Taylor Swift not only gives her fans sweet songs, but also sugary treats! The singer’s fall chai cookie recipe is the stuff of legend for Swifties.
In fall 2014, the Grammy winner, now 33, shared a photo of her confectionary creation via Instagram. “Chai sugar cookies with cinnamon eggnog icing AKA Christmas in September,” she wrote in the caption.
A fan on Tumblr demanded the recipe, and she was quick to give her followers what they wanted. “MMMKAY — there are two ways you can go about this,” she explained. “The quick and easy way is to make sugar cookies from a sugar cookie mix and just cut open a packet of chai tea and pour it into the batter as you make it. Cause you’re busy and you want making cookies to be a chill part of your day. Pow. Done.”
Swift also shared how she first created her homemade cookies, revealing she adapted instructions from Joy the Baker for her 1989 Secret Sessions, in which she invited fans to listen to the album for the first time at her home.
“This is a recipe for basic insanely good sugar cookies,” Swift wrote at the time. “I added the chai element to the recipe because I thought it would infuse cozy holiday vibez into the cookie and it really did. So I’ll star the part that I added in the recipe.”
The “Style” singer noted that in addition to the standard recipe, she dumped a packet of chai into the mix. “After you add the egg and vanilla, cut one chai tea packet open and empty the crushed up tea leaves into the batter CAUSE CHAI COOKIES ARE ABOUT TO HAPPEN UP IN HERE,” Swift wrote.
She gave fans even clearer instructions when she shared an autographed recipe page in November 2014. Her handwritten recipe was auctioned off by Gotta Have Rock and Roll in 2019. While we can’t help you get your hands on Swift’s autographed ingredient list (the winner paid $4,189), we can share the directions she wrote out.
Taylor Swift’s Chai Sugar Cookies and Icing Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 sticks of butter (room temperature)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp ground ginger (I didn’t have that, so I grated just a little fresh ginger in)
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground allspice
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- a pinch of black pepper
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups flour
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
Method
1. Oven at 350°F, grease cookie sheet
2. Beat butter and add vegetable oil
3. Add sugar, powered sugar, egg and vanilla
4. Star in flour, backing soda and salt (and tea!)
5. Chill the soft dough for about 1 hour
6. Line cookie sheet with 12 tbsp dough drops
7. Press Evenly and cover with sugar
8. Nine-ish minutes in the oven
9. Cover with icing when cool completely
Icing Method
While Swift’s handwritten recipe doesn’t give icing instructions, her Tumblr post made it clear. “I made an icing for the cookies, but they’re fine on their own. If you want to make icing for them, just mix 1 cup powdered sugar with 1/4 T-spoon of nutmeg, 1/4 T-spoon of cinnamon and 3 TAYblespoons <—-(I’m so annoying, it astounds me sometimes) of milk or eggnog if you can find it this time of year,” she wrote. “The more milk/eggnog you add, the more your icing will become a glaze. But glazes are legit too so basically just LIVE YOUR LIFE.”
Festive Options
She also suggested topping with spices. “I lightly sprinkled cinnamon over the icing once the cookies were baked and iced, but there are so many icing options you can pair with these cookies — I mean it’s out of control,” Swift penned at the time. “If you’re really feeling like living on the edge, you can go ahead and add a few drops of food coloring to the icing to make it festive. No one is going to stop you.”
“Why? Cause the bakers gonna bake bake bake bake bake,” Swift concluded.
