These crunchy and crumbly Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies are elegant and infused with black tea fragrance with a hint of lemon. These delicate cookies have a subtle, earthy, citrusy and floral flavor and you can make it in one hour.
Shortbread cookies are a joy to make. You can make them quickly with a few basic pantry ingredients and the result is just amazing like these Pakistani Nankhatai crunchy shortbread cookies.
I love to give my shortbread cookies a twist and adding earl grey leaves to the uncomplicated and simple shortbread dough is as easy and delicious as it can get. These cookies just melt in your mouth. You got'a try them.
Table of Contents
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- These crispy and buttery cookies are super easy to make with a few pantry ingredients.
- These Earl Grey cookies have a floral and citrusy taste and are utterly delicious.
- These are perfect for tea time or a brunch gathering. They will great for a holiday cookie platter as well.
- The lemon glaze further adds to the richness like these Blueberry Cake with Lemon Glaze.
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 like these Orange Shortbread Cookies or these Butter Pecan Cookies.
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 Grey tea is essentially black tea infused with bergamot oil, giving it a distinctive and aromatic fragrance. This black tea features a floral taste with hints of citrus flavors like lemon, orange, and grapefruit, owing to its primary ingredient, bergamot—a pear-shaped fruit about the size of a small orange.
Another prominent flavor in this tea is the unique aroma of lavender leaves. Imagine the fusion of lavender and citrus flavors in tea leaves, further infused into shortbread cookies, resulting in an earthy and floral taste.
Ingredients
- Earl grey tea leaves (finely ground): the hero ingredient of this recipe which gives earthy, aromatic flavor to these cookies.
- Cardamom Powder: used for fragrance in the cookies. (I forget it in the ingredients in the picture above)
- All-purpose flour: gives structure to these cookies.
See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and quantities.
Variations
- Chocolate Ganache: You can also coat chocolate ganache on these cookies.
This recipe hasn't been tested with alternative substitutions or variations. If you choose to replace or include different ingredients, we'd love to hear about your experience. Please share your feedback in the comments section below!
Baking Pro Tips
1. Unless a recipe says otherwise, always use room-temperature ingredients. This helps them mix together smoothly and evenly, for perfect results every time.
2. Ditch the measuring cups and grab your digital scale. Weighing dry ingredients in grams ensures perfect accuracy and consistent results.
How to Make Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies
Detailed Instructions Below! See the key steps here, then head to the recipe card below for full instructions.
1. Beat the butter and sugar until it is pale in color. Add in the earl grey tea leaves, cardamom powder and salt and beat one more time.
2. Add in the flour in the butter mixture.
3. Using with the electric mixer beat until the texture is crumbly.
4. Using the hands work through the crumbly mixture until it forms the shape of a soft dough.
5. Make two logs of 7 - 8 inches in length and 1 ½ - 2 inches in width. Wrap the logs in plastic wraps and place in the fridge for 30 minutes or overnight.
6. Cut ¼'' pieces and place them on the baking tray with silicone sheets.
7. Bake the cookies at 350 F for 12 - 15 minutes until the edges are light golden in color.
8. Dip the cookies in the lemon icing and let sit on the cooling tray.
Expert Tips
- Do not Overmix the Dough – Knead the dough only until it comes together. Over-mixing will result in tougher cookies.
- Chilling is Important – Refrigerate the dough logs to solidify the butter, which helps prevent the cookies from spreading in the oven. Chill for at least 30 minutes or overnight. This step is crucial for maintaining the cookies shape during baking.
- Cool the Cookies - Once the cookies are out of the oven, let them cool before dipping them in the lemon glaze; otherwise, the glaze will not stay on the shortbread cookies.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, you can prepare the dough a day in advance and let it rest in the fridge overnight. Simply cut the slices and bake them the next day.
For a softer texture, use powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar, which gives the cookies a crispy texture.
Yes – you can easily double or triple the recipe. This is a fool proof recipe.
For this recipe, I use 3 Earl Grey tea bags. Simply tear open the tea bags and remove the tea leaves. If you prefer using loose Earl Grey tea leaves, grind them until they are fine before incorporating them into the recipe. We need finely ground tea leaves for this recipe.
How to Store
Room Temperature
The cookies can be stored in an airtight containers at room temperature up to 5 days.
Refrigerator
The baked cookies will stay fresh in the fridge for up to a week when stored in an airtight container.
Freezing Instructions
Place the cut cookies in the freezer for up to three months. They may require a few extra minutes in the oven when baking.
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Related Cookies Recipes
Recipe
Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies
- 1 cup unsalted butter (227 g) room temperature
- 2 tablespoon earl grey tea leaves (2 g) (2 - 3 tea bags)
- ½ cup castor sugar (100 g)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (240 g)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cardamom powder (2 g)
Lemon Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar (130 g)
- 2 tablespoon lemon juice (30 ml)
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.
Notes
-
- Do not Overmix the Dough – Knead the dough only until it comes together. Over-mixing will result in tougher cookies.
- Chilling is Important – Refrigerate the dough logs to solidify the butter, which helps prevent the cookies from spreading in the oven. Chill for at least 30 minutes or overnight. This step is crucial for maintaining the cookies shape during baking.
- Cool the Cookies - Once the cookies are out of the oven, let them cool before dipping them in the lemon glaze; otherwise, the glaze will not stay on the shortbread cookies.
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.