This easy Chai Cookies Recipe are soft and chewy, made with a homemade chai spice blend and coated with cinnamon sugar. They’ll quickly become a new favorite fall cookie recipe!
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These Chai Cookies combine two of my favorite things: cookies and warm chai spices!
There are a lot of spices needed to make a truly delicious chai mix, but the effort is worth it (and you can sub in a prepared mix if you have one!).
Filled with all the delicious fall flavors, these chai sugar cookies are perfect for cozy nights by the fire with a cup of your favorite chai tea!
They’re made with a cinnamon sugar coating, like in my Snickerdoodle Recipe, for even more spiced goodness.
Whether you’re a huge chai fan or just looking for the perfect cookie to share with friends and family, this recipe is sure to impress.
Try my Soft Molasses Cookies recipe, Mint Hershey’s Kiss Cookies, Chocolate Crinkle Cookies, or one of these 31 Best Christmas Cookies for more holiday cookie treats!
Ingredients Needed:
- Butter: I use unsalted butter here to better control the salt content in the cookies. Make sure it’s at room temperature before mixing.
- Sugars: white granulated sugar and brown sugar are both used in these chai cookies to give them a great texture, color, and depth of flavor. We’ll use the white sugar for the coating too.
- Oil: a neutral flavored oil like canola oil or vegetable oil will help keep the cookies moist.
- Egg: to bind the ingredients.
- Vanilla: vanilla extract blends well with the spices, adding a sweet warmth to the cookies as well.
- Flour: all-purpose flour is perfect here. I haven’t tried this recipe with other types of flour.
- Cream of Tartar: a fool-proof way of giving these cookies their chewy texture (you can skip if you don’t have any).
- Baking Soda: to help the cookies rise slightly to be light and fluffy.
- Spices: use a combination of ground ginger, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, cardamom, ground nutmeg, and allspice for the chai flavor. You’ll need cinnamon for the coating too. You can swap this out with 1.5 teaspoons chai spice mix.
How to Make Homemade Chai Cookies
This recipe comes together easily! Full instructions are included in the recipe card below.
- Beat butter, sugars, and oil: Beat the butter, sugars, and oil together.
- Add egg and vanilla: Add the egg and vanilla extract, and beat until combined.
- Mix in the dry ingredients: Add the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, nutmeg, and allspice.
- Scrape sides of bowl: Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula to ensure you’re using all the ingredients.
- Coat dough balls in cinnamon sugar: Make cookie dough balls and roll them into a cinnamon-sugar mix.
- Place on sheet and bake: Place 6 dough balls on each cookie sheet, and bake.
How do I store Chai Cookies?
Once your cookies have cooled to room temperature, store them in an airtight container or in a Ziploc bag on the counter for up to 7 days.
Can I freeze Chai Cookies?
Yes! Freezing these Chai Cookies is a great way to get a head start on your holiday treat prep.
Once the cookies have cooled to room temperature, store them in a freezer-safe container with parchment paper between each layer to keep them from sticking together. They’ll last in the freezer for up to 2 months. Defrost at room temperature when you’re ready to serve them again.
Alternatively, you can make the cookies up to the point of baking them and freeze the unbaked cookie dough balls. Simply flash-freeze the cookie dough balls on a lined baking sheet, then put them in a freezer bag in the freezer for up to 2 months. You can then bake them fresh from frozen, adding a couple of minutes to the baking time!
Tips and Notes
- Get the correct measurements. Use a digital kitchen scale to measure your dry ingredients for the most accuracy with this recipe, where needed. Measuring spoons are fine for measuring out the spices.
- Mixing tools. Use a stand mixer with a paddle attachment if you have one, or a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer, to mix your cookie dough efficiently.
- Cookie scoop. I like to use a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop for most cookies! I love that they all come out the same size.
