These crunchy and crumbly shortbread cookies are infused with earl grey tea leaves aroma dipped in a lemon glaze. These cookies are delicate with an elegant and subtle flavor.
I have a weakness for crispy, buttery and crunchy shortbread cookies with my afternoon and evening tea sessions. They are simply my favorite cookies and for a reason. They are easy to bake and taste so well, just like my traditional Pakistani NanKhatai shortbread cookies recipe.
Today, I am sharing my shortbread cookies recipe fragrant with earl grey tea and decorated with lemon glaze. The Earl Grey Tea give these cookies an earthy, citrusy and floral taste. If you are a shortbread cookie and an earl grey tea fan like me, these cookies will be your new favorite. You can have it with a cup of tea or put it on a table to flaunt the holiday season.
Jump to:
Shortbread Cookies – 3:2:1 Ratio
The traditional shortbread cookies originated in Scotland in the 16th century with only three basic ingredients with a simple 3:2:1 ratio - three parts of flour, two parts of butter and one part of sugar. These cookies do not use a leavening agent such as baking powder or baking soda.
Shortbread cookies are chilled for 30 minutes to one hour before baking and need to be baked for fairly short time of 10 – 15 minutes mostly. The cookies are chilled so that they can keep their shape during baking and do not spread too much.
What is Earl Grey Tea?
Earl tea is basically black tea infused with the bergamot oil, giving it a distinctive and aromatic fragrant. This black tea has a floral taste with a hint of citrus flavor such as lemon, orange and grapefruit as the main ingredient of Earl Grey Tea is Bergamot, a type of citrus. Bergamot is a pear-shaped fruit of a size of a small orange.
The other dominating flavor of this tea is a distinctive aroma of lavender leaves. Just imagine the fusion of lavender and citrus flavor in tea leaves, further infused in the shortbread cookies giving them an earthy and floral taste.
Loose Earl Grey or Earl Grey Tea Bags?
I use 3 earl grey teabags for this recipe. All you need to do is to tear apart the teabag and take out the tea leaves.
If you want to use the loose earl grey tea leaves, put them in the grinder and ground them before using in the recipe. We want fine ground tea leaves in this recipe.
Ingredients Required
This recipe is super simple and requires only a handful of uncomplicated ingredients, readily available in the pantry.
Cookies:
Unsalted butter
Earl grey tea leaves (finely ground)
Granulated Sugar
Cardamom Powder (I forget it in the ingredients in the picture above)
All-purpose flour
Salt
Lemon Glaze:
Powdered sugar
Lemon juice
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Add the butter at room temperature in a large bowl and beat it until the butter is pale in color.
Step 2: Add in the sugar and beat again until butter and sugar is combined well.
Step 3: Add in the earl grey tea leaves, cardamom powder and salt and beat one more time.
Step 4: Add in the flour in the butter mixture.
Step 5: Beat with the electric mixer until the texture is crumbly.
Step 6: Using the hands work through the crumbly mixture until it forms the shape of a soft dough.
Step 7: Weigh in the dough. You should get two doughs of 332 grams each.
Step 8: For two logs of 7 - 8 inches in length and 1 ½ - 2 inches in width.
Step 9: Wrap the logs in plastic wraps and place in the fridge for 30 minutes or overnight.
Step 10: Cut ¼'' pieces and place them on the baking tray with silicone sheets.
Step 11: Bake the cookies at 350 F for 12 - 15 minutes until the edges are light golden in color.
Step 12: Cool the cookies completely and dip them in the lemon glaze.
Important Tips
Do not overmix the dough – You would want to knead the dough only until it comes together. Over-mixing will result in tougher cookies.
Weigh the ingredients – Weigh the ingredients using a kitchen scale to get the accurate ratio of the ingredients.
Chilling is Important – Keep the logs in the fridge and it is an important step. Chilling helps to solidify the butter, which then helps prevention of spreading of the cookies in oven. Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes but you can chill it overnight as well.
Cool the Cookies - Wait for the Cookies to Cool before dipping them in the lemon glaze or the glaze will not stay on the shortbread cookies.
Variations
While I love these shortbread cookies as-is, there are some variations that work perfectly to further enhance the taste.
Lemon Glaze: I like to dip these cookies in simple lemon glaze, which adds to the citrusy flavor of these cookies.
Chocolate Ganache: You can also coat chocolate ganache on these cookies.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you can make it a day ahead and let the dough rest in the fridge overnight. Just cut the slices next day and bake.
Yes – do not skip this step. Chilling of the dough is really important as it solidifies the butter and prevents from cookies to spread during baking.
I used the tea bags for this recipe but you may use the loose leaf earl grey tea but you might have to finely ground them before using. Finley ground tea leaves are better for baking then the large tea leaves.
It is achievable. Just use powdered sugar instead of the granulated sugar for a softer texture of the cookies. The granulated sugar gives the crispy texture to the cookies.
Yes – you can easily double or triple the recipe.
In sugar cookies we use the leavening agent such as baking soda or baking powder, that helps in the rising of the cookies. But shortbread cookies do not use the leavening agents and are made with simple ingredients of flour, butter and sugar.
How to Store
On the Counter: The cookies can be stored in an airtight containers at room temperature up to 5 days.
In the Fridge: The baked cookies will stay fresh in the fridge for up to a week.
In the Freezer: Place the cut cookies in the freezer for up to three months. They might need a couple of more minutes in the oven while baking.
Recipe
Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies
Equipment
- 1 Electric Mixer or Stand Mixer
- 2 Baking Trays
- 2 Silicone Mats
Ingredients
Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies
- 1 cup unsalted butter (227 grams) room temperature
- 2 tablespoon earl grey tea leaves
- ½ cup castor sugar (100 grams)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cardamom powder
Lemon Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar (130 grams)
- 2 tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies
- Take a large bowl and cream the butter well using an electric mixer for 3 - 4 minutes until the butter is pale.
- Add the earl grey tea leaves, salt and cardamom powder in butter. Adding the tea leaves at this step will help to infuse the tea taste better.
- Add in the icing powder and beat until mixed together.
- Add the sifted all-purpose flour and beat until the texture is crumbly.
- Using the hands combine the dough together and work through it until the dough comes together.
- Make two logs of the dough (362 grams each) and shape them in the form of a log. The log should be 8 - 9 inch long and 1 ½ - 2 inch wide.
- Place the logs in the fridge for 30 minutes or overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- Take out the logs out of the fridge, cut the logs using a sharp knife to ¼'' wide.
- Place the cookies on the baking tray lined with silicone mats.
- Bake for 10 - 15 minutes, until the edges are light golden brown.
- Take them out and place on wire rack to cool down for 30 minutes.
Lemon Glaze
- Combine the icing sugar and lemon juice.
- Dip the cookies in the lemon glaze and place on the wire rack for the icing to harden.
Karalee Shotola
These cookies look delicious & I love that you used early grey tea leaves! The lemon glaze sounds yummy too!
Madeeha Anwar
Thank you Karalee. I really like Earl Grey Tea in my bakes. Will be sharing more recipes too.