Swifties, Day 5 of AK Cookie Week is a recipe just for you! Okay, even if you’re not a huge Taylor Swift fan I promise that you’ll fall head-over-heels in love with these pillowy-soft, perfectly chewy cookies with an epic vanilla bean frosting.
T-swift herself took inspiration for these chai sugar cookies from the OG iconic baking blogger, Joy the Baker. They use a few special ingredients like vegetable oil and powdered sugar right in the batter and get topped with an icing made with butter, powdered sugar, and nutmeg.
I, of course, made a few AK-style changes to make them my own, and the result was INCREDIBLE. These cookies have such a wonderful texture and the spices really shine through. As always, read through the full post to get all of your baking questions answered, and get ready for your house to be filled with the coziest smells this holiday baking season!
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Everything you’ll need to make soft chai sugar cookies
The key to these chai cookies? All of the lovely spices! Be sure to read the note below about the different ways you can add spices to these cookies. Here’s everything you’ll need to make them:
- Flour: we’re using regular all-purpose flour as the base of the cookies.
- Cornstarch: a little cornstarch gives the cookies they’re super soft texture.
- Spices: you’ll mix in a blend of cinnamon, ground ginger, cardamom, ground cloves, and allspice to give the cookies their wonderful chai flavor.
- Baking staples: you’ll need both baking soda and baking powder in this recipe. Don’t forget the salt and vanilla extract, too!
- Butter: the chai cookies get their moisture from all butter instead of butter AND vegetable oil like T-Swift uses. I always bake with salted butter, but you can feel free to use unsalted butter if you’d like.
- Sugar: we’re mixing both granulated sugar and powdered sugar right into the dough.
- Egg: you’ll need 1 egg to help the cookies hold together.
- Greek yogurt: just like in my Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, you’ll add a bit of Greek yogurt, which interacts with the baking soda and powder to give the cookies a lovely chewy texture. Sour cream works as well!
- For the frosting: that luscious vanilla bean cream cheese frosting is made with butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, a vanilla bean, and a tiny bit of milk for a creamy texture. Use extra vanilla beans to make homemade vanilla extract!
Ingredient swapping FAQ
As with all recipes (baking especially), I recommend making the recipe as is to get the best outcome. To answer some questions I typically get:
- Can I make them gluten-free? I haven’t tested these using a gluten-free substitute, so I can’t be sure how they’ll turn out. Feel free to try using a 1:1 gluten-free all-purpose flour and let me know in the comments if it works well!
- Can I make them dairy-free? You can use dairy-free butter and dairy-free yogurt.
- Can I make them vegan? I also have not tested these using a flax egg, but let me know if you try it. Then be sure to follow the dairy-free swaps as well.
Choose your chai spices
I chose to add a blend of spices to give the cookies that warm chai flavor, but Joy the Baker and Taylor Swift use actual chai tea for their cookie recipes! To do so simply omit the spices in the cookies and use a chai tea bag (just dump all of chai tea in the bag into the dough).
Make these chai sugar cookies extra special
Taylor opted for an icing made with powdered sugar, nutmeg, and a little milk, but I personally love the bold vanilla flavor in the frosting I created. Some more fun ways to jazz them up:
- Use a little egg nog in the frosting instead of milk for even more spiced flavor. Egg nog typically has cinnamon and nutmeg in it already!
- Decorate your cookies with gold sparkling sugar (gorgeous), pearl or gold pearl sprinkles, or your favorite Christmas sprinkles for even more holiday cheer
Don’t forget my cookie-baking tips
Reminder that you’ll find all of my best tips & tricks for making perfect cookies in the Ultimate Guide to Cookie Baking e-book! A few key takeaways for these chai-spiced cookies:
- Substitute at your own risk. Please be sure to follow the recipe as written unless substitutes are noted in the notes section of the recipe. Changing ingredients will likely change the texture and/or flavor of the cookies, so do so at your own risk.
- Use room temp ingredients. You’ll want to make sure your butter isn’t too cold or melted for both the dough and the frosting. Room temp butter will be easy to mix in and will give the dough and frosting the right texture.
- Use fresh baking soda & powder. Make sure your baking soda and baking powder are both fresh to ensure that these cookies bake up properly.
- Measure your ingredients correctly. I weighed the ingredients for these cookies, as you’ll see in the full recipe below. If you don’t have a scale, be sure to use this method for measuring flour!
How to store & freeze chai sugar cookies
- To store: store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
- To freeze: you can actually freeze the cookie dough OR the freshly baked cookies to enjoy later! Get all of my tips and tricks for freezing cookies here.
More cookie recipes you’ll love
Get all of my cookie recipes here!
I hope you love my take on Taylor Swift’s chai sugar cookies! If you make them be sure to leave a comment and a rating so I know how you liked them. Enjoy, xo!
The
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Taylor Swift’s Soft Chai Sugar Cookies with Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting
Perfectly sweet and spiced chai sugar cookies inspired by the recipe from the one and only Taylor Swift! These easy, soft chai sugar cookies are baked with a warming mix of spices like ginger, cardamom, and cloves, and get topped with a lovely vanilla bean cream cheese frosting. Add your favorite sprinkles for a festive cookie everyone will love.
Ingredients
- Dry ingredients:
- 1 ¾ cups (210g) all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon cardamom
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon allspice
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- Wet ingredients:
- ½ cup (1 stick, 113g) salted butter, at room temperature
- ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (60g) powdered sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon plain or vanilla whole-milk greek yogurt (or sub sour cream)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- For the vanilla bean cream cheese frosting:
- 4 tablespoons (57g) salted butter, at room temperature
- 4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1 ½ (180g) cups powdered sugar
- 1 vanilla bean, split and seeds removed (or sub ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract)
- 1 to 3 teaspoons milk (or eggnog!), to make the frosting creamy
- Gold sparkling sugar, pearl or gold pearl sprinkles, or Christmas sprinkles
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
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Mix the dry ingredients: In a large bowl, add the flour, cornstarch, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, cloves and allspice, baking powder, baking soda and salt; whisk the dry ingredients together until well combined then set aside.
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Mix the wet ingredients: In the bowl of an electric mixer, add the butter, granulated sugar and powdered sugar. Using the paddle attachment, beat the mixture together until well combined and butter and sugar are well incorporated, about 1 minute. Add in the egg (make sure it is at room temperature!), the Greek yogurt and then vanilla extract. Mix again on medium speed until the ingredients are well combined, about 1 minute. You may need to scrape the bowl down a few times with a rubber spatula and mix again.
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Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix on medium low speed until the dry ingredients are well incorporated into the wet ingredients and a dough forms.
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Use a small cookie scoop to grab tablespoonful sized dough balls and roll into balls. Place dough balls on the cookie sheet, 2 inches apart, and bake for 10 to 12 minutes. They may look slightly underbaked but that is the trick to keeping them soft so try not to overbake! Allow cookies to cool on the cookie sheet for 5 to 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to finish cooling completely.
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Once cookies have cooled, prepare the frosting: In the bowl of an electric mixer, add the softened butter and cream cheese and whip on high until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Add in powdered sugar, seeds from the vanilla beans, and milk, and beat slowly at first, then increase speed to high and beat for 1 to 2 minutes. Spread the frosting over the cooled cookies then sprinkle them with sprinkles of choice. Enjoy! Makes 24 cookies.
Recipe Notes
If you want you can omit the spices in the cookies and use a chai tea bag (just dump all of chai tea in the bag into the dough). This is what Taylor does in her original recipe.
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
