Taylor Swift Chai Cookies

Close-up of a chai cookie made from Taylor Swift's recipe surrounded by other cookies flat on parchment paper, next to a cinnamon stick.

easyhealthyrecipes.com/taylor-swift-chai-cookies/

(Cheryl's version) of the famous Taylor Swift chai sugar cookies, complete with warm spices and a sweet cookie glaze.

Prep: 15

Cook: 10

Chill: 1

Total: 1 25

Recipe makes approximately 12 cookies

Equipment Needed

stand mixer bowl (or large mixing bowl)
stand mixer (or hand mixer)
flat beater attachment for stand mixer (or beater attachments for hand mixer)
Silicone spatula
Plastic Wrap
Refrigerator
Oven
1-2 large cookie sheet(s) (as needed)
neutral-flavored cooking spray (or butter, or oil)
small shallow bowl (or small shallow plate)
#60 (1 tablespoon) cookie scoop
Spatula
Wire cooling rack
medium mixing bowl
whisk
spoon (optional)

Ingredients Needed

For the Chai Sugar Cookies

½ cup unsalted butter (1 full stick butter, at room temperature)
½ cup vegetable oil (or refined coconut oil)
½ cup granulated white sugar (or light brown sugar)
½ cup powdered sugar
1 chai tea bag (any brand; contents only, bag discarded)
1 large egg (at room temperature)
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled, see Notes)
½ teaspoon fresh baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
granulated white sugar (to taste)

For the Cookie Glaze

1 ½ cups powdered sugar
1 small pinch ground nutmeg
1 small pinch ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons whole milk (or eggnog)

Serving Suggestions (All Optional)

ground nutmeg (to taste)
ground cinnamon (to taste)

Get Recipe Ingredients

Instructions

To Prepare the Chai Sugar Cookies

Place ½ cup unsalted butter in mixing bowl. Use mixer fitted with beater attachments to beat butter on medium-low speed until butter is smooth, approximately 1 minute. Scrape down sides of bowl as needed.
Add ½ cup vegetable oil to bowl with butter and beat on low speed until oil is incorporated as well as possible. Oil may not incorporate completely.
Add ½ cup granulated white sugar, ½ cup powdered sugar, and contents of 1 chai tea bag to bowl. Beat ingredients together on medium-low speed until fully combined.
Crack 1 large egg directly into bowl with butter mixture. Add 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract and resume beating ingredients together on medium speed until fully combined.
Once wet ingredients are combined, add 2 cups all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon fresh baking soda, and ¼ teaspoon salt. Mix ingredients together with mixer on low speed, or stir ingredients together by hand with silicone spatula, until ingredients are just combined and cookie dough forms. Be careful not to over-mix.
When ingredients are combined into very soft cookie dough, set mixer aside. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and place bowl in refrigerator. Chill dough 1 hour.

To Bake the Chai Sugar Cookies

After 1 hour, preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit. Lightly grease cookie sheet(s) with cooking spray or butter, then set cookie sheet aside. Add granulated white sugar to small shallow bowl or plate and set aside.
Remove bowl from refrigerator and uncover. Discard plastic wrap. Note: Dough will still be soft after refrigeration.
Use #60 cookie scoop to scoop dough into 1-tablespoon portions. Roll scoop of dough quickly between palms of hands to smooth, then gently press dough ball into flat round, approximately ¼-inch thick.
Place cookie dough in shallow bowl of granulated sugar and flip to coat each side of cookie. Transfer cookie dough to prepared cookie sheet. Alternately, skip sugar process and place flattened cookie dough on cookie sheet. Sprinkle granulated sugar on top of cookie dough.
Repeat process with remaining cookie dough until all dough has been formed into cookies. Leave approximately 1 to 2 inches space between cookies on cookie sheet to allow for spreading.
Place filled cookie sheet(s) in preheated oven. Bake cookies 7 minutes, then begin checking doneness. Continue baking as needed, checking cookies often, until bottom edges of cookies are just lightly golden brown.
Remove cookie sheet(s) from oven and set aside. Let cookies cool on cookie sheet(s) 5 minutes, then use spatula to carefully transfer cookies to wire cooling rack. Allow cookies to rest on rack until cooled to room temperature.

To Glaze the Chai Sugar Cookies

Once cookies have cooled, add 1 ½ cups powdered sugar, 1 small pinch ground nutmeg, 1 small pinch ground cinnamon, and 3 tablespoons whole milk or eggnog to medium mixing bowl. Whisk ingredients together until fully combined into smooth glaze. Whisk in additional milk to thin or powdered sugar to thicken as desired.
Spoon glaze over top of each cooled cookie and spread glaze with back of spoon to cover. Sprinkle ground nutmeg and ground cinnamon over glaze to garnish if desired, then allow glaze to set completely. (Alternately, hold each cookie upside-down by edges and carefully dip tops of cookies directly into glaze. Allow excess glaze to drop back into bowl before flipping cookie over and returning to cooling rack. Sprinkle ground nutmeg and ground cinnamon over glaze to garnish if desired, then allow glaze to set completely.)
Once glaze has set completely, serve cookies as desired.

Recipe Notes

Granulated Sugar: For richer cookies with a deeper flavor, use light brown sugar instead of white sugar. Brown sugar plays off the chai tea, ground nutmeg, and ground cinnamon beautifully!
Chai Tea Bag: Yup, you'll use the leaves and everything. Just dump all the contents right into the bowl! Any brand of tea will work, but if the chai you use has any really large pieces in it, be sure to run them through a spice grinder first so they blend in better.
Spoon and Level Method: For the most-accurate flour measurement, don’t use your measuring cup to scoop the flour out of its container. Instead, scoop the flour out with a spoon and transfer it into the measuring cup. Once the cup is filled (but don't pack the flour down!), drag the flat edge of a knife across the top of the measuring cup to level the flour.
Bake Time: Exact bake times will vary due to a number of factors. I recommend not baking the cookies for more than 10 minutes total since they’ll continue to bake and set up after being removed from the oven. Depending on your oven, sheet pan, and kitchen, though, you may need to extend that recommended time by 1-2 minutes.
Larger Cookies: For larger cookies, use a #40 (2 tablespoon) cookie scoop, or combine 2 1-tablespoon scoops of dough together into one cookie. Larger cookies may need a longer bake time.
Make it Dairy Free: Use a dairy-free butter and replace the milk in the glaze with almond milk or coconut milk.
Make it Gluten Free: Replace the all-purpose flour with a gluten-free all-purpose flour with xanthan gum, like Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour.
Storage: Store prepared cookies in an airtight container at room temperature up to 5 days, or in the fridge up to 8 days.
Freezer Storage: Place the fully-baked and completely-cooled cookies, with or without glaze, on a baking sheet in one flat layer. Place the baking sheet in the freezer and freeze the cookies 30 minutes. Remove the cookies from the freezer and transfer them to an airtight container or a food-safe sealable freezer bag. Return the cookies to the freezer and keep frozen up to 3 months.
Defrosting Frozen Cookies: Remove the desired number of cookies from the freezer and place them in the fridge overnight. Warm defrosted cookies in the oven or let the cookies come to room temperature, then serve and enjoy.

Nutrition Info (Approximate)