Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies
You guys. I am only an occasional earl grey drinker- mostly in a london fog every now and then, BUT these cookies are a total game changer. This is a really buttery, luxurious-feeling shortbread, and the earl gray really shines with such a mild canvas. Highly, highly recommend gifting these- they’re still good several days after baking. This recipe makes around 20 cookies (depending on the size) and takes ___ including chilling and baking time.
Ingredients
175g flour
60g sugar
150g cold unsalted butter
1 teabag of fine earl gray tea
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
Directions
In a large bowl, cream together your butter, sugar, and vanilla using a hand mixer (or a whisk if you want an arm workout).
Add the flour, rosemary, and salt, and beat until the whole thing is a sandy texture.
Tip your sandy dough out onto a floured surface and fold it over onto itself over and over until it begins to come together. This will take several minutes.
Form the (still kind of crumbly) dough into a tight disk, plastic wrap it, and stow it in the refrigerator for 35-45 minutes.
Once the dough has chilled, line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat your oven to 400F
Remove your dough from the fridge and roll it out with a floured rolling pin until it’s about 1/4 of an inch thick. Use whatever shape cookie cutter you like to gently cut out as many shapes as possible. Remove them one at a time by sliding a fork or spatula underneath them and transfer them to your baking sheet. They don’t need to be far apart, as these won’t spread while baking.
Re-roll your dough as many times as necessary to get the desired number of cookies- you can usually get 18-24 out of this recipe. I find that the dough is actually easier to handle on the second and third re-roll.
Poke each cookie a few times with a fork and sprinkle them with a pinch of granulated sugar before baking them on the middle rack for 8-10 minutes. Check these constantly after the seven minute mark- if you want soft, melt-in-your-mouth cookies, not crunchy ones, you want to remove them they brown. The very edges should just barely be beginning to color when you take them out. They may look underdone but they will quickly set once out of the oven.
Transfer the cookies to a rack and allow them to cool completely.
Enjoy! These keep well in an airtight container for several days.
