If you love Taylor Swift as much as we do, say hello to your perfect holiday cookie recipe. Taylor originally baked her chai sugar cookies for her 1989 secret sessions back in 2014, eventually sharing the recipe on her Tumblr when fans asked for it. With the recent re-release of 1989 (Taylor’s Version), it feels like the perfect time to bring this cookie recipe back out from the vault.
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We’ve made some tweaks to Taylor’s original recipe (which you can easily find online), to give it a little elevated flare. We swapped out regular butter for brown butter (trust us, it really works), and instead of Taylor’s suggested chai tea bag to provide that chai flavour, we’ve swapped in warming chai spices. Whether you’re gifting these to your favourite Swiftie or bringing these to your office cookie swap, we can confidently say that these cookies hit different.
Related: Celebrate Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour with a Hazy Lavender Sour
ingredients
Chai Sugar Cookies
Icing
directions
Cook ½ cup unsalted butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring often, until it foams, then browns, 5–8 minutes. Let cool slightly, until cool enough to touch (like the temperature of a warm bath), about 10 minutes.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine brown butter, vegetable oil, granulated sugar and powdered sugar. On medium speed, beat until incorporated, about 1 minute.
Add egg and vanilla and beat until incorporated, about 1 minute.
Stir in flour, baking soda, salt and all spices. Beat just to combine.
Chill dough in fridge for 1 hour.
Once dough has chilled, preheat oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.
While the oven preheats, using an ice cream scoop or tablespoon, scoop and form cookie dough into balls about 1 ½-inch in diameter and place on prepared baking sheet, pressing down slightly to flatten the cookie dough balls.
Bake for 10 minutes or until lightly golden.
While cookies cool, prepare the icing. Whisk together powdered sugar, eggnog or milk, vanilla, nutmeg and cinnamon until smooth. It should be slightly thick so it adheres to the cookies without falling off. If it’s too thin, add more powdered sugar.
Once cookies have cooled, spread with icing and dust with more cinnamon.
Allow icing to harden before serving.
