Earl Grey Shortbread with Orange Glaze

These sophisticated little shortbread bites are flavored with earl grey tea and orange zest and then drizzled with a mandarin orange glaze. I liked them on the first day that I made them but I loved them once they had a chance to sit overnight. They are the kind of cookie that just gets better with age.

I had recently picked up Martha Stewart's cookie book and was dying to try a recipe. Actually, more like dying to try 25, 30, 40 of the recipes. The more that I went between the pages trying to narrow it down, the more recipes I ended up adding to my list. In the end I handed the book over to my friend Noelle and told her to pick one of the recipes from the dog-eared pages for me.Left to my own devices  I'm happy to just make lists upon lists of things to bake and do without ever getting around to the actual doing part of things.

 

Considering that Noelle's visits always involve tea (always) this recipe is very fitting. Plus it was a snap to put together. In fact, it was so easy (and delicious) that I made the cookies two days in a row.

The first step is to grind up earl grey tea leaves into a fine powder. This tea is already ground very fine but I gave it a whirl in a spice grinder anyways. For the second batch I skipped that step and there was no noticeable difference.

 

The next step is to zest an orange. I used a regular orange for the cookies but a mandarin orange for the glaze. I find that once zest is baked into a cookie there isn't too much difference between regular and mandarin but when it's raw (like in the glaze) you can really tell which one is which.

 

To make the dough the tea gets stirred in with the flour and set aside. Then soft butter gets creamed with the zest and icing sugar and the flour is stirred in until it's all combined. The trick to having workable dough is making sure that your butter is soft so that it coats the flour properly. If the butter is not quite at room temperature then the dough will be a bit crumbly and stubborn. And nobody like stubborn dough.

 

The dough only takes a few minutes to put together and the cookies only take around 10- 13 minutes to bake. The dough does need to chill before you can roll it out or slice it if you've made it into a log but this gives you time to clean up the kitchen (and make a cup of tea!).

Where have you been all my life shortbread? So quick and so tasty.

 

 The cookies are only slightly sweet which means that they lend themselves perfectly to being drizzled with a sweet and citrus-y glaze. I mixed up some orange juice with mandarin zest and icing sugar and topped off the cookies with it. You can still taste the hint of tea and each cookie is buttery and has at least a few grains of salt in it that make them a little bit addictive.

 

I think I'm going to make all my shortbread cookies this tiny from now on for a whole variety of reasons. First (and most importantly) they look adorable like this. My irrational love for miniature things definitely applies to baked goods. Secondly, these cookies are the perfect size for when you want something to go along with your tea or coffee but probably shouldn't be eating an entire regular-sized cookie (although there is no guarantee that you won't just eat more of the little ones).  Plus the recipe makes a lot of tiny cookies so you'll have some to share!

 

Earl Grey Shortbread with Orange Glaze

(slightly adapted from Martha Stewart's Cookies)

2 cups flour minus one tablespoon

1 TBSP corn starch

2 TBSP finely ground earl grey tea (about four tea bags)

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup unsalted butter soften/room temperature

1/2 icing sugar (powdered sugar)

1 TBSP orange zest

Preheat oven to 375

1. Stir together the flour, salt, and tea

2. In the bowl of a mixer cream the icing sugar, butter, and zest together until light and fluffy

3. With the mixer speed on low stir in the flour mixture until combined

4. If rolling out the dough to cut out shapes: Squeeze the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic and chill until firm enough to roll out. Roll out dough to 1/4 inch thickness and cut out 1 1/4 inch shapes and place on parchment paper lined cookie sheets. Place cookie sheets in freezer to firm up before baking.

If shaping the dough into a log for slices: Divide the dough in half. Shape each half into a log 1 1/4 inches in diameter and wrap in parchment. Place in freezer until firm enough to slice. Slice each cookie 1/4 inch thick and place on parchment paper lined cookie sheets.

5. Bake the cookies at 375 for 10-13 minutes until the edges of the cookies are slightly brown. Move to a wire rack to cool completely before serving.

Orange Glaze

1 - 2 TBSP orange juice

zest from one mandarin orange

Icing sugar/ powdered sugar

1. Combine one tablespoon of orange juice with the orange zest. Gradually whisk in icing sugar until the glaze is of drizzling consistency. If your glaze gets too thick add a few drops of orange juice at a time until it thins out.  Drizzle over the cookies and let set before serving.

 

Comments

[Eileen]

Creamy earl grey tea? What an odd descriptor...I would never have thought to call any tea creamy without a hit of milk. But that shortbread sounds fantastic!

