Crisp and buttery Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies with a hint of tea, with just 5-ingredients and an easy lemon glaze, they’re perfect for parties, tea time, or scarfing down all by yourself!
These Earl Grey Cookies are an easy and delightful sweet treat that’s perfect for afternoon tea, cookie swaps, and the cookie jar at home!
Shortbread cookies and my favorite!
I know, I know… I say every cookie is my favorite… but I REALLY love cookies!
Shortbread Cookies have always been a weakness for me. They are just simple and pure deliciousness.
If you’re looking for buttery shortbread cookies loaded with chocolate, try my Salted Butter Chocolate Chunk Shortbread Cookie recipe!
They’re just so buttery and addicting!
Matt and I will literally kill an entire box of Walker’s or Lorna Doone’s in one sitting, they’re just so addictive.
You might remember me mentioning that Matt and I lived off shortbread cookies for a day in Scotland and I wasn’t totally sad about it 😉
Earl Grey Cookies Are Easy To Make!
I always thought they’d be difficult to make, but when I stumbled across this three-ingredient recipe from Dine & Dish, I was floored!
No Way!
With three ingredients, you’d think maybe they were lacking. Nope, not at all! The end result is deliciously irresistible butter cookies!
These simple shortbread cookies are everything I dreamed they would be!
I decided to adapt the recipe a bit by adding Earl Grey Tea leaves and using unsalted butter and adding my own salt for more control over the flavor.
My version is just 5 ingredients (6 if you decide to go with the lemon glaze – highly recommended)!
Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies Are Delicious!
The end result is perfectly crisp shortbread cookies that are so buttery they almost melt in your mouth.
An essence of Earl Grey tea takes them to a whole new level of flavor and fun!
They’re so good, I’m not even willing to share, you’ll all just have to make them yourselves!
They’re just the thing if you’re looking for a slightly sweet cookie fix!
More Delicious Cookie Recipes
- Vanilla Chai Shortbread Cookies
- Classic Sugar Cookies
- Irish Cream No Bake Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Cookies
Let’s Connect!
If you’ve tried this recipe, please let me know how you liked it in the comments below and leave a review. I love hearing from you!
Don’t forget to tag me – @sugarandsoulco – on Instagram and Pinterest with your photos or join our Sugar & Soul Show-offs Community and share them there, where you can join our recipe challenges!
This post was originally published in January 2015 and was updated in March 2019 with new photos.
Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 2 tablespoons Earl Grey tea leaves
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp salt
Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Blend the butter and earl grey tea leaves together and allow to sit at room temperature for at least 2 hours, longer is fine. If you are running short on time, this step can be skipped and the tea can be added with the powdered sugar. Just note that the flavor may not be as strong.
- Once the butter has finished setting. Preheat oven to 350° F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Cream the butter and tea mixture and powdered sugar in a large bowl or stand mixer.
- Add in the flour and salt. Continue to mix until a soft dough forms. The mix will be dry and crumbly at first but will come together.
- Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface until it's 1/4-inch thick.
- Cut out cookies using a 2-inch round cookie cutter.
- Bake on a parchment lined baking sheet for 12 to 15 minutes or until the edges are golden brown in color.
- Once cooled, whisk together the glaze ingredients and dip or drizzle the cookies as desired and place on wax paper to set.
Video
Notes
- Slightly Adapted from Dine & Dish.
- If using a large loose leaf tea, run the tea through a food processor or use a pestle and mortar to ground it so it’s finer.
- 1 cookie is 3 Weight Watchers SmartPoints.
- The longer these cookies sit, the more intense the flavor will get.
- The recipe has been updated to include a tablespoon measurement for the tea leaves since it was originally published.
Nutrition
Did You Make This Recipe?
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Comments & Reviews
Kate says
I have a looseleaf lavender earl grey tea that I would love to try with these cookies! Would that be ok or do you think the looseleaf tea is too big for the cookies? I’m not sure about the size difference of the tea in a bag or looseleaf tea.
Rebecca says
Looseleaf tends to be bigger than the tea leaves in the bags, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be used! I’d use a mortar and pestle or food processor to get the tea fairly fine and use that.
Nav says
I was wondering whether one could make these with regular granulated white sugar? Or would that change the consistency of the dough?
Thanks!
Rebecca says
Hi Nav, I’ve never made this particular recipe with granulated, but I have made Scottish shortbread with granulated and used it in my Billionaire Bars. I would say you could give it a try, it will chance the consistency some, but I’m not sure how much, my guess is you might get something more like a butter cookie.
Jeannie says
I made these today and they turned out great. The Earl Grey wasn’t as pronounced as I had hoped so next time I will use two tea bags. Great recipe!
Rebecca says
Hi Jeannie, I’m so glad you enjoyed them. The tea will develop a strong flavor over time, but it definitely won’t hurt anything if you want to use 2 tea bags next time!
Cookie Monster Mom says
My kids thought the cookies were too dry, too bland and didn’t like them. It needs more butter or something. The dough would crumble and fall apart during the cutting process and made it difficult to form the heart shapes with the cookie cutter. Didn’t really taste much tea flavor in it but liked the fact that it was not overly sweet.
