These Vanilla Chai Shortbread Cookies are simple to make with just butter, flour, sugar, and tea, they have a little spice and a whole lot of cozy!
Vanilla Chai Shortbread Cookies
These Vanilla Chai Shortbread Cookies are one of my most popular recipes here on the blog and once you try them, you’ll know why! You’ll find their buttery, spicy, deliciousness hard to resist and they’re perfect for a cookie swap!
Can you believe another year has pretty much come and gone? Each year in early December, I participate in The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap.
Basically, a bunch of food bloggers make cookies (no surprise there) and we each get the names of three others to send our cookies to.
And then we get cookies from three other bloggers! Don’t forget to scroll down to the bottom to enter to win $400 in cash and check out 25 of the best Christmas cookies recipes around!
But you know what the best part is, though? Yes, even better than giving and receiving awesome cookies. Is that we all do this for a greater cause.
We team up with Cookies for Kids’ Cancer every year and donate to this amazing charity while spreading tons and tons of cookie joy!
Then we have companies like Land O’Lakes, Dixie Crystals, and OXO who support us along the way! That’s pretty incredible, right? I think so!
It’s pretty much the coolest thing ever and I always get really anxious waiting for my cookies to come and waiting for the reactions from those who received them from me.
This year I actually had two friends who received my cookies: Julie from Bread Booze Bacon and April from Mama Loves Food.
It was funny because when I posted a teaser picture of these cookies on Instagram, they both commented unknowing that some were already on their way to each of their doorsteps!
But anyways, you’re probably here for the good stuff, not all the mumbo-jumbo of how this recipe came to be, right?
The good stuff is these cookies. These crisp and buttery shortbread cookies are laced with vanilla chai tea leaves and then dipped in a vanilla spice icing for the full effect.
Did you know that Chai just means tea, what we often think of as Chai here in the states is actually Masala Chai which originated in India and is made with black tea, Indian spices, milk, and sugar?
We just shortened it up as we often do and now associate Chai with creamy lattes rather than the straight-up tea the word actually means.
Tools You’ll Need For This Recipe:
- Chai tea – I recommend just using the tea from tea bags, just cut the bags open and dump the tea into the butter for mixing. I like these teas because the leaves tend to be smaller and work great for this recipe.
- Rolling pin – You’ll need to roll out your dough before cutting.
- Cookie Cutters – You can make fun shapes or keep it simple with round cookie cutters.
- Parchment paper – It’s important to line your cookie sheet with parchment paper for best results.
- Cookie sheet – For baking the cookies on!
More Delicious Cookie Recipes:
- Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies
- Brown Butter Toffee Bourbon Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Sticks
- Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies
- Butterbeer Pudding Cookies
- Salted Chocolate Chunk Shortbread
Let’s Connect!
If you’ve tried this recipe, please let me know how you liked it in the comments below and leave a review. I love hearing from you!
Don’t forget to tag me – @sugarandsoulco – on Instagram and Pinterest with your photos or join our Sugar & Soul Show-offs Community and share them there, where you can join our recipe challenges!
Vanilla Chai Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies:
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 2 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 bags of Vanilla Chai Tea loose
Icing:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tbsp water
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Cream butter and confectioners sugar in a large bowl or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.
- Add in flour, salt, and loose tea leaves. continue to mix until a soft dough forms, the mix will be dry and crumbly at first but will come together.
- Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface until it’s ¼ inch thick.
- Cut out cookies using a 2 in round cookie cutter.
- Bake on a parchment-lined baking sheet for 18-20 minutes or until edges are a golden brown and transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Once cooled, whisk together icing ingredients until smooth. Dip half of each cookie in the icing, let excess drip off and run a spoon along the edge to remove any extra, then place on wax paper to set.
Video
Notes
- For a stronger initial flavor, mix the butter and tea leaves together about 6 hours ahead of time to infuse.
- For more, smaller cookies, use a 1 1/2 in round cookie cutter and bake for 12-15 minutes. Will yield around 36 cookies.
Nutrition
Did You Make This Recipe?
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Comments & Reviews
Deborah L Kaufman says
Good with orange or lemon tea and Grated rind of each.
Kathryn says
Left tea butter mix for three weeks in fridge—can I still use it today? Don’t wanna buy more butter if I don’t have to
Rebecca Hubbell says
It should be fine!
Nikki P says
These are my favorite cookies of ALL time. I’m not big on sweets and these are just PERFECT for sweet but not full of sugar.
Tricha says
I have made these every xmas for the last 4-5 years. I cream butter and chai tea 3-4 days in advance. I have also used bengal spice tea which is same spices as chai. Both r a big hit!!! And instead of rolling out dough and using cookie cutter, i just roll dough in mind hand to form a ball then flatten bit with fork. Works perfect!!! These r a big hit in my whole family every year. Im so glad I came across this recipe
Chris says
The flavor was great, but I had to add an extra 1/2 stick of butter to get the dough to come together. They also cooked for closer to 25 minutes in my oven.
Lorraine May says
Can you make the dough ahead of time and bake later? I’m making these as part of cookie boxes I do every year!
Rebecca Hubbell says
Yes, you can!
April says
I made a half batch. One substitution was for chai spice instead of tea leaves – I got an authentic mix from a local Indian shop. I put 18 cookies on a tray (2” are small!) and cooked them for 16 minutes. They were overdone 🙁
My next batch is going in for 12.
Amanda says
Do you think these would freeze well? When I make this recipe we get SO MANY cookies and was thinking maybe I can freeze part of the batch.
Rebecca Hubbell says
Yes, they absolutely do!
Kathleen says
Do you think rolling them into a 2” log and slicing them would work?
Rebecca Hubbell says
Yes, it should!
Guin says
So good! I infused the butter with the chai in my oil infuser and then strained the leaves before re-chilling to mix into the cookies. I found that icing the entire top of the cookie was prettier and easier than dipping in half way.
Karma says
These are incredible! I will definitely make them again. Next time I want to try infusing the butter in advance like in the tip, but didn’t think ahead today.
Rebecca Hubbell says
Yes, the butter infusion makes them even more incredible! So glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for leaving a review!
Linda says
These were so good but my icing was dark in color. The vanilla and cinnamon possibly?
Rebecca Hubbell says
Possibly. You could always use clear vanilla in the future if you wanted a lighter icing.