Spicy Ginger Chai Cookies

Name: Spicy Ginger Chai Cookies
Yield: 10
Cuisine: American

RECIPE: Excerpted from 108 Asian Cookies: Not-Too-Sweet Treats from a Third-Culture Kitchen by Kat Lieu. Copyright © 2025 by Kathleen Lieu. Photographs by Charity Burggraaf. Used with permission from Voracious, an imprint of Little, Brown and Company.

Photo: Charity Burggraaf

November 03, 2025

Tea and spices amp up the flavor of these chai-inspired cookies.

A double dose of ginger gives these spiced cookies “an extra zingy punch,” Kat Lieu writes in her latest cookbook, 108 Asian Cookies: Not-Too-Sweet Treats from a Third-Culture Kitchen. Ginger is a popular ingredient in baked goods in many Asian cultures, she adds, “with the Chinese making versions of gingerbread as early as the 10th century.” Other favorites include Korea’s gingery maejakgwa and abundant cookies made with ginger and jaggery across South Asia. To play up the chai spices in this recipe, Lieu recommends stirring black tea or hojicha powder into the batter with the ginger, black pepper, and cardamom. The lemongrass paste and red miso keep the cookies tasting bright and not-too-sweet, while the final coat of glittering turbinado sugar adds texture and a distinctly festive look.

Ingredients

Yield:30

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 cups dark rye flour
1 Tbsp. hojicha powder or black tea powder (optional)
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. ground cardamom
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1 cup packed light or dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1/4 cup blackstrap molasses
1 Tbsp. lemongrass paste
1 Tbsp. red miso
1/3 cup crystallized or candied ginger, chopped finely
1/3 cup turbinado sugar, placed in a shallow bowl

Tools:saucepan, medium bowl, stand mixer with paddle attachment, 2 baking sheets

Preparation

Cook the butter in a saucepan over medium heat while whisking continuously, until the butter foams, the foam subsides, the butter is golden, and brown (not black) bits form on the bottom, at least 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool, or chill in the freezer.

Whisk the rye flour, hojicha or tea powder (if using), baking soda, baking powder, ground ginger, cardamom, and black pepper together in a medium bowl. Set aside. Pour the cooled butter into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the brown sugar and mix on medium speed until well combined. Add the egg, molasses, lemongrass paste, and miso and mix until thoroughly incorporated. Add the rye flour mixture and mix on low speed until just combined. Using a spatula, fold in the crystallized or candied ginger. Cover and chill the dough for 30 minutes.

About 30 minutes before baking, adjust two racks to the upper- and lower-middle positions of the oven. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Scoop a tablespoon of dough, roll into a smooth ball, then roll in the bowl of turbinado sugar to coat. Repeat to make 30 balls, placing them 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.

Bake all the cookies, switching the sheets between top and bottom racks and rotating front to back once halfway through, until the cookie edges are set and the tops puff and crack, 13 to 15 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool directly on the baking sheets.