Taylor Swift’s Chai Cookies – Updated!

Guess whose birthday is coming up this Saturday?

If you guessed my dad, you’d be right (Happy early birthday, Dad!). But if you guessed Taylor Swift, you’d also be right! Taylor Swift’s birthday is December 13, and in honor of her upcoming birthday – and the holidays, I decided to remake her famous Chai Cookie recipe.

I’ve made Donna Kelce’s chocolate chip cookies (here’s the recipe!), and last year I made Taylor’s Chai cookies (original version here). I enjoyed them, but it was a lot of steps and I never really got the icing to set completely. So this year, I decided to nix the cookie and it wouldn’t go on my holiday cookie plate. That is, until I asked FW to share what his favorite holiday cookies are — and he said these were in his top 3! (He also named chocolate sandwich cookies, which I’ll share the recipe soon – they’re so easy! – and raspberry thumbprints). So, the Taylor Swift Chai Cookies went back onto my list, with a few tweaks – mostly to the frosting.

Here you go – here is the updated Taylor Swift Chai Cookie Recipe. These are similar to a spiced snickerdoodle cookie with a buttercream eggnog frosting. And because of the butter, this frosting actually hardened and was great/easy to freeze!

Taylor Swift’s Chai Cookies (Updated)

(modified from Joy the Baker)

Makes about 2 dozen

Here’s what you need:

For the cookies

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
Pinch of fresh cracked black pepper
1 large egg
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Cinnamon sugar for rolling

For the frosting

4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 – 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 Tablespoons eggnog
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg, plus more for sprinkling the top of the cookies
Leftover cinnamon sugar for sprinkling (optional)

Here’s what you do:

In a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy. Add the vegetable oil and continue to mix. It may look somewhat clumpy and not evenly distributed but keep mixing until it’s pretty smooth.
Add the granulated sugar, powdered sugar, and all of the spices, and continue to mix.
Add the egg and vanilla, and mix on medium speed until completely incorporated.
Turn the mixer to low and stir in the flour, baking soda and salt.
Refrigerate the dough for at least one hour.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare a baking sheet with a silpat mat or parchment paper.
Using a tablespoon, take a scoop of dough and make a ball of it in your hands. Roll the dough ball in a small bowl of cinnamon sugar. If you have leftover cinnamon sugar you made, save it for sprinkling on top the frosting when you’re done!
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Let the cookies sit on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.
When cookies are cool, prepare the frosting: in a medium bowl, mix together softened butter, powdered sugar, eggnog and nutmeg until mixture is spreadable. Place a dallop of frosting on each cookie and spread out from the middle so the frosting doesn’t quite reach the edge of the cookie. Sprinkle with nutmeg and any leftover cinnamon sugar you have from the cookie rolling.

This year, I had an additional cookie helper — GM was able to help me bake so many cookies in the mornings before school/work! He has gotten so big and is great at mixing, rolling, etc. And of course, his favorite part — taste testing!