Recipe: Tea cookies!!

I LOVE tea!! My background is from England, so I grew up going to grandma’s house for “tea time”!  I love when there are different kinds of new flavors to try etc. I'm terrible at DavidsTea I want to buy the whole store...LOL!

Anyways, I was on Facebook this afternoon only to discover a recipe for cookies made with TEA!!! I am so excited about this! I haven’t made them yet; I was too excited to wait to share this recipe with you, so here it is:

Earl Grey Shortbread (makes ~2 dozen 1-inch square cookies)

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon Earl Grey black tea leaves, finely ground*

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature

¼ cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted

½ tablespoon finely grated orange zest

Directions:

1.       Whisk flour, tea, (cocoa powder, if using) and salt in a small bowl; set aside.

2.       In the bowl of a standing electric mixer fitted with a paddle, beat the butter until creamy. Add the sugar (and zest if using) and beat until fluffy. Add the flour/tea mixture to the mixing bowl, then beat on low speed until just incorporated. The dough will be very soft.

3.       Transfer the dough to a sheet of parchment paper (or plastic wrap), shape into a disc, and wrap tightly to seal. Refrigerate the dough until firm, at least 2 hours or, preferably, overnight. The dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.

4.       Position a rack in the bottom third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350° F. Roll out the dough on a floured surface to about ⅜-inch thickness and cut into shapes. Space 1 inch apart on baking sheets lined with parchment. Chill cookies in the refrigerator on a baking sheet for 10-15 minutes or until firm. Re-roll the scraps and cut out more cookies, as above, chilling the scraps between batches.

5.       Bake the shortbread in the bottom third of the oven, one sheet at a time until the edges are golden, 13 to 15 minutes. Let cool completely on sheets on wire racks. These cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for about a week.

*You can grind the tea leaves in a small food processor, spice grinder, coffee grinder, or by using a mortar & pestle.