No-Butter Chai Spiced Cookies
It's October. Ugh. Winter is coming. It's too cold. I can't. I may not be able to hold back the tears. NOOOOOOO. Summer, come back.
I need all the warm and comforting things right now. I need tea. And cookies. Warm and comforting tea and cookies.
Like chai tea. And chai cookies. Because what's a more cozy cookie than one filled with all the cozy chai spices?
Here's the spice list for these cookies: cinnamon and ginger and nutmeg and cardamom and black pepper and cloves. And yes, I did mean to write black pepper.
Not only are these chai cookies filled with all those spices, they're also additionally rolled in a sugar, cinnamon, ginger mixture. For maximum flavor and coziness.
The season is starting to look a little better now.
Can we talk about how thick and gooey and soft and puffy and pillowy and dense and rich these cookies are? Or, we don't have to talk about it at all, and you can just check out the magic for yourself in that pile you see right above.
See?? THIIIIIICK. And puffy and pillowy. And maybe you can't tell just by looking at the photo and you'll therefore just have to trust me on this one, but these chai spiced cookies are so soft and gooey and rich too.
Oh, and guess what? These chai cookies are dairy-free as well. Coconut oil is used in place of butter. Melted coconut oil. So you don't even have to deal with any electrical appliances to cream the mixture for these cookies. A bowl and a spatula and a hand are all you'll need.
When I was playing around with this recipe, I originally used brown butter instead of the coconut oil. Because I figured brown butter, with its deep flavors of butterscotch and hazelnut and caramel, would pair perfectly with all the warm spices in the recipe.
But it didn't. I don't know how or why, because brown butter is one of the best things this world has to offer, but it just didn't work for these cookies.
So I used refined coconut oil instead, which has a completely neutral flavor, but affords cookies the richest, softest texture. And the cookies were waaaaaaay better than they were with the butter. Mind-boggling, but a win nonetheless.
Oooh, and these cookies require zero fridge time for dough chilling.
All you gotta do is whisk together the wet ingredients, stir in the dry (including all those cozy, comforting, chai spices), shape the balls, roll them in a coating of more spices, and bake 'em.
And nine minutes later, you've got yourself rich, thick, soft, gooey, spiced, comforting, dairy-free chai spiced cookies. About thirty of them. Which should be just enough cookies for you and one friend. Maybe even two friends, if you're feeling generous.
Pair the cookies with milk or coffee or hot chocolate. Or chai tea, if you really wanna be redundant and slightly overdo it. Because who cares about overdoing things when winter is coming and you need allllll the comforting tea and cookies?
No-Butter Chai Spiced Cookies
Yield: about 30 cookies
3/4 cup melted coconut oil*
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups packed flour
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
Coating:
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Melt the coconut oil and measure out 3/4 cup. Add to a large bowl and let cool slightly.
Add sugars into bowl with coconut oil and mix together till smooth. Add in egg and vanilla extract and stir vigorously until smooth again.
Add dry ingredients on top of wet and stir everything together until just combined.
In a small bowl, stir together coating ingredients.
Round medium pieces of dough between palms and then roll in the coating mixture, coating generously. Repeat with rest of dough, spacing balls out onto baking sheets.
Bake chai cookies for 9-10 minutes, or until tops just begin to crack and the edge of a cookie can be lifted off the sheet with your finger.
*Note: use refined coconut oil if you don't want any coconut flavor in your cookies.
