Chai Cookies

This recipe takes a traditional shortbread cookie and adds the warm, fall flavors of chai spices. It has a creamy, buttery texture with a chai-spiced finish.

Chai spice is one of my favorite flavors of fall. I love a good chai latte with oat milk. When I searched for recipes for chai cookies, I only found chai sugar cookies (or randomly enough, Taylor Swift chai cookies is apparently a thing because clearly she can do everything).

What is chai?

The word “chai” is actually the Hindi word for tea. So when you order a chai tea latte at Starbucks, you’re actually ordering a tea tea latte. 🙂 Chai or “masala chai” is a black tea made from a blend of Indian spices. Chai can be served hot or over ice. It can be served plain or with different types milk.

Many places will add other flavors to the mix such as matcha or my personal favorite, pumpkin (or as my sister and I like to call it a “chumpkin”). If you’re interested in trying a “chumpkin” inspired cookie, check out this Pumpkin Spiced Shortbread recipe. Or if you’re just looking for pumpkin check out this 5 ingredient pumpkin bread.

What is chai spice?

Traditionally, a chai spice blend include cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, and clove. Additional spices can be added that complement those flavors such as nutmeg, peppercorn, anise, etc. Because of the blend of spices, chai spice is a healthier option. It’s been said to be full of antioxidants and can help with digestion. (If you’re interested in this kind of stuff, I found this article that lists a whole bunch of benefits of drinking chai.)

What does chai taste like?

The main ingredient in chai spice is cinnamon. So, the best way I can describe what chai spice tastes like is that it is a warm, rich flavor that tastes like fall. It pairs well with chocolate, almonds, hazelnuts, etc. By adding chai spices to this cookie dough, it kind of reminds me of a more mature version of a snickerdoodle cookie. While chai spice does have a distinct flavor, it can be surprisingly versatile in your baking. If you are looking to kick up your fall, spiced desserts, try using this chai spice blend.

How to Make Chai Cookies

Measure out your chai spices first.

This recipe calls for one teaspoon of the homemade chai spice blend. I’ve tested this recipe with 1 tsp and 2 tsp. I preferred the lighter spice blend because it allows the butter flavor to come through more. However, if you want more flavorful chai spice cookies, you can double the amount and it still won’t be overpowering. The cookies will be darker so be sure to watch them in the oven so they don’t overbake.

There will be some of the chai spice blend left over as you need to make more than you need for this recipe in order to get the proportions right. You can either use this same blend and use it to bake Pumpkin Spice Shortbread cookies or heat up some milk and steep it into a latte. A chai latte with chai cookies? Sign me up for that snack please.

Roll the cookie dough

Once you have your dough mixed together, shape it into a rectangle. To ensure a crisp shape, I used a bench scraper and pressed it against the side for clean lines. The rectangle should be about 8 inches long and 2-3 inches tall depending upon how big you want your cookies. Wrap the log of dough in plastic wrap and place into the fridge.

Chill the dough.

Because there is no egg in this dough, the butter is the main thing holding it together. To prevent the cookies from melting in the oven, chill the dough for at least one hour. If you want to make the dough ahead of time, feel free to chill overnight or you can freeze the dough for up to 2 months (if wrapped correctly with plastic wrap, foil, and a freezer bag).

Slice the cookies

Since you already shaped your dough, grab a sharp knife and slice the dough into 1/2 inch pieces. Place on an un-greased baking sheet and space them out about 2 inches apart. They will only spread a little because your dough is still cold. You always want to keep your dough cold. This recipe makes about three dozen cookies. If you slice and tray them all at once, be sure to put the baking sheets into the fridge or freezer to keep it cold. Otherwise, only slice and bake what you need and put the log of dough back into the fridge.

Poke the cookies.

To keep these chai cookies from puffing up too much in the oven, take a fork and gently poke the cookies. You can have fun with it and make up any design you’d like. If your dough is firm enough, the imprints will stay when baking. If it’s not, no worries, it will just allow your cookies to stay looking like little dominos. As you can see in the photo above, some of them worked, some of them didn’t. It doesn’t affect the taste at all, so get creative (or not ;)).

Bake

Bake at 325 for 9-11 minutes until the cookies are just starting to brown. You want the texture to be buttery and melt in your mouth so make sure you don’t slice your cookies too thin or over bake them. If you do, a nice dunk in your beverage of choice will do the trick — or a couple of seconds in the microwave.

Not surprisingly, these chai cookies pair nicely with a cup of tea. I personally am a coffee drinker and can attest that they also work well with coffee. My husband is the tea drinker in the family. He grew up in India and makes sure to correct me every time I say “chai tea”. Ha. He is always looking for biscuits that he can dunk into his tea and this recipe fits the bill. A couple of these chai cookies and a cup of English breakfast tea and you’re in for quite a treat.

Happy Baking!

Last Updated on June 17, 2022 by Kari Bakes