Thick, soft, and pillowy espresso cookies sandwiched around creamy and fluffy chai spiced buttercream. These dirty chai whoopie pies are sure to be a new fall favorite!
Are we ready for fall baking? Is it still 90 degrees where you are? Yes….and yes? But seriously, is there anything better than the smell of fall spices filling your kitchen on a crisp fall Saturday? Ooooh it makes me so happy!
I’ve recently fell in love with the dirty chai latte, so naturally I had to dessert-ify it. These dirty chai whoopie pies are so thick and soft and have the creamiest buttercream filling. The cookie itself is flavored with espresso and the buttercream is packed full of homemade chai spice. These are dangerously good my friends. Ok, let’s make ’em!
How to Make Dirty Chai Whoopie Pies
Make the Espresso Cookies
Brew 1/2 C of strong coffee and set aside to cool to room temperature.Preheat the oven to 350 and line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder, and salt. Set aside. In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, cream the butter, oil, and sugars for 3 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix for another 2 minutes. Add the sour cream and mix until combined.
Add in half of the dry ingredients and mix until just combined with a few streaks of flour remaining. Pour in the coffee and mix to combine, starting out slow so that the coffee doesn’t splash out. Fold in the remaining dry ingredients until just combined.
Use a 1 TBSP cookie scoop to portion the dough onto the prepared cookie sheets. They will spread as they bake a little, so leave 2 inches between each cookie. Bake at 350 for 9-10 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the cookies. Remove from oven and transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. While the cookies cool, make the chai buttercream.
Make the Chai Buttercream
Add the chai spice blend to a small bowl and mix until well combined, set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, whip the butter on medium high speed for 10 minutes, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula occasionally to ensure all the butter is getting whipped. After 10 minutes, add 1/2 of the powdered sugar and mix for 3 minutes. Then, add the remaining powdered sugar and mix for another 3 minutes. Add the salt, vanilla, and 1 TBSP of the chai spice mix. Mix to combine. Add the heavy cream 2 TBSP at a time until the buttercream becomes fluffy and easy to stir by hand, but not too soft where it won’t hold its shape when piped. I used 6 TBSP of cream!
Assemble the Dirty Chai Whoopie Pies
Pair up the cookies by size and fill a piping bag with a small round tip with the chai buttercream. *Alternatively you can use a ziplock bag and snip off the top, or spread the buttercream with an offset spatula. Pipe about 2 TBSP of the buttercream on the flat side of one cookie and then press another cookie on top creating a sandwich.
*Optional- Mix 1 TBSP of the chai spice mix with 1/4 C sugar to create a chai sugar for sprinkling on top of the cookies. Serve room temperature or chilled. Cookies will keep at room temperature for 24 hours, or chilled in the fridge for up to a week.
Dirty Chai Whoopie Pies
- Prep Time: 20 min
- Cook Time: 10 min
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 22 Whoopie Pies
Description
Soft and thick espresso cookies sandwiched around fluffy chai spiced buttercream
Ingredients
For the Espresso Cookies
- 1/2 C Very Strong Coffee, at room temperature
- 3 C (375 g) All Purpose Flour
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
- 1 TBSP Cocoa Powder
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1/2 C (113 g) Salted Butter, at room temperature
- 1/2 C (110g) Granulated Sugar
- 1/2 C (110g) Dark Brown Sugar
- 2 TBSP Canola Oil (can sub vegetable oil)
- 3/4 C (185g) Sour Cream, at room temperature
- 2 Lg Eggs, at room temperature
- 2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
For the Chai Spiced Buttercream
- 3/4 C Salted Butter
- 3 C Powdered Sugar
- 1 TBSP Chai Spice (*Recipe Below)
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- Pinch of Salt
- 4–6 TBSP Heavy Cream
For Homemade Chai Spice
- 1 tsp Ground Cloves
- 1 tsp Allspice
- 1 tsp Cardamom
- 1 tsp Nutmeg
- 2 tsp Ginger
- 2 tsp Cinnamon
Instructions
For the Espresso Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350 and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Brew 1/2 C of strong coffee and allow to come to room temperature.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder, and salt.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or with a hand mixer, cream the butter, oil and sugars for 3 minutes.
- Add the egg and vanilla and mix for another 1-2 minutes.
- Add the sour cream and mix to combine.
- Add 1/2 of the dry ingredients and mix just until it’s mostly combined with a few flour streaks remaining.
- Add the coffee and mix to combine.
- Mix in the remaining dry ingredients until just combined, don’t over mix.
- Use a 1 TBSP cookie scoop to scoop the batter onto the prepared cookie sheets, leaving space between each cookie.
- Bake for 9-10 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow cookies to cool completely on a cooling rack.
For the Chai Spiced Buttercream
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter by itself for 10 minutes. It should become very silky and pale in color, almost white.
- Add 1/2 of the powdered sugar and mix for 3 minutes, then add the rest of the powdered sugar and mix another 3 minutes.
- Add the vanilla, salt, and the chai spice. Mix to combine.
- Add the heavy cream 1 TBSP at a time until the buttercream is fluffy and soft, or until your desired consistency.
- Pipe the buttercream onto half of the cookies using a piping bag and a small round tip or with a ziplock with the corner snipped off. Top with the other half of the cookies.
- Optional, sprinkle cookies with chai sugar by mixing 1 TBSP of the chai spice with 3 TBSP granulated sugar.
- Enjoy at room temperature or chilled.
Notes
*Cookies will keep at room temperature for 24 hours or up to a week in the fridge.
*You can sub for unsalted butter, just make sure to adjust for the salt.
If you loved the recipe for these Dirty Chai Whoopie Pies, be sure to check out some of my other fall baking recipes like these Kitchen Sink Pumpkin Cookies, and these Pumpkin Cheesecake Brownies.
Holy forking fork. These are out of this world. I made them for my birthday dessert and have recommended them to some baker friends. Fairly easy to make and so so worth the effort.
Ahh yay! I’m thrilled to hear it!