Earl Grey cookies are buttery shortbread cookies flavoured with Earl Grey tea leaves and a sweet lemon glaze on top. The lemon glazed cookies are perfect for an afternoon tea or dessert.
I’m excited to be participating in the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap this year! I received delicious holiday cookies from Korena of Korena in the Kitchen, Elaine of Flavour and Savour, and Kim of The Finer Cookie that we enjoyed very much. I was able to send batches of Earl Grey Cookies with Lemon Glaze to 3 different bloggers, too!
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The Best Shortbread Recipe
The best shortbread recipe ever created is my grandma’s. Shortbread was always a staple at my grandma’s house. We’d celebrate our family’s Scottish heritage by using my grandma’s shortbread press to make the most delicious buttery cookies. We made shortbread together often, but it was at Christmastime when I most remember making it (and eating it!), and so I knew I had to make shortbread for this cookie swap! Shortbread recipes call for uncomplicated ingredients like butter, sugar and flour, but there are many different methods to create that tender, buttery cookie with just the right amount of sweetness and the perfect texture.
The Earl Grey Cookies are so simple to make and so incredibly delicious, that I just know you’re going to love this shortbread cookies recipe!
Looking for more cookie recipes? Try my Ginger Molasses Cookies or my Monster Cookies!
Ingredients Needed to Make Earl Grey Cookies
You only need a few basic ingredients to make this shortbread recipe:
- unsalted butter
- sugar
- sea salt
- lemon zest
- one Earl Grey tea bag
- all purpose flour
and for the lemon glaze:
- milk
- powdered sugar
- lemon zest
- turbinado sugar for garnish (optional)
You’ll also need one or two non-stick cookie sheets or baking pans. These cookies are as delicious as they are gorgeous! The recipe is perfect for the holidays because the Earl Grey cookies are bite-sized, so they fit nicely onto a holiday cookie platter. The cookies are warm and fresh-tasting with the deep flavour of the Earl Grey tea and the light lemon glaze. And the consistency of the shortbread is perfectly soft and it practically melts in your mouth.
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Looking for more easy holiday dessert recipes? Make this Classic No Bake Cheesecake or these Whipped Shortbread Holiday Cookies
These cookies are perfect with a cup of tea, and because they’re only 5 Weight Watchers SmartPoints each, they’re a great little treat for the holidays (4 SmartPoints without the glaze!).
EASY NO-FAIL HOLIDAY RECIPES AND COOKING & BAKING TIPS
Get my easy no-fail holiday meals e-cookbook!
I hope you enjoy this recipe! It was fun to participate in The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap!
How to Make Earl Grey Cookies with Lemon Glaze
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Earl Grey Cookies with Lemon Glaze
Recipe: Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter slightly cooler than room temperature
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 1/2 Earl Grey tea bag
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 3 tbsp milk
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tsp lemon zest
- turbinao sugar for garnish optional
Recipe: Instructions
- Add the butter and the sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Cream the butter and sugar together on medium high speed until the mixture is pale in colour and becomes slightly fluffy.
- Add the lemon zest, the salt, and the earl grey tea leaves and mix on medium speed until they're all incorporated (scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to be sure).
- Add the flour and mix on low speed just until it's incorporated and no streaks of flour remain.
- Dump the contents of the bowl onto a clean work surface and shape the dough into a log about 3 to 3.5 inches in diameter. Once the dough is starting to form a log shape, wrap the log of dough in a piece of plastic wrap and roll the log gently in the plastic wrap to create a smooth cylinder. Smooth the ends as best you can and with the dough firmly wrapped in plastic wrap, place it in the fridge for 1-2 hours.
- Once 1-2 hours have passed, preheat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and remove the dough from the fridge. Prepare two baking pans by lining them with parchment paper.
- Remove the log of dough from its plastic wrap and slice a tiny bit off both ends so they're clean and smooth. Slice the log into 18 slices, cutting as evenly as possible. It's a good idea to rotate the log each time you make a slice because this helps it keep its round shape.
- Shape the cookies a little bit with your fingers, just to make sure there's no flat side left from the slicing and they're completely circular. Place them on your prepared baking trays and bake them for about 22-24 minutes at 325 degrees Fahrenheit or until you see the edges turning the slightest bit of golden brown. Cool them on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes and then transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Once the cookies have cooled completely, whisk together the milk, powdered sugar and lemon zest in a small bowl and drizzle it over the cookies using your whisk. Sprinkle a little bit of turbinado sugar over each of the cookies for a little bit of sparkle, and serve!
