Gluten Free Dirty Chai Cookies (Small Batch Recipe)

If a Dirty Chai is your favorite coffee house drink, this small batch recipe for Gluten Free Dirty Chai Cookies are about to become your new favorite bake. They combine warm chai spices and instant espresso with soft, chewy centers and a generous coating of chai espresso sugar. This small batch recipe makes just 6 cookies, perfect for when the cookie craving hits.

Recipe Ingredient Notes

Gluten Free Flour: I have tested this small batch recipe for Gluten Free Dirty Chai Cookies with King Arthur Measure for Measure and Bob's Red Mill 1-1 (Blue Bag). While both gluten free flour blends work great in this recipe, the finished products where slight different. Bob’s Red Mill produces gluten free cookies with chewy centers, crisp edges, and more spread. King Arthur creates cookies that stay slightly thicker and a touch more cakey. Personally I prefer using Bob's Red Mill 1-1 in my cookie recipes. You can ready more about this here: My favorite Gluten Free Flour for Cookies.

Chai Spice: I use a homemade chai spice blend for this recipe, but you can also use a store-bought blend. It's a simple blend of ground cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, and a hint of black pepper for a little heat. Keep in mind fresher spices will result in more flavorful chai spiced cookies.

Instant Espresso: Instant Espresso adds the espresso flavor to these Dirty Chai Cookies. This product can be found at any grocery store in the same aisle as coffee. It gives the cookies a more pronounced espresso flavor than a shot of actual espresso.

Butter: Use melted butter, not browned butter, for these small batch cookies. Brown butter has a stronger, nutty flavor that can overpower the delicate chai spices and espresso.

What is a Dirty Chai?

A dirty chai is a chai latte with a shot of espresso added. It combines the warm spices of chai, typically cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, cloves, and black pepper, with the bold flavor of coffee.

Small Batch Dirty Chai Cookie Dough

The dough for small batch dirty chai cookies comes together in no time. Make sure to allow the melted to cool for a few minutes and refrigerated the cookie dough for at least 20 minutes while the oven preheats.

1. Step 1: In a small saucepan or microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter. Do not brown the butter for this recipe, as the nutty flavor can overpower the chai spices and espresso. Once melted, remove from the heat and transfer to a mixing bowl.

2. Step 2: Add the chai spices and instant espresso powder to the warm, melted butter. The heat helps bloom the spices and instant espresso and release their flavor.
3. Step 3: While the butter is cooling, weigh out all your other ingredients needed. Combine the gluten free flour, baking soda and kosher salt in a small bowl and set aside.

4. Step 4: Once the chai spice - espresso butter mixture has cooled but is still liquid, stir in the light brown sugar and granulated sugar using a flexible spatula. Mix until the sugars are fully incorporated and the mixture resembles wet sand.

5. Step 5: Add the room temperature egg yolk and vanilla extract. Stir until the mixture is smooth and glossy.

6. Step 5: Fold the dry ingredients into the wet mixture using a spatula. At first, the dough will look dry and crumbly, but keep mixing - it will come together as the ingredients hydrate.

7. Step 7: Chill the dough for dirty chai cookies for at 20 minutes to let the butter firm up and make it easier to scoop. If you skip this step, the dough will be too soft and difficult to work with. You can refrigerate it for up to 24 hours.

Baking Instructions

Chill the dough for gluten free dirty chai cookies for at least 20 minnutes to let the butter firm up and make it easier to scoop. If you skip this step, the dough will be too soft and difficult to roll in the chai spiced sugar. You can refrigerate it for up to 24 hours.

1. Step 1: Preheat your oven to 350°F and linea baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Step 2: In a small bowl, combine the granulated sugar, chai spice, and instant espresso powder. Mix well, breaking up any clumps of espresso so the mixture is evenly combined.
3. Step 3: With a medium cookie scoop (around 1.5-2 tablespoons), portion out the cookie dough and roll it into balls. You should get around 6 cookie dough balls from this small batch cookie recipe.
4. Step 4: Using clean hands, roll each portion of cookie dough into a ball. Roll each ball in the spiced sugar until evenly coated.

5. Step 5: Arrange cookie dough balls on the sheet tray. If you like top each cookie dough ball with a bit of chai spiced sugar.
6. Step 6: Bake cookies at 350°F, for 9 - 10 minutes, or until the cookies are puffy and the edges are just set.
7. Step 7: Remove the gluten free dirty chai cookies from the oven.
8. Step 8: Use a round cookie cutter slightly larger than the sugar cookies to give them a neat round shape. Allow them to cool on the sheet tray for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to finish cooling.

Storage

If you happen to have any gluten free dirty chai cookies left, I recommend storing them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Note about Salt in my Recipes

I use Diamond Kosher Crystal Salt in all of my recipes unless otherwise stated. If use use a different brand or kind of salt in your kitchen please adjust accordingly since some salts can be saltier. If you use Morton’s Kosher Salt please be aware that their salt granules are smaller in size, denser, and crunchier and twice as salty.

Baking in grams

I share my recipes in grams and by weight since baking by weight is the most accurate way to bake. Digital Scales are very affordable and easy to use. You can purchase them on Amazon for less than a set of measuring cups. For small amounts under 10 grams, I like to use this Precision Pocket Scale. Measuring cups are very inaccurate which can cause significant errors when it comes to gluten-free baking or baking in general. Especially since I bake with gluten-free flours which weigh differently than “regular” flours. I do provide some ingredients like spices and leavening agents in measuring spoons. To learn more about Baking with a digital scale, make sure to check out my post about Baking by weight.

Note about Ovens and Oven Temperatures

All my recipes are tested and developed with a conventional oven. I always bake my baked goods on the rack placed in the MIDDLE of my oven. This way the heat coming from the bottom will not burn my baked goods.

If you are baking with convection (fan-forced), please adjust the recipes accordingly. Convection oven can cause baked goods to dry out quickly and still be raw inside. Since takes at least 15-20 minutes for a standard American Oven to be fully preheated. I highly recommend investing in an Oven Thermometer.

Substitutions and Modifications

Any dietary or ingredient modifications/substitutions to this recipe may alter the end result in appearance and taste. I test my recipes several times as published in this post and The Gluten Free Austrian Blog is not responsible for the outcome of any recipe you find on our website.