Chewy Chai Snickerdoodles

Baked with the traditional cinnamon, chai spice snickerdoodles also feature flavors of ginger, cardamom, cloves, allspice, and pepper. Give them a try for twist on a classic cookie!

After enjoying an autumn that flew right by and a lovely Thanksgiving last week, I’m ready for some holiday baking. Who’s with me?

Snickerdoodles are one of my favorite cookies, but I can’t seem to stick with a traditional recipe. These chai spice snickerdoodles are baked with traditional cinnamon, but also have a dose of ginger, cardamom, cloves, allspice, and pepper.

The dough also has a touch of cream cheese in it that lends the cookies a chewy texture. They’re snickerdoodle perfection.

Not convinced? I hear ya.

I shared a few of these with a snickerdoodle enthusiast whose reaction was, well, less than enthused. She reassured me that the face she made upon biting in to one wasn’t one of displeasure, just one of surprise.

A couple of other cookie fans who aren’t such snickerdoodle snobs gave these straight up positive reviews.  My take away was that to keep everyone happy, you may want to give your snickerdoodle fans a heads up that these cookies come with a bit of twist.

Be a Good Cookie

I’m sharing these with you today in hopes the recipe inspires you to try something new, and to do something good. Like last year, I’ve joined a group of bloggers in support of Cookies for Kids’ Cancer.

We’ve baked loads of cookies and donated our dollars in hopes of inspiring you to do the same. No amount is too small – any money raised provides hope to getting rid of this disease. You can donate here.

Dedicated to funding research for new, innovative and less-toxic treatments for childhood cancer, did you know that Cookies for Kids’ Cancer was born from a bake sale? When her 2-year-old son Liam was diagnosed with childhood cancer, Gretchen Witt and 250 volunteers come together to bake 96,000 cookies that raised over $400,000 to help fund pediatric cancer research.

Just yesterday, my mom told me about a young girl in the community who is struggling to receive adequate treatment for a brain tumor because her body is allergic to the available medicines. Safer and more effective treatments can’t come soon enough.

Sadly, cancer is the number one cause of death by disease of children in the United States, yet all pediatric cancers combined receive far less of the National Cancer Institute’s federal budget than individual adult cancers like breast and prostate cancer.

Only 1/3 of the most common types of childhood cancers have average survival rates over 80 percent. And 2/3 of pediatric cancer patients will develop long-term, negative side effects as a result of their cancer treatments.

Over the past 10 years, Cookies for Kids’ Cancer has funded over 100 research grants. Those grants led to 37 treatments that are available to help kids battling cancer today. If you’re able to help continue this great work, we’d love to have you join us. Thank you. // LS

Donation page: The Sweetest Season ’18 Fundraiser

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Chewy Chai Snickerdoodles

Author The Year of Cozy by Adrianna Adarme

Yield 24 cookies

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon cardamom

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1/4 teaspoon ground pepper

Wet Ingredients

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

6 tablespoons butter, melted

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 large egg

2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Coating

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom

Instructions

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, allspice, and pepper. Set aside. These are your dry ingredients.
2. In a large bowl, beat the sugar, cream cheese, and butter together until light and fluffy, about two minutes. 
3. Add the oil and continue to beat until incorporated.
4. Next add the egg, milk, and vanilla and beat until combined. These are your wet ingredients.
5. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the large bowl of wet ingredients and mix until incorporated. The dough will be very soft.
6. As such, refrigerate your dough for 20-30 minutes until it's firm enough to scoop with a tablespoon and form into balls. 
7. In a small bowl, stir together the sugar, cinnamon, and cardamom coating. 
8. Roll the cookie dough balls in the coating mixture and place about two-inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. The cookies will spread, so be sure to leave those two-inches of space.
9. Return the baking sheets of cookie dough to the oven for another 10 minutes (or longer) before baking.
10. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 - 12 minutes until the edges of the cookies are set. 
11. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling. 

Notes

Refrigerating the cookie dough twice - once before rolling into balls and once before placing in the oven - will make it easier to work with this soft dough and keep the snickerdoodles from spreading into a flat mess while baking. 

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