[Becs @ Lay the table]

The most important thing about tiny cookies - you can eat loads more of them and feel less guilty (probably).

[Maggie]

Lovely! I have a similar recipe, and I've tried it with many different kinds of herbal tea as well as Earl Grey. So easy, so delicious, and if you want, you can leave the log of dough in the fridge and only make a couple cookies at a time. (But who'd do that when you can just make and eat them all!)
Orange zest sounds amazing in this. I'll have to try your recipe and see!

[Chelsey]

Oh yum. Orange zest and Earl Grey sound so perfect together. Definitely trying this one soon.

[tigerfish]

I *heart* those edible hearts :)

[Munchnmunchkin]

I'm bookmarking this right now. I love earl grey tea and have been meaning to make some kind of dessert with it. These cookies look fabulous!

[Rigel_p]

I love shortbread, you can get so creative with it. You're right, these are perfectly sophisticated. Isn't it funny how teeny treats seem all the more special?

[noobcook]

the cookies look so gorgeous, they look like freshly baked from a gourmet deli. great clicks!

[Clockwork Lemon]

Eileen: Creamy earl grey is the best! It just means it is sort of vanilla-y tasting as well as earl grey flavored. It's so delicious with some milk in it

[Katie]

I've never tried baking with tea before, but it seems like a great way to infuse some interesting flavors into cookies. These are just adorable.

[Paula]

I love shortbread! I love this new (to me) recipe and making them miniature was a great idea. So dainty for tea don't you think?

[TasteHongKong]

So cute are they, and I also like them having those little zest and glaze.

[Jen]

The cookies are very cute and I already tried one recipe with chai tea but Earl Grey oh my...the recipe just moved to my to do list :-)

[ATasteOfMadness]

These are extremely cute! I love earl grey and love tea. This is everything I love in one dessert! Bookmarked ;)

[erin @ yummy supper]

Stephanie, I love these little cuties. Shortbread are my go-to cookies and I love Earl Grey. Every time I look at the MS Cookie book, I drool over all the goodness.
It's always such a treat to stop by and see what you're cooking!
xo
E

[julie]

it says 1/2 icing sugar, 1/2a cup?
please let me know, these look so good!

[Jessica @ bake me away!]

Ooo, these are adorable! (I also have a mini obsession..) I've been wanting to try baking with tea, and these sound like the perfect vehicle. Even have (and love) that cookbook!

[Russell]

Ooh I love these. Perfect for my earl-grey-overdose mornings!

[Emma]

I've made these many times, they're such a treat!

I like your idea of keeping them smaller; I find that sometimes shortbread ends up a bit floury, and keeping them small seems like a good antidote to the floury taste:)

[Mary at n00bcakes]

I am typically skeptical of both shortbread and tea (Earl Grey in particular), but as usual you make me question my biases. I do love cookies that go with coffee, and I do love cookies with orange in them. Hmm...sounds like another one I'll have to put on one of *my* lists!

Also, to your point, you're right: NOBODY likes stubborn dough!

[Maggie Muggins]

My computer is filled to the brim with recipes I'm "planning to make", the quotations are due to the fact that even if I made one everyday, there's no way I could get through them all!
I made those cookies last Xmas, and now I really wish I had made a glaze. Those little hearts are so cute!

[LoriW]

Perfect timing - I made these last weekend for a baby shower. They were a huge hit!
The small hearts were the perfect size - and the recipe made so many! I couldn't get over how aromatic the Earl Grey made the cookies and the orange zest was a lovely match. I'll be making these again. Cheers

[Melissa@EyesBigger]

How did I miss this post?? I'm obsessed with tea infused baking at the moment and these sound so lovely. tea and citrus... mmm yum! Bookmarking the recipe.

[Tal]

quick question, as I would love to bake these. you listed corn starch in the ingredients but left it out in the recipe... added into the list by mistake? use to thicken something? eh eh??

[Aimee]

These are adorable and look so good. I love anything Earl Grey.

[table top freezer]

I love those edible hearts :)

[business]

Hi…………………….??????
This is a really good post… Must admit that you are amongst the best bloggers I have read… Thanks………..?

[Jen]

They look so cute and I bet the orange with the Earl Grey is a fantastic choice!

[Erin Craig]

Delicious! I just made two batches - one with Earl Grey as suggested, the other with Constant Comment, my favourite orange-spic black tea. Both are delicious! I'll be making more - with various other kinds of tea - very soon!

Stephanie, you are a baking rock star!!