Iced Chai Spice Sugar Cookies
A no spread recipe for soft vanilla sugar cookies flavored with warm and cozy chai spices, then iced with vanilla bean icing.
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Equipment
- Food Processor or Pastry Cutter
- Rolling Pin and Cookie Cutters
Ingredients
Cookies
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ¾ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¾ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ¼ tsp ground allspice
- ⅛ tsp ground nutmeg
- ⅛ tsp ground cardamom
- 1 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ cup whole milk
Icing
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 ½ tbsp meringue powder
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 3 ½ tbsp water
- 1 tbsp cinnamon sugar, for decorating
Instructions
Make the Cookie Dough
- In your food processor, pulse the flour, powdered sugar, salt and spices until combined.
- With the processor running, drop in the pieces of butter, one at at time, pulsing a few times until the butter is evenly distributed, and the dough is moistened and crumbly.
- Add the vanilla and the milk, then process until the dough starts to stick together.
- Dump the dough out onto a clean counter and use your hands to finish bringing the dough together, kneading in any stray bits of flour. The dough should be soft, smooth and supple.
- Shape the dough into a flat disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
Roll and Cut the Dough
- Prepare two baking sheets by lining them with sheets of parchment paper.
- On a lightly floured surface, place the disk of dough, and dust the top of the dough with flour, too. Roll out to an even thickness between 1/8 - 1/4 inch thick.
- Use any size/shape cookie cutters to cut as many cookies as you can, placing the cut cookies 2 inches apart on the parchment lined baking sheets. Gather up the scraps of dough, roll them out again, and continue cutting as many cookies as you can. Using a 2 1/2 inch cookie cutter, you should get around 3 dozen cookies.
- Place the baking sheets with the cut cookies in the refrigerator and chill for 30 minutes. Chilling the cut cookies helps to ensure they don't spread and hold their shape perfectly while baking.
Bake the Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
- Bake one pan of cookies at a time, keeping the other pan refrigerated until needed. Bake the chilled cookies on the center oven rack for about 11 1/2 - 12 minutes. The tops should be a very pale golden with no dark browning, and you should see tiny flaky layers around the edges.
- Cool the cookies for 5 minutes on the pan, then very gently transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely before icing. Sugar cookies are delicate when warm, so handle with care.
Ice the Cookies
- In a bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and meringue powder.
- Add the vanilla and water, and whisk until smooth.
- To ice the cookies, hold a cookie by its edges and dip the top of the cookie in the icing. Lightly shake off the excess icing, then set it right side up to dry.
- For embossed cookies (like the turkey, leaves and acorns in the photographs), just very lightly dip them so the icing only catches on the raised portion of the design, but doesn't get into the cracks and grooves. This way, the design will be beautifully highlighted by the icing.
- Let the icing set and dry for about an hour. If you like, lightly sprinkle the cookies with cinnamon sugar for a sparkly finish.
Notes
- Making the Dough without a Food Processor: If you don't have a food processor, you'll need a large bowl and a pastry cutter. In the bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Scatter with the cold butter pieces and use the pastry cutter to cut the butter in until very finely cut and evenly distributed. Drizzle with the vanilla and milk, then use your hands to work the liquid into the dry ingredients until it forms into a soft dough.
- Storing the Baked Cookies: The baked cookies should be cooled completely then stored in an airtight container for up to 5 days. If you won't be frosting and decorating them immediately, freeze the cookies in an airtight container for 3-6 months.
- Freezing the Dough: To make the dough in advance, wrap the disks of dough in plastic wrap, label them, and refrigerate for up to 5 days, or freeze for 3-6 months. Frozen dough should be thawed overnight in the refrigerator. Then take the dough out of the fridge about 1 hour before you're ready to roll out the dough. It should still be cool to the touch when you roll it out, but pliable enough to roll without too much difficulty.
- Storing the Iced Cookies: Iced cookies should be dried completely for at least several hours, before storing in a single layer in an airtight container.
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