Earl Grey cookies
These are slice-and-bake butter cookies, rolled into logs and then sliced, infused with Earl Grey tea and its fresh bergamot orange aroma. They're crisp and melt-in-your-mouth, lightly sweet, with edges that sparkle with granulated sugar, making them a lovely gift or a treat with a cup of hot milk.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 14 min
- Rising or chilling
- 2 hr
- Total time
- 2 hr 34 min
- Method
- Oven-baked
Ingredients
For the dough
For the sugar edge
Instructions
Step 1
Put 8 g Earl Grey tea leaves in a spice grinder or mortar and grind them very finely. Tea ground as fine as powder blends into the butter and won't feel gritty when you eat the cookies. The tea is ready when it's as fine as ground coffee and the bergamot aroma really comes through.
Step 2
Beat 200 g softened unsalted butter with 90 g powdered sugar, the ground tea and a pinch salt for about two minutes, then add 18 g egg yolks along with 4 g vanilla extract. The fat in the butter absorbs the tea's aromatic oils, so the fragrance spreads through every cookie. The mixture is ready when it's smooth, flecked with tiny bits of tea and free of yolk streaks.
Step 3
Sift 260 g all-purpose flour into the butter mixture and mix slowly with a spatula until the dough just comes together. A light hand keeps the cookies crisp and tender rather than hard. The dough is ready when it gathers into a soft, slightly pliable mass that pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
Step 4
Divide the dough in half, roll each half on parchment paper into a log about 4 cm in diameter, then wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. Evenly round logs give slices of the same size that bake at the same rate. The logs are ready when they're straight, evenly round from end to end and have no gaps inside.
Step 5
Refrigerate the logs for at least two hours or overnight. The butter must be fully firm so you can slice neatly and the cookies don't spread in the oven. The dough is ready when a log feels as firm as a cold stick of butter when you squeeze it.
Step 6
Heat the oven to 170°C and line a baking sheet with parchment paper about fifteen minutes before slicing. A properly hot oven sets the edges quickly so the cookies don't spread. The oven is ready when the heating light turns off.
Step 7
Scatter 25 g granulated sugar over a sheet of paper, roll the cold log through the sugar, then cut it into slices about 7 mm thick and arrange them on the sheet 3 cm apart. The sugar coating creates a beautifully crisp, sparkly edge. The slices are right when they're all the same thickness, the edges are fully coated in sugar and the cut faces are flat.
Step 8
Bake at 170°C for 12 to 15 minutes, turning the sheet after about eight minutes. A moderate temperature bakes the cookies crisp without turning the tea bitter. They're done when the bottom edges turn pale golden while the tops are still light.
Step 9
Leave the cookies on the sheet for about five minutes, then use a spatula to move them to a rack to cool completely. The cookies only become fully crisp once the butter inside has firmed up. They're ready when they're cool to the touch and snap cleanly in half to show a fine crumb dotted with tea.
Equipment
- Oven
- Baking sheet
- Parchment paper
- Hand mixer
- Mixing bowl
- Spatula
- Plastic wrap
- Kitchen scale
Tips
- You can tear open a few Earl Grey tea bags for the leaves, since the tea in bags is usually already fairly fine and easy to grind.
- Tightly wrapped logs can be frozen for up to two months; when you need cookies, just slice and bake them for an extra minute or two.
- For even more fragrance, add a little grated orange zest to bring out the bergamot notes.
Storage
Store the cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature, where they stay crisp for about ten days. Keep them away from strongly scented foods, since butter cookies pick up odors very easily.
Common problems and how to fix them
- The slices crumble when you cut them.
- The log is too cold or the knife isn't sharp enough. Let the dough sit out for five minutes and use a thin knife, cutting each slice in one firm stroke.
- The cookies taste bitter and look dark.
- They baked too long or the oven was too hot, scorching the tea. Check your oven temperature and take the cookies out as soon as the edges just turn golden.
This recipe is based on the common ratios for this bake and is written entirely in our own words.
