Taylor Swift’s Chai Tea Eggnog Cookies Are a Holiday Must-Have
Maybe you’ve already got your big holiday party meal figured out, but often it’s the little touches that really make it memorable. As 2020 winds down and we look to put the finishing touches on a challenging year, turning to some special delicious treats — and maybe a festive holiday drink or two — is a great way to celebrate.
Thankfully, Taylor Swift is here to help us out. No, not with her two album releases from 2020 but from a recipe she shared way back in 2015 — when she wasn’t putting out two albums a year and probably had more time on her hands.
If you want to literally spice up your holiday dessert options, you’ve got to check out Swift’s recipe for chai tea eggnog cookies.
Taylor Swift has made 2020 her year
Let’s face it, 2020 hasn’t exactly been a banner year for most of us. Between the stresses of the pandemic and the political unrest sweeping the nation, there’s been a lot of tension and a general sense of just waiting for things to get back to normal.
That’s not how Swift spent her 2020, however. In July, Swift delighted world-weary fans with the release of her eighth studio album, a work titled folklore that immediately received praise for its creativity and themes. In fact, Rolling Stone called it “the deepest collection of songs she’s ever come up with.”
Swift explained that she usually moves on after finishing an album: “In the past I’ve always treated albums as one-off eras and moved onto planning the next one after an album was released.” That wasn’t the case with folklore. She didn’t feel a sense of completion but instead “it feels like we were standing on the edge of the folklorian woods and had a choice: to turn and go back or to travel further into the forest of this music. We chose to wander deeper in.”
That started with her writing two songs for folklore in a single night after she thought the album was finished, but even that wasn’t enough. Evermore became the answer, a second album with a surprise release on December 11 to much fanfare and even more delight.
Taylor Swift is in the holiday spirit
In addition to dropping two impressive albums in a single year, Swift has also been working in her personal life to get in the holiday spirit. In fact, she used themes from folklore to create holiday cards for her fans — and they feature her feline friends. Swift’s cats have something of a fan following of their own. The trio of kitties has the pop-culture-themed names of Meredith Grey, Olivia Benson, and Benjamin Button.
The furry friends made a delightful and on-brand appearance in a folksy black and white photo in the woods, but their Santa hats and fancy glasses of holiday cheer added some whimsy as well. Swift has done similar outreach to her fans in the past with a 2017 Christmas card themed around snakes in honor of her album Reputation.
Make Taylor Swift’s eggnog cookies at home
If you want to party like Taylor Swift this holiday season, you can’t go wrong with her recipe for chai tea eggnog cookies. The recipe took the internet by storm back in 2015 when Swift posted a picture of the delectable treats on her Instagram page. Fans immediately begged to know how to make them at home.
Seventeen magazine tracked down the details and provided us with the tips to make it happen. The treat starts with a basic sugar cookie adapted from a Joy the Baker recipe — with a packet of chai tea tossed into the batter — but it’s the eggnog icing that really makes it stand out and gives it a distinct holiday feel. A fairly standard vanilla icing recipe is spiced up with nutmeg, cinnamon, and eggnog, giving it a distinctive Christmastime feel.
