Fall Flavour Profile: Chai Tea Cookies

Fall might be my favourite season.

Sure, the weather is getting colder and carefree afternoons spent drinking wine and lounging on a patio might be finished, but fall has some wonderful things that keep me excited about the seasonal change, mainly fashion and food.

Fall fashion this year is exceptional. In lieu of the Spring/Summer ’15 collection debuts at Fashion Week, people are attending shows in some fresh autumnal outfits. Check out Vogue’s style profiles from Paris Fashion Week here. 

I like the visible monochromatic trend so much, I also wrote a piece about it that you can read here.

Now for food, because fall flavour profiles are pretty wonderful. We already made a tasty #pumpkinspice granola on the blog a couple of weeks ago (you can find the recipe here).

Everyone seems to have jumped on the pumpkin spice bandwagon this year. Rach and I were walking by a jean store on Queen West that had a sign, “Come in and try on our pumpkin spice jeans!” Do they also come in gluten-free skim milk? Cause Toronto girls will flock by the dozens.

While pumpkin spice is definitely delicious, for me the king of fall flavours is chai. Chai tea lattes have been a staple indulgence in my diet since Laguna Beach ran on MTV. The exotic aroma and decadent taste couple together to create a cozy feeling from the moment the frothy goodness touches your lips.

BUT WHO SAYS THE CHAI PARTY NEEDS TO END WITH TEA? (Clearly, not me.)

During midterms, I always stress out and bake. So friends, I present to you, the fruit of my procrastinations, chai spice cookies.

CHAI TEA COOKIES

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 egg
• 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 cup salted butter at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Baking Instructions: 

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine the sugar, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, allspice, black pepper, and cloves. Remove 1/4 cup of the sugar–spice mixture and set aside for rolling the cookies.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar–spice mixture until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes (I used a spoon because I left my beaters at my parent’s place).

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Beat in the egg and vanilla extract, mixing until fully incorporated. Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix until consistent with cookie dough texture.

Roll the dough into 1-inch balls. Roll each ball in the reserved sugar–spice mixture. Place dough balls about 1 inch apart on prepared baking sheet.

        

Bake until puffed, golden, and the surface starts to crack, about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove cookies from oven and let stand on baking sheet for 2 minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool.

ENJOY! Try to limit yourself to about five- five cookies ( and five episodes of bad reality television to make you feel better about your decision to eat so many cookies).

*Recipe modified from http://www.jamesbeard.org/recipes/chewy-chai-spiced-sugar-cookies

Cheers,