Recipe: Nutrition
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
Can these be made without a stand and paddle? I only have a hand mixer…
Yes, feel free to make this with a hand mixer/by hand.
Made these today and they are SO GOOD! I’m going to try with different teas now! Thanks for the recipe 🙂
So glad you enjoyed them!
my daughter bought these cookies at a bakery and loved them, so I wanted to make for her birthday this week, but I only have loose Earl Grey tea and it looks like its not fine enough, any suggestions. How much is amount in recipe by tablespoon. Thanks so much they look great.
It’s about 1/2 teaspoon of dried Earl Grey tea leaves.
Hi Chrissie, Looking forward to making your cookies. Do you have a conversion to weights instead of volume? grams of flour etc. rather than cups. I find that allows for more consistent for replication.
thanks
Hi Jim. Thanks for your question. Because most of my readers are North American I didn’t start using metric measurements until recently, but I’m getting around to editing my recipes for metric measurements as I am able.
Hello!! I am excited to make these. I have a question, can I make this dough and keep it refrigerated overnight in “log” form? Or should I go ahead and cut them into cookie shape and then refrigerate them?
You can refrigerate them in log form and then slice and bake 🙂
These cookies looked so lovely, but when I made them, they came out dry, and when I cut them, they crumbled. I was able to salvage some. Any ideas why? I followed the recipe, and went back and triple checked. Ideas??
It sounds like maybe your butter doesn’t have enough fat in it (or possibly water, as butter has some water in it). Or perhaps your flour measurements were off. Sometimes measuring cups are just a little bit larger than they should be which doesn’t always affect drop cookie recipes, for example, but with shortbread it can cause problems like this. I’m really sorry the recipe turned out like this for you! I hope you’ll try it again with a little less flour perhaps!
This same thing happened to me! I followed the recipe exactly and when I took the log out of the fridge and tried to cut it it totally crumbled. You aren’t the only one!
Thanks for your feedback. I’d suggest measuring the flour very carefully as the typical “scoop” method can often mean you get a lot more flour than one cup. Aerate the flour first and the scoop lightly, and level off the cup. This will ensure you don’t add more flour (extra flour will make the dough very crumbly).
Hi Chrissie
My names sara dueck we use to volunteer together at yfc. Anyways i was looking for a cookie recipe for our christmas bake exchange and i came upon these and saw your picture!! What a beautiful blog and on Pinterest. So cool.
Many blessings to you and your family, and prayers for you guys in missions in Romania!
-Sara
Hi Sara! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment!! I DO remember you, of course! 🙂 Thanks for the kind words!
I just made these and they came out great! I added extra earl grey tea for a stronger flavor. However, are you sure you have the correct ratio of powdered sugar to milk for the icing? I made the icing using your measurements and it came out very runny and did not have the nice white color shown in your photos. I ended up adding ~1/2 cup extra of powdered sugar. Thanks for the great recipe!
I agree – the icing was way too runny. I made it with one Tbsp of milk and it still was too thin. Maybe 1 Tbsp? The shortbread itself has a lovely texture and flavor though 🙂
Every brand of powdered sugar is different. It’s best to add the milk a tiny bit at a time until you achieve the right consistency!
What wonderful cookies and BEAUTIFUL lighting, my dear!
Thanks so much Angela.
Chrissie, can I freeze these unglazed? Looking forward to making them regardless!
Hi Heather! Yes, you can definitely freeze them unglazed. I make them unglazed sometimes and just dust with a little bit of powdered sugar before serving. Hope you enjoy them!
Stopping in from the Favorite Food Sharing group. I was pinning your post and was drawn in because of your pictures! They are gorgeous! 😉 And your cookies look wonderful too!
Happy weekend!
Hi Megan! So nice of you to stop in and leave a comment 🙂 And thanks for your kind words about my photos!
I LOVE earl grey anything, and these shortbread cookies look divine! Beautiful photos as well! Love it! I wish I had known about the cookie swap. I would have loved to have participated!
Thanks Amanda! I love earl grey anything too 🙂 You should definitely plan on joining in the cookie swap next year!
Beautiful! Delicate cookies with a delicate flavour. Can't wait to make these!
Thanks Elaine!!