Cookies

Chai Spice Cream Cheese Cookies

Gail

Combine warm chai spices with soft cream cheese cookie dough and you get these Chai Spice Cream Cheese Cookies.

Two skull shaped cookies sit side by side on an old cookie sheet. The cookie on the right is decorated with a white buttercream base, candy eyes and black lines for nostrils and mouth. The cookie on the left has a white buttercream base, candy eyes, black nostrils and mouth and colorful designs scattered around the skull.

This post has been several years in the making. I originally made these cookies to entertain some friends when they came to my house three years ago.  

I met Ben when he was a principal of a private middle/high school in Cambodia. I was working with teachers in the area and I volunteered to help the science teachers at this chain of private schools.

It turns out that Ben was also starting to attend St. George Orthodox Church in Phnom Penh so I met the rest of his family there. 

Three kids sitting at a table decorating cookies. The view is from the side and above. They are facing the right side of the photo.

Ben and Adina have four sweet children: Talia, Elias, Ezra and Zoe.  Zoe was a toddler when they came to visit so she wasn’t that interested in decorating cookies. 

I baked the cookies in advance and iced them with some vanilla buttercream as a base. We used squeeze on decorator icing and candy eyes to keep things simple. I also laid sheets of wax paper on the table so the mess would be contained.

Six skull shaped chai spice cream cheese cookies arranged on a rack to dry. There are three cookies in each column and the view is from above. Each cookie is covered with a base of white buttercream frosting and has two candy eyes. The cookie in the lower left corner is decorated mostly with green and red squiggles and black sprinkles. The cookie in the middle left is half orang and half yellow with a black sprinkles in a line for a mouth. The cookie in the upper left has red diagonal lines in both directions creating a checkered look. It has a green squiggly mouth. The cookie in the upper right has concentric ovals of squiggly colors. The middle oval is green, then yello, then red and then orange. The middle right cookie has four red ovals that come together on the right side of the cookie (like a fan with the point on the right). There are small green ovals in between the large red ovals. The cookie in the bottom right has red, orange, yellow and green spirals and circles arranged randomly

Look at their amazing work! Theirs are so much more creative than mine. 

Now these chai spice cream cheese cookies are amazing with or without icing. They are soft and the chai spices come through nicely.

 

Chai Spice Cream Cheese Cookies

Six skull shaped chai spice cream cheese cookies arranged on a rack to dry. There are three cookies in each column and the view is from above. Each cookie is covered with a base of white buttercream frosting and has two candy eyes. The cookie in the lower left corner is decorated mostly with green and red squiggles and black sprinkles. The cookie in the middle left is half orang and half yellow with a black sprinkles in a line for a mouth. The cookie in the upper left has red diagonal lines in both directions creating a checkered look. It has a green squiggly mouth. The cookie in the upper right has concentric ovals of squiggly colors. The middle oval is green, then yello, then red and then orange. The middle right cookie has four red ovals that come together on the right side of the cookie (like a fan with the point on the right). There are small green ovals in between the large red ovals. The cookie in the bottom right has red, orange, yellow and green spirals and circles arranged randomly

Ingredients

  • 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 ounces cream cheese
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 teaspoons cardamom
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3 cups flour
  • Powdered sugar for dusting.

Instructions

  1. Cream butter and sugar together.
  2. Blend in the cream cheese, egg and vanilla.
  3. Blend in the spices, salt and baking powder.
  4. Blend in the flour.
  5. Refrigerate at least one hour before rolling out.
  6. Roll to 1/4 inch thickness on powder sugar dusted surface and cut with cookie cutters.
  7. Place cookies on parchment lined cookie sheets and bake at 350°F for 12 minutes or until golden.
  8. Cool on racks and decorate with icing.
© Gail Dickinson

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