These browned butter earl grey shortbread cookies are perfect for an afternoon tea party, a cookie swap, a bake sale, and more. These tea-infused cookies are always a big hit, and you can easily prepare the dough ahead of time for parties. Want another homemade cookie recipe everyone will love? Try my kitchen sink cookies, lemon cookies, or orange cookies!
What You Need to Make This Recipe
Earl grey tea — earl grey tea is black tea infused with bergamot oil, so it has a floral taste with a hint of citrus flavor. It has a lovely aromatic fragrance. Using a good-quality earl grey tea will give you the best flavor. Butter — be sure to buy unsalted butter and not salted butter. Different brands of salted butter do not have a consistent amount of salt, so you should add your own, or you might have an overly salty cookie. Vanilla — vanilla pairs wonderfully with the flavors of earl grey tea. You can use vanilla beans or vanilla extract. Powdered sugar — you’ll need this to make the dough and the glaze for the cookies. See my post on how to make powdered sugar if you forgot to pick some up at the store. Using powdered sugar in the cookie dough will keep them soft and tender. Cornstarch — adding cornstarch to the cookie dough will give them a crisp but crumbly and tender texture, so the cookies melt in your mouth. Milk — you’ll need a splash of milk to make the glaze. Milk will add more flavor than water.
How to Make Browned Butter-Earl Grey Cookies
- In a small bowl, combine browned butter, vanilla, cardamom, and tea leaves. Place the butter mixture in the fridge, stirring every 15 minutes, until smooth and spreadable, about 45 minutes.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the cooled browned butter mixture, remaining ½ cup softened butter, sugar, egg yolk, and salt and beat until creamy and combined. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add in the flour and cornstarch, mixing just until combined.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and shape it into a disk. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
- Lightly flour the chilled dough and roll between two sheets of parchment paper to ¼-thickness. Chill for another hour or until firm.
- Cut into desired 2-inch shape and place on a lined baking sheet 1-inch apart. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until the bottoms start to brown. Let the cookies cool completely on the pan.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, orange zest, milk, butter, and cardamom until smooth. Dip half of each cookie in the glaze and place on parchment paper or drizzle the glaze over the cookies and set aside to dry. Let the glaze fully dry before serving.
Pro Tips for Making This Recipe
Adding too much flour will lead to the cookies being dense. A kitchen scale is the most accurate and easiest way to measure flour. If you don’t have one, then fluff your flour with a spoon, sprinkle it into your measuring cup, and use a knife to level it.It’s important to blitz the earl grey tea before using it so it blends well into the cookie dough. You can cut open a tea bag if you do not have loose leaf tea. Tea in tea bags tends to be finer.Do not skip chilling the cookie dough! Chilling the dough helps prevent the earl grey with brown butter cookies from spreading in the oven, as it helps solidify the butter in the dough.You cannot bake these cookies directly on a greased baking sheet. The parchment paper will help prevent the cookies from spreading as well.Make sure you do not overmix the dough, as it can result in a tough cookie.I recommend using a light-colored pan when you brown the butter, so you can see when the butter is ready. You do not want to burn the butter! The butter should be golden brown and smell buttery, nutty, and rich.The cookies need to cool completely before you dip them in the glaze. If the cookies are hot, the glaze will melt off.If you do not have an orange to zest, swap it for a lemon.
If you’ve tried this Browned Butter-Earl Grey Cookies recipe, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you!
