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Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies


A few things happened recently that led to these cooking being baked (and then blogged).

1) A few weeks ago I was at a brunch party and one of the guests (shout out to Megan!) brought these mystery shortbread cookies that tasted sort of savory-- and sort of like they had pepper in them-- and I couldn't quite place the taste-- and I kept wanting more-- and then she told me that they were made with dried tea leaves. WTF. They were wonderful, with such a lovely subtle flavor that keeps you reaching for more.

2) Fast forward a few weeks. I've been a bit under the weather for the past few days with a cold and have been drinking lots of tea, which, of course, reminded me of these cookies and so I thought: why not?

3) I am home sick from work and bored, so what else was I going to do? So, I baked*. And then I blogged. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

These cookies really are amazing and take only 20 minutes to make (TOTAL). They are not very sweet, but in a perfect way. I made a small batch today, which yielded approximately 15 2-inch round thin shortbread cookies. You could easily double the recipe, and/or cut them into different shapes and sizes. Recipe adapted from Food Network.

INGREDIENTS
1 stick butter, softened
1/3 cup confectioners sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 (heaping) teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 bag of dried Earl Grey tea leaves

In a large bowl cream the butter and sugar. Add the vanilla and beat until incorporated. Add the salt, flour, and tea leaves and mix to combine. Make sure all the ingredients come together well into a dough ball.

Remove the dough and roll into a 1/4 inch thick disk. Use a cookie or biscuit cutter to cut into circles and bake at 350 degrees for approximately 10 minutes. You will know they are done when the edges are slightly browned. Let cool and then serve and enjoy with a cup of tea or coffee.

* Yes, cooking when under the weather means that other people don't really want to eat the food you make, but that kinda works in my favor-- because now the cookies are all mine.