Cinnamon, Vanilla, Star Anise, Cardamom, Cloves, Nutmeg, Chiles. 

Ideas for using Spiced-Infused Milk: 

Oatmeal: Infuse 2 cups whole milk with 3/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg or 1 cinnamon stick, or the pod and seeds of half a vanilla bean. Add to oatmeal. 

Swedish coffee: Steep 18 lightly crushed green cardamom pods in 2 cups whole milk. Add to coffee. 

Hot chocolate: For spicy Mexican-inspired cocoa, infuse 2 cups whole milk with 1 or 2 dried chiles along with 1 cinnamon stick and the pod and seeds of 1/2 vanilla bean. Mix with cocoa. 

Chai tea: Steep thinly sliced peeled fresh ginger (from a 1-inch piece), 6 whole cloves, 3 star anise, 18 lightly crushed green cardamom pods, and 2 cinnamon sticks in 2 cups whole milk. Mix with black tea.