Chai tea cookies

It has been awhile since my last post, but rest assured, my baking efforts have not slowed! January has been a busy month, both for baking and for working. January is the month for PhD student recruitment in the PhD program I am affiliated with, and I hosted a faculty/recruit dinner at our house last weekend, where some new recipes were on the program. This past Monday I also had my yearly advisory meeting at which my progress was evaluated, and I'm happy to say that things went well, giving me one more occasion to bake! :) And, last night was a girl's night amongst a few friends, where we were not short on the baked goodies, good conversations, and movies.

I promised at the beginning of this blog I'd be true and post the trials of a true bakie. I'd by lying if I said everything turned out amazingly, perfectly edible each time, or I didn't have to throw away my efforts midway through and adapt a recipe once I realized the recipe as written was not tested. That brings up an interesting point to me - sometimes recipes ARE NOT TESTED! Which is one of the reasons why I am a big fan of sources like America's Test Kitchen, who pride themselves on rigorously seeking perfection, and also the countless people that have their own blogs to share things that they know work and even more importantly, things that don't. I thought I'd start with one of the recipes I used last night, for the first time... Chai Tea Cookies, that was taken from the Better Homes and Gardens Special Publication: Ultimate Cookies. I've made a few other recipes from this book, and although the recipes are based on unique ideas, baking these cookies ultimately means being savvy with recipe adaptation and rolling with the punches. Here is the recipe, as written:

Chai Tea Moons
1 Cup Butter
1 Cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon chair leaf tea, finely ground
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
2 and 1/4 cup all purpose flour

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer on med-high speed for 30 sec. Andd brown sugar, chai tea, vanilla, baking soda and salt. Beat until light and fluffy. Beat in the flour. Divide dough in half, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375, and on a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/4 inch thick and cut using a cookie cutter. Place one inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes, until edges are light brown and firm.

Butter Icing (see below)
beat 1/3 cup butter, until softened with an electric mixer. Add 1 cup of powdered sugar, beating well. Beat in 1 tablespoon milk and 1 tsp vanilla. Add two more cups of powdered sugar, beating well.

Looking at the recipe, I was pretty excited! An exotic flavored cookie - we all know how amazingly awesome chai tea tastes... sweet, a little spicy... yum! I started mixing everything and tasted the mix before adding the flour. chai tea? You wouldn't have guessed. Something different, yes, but not decidedly chai. I added an extra tablespoon of chai tea leaves. And one more thing, when they say finely ground, THEY MEAN IT! Unless you want to eat cookies that later involve the use of a toothpick or dental floss to dig the twigs out, I'd recommend using a spice grinder or mortar and pestle until you have a powder. This will also enhance the flavors. Also, the flour is just a little much - I'd add 2 cups and then roll the cookies out in the remaining 1/4 cup of flour. As written, these cookies end up being a little crispy. A subtle chai taste, in a crispy cookie. Frost and they'll soften up, but they are even nice without frosting.

As for the frosting, I made chai cookies, I want chai frosting! So, I took my milk and heated it up in the microwave in a small container, and steeped another tablespoon of tea in the milk for a few minutes. Then, when I added it to the butter and powdered sugar, I was now increasing the chai factor.

Bottom line, these are good, but still need a few adaptations in texture (I want more chewy and less crispy!) and more chai flavor. I think the solution to the texture may be using half white sugar and half brown sugar (think about duplicating the chewy chocolate chip cookies that call for both) and also finding a way to incorporate a small amount of liquid (preferably water or milk that the tea steeped in) into the cookie dough. So, I'll continue to play around with this and let you know what I find. And, given the idea of steeping the tea in liquid, I think I hear chai tea cakes calling my name! ...

Happy baking!