These spice tea cookies with chai icing are an easy cookie to make for your next cookie swap. Or just sample a few with your next cup of coffee or tea.
Every year my friend Melanie is kind enough to organize and host a cookie swap. I’m pretty new to the cookie swap idea but have found that it’s great for someone like me who is not a big baker. You make one kind of cookie and come home with a huge variety of cookies for the holidays. It’s a cookie lovers dream! Last year I made a bacon and pretzel chocolate chip cookie which turned out great but this year I was in the mood for some type of spice cookie and came up with this spice tea cookie with chai icing. (Update: I was one of the winner this year to try these out!)
I bought some decaffeinated chai tea from the grocery store and was a bit disappointed with small amount of chai spice in it. If I had a loose leaf Steeped chai tea I would have used that in a heartbeat because they are very flavorful teas. However all I had was two almost empty boxes of Celestial teas: Bengal Spice and Gingerbread. They are very strong and delicious teas but I only had a few bags left to use. If I made these again I might try more tea bags in the batter to get that spicy chai taste but the icing definitely has enough chai flavor so everything works the way it is in this recipe.
So I had intended to use chai tea in the batter but since that didn’t work out I concentrated on the icing. I had bought the royal icing from a candy shop and just doctored it up with some spices. It definitely had the chai flavoring and turned out great with the rest of the cookie. If you just want to make the cookie and not the icing, add a bit more of the teas to the batter. If you are not freaked out about eating batter, taste it and add more tea if you think it needs it. But keep in mind the flavor will lessen once they are cooked. So even if it’s strong it will be less so when you bake it.
Spice Tea Cookies with Chai Icing
I know it’s a little late in the season for a cookie recipe but I really liked these and wanted to share them with you all. While I’m sure you know to take the tea out of the bags, you have to take the tea out of the bags. And if you don’t have these specific teas, you can substitute with any type of spice flavored tea. You could even eliminate them altogether as long as you use the chai icing. Enjoy!
Spice Tea Cookies with Chai Icing
Ingredients
- 2¼ cup flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ cup butter
- ½ cup butter flavored Crisco
- ¾ granulated sugar
- ¾ cup brown sugar packed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 2 bags of Celestial Seasonings Bengal Spice tea remove bags
- 2 bags of Celestial Seasonings Gingerbread tea remove bags
Chai Icing
- 1 cup royal icing
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1/8 teaspoon cardamon ground
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
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In a large bowl mix the flour, salt, tea and baking soda.
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With your mixer cream the butter, Crisco, sugar, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla until creamy.
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Slowly add your flour mixture until everything is well combined. May have to scrap down the sides to get everything mixed.
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Place your cookies on a cookie sheet (not greased) and bake for 10-12 minutes depending on the size of your cookies.
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Check for doneness and desired color.
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Let cool completely before icing.
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For the icing: Mix the royal icing with the cinnamon, ginger, cardamon and pumpkin spice.
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When cookies are completely cooled, decorate with the icing. I used a squeeze bottle.
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Let the cookies sit out overnight to harden the icing.
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This recipe makes enough icing for a double batch of cookies so you can cut it in half if you are making a single batch.
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Enjoy!
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Thoracias
Found on Pinterest. Apparently from the the comments here I’m the first to actually babe these? First of, theres a missing instruction…you never say what to do with the cookie dough other than bake the cookies. But the consistency was too thin to dvoop or roll so i assumed from your pictures of perfectly found cookies you either chilled the dough enough to roll and cut or slice and bake.
I chose to freeze it in logs, slice and bake.
Second of all…these freaking cookies are delicious!!! Lol
I will be making these a lot!
Denise
Hi Thoracias,
I’m sorry the dough was runny for you. I honestly can’t see why because it’s basically. chocolate chip cookie dough with the tea leaves added. Did you add liquid brewed tea? Any way I’m glad you liked them and if anyone else has that problem hopefully your comment will help them out! I originally made these for a cookie swap and everyone seemed to like them. If I get a chance I will make them again and try to figure out what’s wrong.
Thoracias
Just made these again sms they came out perfect. I’m wondering if it was just the humidity or something that day from all the other baking I’d done. Either way they are delicious!
Denise
So glad they worked for you. I’m not much of a baker but the temperature could have a effect I believe. Regardless, glad they worked better.
Marisa Franca @ All Our Way
What a wonderful flavor for the holidays! It’s exactly what Christmas sweets is about — spicy, rich in taste. I really like how you decorated the tops — adorable. I’m pinning and planning on making.
Denise
Thanks Marisa, I hope you like them!
Michelle
Those cookies look and sound delicious. I love chai in baking!
Denise
Thanks Michelle!
Veena Azmanov
I love gingerbread cookies and chai spice is my favorite! Sounds so delicious. I bake more at Christmas than during the whole year.
Denise
I bake more at Christmas too….but that’s not saying much. 🙂
Jolina
I love baking with tea! And these cookies look amazing. I’m not very good with cookie decorating though. So I really like your simple designs. They look adorable and perfect for the season.
Denise
I am not good at decorating at all that is why it is a simple design and also as much as I love icing, I didn’t want to have too much on the cookies.
Gloria @ Homemade & Yummy
Ok…so I can never get enough gingerbread…so this is a winner for me. Chai is another flavour that I enjoy all year long. I think I need to be able to decorate these with bunnies….and we can use this recipe all year long.
Denise
Great idea!