Description
Perfectly sweet chai spice sugar cookies sandwiched with the most delicious maple browned butter frosting. These autumn-inspired cookies are soft, buttery, and infused with warming chai spices like cinnamon, cardamom, and ginger. Shaped like fall leaves and optionally dipped in white chocolate with chai sugar, they’re the ultimate Thanksgiving cookie!
Ingredients
Cookie Dough:
3 sticks (1½ cups) salted butter, at room temperature
1¼ cups light brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature
4½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
1 teaspoon baking soda
1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon black pepper
Browned Butter Frosting:
2 sticks (1 cup) salted butter, at room temperature
3 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
⅓ cup real maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Optional Toppings:
Melted white chocolate, for dipping
Chai sugar for sprinkling (mix regular sugar with chai spices)
Instructions
1. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes.
2. Add eggs one at a time, mixing until evenly combined.
3. Add flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, allspice, nutmeg, salt, and black pepper. Beat until combined and dough forms a ball.
4. Generously flour your work surface. Divide dough in half and flatten each half into a disk.
5. Roll out dough to ¼ inch thickness, using plenty of flour to prevent sticking.
6. Cut out cookies using autumn-themed cookie cutters (maple leaves work beautifully).
7. Transfer cookies to parchment-lined baking sheets. Cover and freeze until firm, 15-20 minutes.
8. Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
9. Bake cookies on middle rack for 8-12 minutes until just lightly golden brown. Don’t overbake!
10. Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire cooling rack to cool completely.
11. For frosting: Add 1 stick butter to a skillet over medium heat. Cook, stirring often, until butter browns and smells toasted, 2-3 minutes.
12. Transfer browned butter to mixing bowl and let cool to room temperature.
13. Add remaining stick of room temperature butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, maple syrup, and vanilla to bowl.
14. Beat until light and fluffy. Add more powdered sugar if frosting seems too loose.
15. Optional: Dip half the cookies in melted white chocolate to coat about ⅓ of the top and sprinkle with chai sugar.
16. Spread frosting on plain cookie halves, then top with chocolate-dipped cookies (or plain cookies if not using chocolate).
17. Press gently to adhere. Serve immediately or store in airtight container up to 3 days.
Notes
Use plain salted butter at room temperature for best results.
Don’t skip the freezing step – it prevents cookies from spreading during baking.
Make sure cookies are completely cool before frosting or it will melt.
For gluten-free version, substitute Cup4Cup flour in equal amounts.
Browned butter must cool to room temperature before making frosting.
Cookies actually taste better the next day as flavors meld together.
Dough can be made 3 days ahead and refrigerated, or frozen for up to 3 months.
Baked unfrosted cookies freeze well for up to 2 months.
Chai sugar: mix ¼ cup sugar with pinches of cinnamon, cardamom, and ginger.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 sandwich cookie
- Calories: 285
- Sugar: 18g
- Sodium: 180mg
- Fat: 14g
- Saturated Fat: 9g
- Unsaturated Fat: 4g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 38g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 3g
- Cholesterol: 45mg