Packed with warming spices, these chai sugar cookies are perfect for all your fall and winter celebrations. Get this cut out sugar cookie recipe now.
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Taking a break from healthy recipes to bring you what I truly believe to be the BEST sugar cookie recipe. Period.
I know it’s a bold claim, but I promise that you’ll love them! They’re soft, lightly spiced, and hold their shape when baked – what more could you want?
Plus, with the warm spices, these chai spiced sugar cookies are perfect for fall and winter celebrations! Let me show you how to make them!
>>Looking for a healthier recipe? Try these Sugar Cookie Protein Bars instead.
Making sugar cookies that you can roll out takes a bit more time, but the end result is so worth it! Here are the basic steps to make these soft chai sugar cookies:
You can, but I don’t recommend it as your dough is more likely to spread.
If you don’t have time to wait for the butter to soften at room temperature, you can try the bowl method:
Ideally you want to roll out your dough to ¼-inch (0.64cm) thickness
You can, but honestly I don’t recommend it as you’ll lose the delicate spiced flavor. Plus, I find that these cookies are plenty sweet on their own.
If you really want to ice them, I’d recommend either this Cream Cheese Frosting from Sally’s Baking Addiction or Coffee Glaze from Dietitian Debbie.
In order to make cut out sugar cookies that hold their shape, it’s important not to let the butter in your cookie dough get too soft.
This is why many cookie recipes call for chilling the dough for several hours before rolling out and baking.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m not the best at planning my baking ahead of time. Which is why this recipe doesn’t require making the dough several hours or even a day ahead of time (although you definitely can!).
Either let it come to room temperature on it’s own (my preference), or use the heated bowl method mentioned earlier in the post.
Form your dough into 2 thin spheres and freeze for 45 minutes.
Instead of taking both rounds of dough out of the freezer, leave one in while you roll out the other.
If you notice that your dough has gotten quite soft from rolling and re-rolling, place the baking sheet with the cut-out shapes back in the freezer for 10 minutes before baking.
Unless you have a double oven, while your first batch of cookies is baking, I recommend putting the dough back in the freezer. I usually take it back out and start rolling out the next batch as the previous batch is cooling.
If you have multiple baking sheets, you can also roll out and cut the next batch and then store the whole baking sheet in the freezer until it’s time to bake.
I know it sounds like a long time, but otherwise you run the risk of the pan being too hot when you go to put the next round of chai sugar cookies on it.
Any type of cooking spray or butter will only encourage your cookies to spread. However, you don’t want them to stick either.
I highly recommend covering your baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat. The extra friction will further help prevent spreading.
While many recipes call for baking at 325 for 12 minutes or so, I’ve had much better success baking at 375 F for about 8 minutes.
These chai sugar cookies taste best when stored in an airtight container and enjoyed within 1 week. While they’ll technically stay good for up to 2 weeks, they won’t be quite as soft after a week.
You can also freeze leftover sugar cookies in a freezer-safe bag for up to 6 months.
Note: storing the cookies in a glass, airtight container is best for maintaining their texture.
Absolutely! I just recommend forming the dough into a 1 or 2-inch thin circle to help it thaw faster and more evenly.
To freeze cookie dough, wrap each circle of dough in plastic wrap and then place the wrapped dough in a freezer bag. It should stay good for up to 4 months.
To thaw, I recommend placing the dough in the fridge overnight. The next day, transfer the dough to your counter and allow it to finish softening at room temperature.
Looking for healthy recipes to celebrate fall and winter holidays? Try one of these Healthy Toast favorites:
If you tried this chai spice sugar cookie recipe or any other recipe on the blog let me know how you liked it by leaving a comment/rating below!
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Making these for a fall treat? Get these adorable Fall & Thanksgiving Cookie Cutters!
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I read that in earlier part of description to make cookies you mention vanilla mixed with egg milk( butter sugar). But in actual recipe there is no mention of vanilla. It may not make much difference to the recipe, or it could with spice flavors. Can you clarify?? Thanks so much.
Thanks for catching that Toni! I just updated the recipe.
I tried making these over the weekend, but I wasn’t a huge fan of the texture. It was very reminiscent of shortbread, and that’s not a texture that I like or think of when I think of sugar cookies. I like them in a softer and chewy-er style. Is there a way I could reformat this recipe for less of shortbread cookie style and more chewy sugar cookie style?
I’m sorry you found the texture to be too shortbread-y and not what you expect of sugar cookies. As they’re designed to be good for rolling and cutting out, they’re going to be less chewy in order to hold their shape when baked. As I haven’t tried making them as a chewy cookie, I’d recommend searching for a recipe that’s already designed to be a chewy sugar cookie and then add my chai spice mix to that recipe.
This looks amazing. I love the way how you make the cookies. I am sure it taste good too
Thanks Saif! They definitely taste just as good (if not better) than how they look 😉
I love sugar cookies and these chai sugar cookies are really next level! yum!
Right?! They just a add a little something special to traditional sugar cookies. Thanks Emily!
I am so tempted to try these chai sugar cookies! Love the star shape!
They’re so good! I hope you give them a try 🙂
These are so yummy! I just made a batch of these today with kids and we decorated them in a Halloween theme.
Thanks Shanna, I’m so glad you guys liked them! Such a good idea!!
These look phenomenal! A mild, sweet treat!
They’re so good! Exactly, definitely sweet but just the right amount 😉