Chai Sugar Cookies

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.

🌟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

▢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

Bake at 350 degrees F

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.

👩🏻‍🍳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.

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