What better way to enjoy afternoon tea than with a tea infused cookie. These earl grey cookies have just the right amount of subtle tea flavor, mixed with a buttery and tender cookie crumb.
How to Make Earl Grey Cookies
These Earl Grey cookies give a traditional sugar cookie a boost. And with the orange zest added to the dough, this cookie has the perfect balance of sweet and tart.
While this recipe is designed for those who love Earl Grey tea, you can certainly use any tea you like. Steeping the butter with the tea brings out the flavor and also softens the tea leaves. If you want to skip this step you can add the tea leaves directly to the cookie dough, but steeping it really brings out the flavor.
Ingredients for Earl Grey Cookies
I’ve written out this recipe in traditional measurements, but if you prefer to measure your ingredients I have included how many grams per ingredient as well.
As noted above, you can substitute your favorite tea in place of the Earl Grey if you prefer. I tablespoon of tea leaves is approximately 3 tea bags. If you have loose leaf tea on hand instead, be sure to finely grind the tea leaves. The tea leaves from a tea bag are already finely ground so you shouldn’t need to do anything more.
One key thing to note about this recipe is the use of Kosher salt. The recipe uses Diamond Crystal kosher salt. If you’ve never used Diamond Crystal before, their kosher salt has large granules. Alternatively, Morton kosher salt is much finer so you actually get more salt per measuring spoon. That’s why if you use Morton you’ll want to cut the salt in half otherwise these Earl Grey cookies will be too salty.
Another area where you can make adjustments is with the orange zest. If you love citrus and want more orange flavor in the cookie, you can add more zest. The 1/2 teaspoon called for in the recipe is not a lot and it’s really just enough to complement the tea flavor. You can double this amount and it will increase the orange flavor without being over powering.
Earl Grey Cookies
Equipment
- Mixing Bowl
- Measuring Cups
- Measuring Spoons
- Cookie Sheets
- Cookie Scoop
Ingredients
- 1¼ Cups Granulated sugar (250 grams)
- 14 Tablespoons Unsalted butter (198 grams)
- 1 Tablespoons Earl Grey tea leaves (finely ground) from about 3 tea bags
- ½ Cup Light brown sugar (100 grams)
- ¾ teaspoon Kosher salt Diamond Crystal
- ½ teaspoon Orange zest finely grated
- 1 Large egg
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla extract
- 2½ Cups All-purpose flour (320 grams)
- ½ teaspoon Baking powder
- ½ teaspoon Baking soda
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees and line two half-sheet pans with parchment paper. Put ½ cup (100 grams) of granulated sugar in a small bowl or shallow dish and set aside.
- Combine the butter and tea leaves in a small saucepan set over medium heat. Melt the butter, stirring occasionally, until it just begins to sizzle around the edges. Remove from the heat and let cool for 5 minutes.
- Add the tea butter to a large bowl, then add brown sugar, salt, orange zest and remaining ¾ cup (150 grams) granulated sugar. Use an electric mixer on medium speed or a whisk to combine for about 30 seconds. Add the egg and vanilla, and mix until combined and smooth, about 30 seconds.
- Add the flour, baking powder and baking soda to the bowl, and mix on low speed or with a rubber spatula until just combined. Use the spatula to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure the dough is evenly mixed.
- Use a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop to portion the cookies. Alternatively, measure 2 tablespoons of dough with a measuring spoon. Roll each dough ball in the reserved granulated sugar, then place on the baking sheets 2 inches apart.
- Bake the cookies until set, light golden around and crackled on top, 12 to 15 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back in the oven halfway through the baking time. Remove cookies from the oven and let cool on the baking sheets.
Notes
- The mixture may be grainy and separated when you first mix the melted butter with the sugar. Don’t worry, it will come together and become creamy when you add egg and mix a little longer.
- This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal kosher salt. If you use Morton’s kosher salt, you should use half the amount. Morton kosher salt is finer than Diamond so you get twice the amount in a teaspoon.
- Store extra cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, or for a few weeks in the freezer.
Tips for Baking Earl Grey Cookies
First and foremost when it comes to these cookies, don’t over bake them. Although they may take as long as 15 minutes to bake, I start checking on them at 10 minutes and typically mine take about 12 minutes. I pull them out of the oven when they just start to get golden brown around the edges.
I prefer to bake these cookies one cookie sheet at a time. You can do both sheets at once if you want to speed up the process, just be sure to rotate your sheets half-way through. This is why I like to bake one sheet at a time. I can bake the sheet in the middle of the oven for optimal heat distribution. And while most people will tell you to rotate the sheet 180 degrees half-way through, I never do this. Call me lazy, but my cookies turn out perfectly fine without this added step.
Recap of Earl Grey Cookie Recipe
I hope you enjoy these Earl Grey cookies. For those who love sugar cookies, these really are a nice way to switch-up your typical recipe and go with one that has more flavor. With the combination of tea and citrus, these cookies are a yummy treat perfect for any occasion and certainly the perfect addition to any afternoon tea.
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These cookies are amazing! I doubled the orange zest and used Stash Double Bergamot tea bags.
Thank you Megan. So glad you enjoyed the cookies. Can never go wrong with extra zest 😉