Chai Sugar Cookie Recipe Variations
- Taylor Swift Chai Cookies. If you’re a Taylor Swift fan (or if you keep up with TikTok), you’ll have no doubt seen Taylor Swift’s Chai Cookies. Simply make an eggnog glaze to finish off these cookies instead of the cinnamon sugar coating I’ve used here to get the same effect.
- Add chocolate. Add some white chocolate chips to the dough for a chocolatey twist on this chai sugar cookie.
Serving Suggestions
These cookies pair perfectly with a glass of cold milk or a hot cup of chai tea on a cold, wintery day!
Try my Caramel Frappuccino, Slow Cooker Cranberry Apple Cider, or my Slow Cooker Pumpkin Spice Latte for more fall-flavored drinks to go with these cookies.
More Easy Holiday Cookie Recipes to Try
Chai Cookies Recipe
written by Ashley Fehr
Ingredients
Chai Cookies
- ½ cup unsalted butter room temperature
- ½ cup granulated sugar 100 grams
- ½ cup brown sugar 100 grams
- 1 tablespoon oil I use canola oil
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all purpose flour fluffed and levelled* (260 grams)
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
- ⅛ teaspoon cardamom
- ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon allspice
Cinnamon Sugar
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat the butter, sugars and oil on high until light and creamy (about 2-3 minutes).
- Add the egg and vanilla extract, and beat until combined.
- Add the flour (be sure to fluff it or weigh it!), cream of tartar, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, nutmeg and allspice and beat on medium speed until combined, scraping down the sides as necessary.
- In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon for the Cinnamon Sugar.
- Roll the cookie dough into 1″ cookie dough balls and roll them in cinnamon sugar. Place 12 of the dough balls on each cookie sheet.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes, until slightly puffed but not browned, they may have a slight sheen but not be gooey in the middle. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.
Notes
Ingredients and Substitutions:
- Butter: salted or unsalted butter will work just fine here!
- Flour: be sure to fluff or weigh the flour — this will help you to get thick, chewy cookies that are not thin or dry.
- Cream of Tartar: this helps to give the cookies a great chewy texture. You can omit if you must but I really recommend trying it!
- Spices: the spice list is long because we are essentially making our own chai spice. You can substitute this with 1½ teaspoons of prepared chai spice mix, or reduce or increase the spices according to your tastes. These cookies have a mild spice flavor, so there is room to add more if you like a really strong chai flavor.
Storage
- Storage: Once your cookies have cooled to room temperature, store them in an airtight container or in a Ziploc bag on the counter for up to 7 days.
- Freeze Cookies: Once the cookies have cooled to room temperature, store them in a freezer-safe container with parchment paper between each layer to keep them from sticking together. Defrost at room temperature when you’re ready to serve them again.
- Freeze Cookie Dough Balls: Make the cookies up to the point of baking them, and freeze the unbaked cookie dough balls. Simply flash-freeze the cookie dough balls on a lined baking sheet, then put them in a freezer-bag in the freezer for up to 2 months. You can then bake them fresh from frozen, adding on a couple of minutes to the baking time!
Nutrition Information
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Millie says
I used this recipe as a base and made some substitutions. I am recreating it now and doing one batch with white chocolate chips, but seeing if I can match what I accidentally did before. I made these gluten-free with almond flour and some gluten-free all purpose flour, doubled the spices. Added an additional egg for binding bc of the almond flour and bc of the increase in volume. Came out really great and I got lucky with the extra dashes of things I threw in to make up for experimenting with baking…
The Recipe Rebel says
Glad it worked out for you, Millie!
Martha Schrenk says
Can I substitute the contents of a chai teabag fir the individual spices?
Conni says
The teabag also contains dried black tea leaves, not just the spices. You only want the spices.
The Recipe Rebel says
Great point! Thanks Conni!
The Recipe Rebel says
No, you can’t for this recipe Martha
Larry says
I am super excited to try these. I had a chai cookie at a coffee shop when I was on a road trip recently and have been looking for a good recipe to make them myself!!
The Recipe Rebel says
Enjoy!