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I made Amelia into a cookie! And then ate her. Sounds a little dark, doesn’t it?! It’s not I promise. She’s alive and thriving.
I figured it’d be a good time to share one of my favorite recipes from A Cozy Coloring Cookbook, which are chai sugar cookies. They are so spicy and flavorful and taste like, well, chai-like. In the book they’re in the shape of snowmen and Christmas trees and chai gingerbread men. You obviously don’t need a corgi cookie cutter to make these but if you do want to buy one, here’s where you can do that.
Unlike gingerbread cookies, there’s no molasses and instead a bit of cardamom, black pepper and ground ginger and cinnamon and honey. All the good spices!
I don’t make sugar cookies a lot but this is the very first time I’ve ever used meringue powder and can I tell you, I am never going back to using regular egg whites. IT IS SO MUCH EASIER.
There is no separating eggs and trying to find a home for egg yolks. There is no waiting for them to go from frothy to sort of stiff to very stiff. With meringue powder it seriously takes like no time at all for it to come together.
Since Amelia is a tri-colored corgi, I figured I’d add a few of those to the bunch but man is it hard to take frosting from white to black. I definitely recommend getting black gel for that.
I recently went to Michael’s and luckily didn’t have any crazy experience (did you hear about that? people be wildin’!) and found this Wilton set where you can make all the custom colors. It’s pretty cool and it’s my new favorite thing.
’Tis the season for cookie-making!
*Also fun tip since I love Michael’s, when you go be sure to download their app because it’s always filled with coupons. My favorite is the 40% any full-price item. HASHTAG UNSPONSORED. HASHTAG SHOUT OUT MICHAELS.
Corgi Cookies
Equipment
- 1 spatula
Ingredients
Chai Cookies:
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Royal Icing:
- 1 pound about 1/2 bag powdered sugar
- 1/3 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 1/2 tablespoons meringue powder
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons to 4 tablespoons warm water
- Brown food dye
- Yellow food dye
- Black food dye
Instructions
To Make the Cookies:
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and pepper.
- In a large bowl, combine the butter and brown sugar. With an electric mixer on high speed, beat the mixture until creamy. Add the egg yolk, honey, and vanilla and mix until combined. Add the flour mixture. Mix on low speed until combined. Knead the dough until it comes together in one large mass. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and press it down so it’s a flat disk; refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or ideally overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough until it’s 1/2” thick. Stamp out cookies using any cookie cutter you like. Recombine the scraps and repeat the process with the remaining dough. Transfer to the baking sheet and bake for 7 minutes, or until the edges are light golden brown. Allow to cool completely on the baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining cookies.
To Make the Royal Icing:
- In a large bowl, combine the powdered sugar, salt, meringue powder, vanilla extract and 2 tablespoons warm water. With the whisk attachment of the electric mixer, beat on high for 5 minutes or until thickened and glossy. If it needs to be thinned out, feel free to add an additional tablespoon of water. Add about 1/2 cup of icing to two bowls (you can eyeball this). To make the “corgi brown color,” add 2 drops of brown food coloring and 1 of yellow (adjust as needed). To make the “tricolor black,” add black food coloring or black food gel until the icing turns black. Transfer all three colors to three different piping bags.
To Decorate Cookies:
- Line out the tricolor black strip on a few corgis. Allow to dry. Meanwhile, line out the face and long body part with the brown icing and then fill in. Allow to dry and then fill in the chest and feet with the white icing. Allow to dry completely and then eat, enjoy, stack on a plate!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I’ve made these for my husband for valentine’s for the past couple years, and we love them! Not as artistic as you, so I leave them undecorated but make some into ice cream cookie sandwiches love them, thank you!
Do you think the dough can be made in advance and put in the freezer? I have been creepily stalking this cookie recipe for a year, and I decided I’m finally going to make them for my corgi imposter’s 10th birthday, but I’ll be traveling before hand.
Yeah that should work! This sounds super cute. You can thaw it in the fridge overnight. 🙂
OMG – those cookies…..I can’t even!! I have a corgi girl too, named Barbie. Your pic of Amelia as a pup, with those ears…is so much like how my girl looked as a pup. The ears are the best, aren’t they? She can get them goinig differenet directions, put one up and one down, and I can totlally predict her mood by just ears.
We call her “the Commander” or “the Manager” because she uses her herding instict on family and friends, not to mention leaves blowing in the yard and our cat, and can be down-right bossy! I secretly kind of love it, – she’s an empowered female!
I’ve tried to copy in a pic of her from her birthday this past June, but couldn’t quite figure it out. We celebrated with banana bread….
Lots of corgi love to you both!
Her ears tell me all about her emotions haha. Lots of love to you and your corgi baby too! xo
How do you recommend making these ahead? Can I freeze them, and then defrost before rolling out? Or should I roll out into sheets before freezing? Or another suggestion? Thanks!
I am super excited to make these cookies! I am going to actually make them into pen*s cookies for a bachelorette party this weekend! I don’t have time to refrigerate overnight but will keep in fridge for at least 2 hours.
hahaha that’s amazing! you should be good to go with the 2 hours! 🙂 have fun!
Ok, I’m so excited about these cookies! I doubled the recipe though and even after being in the fridge overnight, the dough is SO crumbly and dry… Should I add some liquid to get it to come together or more butter?? Corgi cookie crisis!
CORGI COOKIE CRISIS! Hmm…I think you should add a tablespoon of milk to the center of the dough and then knead it in until it comes together!
Thank you! That’s what I was thinking, but wanted to check. So happy you responded! 🙂 Happy holidays!
happy holidays! let me know how it goes. if you have any other questions/problems shoot me a DM on instagram or tweet me, it’s easier to respond there! 🙂
Thank you so much for this cookie recipe. I will be making these for years to come. The flavor of the spices pop so subtly and the chewiness is perfect.
Hello! Any chance you’d make some of those Corgi Chai cookies and send them to me? I’m happy to pay whatever. Please let me know. Thanks!!
Becca
Sorry I don’t sell baked goods! 🙂
I love gingerbread cookies, can’t wait to try out this recipe..
These are so cute, very creative! 🙂