14 Chai Dessert Recipes to Sweeten Your Fall

chai apple pie
Photo: Jessica Furniss

If you're a fan of chai and chai lattes, take your relationship a bit further and start adding chai spices to your desserts. Chai, a blend of black tea, milk, sweetener, and aromatic spices such as cardamom, ginger, star anise, cloves, and cinnamon, is comforting on its own, but when its flavor profile is added to desserts and other baked goods, it gives a new twist to familiar favorites. Scroll through to find popular desserts such as cheesecake, cookies, apple pie, and bread pudding all enhanced with a touch of warming chai spices.

01 of 15

Chai Latte Crème Brulée

Chai Latte Creme Brulee
awest

Rich and creamy crème brulée makes a perfect vehicle for chai spices. If you're grinding your own spices, be sure to grind them finely; otherwise, they'll swell and compromise the custard's texture.

02 of 15

Chai Snickerdoodle Cookies

Chai Snickerdoodle Cookies on a white plate
AllrecipesPhoto

"This is a great recipe," says reviewer magicteeto. "I made regular snickerdoodles without the chai flavoring. Yes the dough is wet but this makes the cookies soft yet crispy on the outside. They are like mall cookies but better! The dough is easier to work with once it's rolled in the cinnamon mixture."

03 of 15

Chai Cupcakes

Chai Cupcakes
Chai Cupcakes | Photo by Sarah-May.

"I was a bit skeptical the first time I made these for a family gathering," says one community member. "They were an instant hit! Have made them numerous times since then including as a dessert item for a nephew's wedding! The only change to the original recipe was to decrease black tea and increase the chai spice!"

04 of 15

Apple-Chai Spiced Bread Pudding

Apple-Chai Spiced Bread Pudding
Wendi Leitzell

Chai, brown sugar, and apple unite to make an unbeatable combination in this bread pudding. They key is to infuse the milk with cardamom pods, nutmeg, allspice berries, and cinnamon before assembling the recipe.

05 of 15

Chai Spice Monkey Bread

Chai Spice Monkey Bread
brykate

Got canned biscuit dough? Good, now combine it with chai's key spices for an easy twist on monkey bread. For a bit more decadence, increase the amount of caramel sauce by sprinkling more brown sugar around the biscuits.

06 of 15

Chai-Spiced Shortbread Cookies

Chai-Spiced Shortbread Cookies
Linda T.

Adding a chai spice blend to shortbread cookies is a simple way to make them stand out. They're sweet without being too sweet, but if you can glaze them if you like.

07 of 15

Chai Tea Cake with Ginger Cream Cheese Frosting

chai tea cake layer cake with frosting on cake stand
Priti D

Adding masala chai to homemade spice cake amplifies its complex, yet cozy flavors. The ginger cream cheese frosting adds a bit of zing and mellows the spice without being overly sweet. It's not a quick recipe, but if you're looking for a truly special cake, this is it.

08 of 15

Vanilla Chai Cheesecake

Slice of cheesecake with caramel drizzle. The remaining cheesecake is in the background.

Cheesecake gets a seasonally appropriate twist with a gingerbread-amaretti crust and a chai-cream cheese filling. Serve topped with caramel sauce to strengthen the bond between flavors.

09 of 15

Chai Butter Tarts

Chai Butter Tarts
Jody

We already know that chai and buttery dough go together, so recipe creator Jody's decision to spice up a favorite butter tart recipe makes perfect sense. You can easily adapt this recipe for a vegan or dairy-free diet by using vegan pastry dough and butter.

10 of 15

Chai Spice "Cheesecake"

Chai Spice "Cheesecake"
Photo by Allrecipes Magazine.

Vegan chef Isa Chandra Moskowitz's take on cheesecake gets its creaminess from cashews, silken tofu, and non-dairy milk. It can be made up to 3 days ahead — drape a paper towel over the pan and set a large plate on top to chill it while preventing moisture droplets from forming.

11 of 15

Chai Tea Cookies

Chai Tea Cookies
MommaBean3

These chai cookies are essentially spiced shortbread, adding seasonal flavor to a classic holiday treat. Any type of spiced black tea will work in this recipe, so feel free to adapt it based on what's in your pantry.

12 of 15

Carrot Cake with Chai-Flavored Cream Cheese Frosting

Carrot Cake with Chai-Flavored Cream Cheese recipe decorated with carrot curls and mint leaves
Kasmira Bresett

Many of the spices in carrot cake and chai intersect, so topping a carrot cake with chai-flavored cream cheese frosting is an easy way to amplify its flavors. The entire cake comes together in about two hours, proving you don't have to spend an entire afternoon in the kitchen to produce a great from-scratch dessert.

13 of 15

Chai Ice Cream

Chai ice Cream
Sasha Harlow

This smooth, homemade ice cream gets a gentle dose of sweetness and spice from masala chai. Recipe creator Sasha Harlow includes milk powder as a secret ingredient that helps prevent ice crystals without the use of stabilizers.

14 of 15

Chai Apple Pie

chai apple pie
Jessica Furniss

Apple pie is an essential this time of year, but take things up a notch and add some chai spices instead of relying solely on cinnamon. The result is a cozy homemade pie with an amplified version of everything you love about fall flavors.

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