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
Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies
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This post was originally published in January 2015 and was updated in March 2019 with new photos.
Downton Abbey 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.
Lera says
These are actually amazing! A valuable addition to my Christmas cookies recipes collection. They are nothing like traditional Czech Christmas cookies, but that’s what I enoy about them. For a tea lover, these are surely a must.
Winnie says
If my shortbread is crumbling I moisten it with a cheap lemonade vodka.
Brittany says
I loved these!!! I served them at a tea party and they were a huge hit!!!! I found them really easy to make as well. Have you ever infused the butter with a flavor other than Earl Grey? Maybe something for Christmas?
Rebecca Hubbell says
So glad you enjoyed them! You can use any kind of tea but these Chai ones are popular this time of year! https://www.sugarandsoul.co/vanilla-chai-shortbread-cookies-recipe/
Amy says
Can I use gluten free all purpose flour or one-to one instead ?
Rebecca Hubbell says
Yes, I like Bob’s Red Mill one for one flour!
MJ says
I’ve made these before and loved them! But I was wondering if I Could use gluten free all purpose flour?
Olivia says
It skipped the crumpble stage and went straight to powder where did I go wrong?
Rebecca Hubbell says
Are you saying the dough was powdery?
Bekah says
I just tried this recipe and the same thing happened to me! It was crumbly but just too dry to even roll out or free hand cookies. Would crumble apart when even try to create a ball 🙁
Rebecca Hubbell says
It sounds like the dough needed to be mixed longer.
Juliet says
I have never left a review for an online recipe but…WOW. Just wow. I had been craving early grey baked goods all week (which is weird because I’m not sure I’ve ever eaten an earl grey-flavored baked good), and I made this recipe and it was just exactly what I was looking for. Baking these cookies and eating the final product was like falling in love for the first time – you’ve heard it’s possible, but you don’t quite believe it until you try for yourself. Simple, easy, and delicious.
(Also note I subbed out the butter for vegan butter and it worked great!)
Rebecca Hubbell says
I’m so glad you enjoyed them 🙂
Ashley says
Looking to make your recipe but the lady I’m making it for has cancer so I’m trying to substitute the sugar for honey, would you recommend any other adjustments?
Rebecca Hubbell says
Hi Ashley, unfortunately I don’t think using honey is going to work and I’m not sure of any alternatives. Since the recipe is only a few ingredients, changing any of them could compromise the final cookies. So sorry to hear about your friend and I hope you find a recipe that will work!
Brittany A says
Made these today and they are DELISH! I added some lemon zest because I love lemon with my Earl grey. But the recipe as-is was lovely. I want to note, I read some comments about the flavor of Earl Grey lacking so I did some research. The tea bags linked in the recipe are larger bags (1.44g) than what I keep in my cupboards (.70g).
So I measured out the bags and the recipe basically calls for 1-2 tbls. In my case, that was 4 tea bags as each bag was rough 1/2 tbls. each. With this in mind, the recipe was flavored perfectly. I even steeped the tea in the butter for 6 hours.
Hope this helps!!
Brittany A says
Whoops. I meant ounces, not grams! Yikes!
Rebecca Hubbell says
Thank you, Brittany, I never even thought of that so I appreciate you taking the time to measure it!
Juliana Rossi says
Just made these (with 2 earl grey tea bags) and added lavender buds as well. I made this for my vegan friend so I used vegan butter and it came out PERFECT. Then I added a few more lavender buds right after I drizzled the icing and it really tied it all together and looked beautiful.
Great recipe for a new baker like myself!
Rebecca Hubbell says
I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
Gorch says
Made these a bunch. I like them and everyone I share the cookies with loves them.
Carrie says
These taste just like basic shortbread cookies. Are used two bags of Earl Grey and really there’s no flavor difference. It’s good at all but very basic and not what I was looking for
Rebecca Hubbell says
I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy the cookies.
Juliana Rossi says
Perhaps the earl grey wasn’t ground enough? I used 2 earl grey bags (decaf too so it wasn’t as strong) and it came out great! Maybe even try 3? I love earl grey so the more the merrier.