Best Ever Chai Cookies with Vanilla Bean Glaze
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Chai Cookies. What can I say? I love you.
Perfectly sweet, buttery, freezer friendly, and full of warm classic chai spices. As if that’s not enough, we also topped them off generously with vanilla bean glaze. It’s like a snickerdoodle cookie but even better.
Each bite tastes like the holidays and you’ll be able to find me snacking on one with a warm cup of coffee all Fall/Winter long.
The homemade chai spice blend is super easy to make and I bet you have all of the spices in your pantry already. No actual chai tea will be added into the recipe but I bet these would be delicious dunked in a chai tea latte. Like a chai flavor explosion, YUM!
We’re pretty obsessed with cookies over here. This recipe is similar to these popular funfetti cookies, I’ve simply made a few tweaks to make them chai flavored. It all started with Kroll’s Kookies last year, and since then I’ve been making cookies like a crazy lady. Let’s just say my friends and family aren’t mad about the cookie deliveries!
- First off, do we really need a reason?!
- They are perfectly soft and cake-y.
- Full of delicious, warm chai spices.
- They bake beautifully and smell SO GOOD.
- You can whip up a batch quickly, no chill time required.
- They are an epic cookie to enjoy all Fall/Winter long!
Grab your ingredients and let’s do this!
Ingredient Notes
- Chai Spice Blend: I’m using a combination of: cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, nutmeg, allspice and ginger. Black pepper is used in some chai blends but I am not adding any into these cookies.
- All-Purpose Flour: Spoon the flour into your measuring cup and be sure it’s leveled. Do not scoop the flour out of the container/bag with your measuring cup because you could end up with 50% more than you need.
- Spoon and level by using a spoon to scoop the flour into the measuring cup and use the back of a knife to level off the top of it.
- Cake Flour:Cake flour is finer, softer and lighter than All-Purpose Flour and I find using a mix of both cake flour and All-Purpose results in the perfect cookies.
- You can find Cake flour in most grocery stores, usually on the top shelf.
- Corn Starch: Seems weird to add cornstarch to cookies, right? But cornstarch is key to giving cookies that delectably soft center that’s just to die for. It also helps to keep the cookies thick and GIANT!
- Butter: Cold, unsalted butter is used in this recipe. Not melted or frozen or room temperature. Cold butter straight from the fridge. It might feel weird to not let the butter soften, but this cookie is best with cold butter.
- Salt: Don’t forget the salt! Salt is so great in baking because it intensifies the body’s ability to taste the sweetness of the sugar. Yum! We want that.
Step by Step Directions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl and set aside.
- Cream the butter and sugars together
- Then add in the eggs, egg yolks and vanilla extract and blend until mixed.
- Gradually add in the flour mixture until ingredients are incorporated.
- Measure out 6-7 large cookies. Or make smaller if preferred.
- Roll the cookie dough balls in the remaining chai spice/sugar mixture.
- Place on baking sheet & bake cookies for ~10-11 minutes.
- Once cooled, pour vanilla bean glaze over cookies.
Expert Tips
- No chilling required! Don’t you just love a no chill cookie recipe? These cookies will not flatten out like pancakes, they stay nice and sturdy even without the chill time. Woo!
- Use a mix of both All-Purpose flour and cake flour: I’ve tested without cake flour and the cookie is more dense. It’s still delicious, but I just love the cake-y center when using a combination of both flours.
- Let the cookies rest: If your cookies are turning out too gooey, let them rest longer. I recommend at least 15 minutes on the cookie sheet and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. They are even better if you let them sit and enjoy the next day. Your cookies aren’t ruined, just let them rest!
- Add an extra egg yolk: It’s just science. Adding in 1 whole egg (egg + white), plus an extra egg yolk (with no white) results in a chewy, delicious, amazing cookie.
- You can make the cookies smaller. Adjust baking time as needed.
- You can make homemade cake flour if you can’t find it in stores. Homemade cake flour: 14 Tbsp. All-purpose flour and 2 Tbsp. corn starch. Mix these together and sift them twice to get them fully mixed and aerated. This will make ~1 cup flour, so you’ll need a bit more than that for this recipe. Double it, and use again for another use!
- Don’t flatten the cookies prior to baking, keep them in a ball.
FAQ
Store baked cookies at room temperature for up to 1 week, or freeze in a freezer safe baggie for up to 3 months.
How do I prep my baking sheet?
Either parchment paper or Silicon baking mats work well.
Can I use a hand mixer if I don’t own a stand mixer?
Yes! A hand mixer will work fine. It might be hard to mix in the beginning with the cold butter, but it will all come together.
Can I make these gluten free?
Yes! Replace both flours with Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free flour. Works perfectly!
