Thandai Muffins

EVENT:FOODIEMONDAY/BLOGHOP
THEME:#190 MINICAKES
RECIPE: THANDAI MUFFINS
Thandai Muffins baked with thandai spice mixture make a delicious treat for the Holi Party. Both kids and adults love them along with chilled thandai drink. Eggless, these muffins come together in no time. Bake them a day ahead, they stay fresh for a couple of days.
Just before Holi, I had baked some thandai muffins to share with my neighbors. The recipe did not make it to the blog on time for Holi. I kept it in the draft file thinking that I’ll use it next year. Yeah, I know its a long time to keep it, but I’m quite good at storing stuff 🙂
FoodieMonday/Bloghop Theme
When Preethi suggested a few themes for the #190, I opted for mini cakes as I knew I had the recipe ready and also because I didn’t want to make any chocolates which was the other theme. I have quite a few home made chocolate recipes on my blog. Preethi blogs at Preethi’s Cuisine. What I like about her recipes is that she always tries to add healthy seeds, grains to her recipes. Her last post for example Carrot Vada left me in awe. First of the colour is so beautiful and secondly she added flax seed powder and used only rice flour. I’ve not tried Vadas using only rice flour.
So coming back to the theme Mini Bakes, I thought Holi or not this recipe is going live. And anyway who says one can enjoy thandai only during the Holi festival? Thandai powder or syrup has a cooling effect, so with summer approaching its a good way to enjoy some thandai powder….in muffins.
Check out the homemade Thandai Spice Mixture recipe, click here. Also you can use the powder to make a cooling milk based drink known as thandai.
Difference Between Cupcakes And Muffins
I would like to take this opportunity to point out the differences between muffins and cupcakes. A glance at the table shared below is pretty self explanatory.
I find that with eggless muffins the dome shape sometimes is not prominent, whereas with egg ones mostly the dome shape forms. For both I tend to use the tip of first 10 minutes at higher temperature and then the rest of the baking time at 180°C.
Some Of The Dishes I Like To Prepare For Holi










Ingredients Required For Thandai Muffins
Flour – I have used wheat flour (normal roti atta). Do not use wholemeal bread flour as this make the muffins dense. Can replace the wheat flour with all purpose flour.
Baking Agents – I have used both baking powder and baking soda (soda bicarbonate).
Salt – adds a balance of flavours and brings out the sweetness.
Sugar – I used normal cane sugar. Feel free to use coconut sugar or jaggery powder. However, they will change the overall colour of the muffins.
Thandai Powder – homemade is the best as you can balance the flavours according to your taste.
Yogurt – use plain thick yogurt. It should not be too sour. If homemade yogurt is watery, then put some in a cheesecloth and allow excess water to drain out. If you use Greek yogurt you may need to increase the amount of milk required.
Milk – fresh dairy milk. Can also use coconut or any other nut milk.
Butter – melt it gently in the microwave oven or put it in a small bowl and put the bowl in hot water. Make sure the water does not overflow into the butter.

