Maybe I have more tea parties than the average person, but who doesn’t love a perfectly round shortbread? Let me tell you, these Lavender Earl Grey Cookies will bring your classiness up to 10. And the best part? They only take five ingredients and can easily be made vegan without any outrageous ingredient substitutes. Pretty much a basic shortbread recipe with a lovely twist. A basic shortbread recipe goes as followed: 1 part butter, ½ part powdered sugar and 2 parts flour and a dash of salt. But, this can be boring if that is all that the cookie contains. This is where tea comes in, so simple with a big impact. Now, let’s get started.
Warning: Lavender Earl Grey Tea Cookies have the possible side effects of binge watching Downton Abbey and sipping tea with your pinky out. I take no blame for this.
This recipe yields ~20 cookies. Baked for 12 minutes at 350 F.
Ingredients:
1 cup butter (use vegan butter to make the recipe vegan, it works exactly the same)
½ cup powdered sugar
~½ tsp of salt
2 tsp loose leaf lavender earl grey tea leaves (you can substitute for 1-2 bags of earl grey tea, this will lose the lavender kick but they will still be delicious)
2 cups flour
Steps:
1. In a large bowl, mix together the butter (softened), sugar and salt until smooth. I used a hand mixer, makes everything faster.
2. Mix in the tea leaves now, I found that after the flour is added it takes a lot more work to evenly mix in the tea leaves, so save yourself some trouble and do it now.
3. Mix in the flour one cup at a time until thoroughly combined. The dough may look a little crumbly, but it all will stick together to form a ball.
4. Preheat oven to 350 F. Lay wax paper on the counter or just flour the clean surface, your choice. I prefer the wax paper because it makes for easy clean up and I still sprinkle a tiny bit of flour on it to prevent sticking. Take your ball of dough and roll it out until it is even and about a ¼ inch thick.
5. With a ~2 inch round cookie cutter or, if you’re me, the rim of a jar or wine glass that measures the same, cut out the cookies and place them on a cookie sheet. There is no need to space them far apart, they hold their form when cooking.
6.Cook for about 12 minutes or when the edges are just golden brown. Do not overbake or the cookies will be harder and the taste will be compromised.
7. Let cool and enjoy your tea party!