Earl Grey squares

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This article was published 18/12/2014 (4317 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If you like cookies and tea, you want to try cookies made with tea. These convenient slice-and-bake squares offer the subtle citrus taste of Earl Grey.

Earl Grey Squares

250 ml (1 cup) all-purpose flour

60 ml (1/4 cup) granulated sugar

60 ml (1/4 cup) icing sugar

20 ml (4 tsp) Earl Grey tea leaves (see notes)

1 ml (1/4 tsp) salt

125 ml (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, chilled and cubed

7 ml (1 1/2 tsp) vanilla

7 ml (1 1/2 tsp) water

About 45 ml (3 tbsp) decorating sugar (optional)

About 85 g (3 oz) white chocolate, melted (optional)

In food processor, pulse together flour, sugars, tea and salt until combined, making sure that tea is very finely ground. (See Notes.) Add butter, vanilla and water and pulse until dough starts to come together. Do not overmix. Dump onto lightly floured surface and bring dough together gently with hands, making sure dry ingredients are mixed in. Roll dough into a long log, and then shape into a 30-cm (12-inch) log with square 2.5-cm (1-inch) sides. (Using a ruler helps keep everything straight.) Roll in decorating sugar, wrap in plastic and twist ends to seal, and freeze for 30 minutes or until firm. (Or place in an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 weeks.)

Preheat oven to 190 C (375 F). Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Slice chilled log into squares about 6-mm (1/4-inch) thick. Place on prepared cookie sheets and bake until the edges are starting to brown and crisp up, about 10-12 minutes. Let cool on cookie sheets on wire racks for 3 minutes, then transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely. Drizzle cooled cookies with a little melted white chocolate, if desired. Makes about 45 small cookies.

Tester’s notes: These crisp cookies have a subtle tea accent, more of a fragrance than a flavour.

If using fancy loose leaf tea, you might want to grind it with a mortar and pestle before adding to the food processor so the cookies don’t end up being too twiggy. For this recipe, you’re probably better off just opening up inexpensive tea bags — I got about 5 ml (1 tsp) of fine tea from each bag.

In my experience of slice-and-bake cookies, I hardly ever achieve a nice round shape, so I decided to give in and make straight squares instead of wobbly circles. I usually worry about over-baking cookies, but here I worried about under-baking: You need to let these cookies get to the point where they’re starting to brown and crisp. And make sure to remove the baked cookies from the cookie sheet after a minute of two to cool directly on a wire rack, which also helps them crisp up.

Alison Gillmor
Writer

Studying at the University of Winnipeg and later Toronto’s York University, Alison Gillmor planned to become an art historian. She ended up catching the journalism bug when she started as visual arts reviewer at the Winnipeg Free Press in 1992.

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