These earl grey sugar cookies are crisp on the outside and chewy in the middle. They're full of earl grey tea flavour and topped with a lemon glaze! They're so simple and easy to make but so delicious.
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These earl grey sugar cookies combine one of my all-time favourite flavours - earl grey tea - with chewy sugar cookies. They're lovely, elevated holiday cookies that will be a hit with tea lovers.
Why you'll love this recipe
- Soft and chewy cookies. My favourite part of a cookie is the chewy middle part and these earl grey sugar cookies have exactly that. So satisfying!
- Crisp edges. The best of both worlds!
- Earl grey flavour. These cookies are fragrant with earl grey flavour and aroma and it's as easy as adding tea leaves to the cookie dough.
- Lemon glaze. The cookies are completed with drizzles of optional lemon icing for a pretty appearance and amazing flavour.
Tools
- Electric hand mixer - You'll need a hand mixer or a stand mixer to mix the cookie dough. If you bake often, a hand mixer is an essential tool for mixing batters and whipping cream. I highly recommend picking one up! If you don't have one, you can still make these cookies with a spatula. Make sure your butter is soft enough to mix it by hand.
- Cookie scooper - I like large cookies that spread in the oven. I almost always use a 4-tablespoon cookie scooper and wouldn't recommend using anything smaller than a 3-tablespoon scooper.
- Baking sheet - You can use any baking sheet or baking tray with a rim around the sides. Always line your baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Piping bag (optional) - A piping bag makes it easy to pipe neat drizzles of icing on the cookies. You could just use a spoon though!
Ingredients
- Unsalted butter - Your butter should be softened to room temperature. This allows you to cream it together with the sugars. Creaming cold butter is not fun, if not impossible!
- Granulated sugar - You'll need this for the cookie dough and for rolling the cookie dough balls in for the crunchy and sparkly finish on your baked cookies.
- Brown sugar
- Egg - This should also be at room temperature so that it incorporates seamlessly into the cookie dough and prevents the mixture from curdling.
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Earl grey tea bag - Cut the tea bag open and add the contents to the cookie dough. If you're using loose-leaf earl grey tea leaves, use 1 tablespoon of finely ground tea leaves.
- Powdered sugar - This is used to make the lemon glaze that's drizzled on top of the cookies. These cookies taste just as good without the glaze so this is an optional step.
- Lemon juice - The flavour of lemon pairs really well with earl grey tea but you can also use milk or just water for the glaze.
How to make earl grey sugar cookies
For the cookies
Mix dry ingredients: In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and the tea leaves from an earl grey tea bag. Set aside.
Cream butter and sugars: In a large mixing bowl, use an electric hand mixer to beat softened butter until it's very creamy and pale in colour. Add the granulated sugar and brown sugar and cream together on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Mix wet ingredients: Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat again until combined.
Add dry to wet mixture: Add in the flour mixture and mix on low speed until just combined. If there are any flour patches left, use a spatula to finish folding the cookie dough together to prevent overmixing.
Scoop cookie dough: Line a small cutting board with parchment paper. Use a 4-tablespoon cookie scooper to scoop out balls of cookie dough. Release them onto your lined board.
Chill: Chill the whole board of cookie dough balls in the fridge for about 15 minutes just until they're firm to the touch and not too sticky.
Prep: Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Roll in sugar: Once chilled, roll each cookie dough ball in between your hands to shape them into balls. Roll each ball in granulated sugar, coating all sides. Place each coated cookie dough ball on your lined baking sheet, leaving about 2" in between each cookie to allow for spreading.
Bake: Bake cookies for 11-12 minutes or until the edges are slightly golden brown but the middle is still very soft. The middle might look underdone but they set into a chewy center as they cool.
Swirl cookies: Immediately after you take them out of the oven, use a large cookie cutter or a bowl turned upside down to swirl the cookies around and push any irregular sides in to make perfectly round cookies.
Cool: Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes before carefully transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
For the icing
Mix icing In a small bowl, stir together powdered sugar and lemon juice until it becomes a thick but pourable consistency.
Drizzle: Transfer the glaze to a piping bag or use a spoon to drizzle it across each cookie.
