Cinnamon-Chai Butter Cookies

 Disclosure: I received spices to sample from Book Blends.  All opinions are my own.

Today’s post has a dual purpose.  Fantastic cookies and a great gift idea!

Let’s talk spices first.

Book Blends (and Song and TV Blends) are unique spice blends inspired by popular books, songs, and TV series!  This was right up this librarian’s alley, especially since I’ve read many (and know of the rest) of the books referenced in these spices!

I also loved the TV Blends (though I seen fewer shows and mostly just heard of them) and I adored the oldie song choices – all of which I love!

I was able to choose a couple spices to sample, but I absolutely could not narrow it down, so I chose my samplers and ordered a 12-pack to give as gifts so I could have all of my favorites (well, have them in my house at least, I won’t sample the gifts! Haha!)

For today’s recipe, I decided to combine Of Spice and Men (cinnamon) and Chai a Little Tenderness (chai blend) and breathe a little new life into  a Christmas favorite: butter cookies!

I was first introduced to butter cookies the first time I visited Hub’s family over Christmas.  His grandma was making butter cookies and they were completely new to me!  I decided to try my hand at them the next year, with the addition of rosemary and sea salt (and they were sooo good!!) 

I don’t have rosemary growing indoors this year (and the stuff in the grocery store didn’t look so good), so I decided to give these butter cookies a cinnamon-chai-sugar coating.  The resulting cookie is crisp, buttery, and reminiscent of snickerdoodles.  Though in looks, Spud and I thought they looked remarkably like potato slices!  Haha!

I can definitely see this version of butter cookies gracing the yearly cookie tray alongside the rosemary version!

Cinnamon-Chai Butter Cookies

Dough

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

¾ cup granulated sugar

1 large egg, beaten

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

½ teaspoon salt

2 ½ cups unbleached all purpose flour

Cinnamon-Chai Sugar

1 teaspoon chai blend

2 teaspoons cinnamon

¼ cup sugar

Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Beat on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Mix in egg, and vanilla.

Reduce speed to low.  Add flour and salt.  Mix until combined.

Place dough on waxed paper.  Shape into a log shape, drawing out the dough to the diameter you’d like the finished cookies (around 2 ½ inches works well). 

Mix together the cinnamon, chai, and sugar.  Sprinkle the sugar onto a separate piece of waxed paper.  Slowly roll the dough log through the sugar, making sure a thick coat of sugar sticks to the entire outside of the dough. 

Wrap the dough log in cling wrap.  Freeze until firm, overnight or even longer (I definitely forgot mine in the freezer for 3 days before I remembered to make them – I think they would keep significantly longer, as long as they were well-wrapped.)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats. 

Unwrap the dough log and use a large sharp knife to cut into ¼ inch thick rounds.  Space 1-inch apart on prepared baking sheets. 

Bake until edges are golden and cookies are firm on top, 16-18 minutes.  Let cool on sheet on wire racks.  Store in an airtight container.