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Chewy Chai Sugar Cookies pack a flavor punch with a blend of chai-inspired spices. If you love chai, these are the cookies for you!

Glass of milk next to chai sugar cookies scattered on a piece of parchment paper

I feel like the older I get, the less interested I am in shopping inside actual stores.

You know with other humans, shopping carts and checkout lines?

Lately, I feel like I’ve been heavily relying on Instacart to do my grocery shopping. And every single time the little popup shows me how many hours I’ve saved by having them do my shopping just keeps me ordering allthethings from the app.

I do actually drive to pick up the groceries as opposed to having them delivered, so there’s that.

Don’t even get me started on Amazon Prime. Let’s just say I’m on a first name basis with pretty much every single delivery driver in my town.

Chai sugar cookie balanced on the edge of a glass of milk

Since we have so many deliveries at this time of year, I love to leave a little box on the porch full of snacks, water and Gatorade for the delivery drivers to enjoy on their route.

While I’d love to say I thought of this, I actually got the idea from Kristen at Dine and Dish about 4 years ago and it’s become one of our favorite holiday traditions.

This year, I’m thinking of packaging up homemade cookies to leave for them as well!

I mean, who wouldn’t love to get Peanut Butter Blossoms, Chocolate Chip Cookies, or these Chai Sugar Cookies during the holidays?

Chai sugar cookie broken in half next to a glass of milk

WHAT ARE CHAI SPICES?

Have you ever had chai?

“Chai” literally means “tea” in Hindi. In India, chai isn’t just a type of tea…it is tea!

Here in America, chai refers to a spiced, milky black tea. The spices usually include green cardamom, ginger, cinnamon and black pepper. Sometimes other spices such as cloves or star anise are used as well.

Chai sugar cookie dough in a glass mixing bowl

I love chai and like to use chai spices to flavor all sorts of baked goods, such as Maple Chai Cinnamon Rolls and Chai Spiced Candied Nuts.

Ball of sugar cookie dough being rolled in chai spices

Pretty much anything that would be good with cinnamon would be good with chai spices. I even have a recipe for Chai Spice Blend that you can mix and keep on hand any time you want to add some chai flavor to your recipes.

Chai sugar cookies arranged on parchment paper next to a glass of milk

CHAI-SPICED SUGAR COOKIES

Since I know that chai spices are a great substitute for cinnamon, I was inspired by snickerdoodle cookies to see what might happen if I flavored a chewy sugar cookie dough with chai spices.

Spoiler: The result was amazing.

Chai sugar cookie broken in half on a piece of parchment paper

Cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, allspice and black pepper combine to create an incredibly aromatic spice blend that transforms a plain, chewy sugar cookie recipe into a complex and comforting cookie.

Bonus? Chai Sugar Cookies pair perfectly with a piping hot cup of tea.

Chai sugar cookies scattered on parchment next to a glass of milk

Make a batch of Chai Sugar Cookies, steep a pot of tea, and curl up to watch some Christmas movies with your loved ones.

They would also be a great cookie to take to a holiday cookie exchange! They are the perfect combination of familiar and new, with their chewy texture and spicy flavor.

I think you’re going to love them.

Chai sugar cookies stacked next to a glass of milk

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Chai Spiced Sugar Cookies

By: Jamie
4.49 from 392 votes
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 10 minutes
Total: 25 minutes
Servings: 36 cookies
Chewy Chai Sugar Cookies pack a flavor punch with a blend of chai-inspired spices. If you love chai, these are the cookies for you!

Ingredients

  • 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 ¾ cups white sugar
  • 2 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • ½ teaspoon ground allspice
  • ¼ teaspoon finely ground black pepper
  • 1 cup unsalted butter softened
  • 1 egg
  • ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Instructions 

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.
  • In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
  • In a medium bowl combine sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, allspice and black pepper. Remove 1/4 cup of the sugar-spice mixture, set aside to reserve for rolling the cookies.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar-spice mixture until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
  • Beat in egg and vanilla extract, combine until fully incorporated.
  • Slowly blend in dry ingredients mixing until just combined.
  • Using a small scoop (2 teaspoons) roll dough into balls and then into the reserved sugar-spice mixture. Place dough balls on prepared baking sheet about 1 1/2 inches apart.
  • Bake in preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes.
  • Let stand on baking sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.

Notes

  • Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Nutrition

Serving: 1cookie, Calories: 120kcal, Carbohydrates: 17g, Protein: 1g, Fat: 5g, Saturated Fat: 3g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g, Monounsaturated Fat: 1g, Trans Fat: 0.2g, Cholesterol: 18mg, Sodium: 71mg, Potassium: 16mg, Fiber: 0.4g, Sugar: 10g, Vitamin A: 165IU, Vitamin C: 0.03mg, Calcium: 9mg, Iron: 1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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198 Comments

  1. Ann P. says:

    Chai tea is one of my favorites!! I am sure I would LOVE these cookies… I plan to find out soon by baking up a batch!

  2. Amanda @ Once Upon a Recipe says:

    Love the spices in these cookies – I am a big chai fan. I can totally imagine eating a couple (or 10) of these with a hot cup of tea. I forgive you! ;)

  3. Sylvie @ Gourmande in the Kitchen says:

    I love those chai spices, so wonderful in cookie form.

  4. Charlynne says:

    These sound amazing! I’m slightly confused by the 1/2 cup of sugar for rolling in the ingredient list, but the reserving of 1/4 cup of spiced sugar in the directions. Can you clarify the total amount that is actually mixed into the dough? Thanks!

    1. Jamie says:

      Charlynne-

      Gosh- Thanks so much for catching that! I cut and pasted in from an older recipe, deleted the bottom, but didn’t save it. Everything is fixed now. So sorry about the confusion.

      -Jamie

  5. Cookbook Queen says:

    I absolutely LOVE Chai Tea (no one else in my family likes it and I honestly don’t know why–it’s amazing) and Snickerdoodles are one of my favorite cookies. These obviously need to happen in my kitchen SOON!!!

  6. Joanna says:

    I’ve been looking for this exact thing. I can’t wait to try this recipe. Thanks!!

  7. Christina @ovenadventures says:

    I love love chai. I must try these very soon.

  8. Jo says:

    SO making these for my next book group in January …… thanks for posting this!!!

  9. Allison says:

    yum! You had me convinced with that first photograph!

  10. duchessbelle says:

    These look wonderful. Do you think I could rip open some tea bags and sub in an equal measure of chai spice tea rather than go out and buy the separate spices?

    1. Jamie says:

      Duchessbelle-
      Since there is not any actual tea in this recipe, I cannot vouch for the success for using that method. Plus, most teas are a little more coarsely ground than spices, so the chunks of tea could potentially be off-putting. If you give it a shot, definitely post your results.
      Thanks for stopping by!
      -Jamie

    2. Nicole says:

      I was missing cardamom, so I decided to steep a very dark tea from my favorite chai. I replaced the vanilla with the cooled tea. Came out delicious….thanks for the yummy recipe !

    3. Jamie says:

      I added two chai tea bags to a sugar cookie mix and they turned out great!

    4. Lindsay Sherburn says:

      Can you explain a bit more about what you did with the tea?

    5. Jamie says:

      Lindsay-
      There is no tea in this recipe, just the spices that are found in chai tea. Hope this helps.
      -Jamie