Chai spiced chocolate stars (Day 3)

Tiny star cookies filled with the flavors of chai spice and dark chocolate pieces. These cookies are yummy on their own but the chai buttercream is a delicious addition making for a yummy treat.

Welcome to day 3 of my 12 Days Of Christmas Cookie Series. We are keeping things warm today with the addition of masala chai spice and dark chocolate. This combination is such a winner and compliments each other so well! We will make an easy chai buttercream to sandwich these cookies.

I absolutely love a good sandwich cookie and these are no exception to that. In saying this I must admit I also love Masala chai. I have a recipe for my homemade masala chai on the blog, check it out here. I also have a recipe for my homemade masala chai spice powder mix which you can check here. However if you don’t want to make your own, you can totally use store bought masala chai powder.

What ingredients do we need to make these Chai Spiced Chocolate Stars?

Cookie-

The cookie dough used to make this recipe is my no fuss Vanilla Spiced Sugar Cookie, it was the foundation recipe for day 1 of my 12 Days Of Christmas Cookie Recipes. To flavor the dough I used masala chai spice powder and finely chopped dark chocolate. Now you could also us finely chopped milk chocolate.

Masala chai powder-

I have linked my homemade masala chai powder recipe here but a brief idea on what you need is a mixture of cardamon powder, clove powder, ginger powder, cinnamon powder and a little nutmeg. The quantities are important hence if you don’t want to use homemade you can us store bought.

Chai buttercream frosting-

We need chai powder/leaves, double cream, butter, icing sugar and masala chai powder to make this recipe. A little pinch of salt does help with the flavors.

What substitutes can you use to make these Chai Spiced Chocolate Stars?

To make these cookies vegan head to my Day 1 cookie post linked here for more information. However to make the frosting vegan just use vegan butter spread and a vegan whipping cream instead. You can also use milk chocolate, white chocolate instead of dark. I have used a hazelnut chocolate bar once and it was yummy. If you are using tea leaves grind it into a powder before steeps into the whipping cream as I don’t strain it out before piping into the stars.

What equipment do we need to make these Chai Spiced Chocolate Stars?

We need a mixing bowl, spatula and rolling pin. I have used a small star shape cookie cutter, this is the one I used, to cut out the cookies. I also like using a piping bag for the buttercream with a star nozzle but you can use ziplock bag to pipe the frosting or even just spread it across with a palette knife.

How to make these Chai Spiced Chocolate Stars?

We start by crumbling the prepared cookie dough into a bowl, add the masala chai powder and finely chopped dark chocolate. Using a rubber spatula mix it well until evenly combined. Roll the dough between two sheets of cling film and dunk the cookie cutter in flour before cut out the star shapes. Transfer the stars to a baking tray. You don’t need to keep too much space between them as they don’t spread much. Bake at 170℃ for 6-8 mins until the edges are a little colored and the top is dry to touch. Since they are small cookies, they burn fast so keep an eye on them and remember, they will firm up as they cool down. Take them out of the oven and let them cool completely before icing.

To make the frosting we heat the cream with the chai powder/leaves and masala chai powder. Let this steep in the fridge for a few minutes while we beat the butter, salt and icing sugar together to create our buttercream frosting. In this time the cream should’ve cooled down, add it to the buttercream and beat until combined. Transfer the frosting to a piping bag and pipe it into the cookies before sandwiching it with another cookie on top.

How to store these Chai Spiced Chocolate Stars?

The cookie dough can be mixed ahead of time and store in the fridge for 2 days and in the freezer for 1 month. Once the cookies are baked they can be stored in air tight containers for 1 week at room temperature. The buttercream can be stored in the fridge for a week in an air tight container – when ready to sue give it a good mix and spread on cookies, cakes, toast as needed. Once the cookies have been frosted and sandwiched they will stay for a couple of days at room temperature. I wouldn’t recommend storing them in the fridge as the buttercream will harden and the cookies will get soft.

Pro Tips for the perfect Chai Spiced Chocolate Stars

Cookie dough –

The cookie dough must be fridge cold before you crumble and mix in the masala chai powder and dark chocolate or else the chocolate will star to melt and the dough will get greasy.

Rolling the dough –

I would recommend rolling the dough between two sheet of cling film, this will help ensure the dough doesn’t stick to the surface and you get clean edges with every cookie that is cut.

Do not over bake –

These are small cookies, hence I would recommend you do not over bake them. They will firm up as they cool down so it they are a little soft when they come of the oven it is fine.

Chai buttercream –

The flavor comes from the whipping cream and chai powder. Hence heat the cream with the masala chai powder and chai powder/leaves (if using leaves, make sure to grind it into a powder as I don’t want to strain it) until it is steaming hot. Cover the bowl and let it steep in the fridge. As it cools down the flavors of the the chai will come out. However this MUST be cool completely before adding to the butter and sugar mixture.

There is no fancy way to serve these, I can gobble a dozen in one sitting since they are so small. The flavors are bursting and really yummy. Serve it with some hot cocoa and it is perfect to warm you up. Now that we have covered how to make these Chai Spiced Chocolate Stars, you can have a look at the recipe video on my socials but let’s get to it. Make sure to follow along for 12 days to get more festive cookie recipe inspiration.

If you try this recipe out, don’t forget to share it with me on instagram so I can see how it turned out. I’d love nothing more than to chat with you on your cooking/baking.