chai spice cream cheese spritz cookies

Chai spices infused with vanilla sounds like a good jumping off point to flavor a simple cookie. Spice House sells their Chai Spices vanilla infused spice blend that is traditionally used to make spiced tea with sugar and milk but in my case I used this spice mix to flavor my cream cheese spritz cookies. I can't stop smelling the spices in the jar, I'm definitely loving this mix and it's really good in the cookies. I think I need a cup of spiced tea and maybe a few spritz cookies. I've officially started my holiday cookie baking. I like to have a few bags of Christmas cookies stashed in my freezer as well as a homemade candy I like to make closer to Christmas. I find these spritz cookies freeze extremely well which makes my tradition of baking cookies and sharing easier this time of year. I can use all the help I can get, even in quarantine I want to share cookies with my family and friends. ps. You will need a cookie press to make the spritz cookies.

Ingredients and Recipe for Chai Spice Cream Cheese Spritz Cookies

makes about 8 dozen

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold, cut in bits

3 ounces full fat cream cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

1 egg yolk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 & 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 teaspoon chai spice, plus extra pinch of ground ginger, cloves, ground cardamom, and cinnamon, optional-extra spoonful (s) of chai spice to sprinkle on top of cookies before baking

Preheat the oven to 375F

2 large ungreased cookie sheets

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and cream cheese. Beat in the sugar and egg yolk, beat until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla.

Mix together the flour, salt and spices.

Gradually add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture, beating until well mixed.

Place the dough in the cookie press with your desired disk, I went for snow flake. Press the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for about 12 minutes or until the cookies are firm and light brown on the edges. You may bake two sheets at a time but rotate the trays halfway through for even baking.

Cool the cookies for several minutes on the warm cookie sheets before removing, with small spatula, to cooling racks.

Run the cookie sheets under cool water and dry before baking the next batch of cookies.

Place the cookie dough in the fridge to keep it cool in between batches, while cookies are in the oven.

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