Chocolate-Dipped Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies

It’s cookie season!

These Chocolate-Dipped Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies are simple to make and only use a few ingredients.

They are crisp and filled with earl grey tea flavour.

You can see the beautiful flecks of tea in the cookies. And to enhance that earl grey flavour, I add fragrant culinary bergamot oil to the cookies. 

WHAT IS EARL GREY TEA?

If you don’t already know, earl grey is my favourite tea flavour. It’s a black tea with the addition of bergamot oil. 

I have a few earl grey recipes featuring this lovely tea:

Earl Grey Nama Chocolate, Earl Grey Cream Tart, Earl Grey Ice Cream.

WHICH TYPE OF EARL GREY TEA TO USE?

For these cookies, you can use any type of earl grey tea you have on hand. 

If you’re using a loose leaf tea, place the tea leaves into a coffee grinder and grind them until they’re quite fine. 

You can also use bagged tea as well. My favourite one to use is Trader Joe’s Organic Earl Grey tea. 

INGREDIENTS IN EARL GREY SHORTBREAD COOKIES

You’d be surprised to know that there’s only 7 ingredients in these cookies!

• all-purpose flour: best to use all-purpose and not cake flour or bread flour for these cookies
• earl grey tea: any type of tea that you have on hand, whether it be loose-leaf or tea bags
• unsalted butter: if you have salted butter, you can use that but remember to omit the salt in the recipe. Cut the butter into 1 Tbsp portions. 
• powdered sugar: also known as icing sugar, adds sweetness to the cookies
• vanilla extract: use a good quality pure vanilla extract
• bergamot oil extract: optional if you can’t find it; use a culinary-grade bergamot oil, not essential oil.
• sea salt: to balance that sweetness

HOW TO MAKE THE SHORTBREAD COOKIES

This recipe comes together so easily. All you need is a food processor. 

• Place the dry ingredients into the food processor: flour, earl grey tea, powdered sugar, salt and give it a few pulses.
• Add in the butter, vanilla extract and bergamot oil.
• Pulse a few times until a dough begins to form. (Don’t over mix, or the cookies will be tough).
• Dump the contents from the food processor onto a large piece of parchment paper and use your hands to form the dough into a cylindrical log. 
• Wrap the log with plastic wrap and place into the fridge.
• Once chilled, remove the dough from the fridge and use a sharp knife to cut rounds, about 1 cm thick.
• Place the cut rounds onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.
• Bake at 375F for about 12 minutes, until lightly golden around the edges.

HOW TO DECORATE THE COOKIES

For these Chocolate-Dipped Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies, it’s as simple as melting chocolate and dipping half of the cookie into the chocolate.

In a microwave-safe bowl, add the dark chocolate and microwave in 20-second increments. 

Give the chocolate a stir, and repeat until it’s completely melted.

You can dip the cookie in the melted chocolate, or use a spatula/spoon to coat the cookie with chocolate. 

Another way to add pizazz to the cookies is to drizzle drizzle the melted chocolate over the top instead. 

Or you can just leave them plain — they’re just as good!

WHAT TYPE OF CHOCOLATE SHOULD I USE?

Use a good quality baking chocolate to decorate the cookies. 

You can use baking chocolate chips (what I used here), chocolate callets, or baking chocolate bars.

With chocolate bars, you’ll need to chop them first. Personally, I find it more convenient to use chips or callets. 

HOW TO STORE THE EARL GREY SHORTBREAD COOKIES

Keep the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for as long as 1 week. 

To prolong their shelf-life, you can store baked the cookies in the freezer as well.

CAN I DOUBLE OR TRIPLE THE RECIPE?

Yes! This recipe can be easily doubled or tripled. 

OTHER COOKIE RECIPES YOU MAY LIKE

Be sure to check out these other tea-based cookie recipes:

Matcha White Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

Hojicha Espresso Cookies

Matcha Chocolate Chip Cookies

Let me know if you try out this recipe — I love seeing your re-creations! Tag me on Instagram @siftandsimmer or leave me a comment/rating below!

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5 from 3 votes

Chocolate-Dipped Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies

Sweet and delicious earl grey tea-flavoured cookies get a little pizazz with a dark chocolate coating.

Course Snack

Cuisine American, British

Keyword chocolate, earl grey, earl grey cookies, earl grey shortbread, shortbread cookies, tea

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 12 minutes

Resting Time 30 minutes

Total Time 47 minutes

Servings 10

Author Michelle | Sift & Simmer

Ingredients

Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies:

• ½ C all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp finely ground earl grey tea (2 tea bags)
• 3 Tbsp powdered sugar
• pinch of sea salt omit if using salted butter
• 5 Tbsp unsalted butter
• ¼ tsp vanilla extract
• ¼ tsp bergamot oil extract use culinary grade, not essential oil

Decoration:

• 50 g dark chocolate melted

Instructions

Make the cookies:

• Combine all the dry ingredients (flour, earl grey tea, powdered sugar, salt) into a food processor. Pulse a few times.
• Add in the butter, vanilla extract and bergamot oil extract (if using).
• Pulse a few times until a dough begins to form.
• Dump the contents from the food processor onto a large piece of parchment paper.
• Gather the dough with your hands and press to form a cylindrical log.
• Wrap the log with plastic wrap and place into the fridge for 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• Remove the dough from the fridge and use a sharp knife to slice into rounds, about 1 cm thickness.
• Place the cut rounds flat onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
• Bake the cookies at 375°F for approximately 12 mins, until lightly golden around the edges.
• Remove from oven and let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Decorate with chocolate:

• Add dark chocolate to a microwave-safe bowl.
• Heat the chocolate in 20-second increments, and give it a stir. Repeat until all the chocolate has melted.
• Dip the cookies in the melted chocolate, or use a spatula to coat the melted chocolate onto the cookie.
• You can also drizzle the melted chocolate over the cookie if you like.
• Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.

Recipe loosely adapted from Claire Robinson.