Storage
These earl grey sugar cookies can be stored in an airtight container or wrapped in plastic wrap at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Freezing
These cookies can be frozen by placing them in an airtight container, freezer bag, or wrapped well in plastic wrap for up to 1 month.
Thaw at room temperature for several hours before eating. You can also reheat the cookies in a toaster oven or microwave for a warm cookie!
Tips for success
- Use room temperature ingredients. I say this for almost every recipe that involves creaming butter and sugar together because it makes a big difference in the consistency of your dough or batter and the texture of the finished baked goods. Room-temperature butter is easy to cream with sugar and aerate and room-temperature eggs prevent the butter from curdling.
- Don't overbake cookies. These cookies will look quite soft and wet in the middle when you first take them out of the oven. They'll continue to bake on the baking sheet outside of the oven and once they cool and set, they'll be the perfect soft and chewy texture. Trust me! Overbaking these cookies will make them dry and hard.
Frequently asked questions
If your cookies aren't spreading as much as you'd like, try baking them from room temperature cookie dough and bang the pan against the oven rack 1-2 times near the end of baking and/or after taking them out of the oven.
If your cookies are spreading too thin, try chilling the cookie dough before baking or add a few tablespoons of extra flour to the cookie dough the next time you make the recipe.
More cookie recipes to try
- Matcha White Chocolate Cookies
- Hojicha Cookies
- Miso Caramel Stuffed Cookies
- Matcha Mochi Cookies
- Easy Gingerbread Cookies
Recipe
Earl Grey Sugar Cookies
Equipment
- 1 piping bag, optional
Ingredients
Earl Grey Sugar Cookies
- 180 g all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 earl grey tea bag, cut open, or 1 tablespoon loose tea leaves
- 115 g unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 150 g granulated sugar
- 50 g brown sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
For rolling
- 30 g granulated sugar
Lemon Glaze
- 40 g powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
Instructions
Earl Grey Sugar Cookies
- Mix dry ingredients: In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and the tea leaves from an earl grey tea bag. Set aside.
- Cream butter and sugars: In a large mixing bowl, use an electric hand mixer to beat softened butter until it's very creamy and pale in colour. Add the granulated sugar and brown sugar and cream together on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Mix wet ingredients: Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat again until combined.
- Add dry to wet mixture: Add in the flour mixture and mix on low speed until just combined. If there are any flour patches left, use a spatula to finish folding the cookie dough together to prevent overmixing.
- Scoop cookie dough: Line a small cutting board with parchment paper. Use a 4-tablespoon cookie scooper to scoop out balls of cookie dough. Release them onto your lined board.
- Chill: Chill the whole board of cookie dough balls in the fridge for about 15 minutes just until they're firm to the touch and not too sticky.
- Prep: Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Roll in sugar: Once chilled, roll each cookie dough ball in between your hands to shape them into balls. Roll each ball in granulated sugar, coating all sides. Place each coated cookie dough ball on your lined baking sheet, leaving about 2" in between each cookie to allow for spreading.
- Bake: Bake cookies for 11-12 minutes or until the edges are slightly golden brown but the middle is still very soft. The middle might look underdone but they set into a chewy center as they cool.
- Swirl cookies: Immediately after you take them out of the oven, use a large cookie cutter or a bowl turned upside down to swirl the cookies around and push any irregular sides in to make perfectly round cookies.
- Cool: Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes before carefully transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Lemon Glaze
- Mix: In a small bowl, stir together powdered sugar and lemon juice until it becomes a thick but pourable consistency.
- Drizzle: Transfer the glaze to a piping bag or use a spoon to drizzle it across each cookie.
Trish says
Can you freeze this dough and then bake them? If so would you defrost them until just chilled and then bake?
Victoria R says
These are so delicious. The only issues I have had with them have been 100% user error. Obsessed. I haven't even tried the drizzle yet.. i think that would make me addicted lol.
Jenny says
They turned out perfect, and this will definitely be a go to cookie recipe of mine. I added three teabags instead of one for more flavor as some other comments suggested (highly recommend doing so, as the tea flavor was the perfect intensity and not overpowering at all). I also used a smaller cookie scoop (about 3 tbs) and reduced baking time to ~8:30.