THANDAI MUFFINS
Ingredients
- 1½ cup wheat flour
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- ⅓ - ½ cup sugar
- ¼ cup thandai powder
- ¼ cup plain yogurt thick
- 1 cup milk
- ⅓ cup butter melted
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200°C. Line the muffin tray with muffin or cupcake liners.
- Sift flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda together into a bowl.
- Add thandai powder and mix well.
- In another bowl whisk sugar, milk, yogurt and butter together till its mixed well.
- Add the flour mixture to the liquid mixture.
- Mix it just enough so that the flour gets wet. Do not over mix the batter.
- Add about a tablespoon of the batter into the muffin liners.
- Put the muffin tray into the oven and bake the muffins at 200°C for 10 minutes.
- Then lower the temperature to 180°C and bake further for 10 -15 minutes or till the tops become light golden in colour.
- Insert a toothpick in the middle of one muffin. If it comes out clean then the muffins are done.
- Remove the muffins from the oven, let them cool down on a wire rack.
- Enjoy thandai muffins with a cup of hot tea, coffee or even with a dollop of ice cream.
Notes
- Do not over mix the batter, otherwise the muffins will not turn out soft.
- Add edible dried rose petals to the batter if you want to.
- Add more milk, tablespoon at a time if the batter appears hard.
- Add sugar according to your taste.
- This recipe makes 8 medium muffins.
Pin for Later:
A little request:
If you do try this recipe then please either
- add a comment below,
- send a picture to my email mayuri.ajay.patel62@gmail.com
- tag me as #mayuri_jikoni on Instagram
- or tag me on Twitter as #Mayuri1962
31 Comments
Ruchisvegkitchen
April 8, 2019 at 9:53 am
Oh wow so flavourful.. looks super yummy. Loved the recipe
mayurisjikoni
April 15, 2019 at 11:14 am
Thanks Ruchi.
Batter Up With Sujata
April 8, 2019 at 5:30 pm
These thandai muffin looks so beautiful and tempting. Wanted to make thandai cake on Holi but didn’t get thandai powder in my local shop this time. Now you tempted me to try it soon.
mayurisjikoni
April 15, 2019 at 11:13 am
Thanks Sujata, making the powder at home is so easy.
Lata Lala
April 9, 2019 at 12:46 pm
Beautiful flavours of thandai used to make muffins. That sounds so delicious. Holi is unimaginable without thandai and this is such a wonderful idea to make muffins from it.
mayurisjikoni
April 15, 2019 at 11:09 am
Thanks Lata. My neighbors loved the thandai flavor muffins. A different treat from the usual mithai.
poonampagar
April 9, 2019 at 6:55 pm
Thandai has cooling effect on the body and these thandai muffins are perfect for the Summer season. I liked your presentation di and your tip of baking the muffins at high temp for first 10 min and then lowering it. Will try this next time.
mayurisjikoni
April 15, 2019 at 11:07 am
Thanks Poonam. The tip certainly works to get dome shaped muffins.
FoodTrails
April 10, 2019 at 8:55 pm
Same pinch Mayuriji , with a slight difference.. I too baked Thandai muffins but with chocolate in it.. Your look so delish and cute at the same time. you are right Holi or no holi, these can be enjoyed anytime with a cup of masala chai for grownups and a glass of milk for kids..
mayurisjikoni
April 21, 2019 at 2:13 am
Yes Swati, same pinch but am glad you shared your chocolate version.
The Girl Next Door
April 12, 2019 at 9:36 pm
Oh, wow! These muffins look delectable! I love thandai, so I’m sure would love these too. 🙂 Brilliant fusion!
mayurisjikoni
April 15, 2019 at 11:03 am
Thanks Priya, easy to make, the vanilla cupcakes you made, just replace a bit of the flour with the thandai powder.
Preethi Prasad
April 14, 2019 at 7:28 am
These thandai flavoured muffins looks awesome.Baked to perfection.These muffins are perfect for snacks to satisfy my sweet tooth sometimes.Thank you for your kind words about me and my blog. Lovely share for the theme.
mayurisjikoni
April 15, 2019 at 11:02 am
Thanks Preethi and you’re welcome.
Ashima
April 16, 2019 at 5:51 pm
Lovely muffins! 🙂 I first saw the post on insta and really loved the idea of adding thandai powder. This is perfect fusion recipe for Holi! And also I didn’t think there was any difference between a muffin and cupcake 😮 so thank you for that distinction!
mayurisjikoni
April 18, 2019 at 12:04 pm
Thanks Ashima and you’re welcome.
Priya Srinivasan
April 16, 2019 at 6:19 pm
Wow, thandai muffins looks gorgeous mayuri ji, what a lovely flavor to try! Would love to try this sometime, a flavorsome treat to indulge!
mayurisjikoni
April 18, 2019 at 12:03 pm
Thanks Priya, we too loved the different taste.
jayashreetrao
April 18, 2019 at 1:42 pm
Muffin looks tasty and the thandai flavour must be nice. You have baked them perfectly.
mayurisjikoni
April 18, 2019 at 5:26 pm
Thanks Jayashree.
Seema Doraiswamy Sriram
April 19, 2019 at 1:16 pm
Loved reading through the differences between a muffin and a cupcake, thank you for that quick reference guide. it is quite useful. Reading theough the recipe I noticed that it is a rich one and I could do that as after school snack too.
mayurisjikoni
April 20, 2019 at 10:55 am
Thanks Seema, it is rich with spices, nuts and saffron.
sizzlingtastebuds
April 24, 2019 at 8:40 am
l keep comign to this post on IG and the vibrant colours and the flavours of thandai masala are so alluring!
mayurisjikoni
April 25, 2019 at 1:07 pm
Thanks Kalyani.
Sandhya Venkatesh
June 27, 2020 at 6:14 pm
Tried the muffins. It turned out very soft and flavourful. A very easy and simple recipe.
hem lata srivastava
March 16, 2022 at 6:31 am
I found your recipe very unique in terms of combination and flavour, making muffins with this twist has attracted everyone ‘s attention and mine too. I would like to add that you gave a very nice explanation about the difference between muffins and cupcakes…..and lastly the presentation was very amazing.
mayurisjikoni
March 17, 2022 at 11:11 pm
Thank you so much Hem Lata. I am so glad you loved the recipe.
Sandhya Ramakrishnan
March 17, 2022 at 11:53 am
This is the first time I made Thandai powder and being a muffin lover, I had to make this recipe right away. The muffins came out really well and the spices from the thandai powder was my favorite.
mayurisjikoni
March 17, 2022 at 11:08 pm
Thank you so much Sandhya for trying out both the thandai masala and the muffins. Am so glad the recipes worked so well for you.
Vandana
March 18, 2022 at 10:40 pm
Came across this recipe at the perfect time- just a few days before holi. I made these muffins and served to the guests on Holi, yesterday. Everyone loved thandai muffins. Thanks for sharing this amazing recipe.
mayurisjikoni
March 18, 2022 at 10:55 pm
Thank you so much Vandana for trying out my recipe. Am so glad everyone loved thandai muffins. Happy Holi to you.