Earl Grey Cookies

These delicate Earl Grey cookies are perfect for an afternoon tea party. The black tea lifts the sugar cookie’s flavour profile and offers a hint of bergamot orange, while the royal icing is full of lemony punch.

This recipe also lets you get creative with royal icing. Whether you choose to pipe out or paint on your designs, have fun with it!

Kathy’s Earl Grey Cookies helped earn her the title of Star Baker for Cookie Week in Season 7 of The Great Canadian Baking Show.

Earl Grey Cookies

By Kathy Neiman

Ingredients

Cookies:

• 1 cup (227 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 2½ cups (355 g) all-purpose flour
• 3 tbsp cornstarch
• 3 tbsp Earl Grey tea leaves, finely ground and sifted through a fine mesh sieve
• ¼ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt

Lemon Royal Icing:

• 4 cups (452 g) icing sugar, sifted, plus more as needed
• 3 tbsp meringue powder
• 5 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp lemon extract
• 3 to 5 tbsp water, plus more as needed
• Gel food colouring
• Powdered food colouring, if desired
• Vodka, if using powdered food colouring

Preparation

Cookies:

Line two cookie sheets with parchment and place them in the freezer. 

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until just combined. Add the egg and vanilla, and mix to combine. 

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch, ground tea leaves, baking powder and salt. Add this to the egg mixture in three parts, stirring gently to combine. Divide the dough in half, wrap each half in plastic wrap and press them to form discs. Chill in the fridge for one hour.

Heat the oven to 350 F. 

Lightly flour your work surface, and roll out one dough disc to ¼-inch thick. Use a cookie cutter to cut out as many shapes as you can, gently rerolling the scraps one time. Transfer the shapes onto one prepared cookie sheet and place in the freezer. Repeat with the remaining dough. Chill for 5 minutes.

Bake until set and the tops of the cookies look dull, about 10 to 12 minutes.

Lemon Royal Icing:

Combine the sifted icing sugar, meringue powder, lemon juice, lemon extract and water in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, and beat on high until no lumps remain, about 1 to 2 minutes. Test for viscosity by lifting the whisk — you want the mixture to be thick enough to pipe edges and be able to be thinned out in order to flood your cookies. If the mixture is too thick, add more water, a few drops at a time. If it’s too thin, add a bit more sifted icing sugar.

Separate the icing into small bowls and colour as desired. Cover each bowl with a damp paper towel to keep the icing moist between uses. Portion the icing into small piping bags fitted with small round piping tips (number 1 or 2). Pipe a thin line around the edges of the cookies and around any design you want to create. Allow to dry completely. 

Thin the icing you’ll use to flood the cookies, adding a few drops of water at a time; you want it thin enough to move around the surface of the cookie but thick enough to stay inside the piped lines. Place the thinner icing into piping bags fitted with number 3 or 4 tips and fill in the edges as desired (alternatively, you can use a spoon to place a little icing within the edges and a toothpick to move the icing around). If desired, allow this layer to dry and pipe designs on top for a raised effect. Allow to dry completely.

If using powdered food colouring for painting, place a small amount of your desired colours into bowls. Add vodka to the colours and stir to loosen. Using a brush, paint the colours on top of the dry royal icing to create a watercolour effect. You can also paint directly on the cookies, if desired. Allow to dry.

Makes 12 to 16 cookies