I’ll just say it – I’ve been in a cooking rut. For dinner, Ryan has been the more adventurous cook while I’ve stuck to old favorites like beginner chicken dinner, baked salmon, and pad thai. I’ve barely been baking either. This winter I’ve applied my creative energies to knitting and have been letting my cookbooks go dusty. However, there is one new recipe in my life. It’s this one for chai chocolate chip cookies.
Cookies are my absolute favorite things to make, so I love trying something new. This recipe has all the comfort of a chocolate chip cookie but paired with the warming spices of chai it’s slightly elevated. It’s been perfect for the chilly days we keep having. I’m longing for spring, and while DC keeps getting snippets of warm weather, it doesn’t seem to stay put!
While I’ve called this recipe, chai chocolate chip cookies, I don’t actually use chocolate chips. You totally can, but currently I’m into roughly chopped bars of dark chocolate. I like doing this because it creates cookies with uneven globs of chocolate scattered throughout. Sometimes a lot of chocolate, sometimes a little, and that’s a delightful surprise. As well, chocolate bars don’t have the stabilizers of chips, so the chocolate melts into a gooey decadent blobs.
I also like this recipe because it’s a little bit flexible based on what I have in my pantry. I’ve been making it with some whole wheat flour because I like the heartier, nuttier flavor it gives. Alternatively, you can use 100% all-purpose flour if that’s what you’ve got on hand. As well, you can use 100% granulated sugar – but I enjoy doing a mix of white and brown sugar for a more rich flavor. In fact, when I haven’t had enough of either sugar, I’ve also used coconut sugar! Go with what you have and I’m sure you’ll end up with a delicious cookie.
Last thing – for aesthetic purposes I like to roll the dough into balls and then gently flatten with the bottom of a glass. I think it makes the cookies look really nice once baked. However, you can plop small heaps of dough onto a baking pan and the cookies will bake up fine – just a little bit thicker and lumpier. Again, they’re pretty flexible cookies.
Hopefully, when spring is unequivocally here and the farmers markets are open again, I think I’ll be inspired to shake off my cooking rut. Until then, I’ll stick to baking cookies – and that’s not so bad!
Adapted from My Baking Addiction.
Messy level: Not really messier than any other drop cookie recipe. The dough gets rolled in the spices, and that can lead to spills on the counter, though that’s not so hard to clean up!
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- 2½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
- ½ teaspoon ground allspice
- ¼ teaspoon finely ground black pepper
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 egg
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4-6 oz dark chocolate bar, roughly chopped
- Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone mat.
- In a large bowl, stir together all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
- In a large bowl combine granulated sugar, brown sugar cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, allspice and black pepper. If you're going to use a stand mixer, do this step in the bowl of your stand mixer.
- Scoop out ¼ cup of the sugar-spice mixture and put in a small bowl. A cereal bowl or something similar will do fine. You need this for later to roll the cookie dough in the spices.
- Take the large bowl with your sugar-spice mixture and add in the butter. Beat using an electric mixer or the paddle attachment if using a stand mixer. Beat for 3 minutes, or until everything is light and fluffy.
- Add egg and vanilla extract to the bowl and beat until incorporated.
- Slowly pour in flour mixture until just combined.
- Gently fold in the chopped chocolate until evenly mixed throughout the dough.
- Scoop out small balls of dough (about 2 teaspoons, or the size of a ping pong ball). Roll dough into balls and then coat the dough with the reserved sugar-spice mixture.
- Place dough on baking sheet about 1½ inches apart.
- If desired, use the bottom of a flat glass (or your hands) to gently press the cookies until they are ½" thick.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes.
- Let stand on baking sheet for a few minutes before putting on a wire rack to cool fully.
