Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies

I love Earl Grey and tea flavored ice cream and desserts. I've tried Earl Grey ice cream before and it's absolutely delicious. I made these Earl Grey cookies along with vegan blueberry scones for a party that we were invited to watch the wedding of Harry and Megan. These cookies only require 5 ingredients to make!

For a stronger Earl Grey flavor, I ground 4 bags of Earl Grey Tea in my coffee grinder and combined it with 1 cup of butter ahead of time. I let it sit in the fridge for 6 hours before making the dough for the cookie. The Early Grey flavor is also stronger if you let the cookie dough sit in the fridge. I also tried baking a few after letting the dough sit in the fridge for 30 min, but the flavor seemed stronger if  let the dough sit in the fridge overnight.

I baked these cookies at 375 for 9 minutes, to 9 minutes and 30 seconds.

Here are my modifications:
1) Put 4 Earl Grey tea bags in coffee grinder, and combined with 1 cup of butter. Let it sit in fridge for 6 hours
2) Mixed Earl Grey butter+sugar+vanilla. Then added in the 2 cups flour, combined with 1/2 teaspoon salt)
3) Shaped the dough into cookie logs, wrapped in plastic wrap. Let it sit overnight in fridge.
4) Cut the dough into 1/4 inch disks and bake for 9 min to 9 min and 30 seconds at 375 degrees.

Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies (~On Food Network’s website, from Claire Robinson)

Ingredients:

·       2 cups all-purpose flour

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

·       1/2 teaspoon salt 

·       3/4 cup confectioners' sugar

·       1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

·       1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature

Directions:

In a food processor, pulse together the flour, tea, and salt, until the tea is just spotted throughout the flour. Add the confectioners' sugar, vanilla, and butter. Pulse together just until a dough is formed. Place dough on a sheet of plastic wrap, and roll into a log, about 2 1/2-inches in diameter. Tightly twist each end of wrap, and chill in refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Slice the log into 1/3-inch thick disks. Place on parchment or silpat lined baking sheets, 2 inches apart (2 probably needed depending on size of sheets). Bake until the edges are just brown, about 12 minutes. Let cool on sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks and cool to room temperature. (I cut the cookies ¼ inches, and baked for 9 to 9 min and 30 seconds at 375 degrees)