Rebecca says
Hi Cookie Monster Mom, I’m sorry to hear that these didn’t turn out for you. A couple things – these are shortbread cookies so they should be slightly dry and flaky. Also, I’m wondering if you may not have mixed the dough long enough. The dough starts off pretty crumbly and looks like it will never come together, but then it does and it should be reminiscent of sugar cookie dough. It will pull away from the sides of the bowl and bond together. Do yours do that? If so, I’m not sure why it was crumbly when you rolled it out, I’ve made this recipe numerous times without issue, as have many readers. The tea flavor strengthens over time, that’s what I love about them. They last a really long time and the flavor just gets better and better!
Rhyss says
I just made these today and they are delicious! They are going fast and I will have to make them again soon. I wanted to tell you that instead of using confectioner’s sugar I made a sugar free version using Splenda and cornstarch mixed in a food processor.
Thanks for a great recipe.
Rebecca says
Hey Rhyss, I’m so glad you enjoyed them! I don’t do artificial sweeteners, but maybe you’d be kind enough to pass along the ratio of Splenda and cornstarch that you used for other readers that might be interested?
Rhyss says
Rebecca,
Unfortunately, being a diabetic I have to restrict my sugar intake and so far Splenda seems to taste the most like sugar to me, but opinions vary. I use the ratio from the Splenda website:
3/4 cup SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated
2 tablespoons cornstarch
https://www.splenda.com/recipes/powdered-sugar
Rhyss
Rebecca says
I completely understand and I’m so glad you were able to make this recipe work for you!
APRIL says
Making these as a thank you gift to a tea lover. I used a teapot cookie cutter, they are adorable! Trying other teas later with this recipe.
Rebecca says
Oh those do sound adorable! You’ll love other teas too! Black Tea with Cinnamon seems to be a favorite and I have a couple other recipes here on the site with some variations!
Stellina says
can these cookies be frozen? they look amazing
Rebecca says
Most definitely!
Kathleen says
I’ve made this recipe several times over the past few weeks and have gotten rave reviews every time! The only tweaks I’ve made is using 2 bags of earl grey instead of 1 a the first time I made the cookies we couldn’t really taste the earl grey, and I also add a little less salt, otherwise I find you can really taste it. Making another batch right now!
Rebecca says
I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed them. I’ve made them with 2 bags before too, but find that as time passes they can become very strong. The flavor of the cookies becomes stronger with time. But it’s a good idea to add that note to the recipe! I have a Chai Tea version coming up on Wenesday and you might like the Black Tea and Cinnamon Shortbreads as well! http://www.sugarandsoul.co/2015/11/cinnamon-black-tea-shortbread-cookies-recipe.html
Miss Diane says
I really don’t know how come I landed here but I immediately fell in love with your cookies. I will make a gluten free version of it as soon as we finish the banana and tofu ones I made today.
We are fans of Downton Abbey and we watch it in french every Saturday night.
Rebecca says
The Bob’s Red Mill 1-for-1 Gluten Free Flour should work wonderfully!
Kate says
I love Downton so much, can’t wait to try out this recipe, thank you!
Julia says
I’m really excited to try this recipe, but I’m a little confused about how much tea to use, can you give a teaspoon/tablespoon measurement?
Rebecca says
I’m not able to measure out the exact amount right now as I’m at work, but It’s probably around 1 tbsp.
Cate says
I love Earl Grey, I will definitely try these this weekend! When you say one bag of tea, do you mean one teabag cut open? Or an entire package of looseleaf tea leaves?
Rebecca says
I mean one bag of tea like Bigelow cut open and then the leaves mixed into the dough. Enjoy!
Beauty Follower says
Earl Grey is my fave every day tea… must try your cookies 🙂
Jackie says
sounds delicious but am wondering….do the tea leaves break up after the cookies are cooked? duh
fickrj5@gmail.com says
What do you mean by break up? You should use a tea where the leaves are small and fine like Bigelow or Twinings and they just blend into the dough and bake up as pictured.
Del's cooking twist says
They are so beautiful. I would love to grab a few of them while reading a book and drinking some tea!
Patricia @ Grab a Plate says
These look & sound amazing! Love the addition of the tea – brilliant! And you *must* watch! Never thought I’d like it, but I love it 😉
fickrj5@gmail.com says
I know, I’m adding it to my summer watch list, too many of our other shows to catch up on right now!
Linda @ForkandForage says
I absolutely love this idea. Earl Grey is my go-to flavor of tea and shortbread is such a wonderful indulgence. What a perfect duo! Beautiful photos too. 🙂
fickrj5@gmail.com says
Thank you, Linda! I had so much fun with this photo set and I’ve been savoring the cookies, so good!
Susie Gall says
Love, Love, Love!!
Heidy@The McCallumsShamrockPatch says
Downton Abbey Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies sound like a wonderful match made in heaven. I am so glad I stumbled on your blog post. I’m definitely in need of a good quality cup of tea this morning!
fickrj5@gmail.com says
Thanks so much for stopping by, you definitely can’t get the day going without a cup of tea!
Kate @ Babaganosh.org says
Ooh, these look great. I’ve always wanted to make Earl grey cookies and just never got around to it. I think I’ll actually do it tonight, since I have everything I need for these cookies (so few ingredients!)…. and tonight I will be watching last night’s season premiere since I didn’t get a chance to watch it yesterday!
fickrj5@gmail.com says
That’s what I love about this recipe, everything is already in the kitchen, no need to make a special trip to the store!