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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!

Glass of milk next to chai sugar cookies scattered on a piece of parchment paper
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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.

Chai sugar cookie balanced on the edge of a glass of milk
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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?

Chai sugar cookie broken in half next to a glass of milk

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.

Chai sugar cookie dough in a glass mixing bowl

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.

Ball of sugar cookie dough being rolled in chai spices

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 sugar cookies arranged on parchment paper next to a glass of milk

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.

Chai sugar cookie broken in half on a piece of parchment paper

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.

Chai sugar cookies scattered on parchment next to a glass of milk

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 sugar cookies stacked next to a glass of milk
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Chai Spiced Sugar Cookies

By: Jamie
4.49 from 393 ratings
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 10 minutes
Total: 25 minutes
Servings: 36 cookies
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!

Ingredients

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

Serving: 1cookie, Calories: 120kcal, Carbohydrates: 17g, Protein: 1g, Fat: 5g, Saturated Fat: 3g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g, Monounsaturated Fat: 1g, Trans Fat: 0.2g, Cholesterol: 18mg, Sodium: 71mg, Potassium: 16mg, Fiber: 0.4g, Sugar: 10g, Vitamin A: 165IU, Vitamin C: 0.03mg, Calcium: 9mg, Iron: 1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

4.49 from 393 votes (392 ratings without comment)

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200 Comments

  1. Erin says:

    Just made these and they taste great. I halved the recipe (still using 1 large egg) and my dough was perfect. After rolling, I flattened cookies with the bottom of a glass ~ produced great looking cookies that taste even better! This is a definite keeper! Next time I would kick up the spices a bit, but other than that, fantastic recipe. Thank You for sharing!

    1. Jamie says:

      Erin-
      I am so happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe – thanks so much for leaving your feedback! Have a great day!
      -Jamie

  2. Elizabeth says:

    These are so good, like snickerdoddles but more flavorful. The different spices make them unique and interesting

    1. Jamie says:

      Elizabeth-
      I am so happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe – thanks so much for stopping by and leaving your feedback! Have a great day!
      -Jamie

    2. Jopalis says:

      Glad to hear this. I just don’t care for the flavor of cream of tartar in Snickerdoodles but love the spice cookie part. I am definitely going to try these….

  3. Pam says:

    Found on Pinterest :) My dough was super separated, but I packed down some balls and threw them on the sheet as directed. They looked like they weren’t cooking, but 15 minutes in the oven and I pulled them out. They hardened up okay but didn’t settle in the oven so the shape I packed them in is the same shape they came out. Very nice flavor!

    Batch 2 – added 1/3 c. unsweetened vanilla almond milk & an egg. Cooked @ 10 minutes, again did not look like they were actually cooking but I pulled them out. They also didn’t settle (flatten) much in the oven; they weren’t as sweet due to diluting the dough w/ the milk & extra egg.

    Batch 3 – same dough, but flattened by spoon onto cookie sheet. Perfection :)

  4. Carol says:

    Hi there, I am definately going to give these a go :)

    Does anyone have a really nice chai Tea recipe too?

    thanks
    carol

    1. Bekah says:

      Check out katalumacolorado.com they say fourteen different flavors of chai and they are all absolutely delicious!!

  5. Cheryl says:

    Well I’m glad I read the comments…
    I LOVE Chai spice so I was very excited to try this recipe. I did add the ground cloves and extra egg as my dough was super crumbly. I had to flatten them out a bit as they weren’t doing that on their own and I baked mine for 13 minutes. That being said they taste great even though they don’t look like the picture! (I just had the first one out of the oven)
    Thanks!

  6. Ashley Reardon says:

    just making these now…i’m ready to put them in the oven but the dough is pretty crumbly. I’ve double-checked the ingredients and don’t think I’ve done anything wrong. Is it normally crumbly? I’m just not sure I’ll be able to form balls that will stick together.

    1. Jamie says:

      Ashley-
      A couple of people have stated the dough is crumbly, my only guess would be the size of the eggs. Someone reported that they added an extra egg and they were perfect. Hope this helps.
      -Jamie

  7. Torey says:

    OMG I am obsessed with Chai tea, especially the brand Big Train, so when I saw these I had to make them ASAP and they did not fail! The only changes I made were substituting butter for applesauce ( exact same amount), also I didn’t have cardamom so I just threw in a scoop of my Big Train chai mix and they turned out excellent!!! Thanks for a great treat!

  8. Laura says:

    I added a half teaspoon ground cloves and that was the added oomph of chai flavor

  9. kje says:

    I have made this twice in the past week for two different groups… they are delish! I was never a fan of snickerdoodles as I find them rather boring and bland, but these are great. Thanks!

  10. karen says:

    just made these and they are wonderful! Followed directions to the T and they’re perfect. Thanks for the recipe!!!