Chai spice cookies

Ahh the spice of life. Complex, spicy and sweet all at the same time.

1 1/2 Sticks Butter

1/2 c. Sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 3/4 c/ Flour

1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon

1/2 tsp Ground Ginger

1/2 tsp Ground cloves

3/4 tsp. Ground Cardamom

Sugar sprinkle:

1/2 c. Confectioner's sugar

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

1/2 tsp Cardamom

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Cream butter with a mixer. Slowly add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and continue beating until combined. Begin adding the dry ingredients and continue mixing until combined well. Scrape dough out of the bowl and into some plastic wrap and form into a ball/mound/lump (whatever you want) and chill for about 30 minutes.

Flour your work surface and roll out dough to a thickness of approximately 1/4 inch. Use a cookie cutter of your choosing and lay cookies on a parchment or silicone mat lined cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Let sit on the sheet for about a minute to set after they are taken out of the oven. Transfer to wire rack and let cool.

For the sugar sprinkle, mix the sugar and the spices together and with a wire mesh sieve or a sifter, sprinkle over top of the cookies while they are just slightly warm.

Cinnamon roll cookies

Because, in life, things can spiral out of control. But with a cookie, there is an end in sight.

1/2 c. Butter

1 c. Sugar

1 egg

4 oz. cream cheese

1 Tbs. Milk

1 tsp. vanilla

2 c. Flour

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

Filling

2 Tbs. Butter, divided

1/2 c. sugar

1 -2 Tbs. Cinnamon

Beat the butter and cream cheese together until light and fluffy. Slowly add the sugar and continue beating. Add egg, when combined, add milk and vanilla.

Begin adding dry ingredients slowly and continue mixing until dough comes together. It will be sticky.

Dump the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap and form into a nice square mound. Wrap in the plastic and chill for 2 hours. Or, if you are impatient like me, put it in the freezer for about 30 minutes.

After chilling, flour your counter, and roll out your dough, keeping it in its rectangular shape until it is approximately 1/4 inch thick.

Spread the top of the dough with 1 Tbs of the butter. Mix together the cinnamon and sugar and generously spread it over the dough, reserving approximately 3-4 Tbs for later.

Begin rolling the the dough into a log, starting on the long edge. Wrap in plastic again and chill for another 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Cut into 1/4 inch rounds and place on a parchment or silicone mat line cookie sheet and sprinkle remaining cinnamon sugar over each cookie and bake for about 14 minutes. They will not brown very much, if they do, they will be a bit too dry. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.