Monday, March 11, 2013

Earl Grey tea cookies

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Imagine a kitchen - well, actually a whole house - where the wonderful aroma of Bergamot orange is floating in the air. (If you're unfamiliar with bergamot, then my blog friend David Lebovitz comes to the rescue). Does that smell sound appealing? If yes, then read on :)

A friend of mine who works at KAFO (the Estonian distributor of Lavazza coffee, Just t teas, Jura coffee machines, Monbana Trésor chocolates, David Rio chais and such like) gave me a selection of Just t Black Label No X teas for degustation recently. All nine of them:

Minu raske elu / Choices, choices

I had fun brewing and sipping them. Personal favourites - No 1 (Lemon balm herbal infusion), No 5 (Black tea Earl Grey Luxury), No 7 (Green tea jasmine blossom) and No 9 (Black tea Bombay Chai, with ginger, cloves, black pepper, cinnamon).

However, Nami-Nami is a food blog, not a drink blog, so I should provide you with a recipe instead of going on about my favourite teas, right? Coincidentally, my Uppsala-based friend Annika gave me two Swedish food magazines last Friday, and there was a recipe for Earl Grey-drömmar in one of them. These were egg-free cookies where one had to make an Earl Grey infused sugar to start with. Unfortunately, the cookies were a huge disappointment - they were too sweet and way too crumbly, so we sent the big box of cookies to someone we know appreciates soft and sugary cookies :)

Yet the smell of Bergamot in the air was so amazing that I had to give those cookies another try. This time I simply took my regular thumbprint cookie recipe and incorporated the lovely Earl Grey infused sugar into this recipe.

Much, much, much better. I ate them plain, well, with a large cup of freshly brewed Earl Grey tea, but a  tiny schmear of lemon curd will make them even more enjoyable.

Earl Grey tea cookies
(Teeküpsised)
Makes about 30

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60 g (about 100 ml) icing sugar/confectioner's sugar
2 Tbsp finest Earl Grey tea leaves
200 g unsalted butter, softened
240 g all-purpose/plain flour (400 ml)
55 g potato starch/potato flour
a pinch of salt

To start with, make the aromatic Earl Grey sugar. Blitz the caster sugar and tea leaves until you've got a fine powder:

Earl Grey sugar

Cream the butter with the Earl Grey sugar. Mix flour, salt and potato starch, sift into the butter mixture. Combine with a wooden spoon.
Using your hands, take small chunks of cookie dough and roll into small balls.
Place on a cookie sheet and flatten slightly. (If you prefer making thumbprint cookies, then press a thumb print onto each cookie and fill with a small dollop of lemon curd).
Bake in a preheated 180 C oven for about 15 minutes, until the cookies are light golden.
Cool for a few minutes, then transfer onto a metal rack to cool completely.
Enjoy.

More recipes using Earl Grey tea leaves:
Earl Grey cupcakes with lemon Earl Grey buttercream by Hannah @ Honey & Jam
Earl Grey ice cream by Ali @ Gimme Some Oven
Earl Grey chocolate cake by Tracy @ Shutterbean
Earl Grey shortbread by Diana @ Appetite for China
Earl Grey banana bread by Lauren @ Healthy. Delicious.
Earl Grey poached pears by Karen @ Citrus & Candy
Earl Grey chiffon cake @ Happy Home Baking

NB! If you've got a favourite recipe using Earl Grey, feel free to leave the link to the comments!

12 comments:

Kärt said...

Huvitav, kust neid purgiteesid otsida võiks?

Pille said...

Kärt, need peened teetopsid on müügil Stockmannis, Tallinna ja Tartu Kaubamajas, Tartu Lõunakeskuse Maksimarketis, Veinisõbras, suuremates Selverites ja KAFO müügisaalis Tammsaare teel.

David G. said...

If anything like the earl grey cupcakes, then I am in love.

Pille said...

David, you need to give me your Earl Grey cupcake recipe, so I can try them and tell if they're similar at all :)

Katarina said...

These sound so delicious!

tanita✿davis said...

Yum. I'm in. These look amazing.

Joy said...

Great idea! I can get some wonderful vanilla bean tea here in Istanbul, and I've used it to make a delicious creme brulee. Thanks for sharing!

Annchie said...

Imehead küpsised!

Annika said...

Tubli, Pille, mis halvasti see uuesti :) Kahjuks olen Baka retseptides tihtipeale imelikke näpukaid näinud, aga ei oska öelda kas kypsised olidki taotluslikult nii magusad. Seda tean kyll, et öiged drömmar-kypsised peavadki hästi muredad olema. Nende öige kypsetamine, et kerkiksid pealt praguliseks ja oleksid hästi öhulise ja kerged, on kohe omaette kunst, mis mul pole senini önnestunud :)

Pille said...

Katarina & Tanita - thank you :)

Joy - vanilla bean tea would work in cookies as well, I bet!

Annchie - aitäh!

Annika - need ei olnud muredad, need olid lihtsalt täiesti pudedad, suus valgusid lihtsalt ebameeldivalt laiali. Ma proovin mõne muu drömmar-retsepti ära (on Sul jagada?) ja vaatan, kas asi oli minus või retseptis :D

Annika said...

Klassiska vaniljdrömmar (raamatust Jan Hedh 277 sorters kakor)
300 g nisujahu
4 g hjorthornsalt (pödrasarvesool?)
225 g vöid
200 g suhkrut
25 g vaniljesuhkrut
(kui on soolata vöi siis vöib vast terakese soola lisada?)
Ahi 150 kraadi.
Söelu jahu ja pödrasarvesool kypsetuspaberile. Sega toasoe vöi suhkrutega, seejärel lisa jahu ja vormi ettevaatlikult tainaks. Rulli tainas ca 2 cm jämedusteks pulkadeks. Löika ca 11 g suurusteks tykkideks ja vormi need palliks. Aseta höredalt kypsetuspaberile. Kypseta ca 20-25 min, nad ei tohi värvi saada, peavadki jääma kahvatuks! Kui ahi on liiga kuum siis vajuvad kypsised kokku.
Variandid: Kokosdrömmar, lisa 80 g riivitud kookost. Pähkli-drömmar: lisa 70 g röstitud ja jahvatatud sarapuupähkleid. Shokolaadidrömmar: vähenda jahu kogust 30 g ja asenda see kakaopulbriga.
Vt ka http://www.tasteline.com/recept/Lavendeldrommar Tihtipeale on retseptis öli, näiteks http://www.recept.nu/stefano-catenacci/kakor-och-tartor/agg-och-mejeri/drommar/
Nad peavadki olema ysna omapärase konsistensiga, mida kirjeldatakse kui suus sulavat, pead järgmine kord Stockholmis proovima :) Kypsetamisel levitab pödrasarvesool ebameeldivat teravat löhna!

jelly andrews said...

Looks delicious! I want to give this recipe a try. Thanks a lot for sharing. I love it.