These Chai Sugar Cookies are golden on the edges and soft and chewy on the inside. They're filled with warm chai spices, and then rolled in a delicious cinnamon sugar topping. Bake these up in less than an hour for a sweet holiday treat.
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🌟Why You'll Love this Recipe
- Only 10 ingredients, including salt! Chances are you have everything you need already in the pantry and won't need a trip to the store to make these homemade chai sugar cookies. Perfect for impromptu baking!
- Stay soft and fluffy for days. These cookies stay soft and fluffy past day 1 and are equally as delicious on days 2 and 3 (if they last that long).
- Make ahead option. This cookie batter can be refrigerated the day before baking or even frozen after baking for future cookie cravings.
🥘Ingredients and Substitutions
- Flour- These chai sugar cookies were developed using all-purpose flour. I have not personally tested a gluten-free version of these cookies and cannot confirm a gluten-free flour blend will work. If you'd like to give it a try, I'd recommend using a 1:1 flour blend, but again, I cannot guarantee great results.
- Chai spices- To make things quick and simple, I used a store-bought chai spice blend. If you don't have a pre-made chai spice blend, substitute it with ½ teaspoon ground ginger, ½ teaspoon ground cardamom and ¼ teaspoon ground cloves.
- Butter- Softened butter is key to making soft and puffy cookies. I would not recommend substituting with oil as this would cause the cookies to spread. For the best flavor, I always recommend baking with unsalted butter.
- Baking powder - This leavening agent gives these cookies a lift in the oven and helps puff them up instead of out. Baking powder can expire and should be replaced every few months. Old baking powder can lose its leavening power and make flatter cookies. Check to see if your baking powder is still active with these simple tips!
- Eggs - The binder and additional source of moisture and flavor in this cookie batter. I have not tested these chai sugar cookies with an alternative and cannot recommend one.
🔪Instructions
- Cream the butter and sugar. Place the butter, eggs, vanilla, sugar and brown sugar in a large bowl and beat together using an electric hand mixer on high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Mix together the dry ingredients. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, chai spices, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon until combined.
- Add dry ingredients to the wet. Mix together on low until just combined.
- Chill the dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill the chai sugar cookie dough for at least 15 minutes.
- Mix together the rolling sugar. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, granulated cane sugar and cinnamon. Set aside until cookie dough has chilled sufficiently.
- Scoop and roll the chai sugar cookies. Using a cookie scoop or spoon, scoop 2-tablespoon balls of cookie dough, and lightly roll them into a ball using the palms of your hands. Immediately coat them in the cinnamon sugar mixture, then place on your prepared baking sheets about 2 inches apart.
- Bake. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the sugar cookies are golden around the edges yet still soft and pillowy in the center. Keep in mind the cookies will continue to firm up as they cool so underbaking them slightly is ideal!
- Cool. After the sugar cookies have cooled for 2-3 minutes on the baking sheet, transfer them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
💭Recipe FAQs
How long do the chai sugar cookies last?
These cookies will last about a week on the counter if stored in an airtight container. If freezing the cookies, place them in a freezer-safe bag or container for up to 3 months. Thaw individual cookies at room temperature as desired.
Why are my cookies coming out flat?
Flat cookies can be caused by a number of things, but most often is the result of cookie dough that is too warm. If the dough is too warm and/or the butter has melted, the cookies will overspread and end up flat instead of thick and puffy.
What are Taylor Swift cookies?
If you're looking for the Chai Sugar Cookies Taylor Swift made using Joy the Baker's original sugar cookie recipe, you can find that original Chai Sugar Cookie recipe here. To make, you'll need to bake up a batch of these chai sugar cookies and then dip them in her Eggnog Glaze.
What makes a cookie chewy vs. crunchy?
The type of sugar used in a cookie recipe can affect the cookie's texture. White sugar absorbs moisture more easily than brown sugar and results in crunchier, crispier cookies. These chai sugar cookies are higher in brown sugar, making them more soft and chewy as opposed to crunchy.
👩🏻🍳Baking Tips
- Use softened butter. Cold butter is very difficult to cream together with sugar and will not blend into the cookie dough well. This will result in a clumpy cookie batter and won't yield soft, fluffy cookies. You will know your butter is sufficiently softened when you can poke it with your finger and an indent forms. Pull your butter out of the fridge 1-2 hours before you plan to begin baking.
- Do not skip chilling the dough. This step prevents the cookies from overspreading and keeps them thick and puffy. If needed, you can refrigerate the dough overnight and bake the next day. Just allow for a longer bake time of about 1-2 minutes to compensate for the colder temperature.
More Cookie Recipes You May Like
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Chai Sugar Cookies
These Chai Sugar Cookies are golden on the edges and soft on the inside. They're filled with warm chai spices, then rolled in a delicious cinnamon sugar topping. Bake these up in less than an hour for a sweet holiday treat.
Cookies
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook time 15 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
KITCHEN TOOLS NEEDED
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Ingredients
- ½ cup room temperature butter
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- ⅔ cups brown sugar
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons chai spice*
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
Topping
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, cream together butter, eggs, vanilla, sugar and brown sugar with a handheld or stand mixer on high speed until smooth, about 2 minutes.
- Next, add flour, chai spices, salt, baking powder and cinnamon to a bowl and mix to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until combined.
- Place the bowl in the fridge to chill the dough for about 15 minutes.
- While the dough is chilling, add the topping ingredients to a small bowl and mix to combine.
- Remove the dough from the fridge, scoop about 2 tablespoons of dough using either a cookie dough scoop or spoon and roll in the topping to coat all sides.
- Place cookies on the baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.
Sarah's Tips
- If you don't have pre-made chai spice, use ½ tsp ground ginger, ½ tsp ground cardamom, and ¼ tsp ground cloves instead.
- Use softened butter. Cold butter is very difficult to cream together with sugar and will not blend into the cookie dough well. This will result in a clumpy cookie batter and won't yield soft, fluffy cookies. You will know your butter is sufficiently softened when you can poke it with your finger and an indent forms. Pull your butter out of the fridge 1-2 hours before you plan to begin baking.
- Do not skip chilling the dough. This step prevents the cookies from overspreading and keeps them thick and puffy. If needed, you can refrigerate the dough overnight and bake the next day. Just allow for a longer bake time of about 1-2 minutes to compensate for the colder temperature.
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