Earl Grey Tea Sugar Cookies

Earl Grey tea sugar cookies-12 copy

I can’t stop browsing the web. There are too many lovely Christmas posts, especially about holiday cookies! There are cookie swaps, cookie parties, cookie goodie bags, cookies cookies cookies everywhere! It’s my favorite time of the year.

Here are some that I particularly love:

I’m literally swimming in beautifully photographed posts of holiday treats. And I won’t have it any other way. These posts are inspirations, both for recipes, food styling, and food photography. Well, here’s my little contribution: earl grey tea sugar cookies. A little twist on a classic holiday treat. For fun, I crushed up some candy canes and sprinkled it on half of the sugar cookies.

Earl Grey tea sugar cookies-21

Earl Grey tea sugar cookies-5

This little dog here? This formed, magically, from the scrapping after cutting out cookies. It almost resembles my dog Annie.

Earl Grey tea sugar cookies-1-2

Earl Grey Tea Sugar Cookies Christmas Holiday -4

There’s a little bit of a resemblance right?

I found these cookie cutters from Target. ‘Tis the season!
Earl Grey tea sugar cookies-13

Earl Grey tea sugar cookies-1

Earl Grey tea sugar cookies-2

Earl Grey tea sugar cookies-7

Earl Grey tea sugar cookies-6

Earl Grey tea sugar cookies-3

Last week I volunteered for a children’s holiday party at work. It was lovely and I was overwhelmed by the cuteness of the toddlers. I can’t wait to roll out sugar cookies during Christmas time with my future kids. :).

Earl Grey tea sugar cookies-8

Save the scraps – you can reform and roll out again!

Earl Grey tea sugar cookies-9

Earl Grey tea sugar cookies-11

The trip to soft and chewy sugar cookies is to undercook it a little. You want just the edges to be lightly golden brown.

Earl Grey tea sugar cookies-10

Earl Grey tea sugar cookies-18

For icing, I used a simple royal icing recipe by Food and Wine. It’s simply egg white and powdered sugar.

Earl Grey tea sugar cookies-17To crush candy canes, I put them in a zip log bag, place it on a cutting board, and just hack away with a rolling pin.

Earl Grey tea sugar cookies-CandyCane

Earl Grey tea sugar cookies-20

Earl Grey tea sugar cookies-23

Earl Grey tea sugar cookies-22

RECIPE: Earl Grey Tea Sugar Cookies
*I used 3/4 cup brown sugar because I love the caramel-y hint that brown sugar gives a cookie, plus it goes well with earl grey tea flavor. I add the earl grey tea leaves in when the butter is being creamed because this helps the flavor bloom out. All that creaming really massages the flavor out from the leaves.
Adapted from this awesome article by Food52.  (great tricks and tips in here!)

 Ingredients
15 oz all purpose flour (this is about 3 cups + 2 tbsp, but I recommend weighing this out)
pinch salt
pinch nutmeg
2 tsp baking powder
2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature (should be soft to touch)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg, beaten
2 tsp vanilla extract
1.5 tbsp ground up earl grey loose tea leaves

1| Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg.
2| Using a stand mixer or hand held mixer, cream the butter (this is easier if it is at room temperature), brown sugar, granulated sugar, and ground up earl grey tea leaves until mixture is light and fluffy. Beat for 5 minutes. The mixture should be pale and look very soft.
3| Add in the egg and vanilla and combine. Make sure to scrape the sides of the bowl!!!!
4| Add in the flour mixture. Stir on lowest, slowest setting for a few seconds, until flour is incorporated. Continue to mix on low speed until the flour is just incorporated. Alternatively, you could fold in the flower. Do not overmix, otherwise this will form a more crunchy cookie. Shape dough into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill for at least one hour. This lets the flour hydrate completely.
5| Preheat oven to 350F. On a lightly floured surface, roll out doll to about ¼ to ½ “ thick. Try to get the dough as even as possible across the surface. Use a cookie cutter to cut the dough and transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet. I usually have two ready. When I’ve filled one up, I stick it in the fridge, then I continue to fill the other sheet up.
6| Bake for 9-10 minutes, until the cookies are JUST lightly golden on the edges. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely before you ice!

 Royal Icing Recipe here. 

Earl Grey tea sugar cookies-19

83,104,97,114,101,32,111,110,58:no erahSFacebookTwitterPinterest
  • Beautiful photography! ReplyCancel

  • Delicious as always! I love all the ways you work tea into your recipes. It was International Tea Day a couple days ago and I was swimming in tea, from morning lapsang souchong to afternoon chrysanthemum petals. Love the cookies + the holidays. Beautiful photographs + adorable dog! I have been wanting a furry friend for our apartment, but too busy – maybe I will start wish a fish 🙂 happy holidays!ReplyCancel

    • Austin!!! You are too kind <3. I do love tea, and I try to incorporate it in everything I do (clearly). My sister also wants a furry friend, but her apartment doesn't allow it, so she got an adorable bunny!!!! Happy holidays to you too :).ReplyCancel

  • Baking Magique

    Thanks for linking to my blog post! This recipe sounds delicious and the photos are gorgeous! I’m so glad I found you blog 🙂ReplyCancel

  • foodtravelthought

    Beautiful shepherd, looks close to mine — they sure are awesome dogs. Love the cookie recipe and very timely given the holiday, I’ll be baking these up after I get a few more loaves of sourdough out of the oven.

    Cheers and happy holidays!ReplyCancel

    • I just took a look at your blog – gorgeous gorgeous and all that bread!!! I will be reading up on your posts as I try out sourdough this year. Also, your beautiful shepherd – yes, they really are awesome, aren’t they?ReplyCancel

      • Thanks so much, I really appreciate that! Baking has me totally transfixed — being able to make something so incredible from such humble ingredients is really inspiring. Let me know if you have any questions and I’ll definitely try to help you get your sourdough game going!

        Yea, my shepherd is really part of the family. She needs some serious exercise and mental stimulation to keep from causing trouble, though!ReplyCancel

  • EARL GREY SUGAR COOKIES!!!! Lordy, I think this recipe just became my default sugar cookie recipe. Daydreaming of all the fun glazes and icings you can pair with the Earl Grey. Loveeeee!ReplyCancel

  • Shannon

    This recipe sounds so yummy!! I’ve been thinking about making a gingerbread house this year but I really hate gingerbread cookies do you think these cookies would be stable enough? Thank you!!ReplyCancel

  • I’ve tried this with my kiddies this holiday season and they were a huge success. simple and with the right amount of sweet.

    I am about to post this recipe to my blog and credit yours of course..

    just thought i’d leave my feedback and an appreciation for your sharing.

    Thank you,

    Sarah Alchmist…ReplyCancel

Your email is never published or shared. Required fields are marked *

*

*