Earl Grey Shortbread Sandwich Cookies
18-20 Finished Cookies
3 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp fine sea salt
3 Tbsp Earl Grey Tea (if using tea bags, 3 Tbsp is roughly six tea bags)
1 Tbsp granulated sugar
12 ounces (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
Zest of one lemon
2 tsp vanilla paste
1 1/2 cup confectionary’s sugar
Glaze:
2 cups confectionary’s sugar
A pinch of fine sea salt
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (roughly two lemons)
Filling:
8 ounces of seedless blackberry jam (or raspberry, or even lemon curd
1) In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and the salt.
2) In a mortar and pestle, grind together the loose-leaf Earl Grey tea and the 1 Tbsp granulated sugar.
3) Place the butter in the bowl of a standing mixer and mix on low to a smooth consistency. Add the tea/sugar, the lemon zest and the vanilla paste and mix to combine.
4) Slowly add the dry mix on low speed until a dough begins to form – do not overmix. Remove the bowl from the mixer and gather the dough into a ball with your hands. Divide the dough into three pieces, flatten them on a sheet pan lined with parchment, cover with plastic wrap and chill for one hour.
5) Preheat your oven to 325 degrees and line three sheet pans with parchment paper.
6) Roll the first third of the dough on a lightly floured surface to ¼” thick. Cut into 2” circles and place them on the baking sheets about 1” apart. Gather the scraps, roll again and cut into circles. You should end up with roughly one dozen cookies per pan.
7) Choose your favorite cookie stamp and press onto the cookies. Slowly release the cookie from the stamp, letting gravity be your friend. Bake the first pan of cookies while you prepare the second pan. And then the third.
8) Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through, until the edges are just beginning to brown. Remove them from the oven, let them cool for five minutes on the pans and then move them to a wire rack to further cool.
9) While the cookies cool, heat the lemon juice in the microwave until it begins to bowl (roughly 30-35 seconds). Pour the hot juice over the confectionary sugar and whisk to combine. The glaze will become very shiny and smooth. Dip half of the cookies into the glaze, one at a time, stamped side down, and return to the wire rack (stamped side up) to harden the glaze.
10) Place one teaspoon of jam in the center of the underside of the unglazed cookies. Gently smooth out the jam leaving a ½” border on the edges. Place a glazed cookie on the top and gently press down to distribute the jam evenly.
