Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies

I love earl grey tea. Most days I drink it with a splash of milk but if I'm feeling super fancy, I'll turn my tea into a london fog. Instead of drinking my tea the other day, I felt like putting it in some shortbread. When we were in Leeds this spring, we bought some earl grey shortbread cookies and really enjoyed them. After a quick search, I decided to make these earl grey shortbread cookies. These are literally the easiest cookies to make. Still a few more ingredients than these peanut butter cookies, but seriously, so easy. But more importantly, they taste amazing! They are thin, and crisp, and so buttery with a subtle flavor of earl grey tea. In the recipe comments, some people had increased their amount of earl grey tea but I think the tea flavor would be too strong for me. As always, adjust to your liking friends!

Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies (barely adapted from Claire Robinson)

Makes a ton of cookies, I didn't count. But I probably got like 40+ cookies.

2 cups all purpose flour

2 tablespoons loose Earl Grey tea leaves (approximately 4 tea bags)

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup icing/powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup or 225g unsalted butter cubed and at room temperature

Claire made her cookie dough in the food processor, but as I don't have one (yet?!), I made mine in my KitchenAid. Just so you know, it is possible either way!

In your mixing bowl, sift together the flour, tea and salt, until there are specks of tea mixed throughout the flour. 

Add the icing sugar, the vanilla extract, and the butter. With your paddle attachment, mix the ingredients together on the lowest speed until a dough forms. 

Place the dough on a long piece of parchment paper and shape into a log. Tightly twist each end of the paper and put it in the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375F or 170C. Line a few baking sheets with parchment paper.

Slice the log into your desired thickness. I realize now that the recipe said 1/3 inch thick and I think I was aiming more for like 1/8 inch thick. Oops! Either way, slice to your desired thickness. Thicker = fewer cookies, thinner = more cookies. Place the sliced dough on the baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake until the edges of the cookies are brown. As my cookies were very thing, that took 8 minutes or so. But if you slice them a bit thicker, you may need up to 12 minutes. 

Once the cookies have browned along the edges, remove them from the oven. Let the cookies cool on the sheet for a few minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack. 

Store the cookies in an airtight container and they should last up to a week. 

I think these earl grey shortbread cookies are perfect for this rainy fall weather here in Copenhagen. Enjoy and share some with your friends and loved ones!