Earl Grey Shortbread Cookie

5 from 2 votes

These Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies are a soft and buttery dessert! Made with earl gray tea and a little lemon for an earthy, floral, and citrus biscuit. Make soft or crisp.

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time40 mins

Chilling Time30 mins

Total Time1 hr 20 mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Vegetarian

Servings: pieces

Calories: 182kcal

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour (250 grams)
⅔ cup powdered sugar
¾ teaspoon salt
1 ½ Tablespoons Earl Grey tea leaves approximately 4 tea bags
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks, 226 grams) cold, cut into 1 inch chunks
1 Tablespoon lemon zest
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup lemon glaze for decorating, optional (½ batch of recipe in link)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325F with the rack in the middle position.
Line an 8 or 9 inch square baking dish with parchment paper, with at least two edges hanging over the dish (this will make it much easier to remove the cookies later).
In a food processor, add the flour, sugar, salt, and coffee granules. Pulse together a few times to mix.
Add the butter chunks around the flour and pulse again until the dough starts to come together. Do not over process. It should still look crumbly. Press the dough together and it should stick. If it falls apart, add a little more water or lemon juice and quickly blend again.
Dump the dough onto a large piece of parchment or plastic wrap. Press the dough into a log shape, using the parchment to help. Wrap the dough up in the parchment, twist the ends, and chill for 30 minutes.
Once the dough has stiffened in its log shape, remove from the refrigerator, peel off the paper, and cut into ½ inch (or thinner) slices using a serated knife.
Place the cookies on a parchment or silicone mat lined baking sheet. (They do not spread too much, so they can be rather close together).
Bake until the cookies are just golden brown on the bottom where they touch the pan, approximately 20 minutes.
Remove the cookies from the sheet and let cool. Once cool, drizzle with or dunk into the lemon glaze.

Notes

You can also make this by hand by pinching the butter into the flour mixture, or using a pastry cutter or fork. If it gets too warm from your hands, chill for a few minutes before continuing.

The powdered sugar makes a soft cookie. To make a crisp shortbread, use the same amount of granulated sugar instead.

For a stronger tea flavor, increase quantity of leaves to 2 Tablespoons. Using 1.5 Tablespoons brings a subtle earthy, floral flavor but not too strong.

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