Pop music icon and LGBTQ+ ally Taylor Swift is an avid baker. CREDIT: Screen Capture composite
Singer and songwriter Taylor Swift has long been an ally to the LGBTQ+ community. She’s made substantial donations to GLAAD and the Tennessee Equality Project and she’s always made certain that her concerts were safe spaces for individuals in the LGBTQ+ community, as well as encouraging fans to support the LGBTQ+ community.
And her support of our community doesn’t stop there. Last year she released the following statement: “right now and in recent years, there have been so many harmful pieces of legislation that have put people in the LGBTQ community at risk. It’s painful for everyone. Every ally, every loved one, every person in these communities.”
She’s even talked about us quite a bit in her music, in such songs as “Welcome to New York” and “You Need to Calm Down.”
In “Welcome to New York,” her ode to the Big Apple, she sings about the city’s acceptance of various sexual orientations and gender diversity: “And you can want who you want/boys and boys and girls and girls.”
She takes up our mantle again in the song “You Need to Calm Down.”
“You are somebody that we don’t know/But you’re coming at my friends like a missile/Why are you mad?/When you could be GLAAD? (You could be GLAAD)/Sunshine on the street at the parade/But you would rather be in the dark ages/Making that sign, must’ve taken all night/you just need to take several seats and then try to restore the peace/and control your urges to scream about all the people you hate/Cause shade never made anybody less gay…”
In a nutshell, you’ve got it: Swift loves us as much as we love her.
There are many sides to the artist. In addition to music and activism, she’s also fond of baking. One of her favorite items to make are Chai Sugar Cookies.
From the woman who promises to have our back and has proudly endorsed Kamala Harris as the next president of the United States, here’s a recipe you might want to consider making for or taking to your next holiday gathering.
Taylor Swift’s Chai Sugar Cookies
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup white sugar, (increase the amount for topping)
1/2 cup powdered sugar (increase the amount for icing)
1 large egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 chai tea bag (increase the amount for icing)
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet and set aside.
• While oven is warming, beat butter in a large bowl. After it gets fluffy, pour in the vegetable oil.
• Add sugar, powdered sugar, egg and vanilla.
• Add flour, baking soda, salt and chai tea to the bowl and mix
• Chill the dough for an hour (give or take a few minutes)
• Pour a small amount of white sugar onto a plate, for rolling cookie dough in
• Roll the dough and shape into into 12 balls with your hands, covering each one in the white sugar before placing them on your cookie sheet
• Bake for 10 minutes
• While the cookies bake, make your chai icing by mixing together a 1/2 cup of powdered sugar and half of a chai tea bag. Add a capful of milk with the powdered sugar and then the chai tea bag, stirring together until reaching the icing consistency you prefer
When the cookies are done and completely cool cover the tops with chai icing
• Lightly sprinkle red and green granulated sugar for seasonal decoration (optional)
As they always say at the end of a good recipe, eat and enjoy!
