Chewy Chai-Spice Sugar Cookies

Name: Chewy Chai-Spice Sugar Cookies
Yield: Makes 2 dozen cookies
Ingredients: 2 1/4 cups (11 1/4 ounces), unbleached all-purpose flour; 1/2 teaspoon, baking soda; 1 teaspoon, baking powder; 1/2 teaspoon, table salt; 1/4 teaspoon, ground cinnamon; 1/4 teaspoon, ground ginger; 1/4 teaspoon, ground cardamom; 1/4 teaspoon, ground cloves; pinch, ground black pepper; 1 1/2 cups (10 1/2 ounces), sugar, plus 1/3 cup for rolling; 2 ounces, cream cheese, cut into 8 pieces; 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick), unsalted butter, melted and still warm; 1/3 cup, vegetable oil; 1 , large egg; 1 tablespoon, milk; 1 teaspoon, vanilla extract

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Appears in Cook's Illustrated November/December 2010

Desserts or Baked Goods

Everyone thinks it’s easy to make classic buttery-tasting sugar cookies that are crisp at the edges and chewy in the center. Everyone is wrong.

SERVESMakes 2 dozen cookies

TIME1¼ hours, plus 20 minutes cooling

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS

For optimal chew, we adjusted the fat in our sugar cookie recipe until it hit a ratio of approximately 1 part saturated fat (butter) to 3 parts unsaturated fat (vegetable oil). Instead of creaming the fat and sugar, we whisked them together...

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