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Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups cake flour
- 2 tsp. cornstarch
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. salt
- 2 Tbsp. chai spice blend, divided (recipe below)
- 16 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cold, cubed (1 cup butter)
- 1 cup sugar (+ 1 Tbsp. for rolling)
- 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed (light or dark)
- 2 large eggs
- 2 large egg yolks
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
Chai Spice Blend
- 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp. ground ginger
- 1 tsp. cardamom
- 1/2 tsp. allspice
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp. cloves
Vanilla Bean Glaze
- 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
- 3 Tbsp. milk (plus more as needed)
- 1 tsp. vanilla bean paste
Last step! If you make this, please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Set aside.
- Whisk together the ingredients for the chai spice blend in a small bowl.
- In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients: all purpose flour, cake flour, corn starch, 1 heaping tablespoon chai spice, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- Place the cubed butter and sugars into the bowl of a stand mixture and secure the paddle attachment. Turn the mixer on and cream until smooth, about 1-2 minutes.
- Add in the eggs, egg yolks and vanilla extract and blend until mixed. Use a rubber spatula to knock off mixture if any is sticking to the sides of the bowl and mix again.
- Gradually add in the dry ingredients, about 1/4 cup at a time. Mix until incorporated.
- Roll cookie dough into ~6-7 large balls, or smaller if preferred.
- Add 1 Tbsp. sugar to the remaining chai spice and roll the cookie dough balls in the chai spice mixture.
- Place on baking sheet & bake cookies for ~10-11 minutes. Cool cookies completely before glazing.
- For the glaze: Place sifted confectioners’ sugar in a medium sized bowl and add milk and vanilla bean paste. Mix until all of the sugar is incorporated. Add additional milk as needed; glaze should be on the thick side. Spoon glaze over cookies or dunk cookies in glaze. Allow glaze to dry, then enjoy.
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Notes
- Let the cookies rest: If your cookies are turning out too gooey, let them rest longer. I recommend at least 15 minutes on the cookie sheet and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. They are even better if you let them sit and enjoy the next day. Your cookies aren’t ruined, just let them rest!
- You can make the cookies smaller. Adjust baking time as needed.
- Storage: Stored properly in an air-tight container at room temperature they will last for up to 5 days. I don’t recommend storing in the refrigerator because they will go stale much faster and lose their quality quickly.
These cookies are SO delicious! Made them last night and my family couldn’t wait to have them again with their coffee this morning! Will make again for-sure!
They look perfect, thank you so much! 🙂 love these with my coffee too.
These cookies were delicious! Like a spiced snickerdoodle. I was worried the glaze would make it too sweet, but it was actually the perfect complement to the spiced cookie. Will definitely make again!
I am so glad! Thanks so much Madeline!! 🙂
I’m super disappointed 🥺 I toggled the recipe to automatically convert to metric. When the cookies turned out awful (SO bad) I double checked the conversations manually and there’s a huge error in the sugar mass! As in it calls for 14g of sugar when it shpuld be 200g. I plan to try again, but I wanted to warn others!
Ah, I see what happened. the automation system took the 1 tbsp. and converted that instead of the entire 1 cup. I am so sorry about that. Post is now updated.
These cookies were so delicious! I weighed my ingredients in grams. I split these into 40g balls and baked at 400°F for 8 minutes. It made 28 cookies total. Perfect cookie for the start of fall!
AMAZING! Thanks so much for making i am glad you enjoyed them!
Omg. These are absolutely delicious! I used my large cookie scoop and got at least 20 cookies. I baked for 8 minutes, and that was the perfect amount of time. I almost didn’t do the glaze, but when I tried the cookies with and without the glaze, I knew it was ab absolute must. This was my first of your recipes, so now I have to find more amazing bakes from your site!
Oh my goodness, thank you so much! I am so glad you enjoyed them and made the glaze 🙂 Excited for you to try moreeee! xo, Tawnie
I made these last year and remember they came out very crumbly (still delicious) – any idea what I may have done wrong? I want to make them again this year and hope to avoid whatever I did!
Hmmm I am so sorry! Are you spooning and leveling the flour instead of sticking the scoop straight into the bag of flour? Sounds like too much flour = dry dough!
These cookies are amazing and so easy to make. Will definitely make these again.
They look beautiful! Thank you so much! 🙂
Can you use vanilla bean powder instead of paste? What measure? Thank you, looking forward to my attempts at making these gf. Looks awesome!!!
Hi! I have never used vanilla bean powder so I am I not sure, but I think it could work?! I hope you love them!! xo, Tawnie
Is there a possibility to have the metric option added to this (and maybe some of the older recipes)
Hi Kelly, yes absolutely, that is a forever project of mine. This post has been updated. Thank you!
They are easy to make and very delicious!
Thanks for the great recipe!
Aw I am so glad, thank you for making! Now I want to make a batch – hehe. xo, Tawnie