Every autumn, Joy the Baker knows her website traffic is going to blow up thanks to the voracious hunger of Taylor Swift fans ready to bake.
That annual sugar rush kicked back into action this month for the cookbook author and culinary queen (real name: Joy Wilson), who is based in New Orleans, La. The fan page Taylor Nation, which has a whopping 2.6 million followers, invited Swifties on Oct. 2 to make Swift’s recipe for chai sugar cookies with cinnamon eggnog icing “in honor of the best time of the year.”
In honor of the best time of year… 🍂 it’s time to make our FAVE fall snack: chai sugar cookies with cinnamon eggnog icing! Bake a batch of your own (or anything you want) and share your creations with us at our #BakersGonnaBake parTAY tomorrow at 2pm ET! ⏲️🍪 pic.twitter.com/Faab4MYDxk
— Taylor Nation (@taylornation13) October 2, 2023
In a follow-up tweet, someone posted the popular recipe, which Swift had written out and posted online several years before.
Quickly, Swifties leaped into action, whipping out their baking sheets and spatulas and using the popular hashtag #BakersGonnaBake.
Swift’s recipe is an adaptation of Joy the Baker’s original recipe, which she first published in 2009. But in those days, Wilson had no idea the delectable treats would eventually be instantly associated with the pop star.
In a video posted on her Instagram in September, Wilson explained the phenomenon while recreating “Taylor’s Version” of the cookies for her followers.
“She took my sugar cookie recipe and added these really cozy chai spices like cloves, cardamom, nutmeg, ginger. She also added, brilliantly, a nutmeg glaze,” she explained as she whipped up a batch.
Yahoo Entertainment spoke to Wilson, who says she “could be considered a Swiftie,” about how her cookie recipe came to become one of the most famous desserts in the world. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
1. Can you tell me the story of how these cookies came to be instantly associated with Taylor Swift?
I’ve had my blog since 2008. I think around 2014 or so, Taylor Swift made one of my sugar cookie recipes that I had posted years prior. She made these sugar cookies and did her own twist by adding chai spices and this cinnamon nutmeg glaze. She wrote about it and linked it to the original sugar cookie recipe from her Tumblr. It was so generous of her to link to the original recipe. And her superfans, being as voracious as they are, started making these cookies. Every year since then, it’s been a thing. I sort of formalized the recipe, using that original sugar cookie that she used, but adding an appropriate amount of spices so it was something that people could recreate at home. I wanted to make something that everyone could recreate at home reliably, knowing that they have a great balance of sweetness and spice.
2. What happens every year around this time on your blog?
Every year, around September, Swifties across the world make these cookies. Taylor’s music is so closely associated with the fall. The ushering in of sweater season, of the iconic red scarf that she mentions in “All Too Well.” It’s like a little nod to fall and to Taylor that this recipe blows up on my recipe predictably and reliably every September and October.
3. If you could ever amend the cookie recipe, would you want to?
I do think, “Well, I do have better sugar cookie recipes,” and “maybe it could be changed,” but this is the recipe she made and I want to stick true to that. And it’s a great cookie. I’m just a constant tinkerer. I do transition these during the holiday season by adding eggnog to the nutmeg glaze. It makes it extra cozy and extends the life of these cookies into the holiday season. I like to put them in my holiday cookie tins.
