Taylor Swift is widely renowned for her extensive music collection and endless worldwide tours. But when she’s not filling stadiums in every city on the planet, she’s establishing a name for herself in a different department.
As fans of the 'Tortured Poets Department' singer will know, Taylor once famously shared her recipe for chai sugar cookies. A quintessentially autumnal recipe, Taylor’s own homemade goods tend to circulate online every year at this time.
A sugar cookie, to British bakers, is simply a vanilla biscuit made from sugar, flour, butter, eggs, vanilla, and either baking powder or baking soda. But to stay on theme with autumn, Swift adds a healthy dose of chai leaves, a black tea made with spices such as ginger, cloves, cardamom and black peppercorn, for a sweet 'n' spicy flair.
Image:
Getty Images/iStockphoto)Taylor recommends an eggnog-inspired glaze made with milk or eggnog), nutmeg, and cinnamon, making it the perfect festive season treat - and all ages can make it. Her biscuit - sorry, cookie - recipe is a plain and simple one from Joy the Baker.
What’s even better is that it takes no time at all, so you won’t have to slave away for hours. Here is what you’ll need to replicate Taylor's culinary marvel.
Taylor Swift’s Chai Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
For the cookies:
- 113g unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 118ml vegetable oil
- 115g granulated sugar, plus additional for sugaring tops
- 56g icing sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 tsps vanilla extract, or the seeds of 1 vanilla bean
- 1 bag chai tea leaves
- 250g all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
For the glaze:
- 112g icing sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3 tbsp milk or eggnog
Method
Using a stand mixer or electric mixer, beat the butter on medium speed for about a minute, until it's light and fluffy. Add the oil in the mixture and beat again on medium speed until at least mostly incorporated. The butter and oil might not fully combine, but don’t worry.
Add the granulated sugar, icing sugar, egg, and vanilla, and mix again. Then add one bag of chai tea leaves to the bowl and mix.
Then add dry ingredients - the flour, baking soda, and salt - and mix on low until fully combined. The dough should come out very soft, so it’s best to chill the dough for at least an hour before baking.
When the dough is ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F/180℃. Shape the cookies into balls of dough that are one to two tablespoons large, and sprinkle sugar on top of them. Bake for eight to 12 minutes, depending on size. For softer cookies, remove from the oven before the edges start to brown.
Let the cookies cool, then combine the ingredients for the glaze, and top with glaze and a sprinkle of cinnamon.
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