Holland says
Great cookies! I made them in a dorm kitchen without a stand mixer and a very old oven (took about 18 minutes in the oven after a 30 minute chill) and they turned out wonderfully! Big love from my peers as well (already requests to make them again)
Denise Christine Shelton says
These came out great. The time in my oven was more like 17 minutes, but they were not overdone. I used a Republic of Tea All Day Earl Grey Orange Marmalade Black Tea bag, that I got as a free sample. I don't typically like Earl Grey, so I was skeptical, but I loved it in the cookies.
Anonymous says
I did 2tbsp instead of the 4 and baked for 10 minutes. Crispy edges with a chewy center. Perfect recipe. I did add some lemon zest to the sugar coating to bring out the lemon a little bit more as well.
Alexandra says
This recipe is perfect. I used a local earl grey tea. Amazing. Wow
nahier says
these were delicious and i didn't have to go shopping for any ingredients that i wouldn't already have in the house. i made these for a christmas party along with some of your other cookie recipes and everyone loved them.
Marco says
this was sooo delicious! the lemon glaze was perfect for the earl grey flavour and the texture was amazing!! ^_^
Tanya says
I followed the recipe to a T and the cookies lacked earl grey flavor and baked into one big cookie for me too like others have said. Next time I will definitely use three earl grey packets instead of one, and I’ll make 12 smaller cookies out of the dough and I think it’ll be a hit!
Benjamin says
Wonderful! My family loves the taste and textures and nip of the lemon. Great cookies.
Erin says
My new favorite cookie! The flavor is subtle but delicious and the texture is incredible!!
Jess says
I’m not sure if I did something wrong but all the cookies turned into one big cookie and I definitely left enough space? I’m sure they will still taste good but I do want to bring these to friends for the holidays, they can’t be looking like this lol. Maybe I make 14 smaller cookies instead? And do 2 batches?
Anonymous says
Same here. I feel like they would’ve held there share better if they were put in the freezer instead of refrigerated
Madison says
So delicious! I tripled the earl grey (3 tea bags). The first time I tried it turned into one big cookie on the sheet. But the second time I made the batch into about 2 dozen cookies and that was much better (both ascetically and consistency wise.)
JH says
I also did 2 dozen cookies, and they turned out great! Each cookie was 1 TBSP. I baked 8 (much smaller) cookies per sheet and did 3 batches.
Tammy says
I'm sure looking forward to trying these with my recently-purchased Earl Grey Bergamot loose-leaf Tea! My only question is the amount of vanilla to use. I'm converting everything from grams to ounces, but what's up with ALL that vanilla? For 24 cookies, it calls for 3.13 Tablespoons. Is that correct?
Gail Ng says
There's 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract in the original recipe that makes 8 large cookies so if you're tripling the recipe, it's going to be 3x that amount. The original recipe is correct but you can change the amount as you see fit!
Fotini Kyroglou says
Me and my family loved this cookie! It was so delicious and easy to make and the flavor and texture are incredible!
Jennifer says
Tried out this recipe a few months back and loved them!! I wanted to make a batch to bring for a potluck and was wondering if it'd be possible to leave the chilled dough in the fridge (or even freezer) for a few days and pop them in the night before. Would that work?
Celine says
i am so so happy with how this turned out!! earl grey is one of my favourite flavours and these were delicious omg the best of both worlds with the crispy edge and soft centre yummm
Rylie says
These are my all time favorite cookies, and I make a lot of cookies… I will say I add three tea bags for a more noticeable flavor, and skip the lemon in the glaze out of laziness. They turn out amazing every time- crispy on the outside, chewy in the middle, and immediately disappear when friends are around!
Anonymous says
Tried this recipe for a friend gathering and everyone LOVED it! The instructions were clear and the cookies turned out exactly as described!
Anonymous says
The lemon icing is a nice touch but I found these barely had any earl grey flavoured. I think it needs to be infused for any flavour to come through, or perhaps it was the earl grey I used. Nonetheless the cookies have a great texture and are still good sugar cookies. Just not earl grey.
Haven says
10/10!! I searched for a long time to find the perfect earl grey sugar cookie and THIS is it! My husband's new favorite. Lemon icing really puts it over the top. Will be making these for a tea party baby shower and I'm sure they will be a hit!