Turns out, Taylor Swift has quite the knack for baking. Her most famous recipe is for chai sugar cookies – it makes its rounds just about every year when cozy season (AKA “evermore” season) rolls around. The season has officially started, and instead of marveling at others' creations like I’ve done in years past, I finally decided to tackle the Taylor Swift chai cookies this fall.
The original food blogger (in which Taylor adapted her recipe from), Joy the Baker, notes that these cookies are totally “chewy and tender,” and “perfect for the autumn girlie aesthetic” – just the energy I need from a seasonal sweet treat!
I followed Taylor Swift’s chai cookies recipe as closely as I could, and I was starstruck, honestly, by how painless they were to make! Plus, they came out insanely tasty. Read on as I tackle the ultimatefall dessert recipe and stay tuned for my findings.
Meredith Holser
Enjoying a chai cookie with some hot tea, as Taylor intended! This combo will literally be the best culinary experience you have at home this fall.
The recipe for Taylor Swift's chai cookies is fairly straightforward. All you need to do is measure out and combine every ingredient into a large bowl and mix it all together! After chilling the dough for an hour or so, you'll be ready to roll it into balls before baking in the oven. All in all, making the chai cookies took me under an hour – so this could make for a great weeknight baking project, or a weekend activity to beat a cold-weather slump. I've made them several times for friends' parties!
Ingredients For Taylor Swift's Chai Sugar Cookies
- ½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ½ cup vegetable oil (I used olive oil, since I didn’t have any vegetable oil)
- ½ cup white sugar, plus more for topping
- ½ cup powdered sugar, plus more for the icing
- 1 large egg
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups flour
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 chai tea bag, plus more for the icing
How To Make The Taylor Swift Chai Cookies
Meredith Holser
Rolling the cookie dough in sugar before baking them was a really sweet extra touch.
- Set your oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a cookie sheet and set aside.
- While the oven warms, beat the butter in a large bowl. After it gets fluffy, add the vegetable oil.
- Add the sugar, powdered sugar, egg, and vanilla.
- Add the flour, baking soda, salt, and the chai tea to the bowl, and mix.
- Chill the dough for about an hour.
- Pour a small amount of white sugar onto a plate, for rolling the cookie dough in.
- Roll the dough into 12 balls using your hands, covering each one in the white sugar before placing them on your cookie sheet.
- Bake for “9ish” minutes. I ended up baking them for 10.
- While the cookies are baking, make your chai icing – mix together a small amount (I used about ½ cup) of powdered sugar and half of a chai tea bag. Adding a capful of milk at a time, stir together until you reach your desired icing consistency.
- When the cookies are done and completely cool, cover the tops with the chai icing. Then you’re ready to dig in!
Meredith Holser
The cookie dough didn't need too long in the oven to bake – about 12 minutes for me!
Recipe notes:
- For step 1, pro tip: use the wrapper from your butter to grease your cookie sheet!
- For step 2, I used an electric hand mixer to beat the butter – much less physical work on the baker’s part.
- For step 4, I found that mixing with a fork helped incorporate the mixture really well. I then used a rubber spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl that I missed.
- For step 5, I didn’t end up chilling the dough, but the cookies turned out just fine!
- For step 8, Taylor’s recipe says to bake for 9 minutes, but I found I had to bake mine a little longer, around 12 minutes. This might be because I baked them at a higher altitude here in Colorado!
Loved this Taylor Swift chai cookies recipe? Try baking our chai latte cupcakes, chocolate-pumpkin banana bread, or a yummy apple cider cake!
Photos by Meredith Holser.
This post has been updated.
