Cozy Spiced Chai and Ginger Christmas Sugar Cookie Recipe
There is something deeply comforting about home baking in winter.
No frantic energy, but the slow kind. The kind where the kettle is always on, the light outside fades early, and the kitchen smells faintly of spice long after the oven has cooled.
These chai and ginger sugar cookies are exactly that kind of bake. Familiar, but elevated. And very very cozy. I adore classic sugar cookies as a simple staple, but sometimes you need some festive spice. A recipe that feels like it could belong to any century, passed down, scribbled in the margins of a notebook, made again each year with small variations depending on mood.
They’re soft for a gentle bite and gently spiced with hints of chai, ginger and cinnamon. Icing dripping over the edges. The sort of cookie you eat with your hands wrapped around a mug.
I'm not into perfection, I love when creations look rustic and truly homemade so don't worry about making these look completely neat and tidy. Slapping on icing and making up designs is the best part.
Have fun using this recipe to create your own delicious rustic homemade Christmas cookies...
Time to make: 3-4 hrs
Ingredients:
For the cookies:
- 260g Plain Flour
- 180g Granulated Sugar
- 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
- 3 tbsp of Chai Latte Drink Spice (I use Arkadia)
- 2 tsp of Ground Ginger
- 2 tsp of Ground Cinnamon
- 170g Room Temp Unsalted Butter
- 1 Egg
- Pinch of Salt
- 2 tsp of Vanilla Extract
For the icing:
- 360g Icing sugar
- 50ml water
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Method:
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, pinch of salt and 3 spices listed above all together in a bowl.
- In a separate bowl, using an electric whisk, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the egg and vanilla and continue to whisk together. Keep scraping down the sides.
- Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients to the wet, mixing together to slowly form a soft dough. If the dough gets a bit dry, add some milk or water until you have a soft dough that doesn't fall apart. We don't want it to be sticky but dry dough is very hard to keep together and roll later on.
- Divide the dough into two separate rounds and wrap each in cling wrap.
- Put the round doughs in the fridge to chill for around 1-2 hours. This is to harden up the butter in the dough before we roll. If you're short on time, I like to put them in the freezer for a quick 30 minute cold snap.
- While the dough is chilling, pre-heat the oven to 160 degrees celsius and line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
- Lay out an extra sheet of baking paper on the counter and lightly dust with icing sugar (I prefer to roll cookie dough on icing sugar than flour).
- Once the dough is chilled, remove it from the fridge. After warming it up in my hands, I like to moisten the dough slightly with water on my hands to make sure it isn't too dry.
- Place the round dough on to the baking paper sheet on the counter and cover it with the second baking paper sheet. Use the rolling pin to roll the dough to around 0.5 cm thick, or eyeball it like I do- not too thick or thin. Rolling the dough in the middle of the baking paper sheets will stop it sticking to the rolling pin.
- When the dough is rolled out, use your cookie cutters to cut shapes and place them on the lined baking trays ready for the oven. Re-roll the excess dough until it's all gone.
- This recipe yields around 30 cookies so you can cook on the trays in a few batches. Cook the cookies in the oven for 10 minutes for a pale colour or 12 minutes if you want them to be slightly more browned off.
- Cycle through the rolling-cutting-traying-cooking until you have used up all the dough.
- When all the cookies have been cooked and are totally cool, mix the icing sugar slowly in stages with the water and vanilla. Try to make a consistency where the icing holds a shape in the bowl when you drizzle it in. I find it easier to work with a thicker icing so it doesn't all run off the cookies.
- Decorate with a piping bag or just the back of a spoon and enjoy!
