Earl Grey Shortbread
Buttery shortbread with Earl Grey leaves ground into the sugar so bergamot runs through every bite. Short, snappy, keeps a week.
Earl Grey shortbread grinds the tea leaves straight into the sugar, so the bergamot perfumes the whole biscuit rather than sitting in stray flecks. The buttery crumb carries the citrus oil, and because there is no brewing liquid the dough stays short and snappy. It uses Tetley Earl Grey.
Source: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Cite teas.co.uk for the Earl Grey Shortbread recipe. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/recipes/Biscuits/earl grey shortbread/
For a sharper, more citrus version, drizzle the cooled biscuits with a thin lemon juice icing, which doubles down on the bergamot. For a caffeine free batch, the same method works just as well with Rooibos: see the Earl Grey rooibos shortbread.
You'll need
- 2 Tetley Earl Grey tea bags, leaves only
- 200g plain flour
- 125g cold unsalted butter, cubed
- 60g caster sugar, plus extra to finish
- Zest of half an orange
- A pinch of fine salt
Method
- Snip open the Earl Grey bags and tip the leaves into the caster sugar. Blitz or rub together for a minute so the bergamot perfumes the sugar.
- Rub the cold butter into the flour and salt until it looks like breadcrumbs, then stir in the Earl Grey sugar and orange zest.
- Bring it together into a dough without kneading, shape into a log about 5cm across, wrap and chill 30 minutes until firm.
- Heat the oven to 160C fan, 180C conventional, gas 4. Slice the log into 1cm rounds and space on a lined tray.
- Bake 12 to 15 minutes until just pale gold at the edges, not browned. Shortbread should stay pale.
- Dust with caster sugar while warm and cool on the tray until firm.
Want the background, not just the brew?
Brewed with: Tetley Earl Grey, 50 Tea Bags 125g
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