Earl Grey Butter Cookies
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Crisp, tender, and buttery Earl Grey Butter Cookies with a hint of tea and chocolate. They are an easy and delightful sweet treat that’s perfect for afternoon tea, holiday cookies, and the cookie jar at home!
I just found my new-found love, butter cookies. They have a rich buttery flavor and a satisfying crisp and tender texture. In addition, these cookies keep well longer than most cookies, they are perfect for gifting and they are such a pretty cookie.
I add earl grey tea into the cookie batter, which takes these yummy delights to the next level. There is no steeping required to infuse the cookies with the tea flavour. The tea leaves are blended and added to the dough for the baked-in tea flavour.
These cookies have a crisp, buttery, tender texture and a subtle hint of earl grey tea. Plus, they are not overly sweet and subtly fragrant with their unique floral, fruity aroma, all thanks to the bergamot. Do you see the chocolate chips there? I thought the cookies looked plain and a bit boring. Therefore, I added a chocolate chip in the middle of each cookie to make them prettier like flowers. It turns out to be a brilliant idea because earl grey and chocolate taste absolutely great together.
This recipe is perfect for tea lovers, and those who typically enjoy their coffee and tea with a side of something sweet. They will disappear in no time, so make sure to prepare an extra batch.
Best Tea to Use
These cookies are primarily flavoured with earl grey tea. Earl grey is a black tea blend that is flavoured with bergamot orange oil. You can either use loose-leaf earl grey tea or tea bags for this recipe. However, I highly recommend the loose-leaf tea form instead of tea bags.
The differences between loose-leaf tea and tea bags are numerous, and it goes far beyond the surface. The leaves used in most bags are actually the dust and fannings from broken tea leaves. Finely broken tea leaves have lost most of their essential oils and aroma. More importantly, most tea bags constrain the tea leaves, keeping them from expanding to their full flavour and aroma potential. That is why I love using loose-leaf tea for making baked goods, because it is fresher and more flavorful.
For the best texture and even flavour distribution, make sure to grind the loose-leaf tea until finely ground. A spice grinder will do the job. Large tea pieces can feel rough in the dough.
Ingredients You Need
- Unsalted butter. Since these are butter cookies, you will need butter, of course! The butter flavour shines. Therefore, I recommend using a high-quality butter.
- Confectioners’ sugar. To sweeten the cookies. The confectioners’ sugar will give the cookies a tender and melt-in-your-mouth texture.
- Egg yolk. I only add the egg yolk because it adds richness and tenderness with less spread.
- Vanilla extract. To enhance the flavour.
- Cake flour. Cake flour is a lower-protein flour. It has about 7-9% protein compared to the 10-12% protein in all-purpose flour. Using cake flour will make the cookies crisper, lighter, and more tender. You can also substitute cake flour with all-purpose flour, but the cookies will turn a little bit denser.
- Earl grey tea. Choose a good-quality earl grey tea that you enjoy drinking. Since it’s the star flavour, its aroma and taste will shine through in every bite.
- Cornstarch. Cornstarch makes the cookies very tender and prevents them from spreading.
- Salt. To taste.
- Chocolate chips/callets. You can use dark or milk or white chocolate chips/callets.
Best Piping Tips to Use
The cookie dough is quite thick, so make sure to use a large piping tip with at least a 1/2-inch opening. The smaller the size, the harder it will be to pipe. I highly recommend an open star piping tip. For this photo, I use a French star piping tip which cuts produces fine, deeply-grooved patterns.
Baking Tips
- Use high-quality butter. The type of butter you use is very important. I recommend using a high-quality butter with high fat content for these cookies.
- Use room temperature butter. It refers to soft and pliable butter, but still cool to touch. There should be an indent when you press with your finger.
- Measure your flour correctly. Adding too much flour to the recipe is the most common mistake. The best and easiest way to measure flour is by using a scale. If you still insist on using volume measurement, make sure to fluff your flour and spoon it into your measuring cup. Then, use a knife to level it off.
- Grind tea leaves finely. A spice grinder will do the job. Large tea pieces can feel rough in the dough.
- Add more milk if your dough is too hard. Finding the right consistency of cookie dough is very crucial for butter cookies since you need it to be creamy enough to pipe. I find the recipe ratio is perfect for me, but if your dough is too hard to pipe, try adding a teaspoon of milk to the dough. Don’t add too much, though, because the cookies will spread a lot if you do so.
- Make small cookies rather than large cookies. If you make your swirls smaller or larger, the cookies will need to bake for less or more time.
- Use a cookie press to shape the cookies. If you are not confident about your piping skills, you can alternatively use a cookie press to shape these cookies.
- Chill the cookies before baking. I highly recommend chilling the piped dough in the fridge for 30 minutes. This will help them retain their shape with less spreading.
More Tea Dessert Recipes
- Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies
- Thai Tea Creme Brulee
- Earl Grey Madeleines
- Milk Tea Panna Cotta
- Matcha Butter Cookies
- Matcha Cupcakes With Whipped Matcha White Chocolate Ganache
Ingredients
- 7 tbsp (100 gr) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup (65 gr) confectioners' sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup (125 gr) cake flour
- 1 1/2 tbsp (10 gr) cornstarch
- 1 tbsp (4 gr) loose earl grey tea, or 2 tea bags
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 24 chocolate chips/callets, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 340℉/170℃ and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.
- In a small spice grinder, blitz the tea leaves until finely ground. If you use tea bags, you can use them directly. Just cut the bags and add.
- Using a hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and confectioners' sugar on high speed until pale and fluffy.
- Add egg yolk and vanilla. Beat the mixture until well combined.
- Sift in cake flour, cornstarch, ground tea, and salt. Mix with a spatula until well incorporated. Don't overmix.
- Add a French star piping tip to the piping bag. Transfer the dough into the piping bag and try piping on the prepared baking sheet. If the dough is too thick to pipe, transfer the dough back to the mixing bowl and add 1 tsp of milk. If the dough is creamy enough to pipe, hold the piping bag vertically, hold the tip about 1/2-inch/1.2 cm above the baking pan, and squeeze evenly until the cookies are about 1 1/2-inch/3.8 cm in diameter, leaving 2 inches apart on the baking sheet.
- Place a chocolate chip/callet in the middle of each cookie.
- Chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to let the dough firm up so that they keep their shape better during baking. This step is optional.
- Bake cookies for 15-18 minutes or until the edges are light brown. Bake for 15 minutes for softer cookies, bake for 18 minutes for crisper cookies.
- Remove from the oven and immediately transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
How are your cookies green? Did you add food dye?
No, I didn’t. The tea I used made them somewhat greenish. I think it depends on the brand.
Excited to try this for Christmas, but I’ll use a different tea for it. Couple questions: 1. Is it okay to use regular floor? And 2. Do you think it’d be okay to freeze the dough for later baking?
Yes, you can use all-purpose flour. Freezing is okay, but you will need to thaw it completely at room temperature before piping it. If the dough is cold, it will be hard to pipe. And if you feel like the dough is hard to pipe when it is already at room temperature, you can add a little bit of milk until it becomes pipe-able.
Or after you make the dough, pipe the cookies on a silicone mat. Decorate with chocolate chips. Freeze for 1 hour or until hard and pack them in a freezer-friendly container or ziplock. When you are ready to bake, no need to thaw and bake them a few minutes longer.
Bought a jar of these cookies during Ramadan bake sale and they are delicious! Can’t wait to make them by myself.