Perfectly Spiced Chai Shortbread

Chai Shortbread are buttery slice and bake cookies flavoured with black tea leaves and Chai spice. The recipe makes two logs of dough that will keep in the fridge or freezer until you have time to bake them. 

Itching to get your Christmas baking on? I just love sweet treats of all kinds! Check out these Rockin’ Bailey’s Thumbprint Cookies, accented with just a ‘nip’ of Bailey’s Irish Cream (the flavour of the holidays!) or, bake up a few boxes of Ancho Chili Chocolate Cookies for your cookie swap. 

Chai Shortbread

Who can resist these buttery, crumbly delicately spiced shortbread cookies? Certainly no one in this family. If you love shortbread you will too!

These cookies are very simple to make and stash away in the freezer for when visitors drop by. They use simple ingredients (and a bit of butter) found in most pantries.

Ingredients List

• flour
• confectioner’s (icing) sugar
• salt
• butter
• vanilla extract
• loose leaf chai

While this recipe uses Loose Leaf Chai, you may use a chai spice mixture instead (with or without the tea).

Get a Jump on that Christmas Baking

I like to think of these Chai Shortbread as a gateway Christmas cookie. Once you bake up a batch of these, the Christmas baking spirit really takes over.

I love all sorts of ‘slice and bake’ cookies because you can mix up the dough and keep it in the freezer for three months! This means you can start Christmas baking in October!

Additionally, shortbread also tastes better a few days after baking. The flavours really just settle right into the dough.

Shortbread ALWAYS tastes better with a little age. If you can, make the cookies a couple of days before the big event and you will be rewarded with great flavour.

How to Make Chai Shortbread

Begin making Chai Shortbread by processing the loose chai with the flour in a food processor. The idea is to chop it as finely as possible. Once the flour nice and airy, the shortbread will have amazing texture!

Add the rest of the ingredients (salt, sugar, vanilla extract, and butter) to the processor bowl and pulse until a dough forms.

Remove the dough and roll into a log of roughly 6cm (2½ inches) in diameter. Wrap it in plastic wrap then refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

How to Bake Chai Shortbread

You can bake this dough from from frozen or directly out of the fridge. Just preheat the oven to 375 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Slice the log into 24 cookies of equal width. Bake for 10-12 minutes or just until the edges begin to turn golden.

Creating New Memories with Chai Shortbread

Shortbread is another Christmas staple in our family and it always will be. When I bake it I always end up reminiscing about how my late Grandma Leaderhouse loved baking, especially anything with a lot of butter.

She made the best shortbread and always made sure to make a batch to give to my dad at Christmas. He really looked forward to having his own little treats all to himself.

This year, I’m having a difficult time figuring out what my dad would like for Christmas but now I think the answer is right here. Don’t you?

If you make these Chai Shortbread, please be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Be sure to follow me on Facebook and Pinterest for my latest recipes. Also, if you do make this recipe, please tag me on Instagram, I’d love to see what you guys are making! Thank you so much for reading my blog.