Why You Should Add Chai Spices To Your Favorite Sugar Cookies

Perhaps nothing elicits warm memories like fresh-baked cookies. The smell from the oven permeates the house, bringing a sense of cozy warmth. Some are more complex than others, but even if you're not an experienced baker, sugar cookies can be a simple gateway into the oven life. They're one of the easiest cookies to bake for beginners, and there are certainly a number of ingredients that make sugar cookies shine — you can even go from sweet to savory. But one of the best additions that balances sweetness is chai spice.

Chowhound spoke with Christina Tosi, the chef and owner of Milk Bar, for her expert advice when making chai spice cookies. Recently, she teamed up with McCormick to create the McCormick x Milk Bar Eggnog English Toffee Cookie, proving that unconventional combinations can yield delicious results. To add chai spices to your sugar cookies, Tosi says, "You can either open chai tea bags and add the contents in with the dry ingredients of the cookie recipe (I'd start with 1 to 2 bags depending on the chai's intensity), or chai tea mix (I'd start with 2 to 3 tablespoons, reducing some sugar in the recipe, if your tea mix contains sugar)."

Depending on how much spice you want in your chai spice cookies, you can go light or heavy. Think of your standard sugar cookie recipe as a blank canvas to paint as you wish. If you need some help choosing a chai for your cookie, our ranking of store-bought chai may come in handy, but you can also create the flavor using spices in your cupboard. Christina Tosi says, "You can easily 'blend your own' chai flavor into cookies by opening one to two black tea bags and adding classic chai spices like cinnamon, ground cardamom, ground ginger, allspice, and clove."

While any sugar cookie recipe can work with chai flavors, she recommends something on the denser side, heavy on the butter to give it a nice chew. You'll want to go with one part butter for about three parts flour. Using a blend of white and brown sugar will help add moisture and keep them soft. An additional egg yolk can also help create a richer texture, leaving the cookies more soft than crispy. They'll come out golden brown on the outside and chewy in the middle, and you'll be able to savor all the warm flavors of chai spice with the buttery sweetness of sugar cookies.