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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!
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.
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?
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.
I love chai and like to use chai spices to flavor all sorts of baked goods, such as Maple Chai Cinnamon Rolls, chai spiced granola, and Chai Spiced Candied Nuts.
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-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.
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.
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 Spiced Sugar Cookies
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
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi. I’ve made this every year for 3 years now for Christmas. Instead of dusting them, I just mix everything together (I find it much to sweet this way but my mom likes it this sweet so fine). And I use gingerbread cookie cutouts and turn these into gingerbread men. Smash hit every single year!
This was a delicious easy, cookie, but I think I will do a few more tweaks next time to suit my personal taste. The spices were good, but I think it reminded me too much of a snickerdoodle, so I will probably decrease the cinnamon and increase the other spices (even the black pepper, which I couldn’t really taste after it was finished). To cut out the sweetness, I didn’t bother to roll them in the sugar mixture; I rolled them into balls without it and it baked just fine (it could also be why the spices were a little mild without the extra coating outside). I also like to lower the temperature on my cookie baking by 25 degrees (so 325 here, and just bake a little longer, so mine were perfect at 325 for 15 minutes — just my preference).
I do have to say, that my house smelled like holidays in fall — I will definitely bake these again. Thank you for the easy recipe.
My family loved this!
So glad to hear your family enjoyed the cookies, Jeff! Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving your feedback.
-Jamie
Good recipe for soft, beautiful cookies but way too sweet for my family’s taste. I even added more cinnamon and ginger thinking it would help with the sweetness. Next time I make these I plan to cut some of the sugar out.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your feedback, Lili. Happy baking!
Jamie
If I have your ready made chai spice mix how much would I use instead of the separate spices?
Hi Jan – I’d use about 1 1/2 tablespoons. Hope this helps. Happy baking!
Jamie
I want to substitute premade chai spice mix, how much would I add?
Hi Abby-
I honestly don’t know, you’d have to kind of go slowly and add more to taste.
-Jamie
Can you use Gluten Free flour for this recipe?
Hi Sandy-
I have not tried this substitution, so I am not really sure how that will go. If you try it, please let me know.
-Jamie