Earl Gray Milk Tea Cookie

Earl Grey, the tea that I drank most during my university hostel days… I am referring to those sobriety days that no parties were going on. The waif of this bergamot scented tea can bring back so many memories of those angsty yet audacious pre-adulthood days.

I’m pretty sure there are some scents, certain taste or even a song that can evoke some kind of fond or even weird memories in every one of us. Earl Grey is one for me, hence when I thought of the idea of incorporating tea into a cookie recipe, the candidate was too glaring to miss.

Here’s a little history on this tea blend. According to the Grey family, the tea was specially blended by a Chinese mandarin for Lord Grey, to suit the water at Howick Hall, using bergamot in particular to offset the prevalence of lime in the local water. Lady Grey used it to entertain in London as a political hostess, and it proved so popular that she was asked if it could be sold to others, which is how Twinings came to market it as a brand.

I also found out that bergamot in Earl Grey tea has been known to have a calming effect on people, as well as to boost a person’s mood. This is due to bergamot’s natural aromatherapy qualities. In this way Earl Grey is a good natural solution for people suffering from depression, stress and anxiety. When I was reading this, I started to wonder if this has anything to do with my immense preference for this tea during those days…

After getting to know more about Earl Grey tea, I could not wait to make a batch of Bam!-Earl-Grey-aroma-in-your-face cookies!

Ingredients:

Dry Ingredients

15g of corn starch

185g of plain flour

60g of ground almond

Wet Ingredients

5g of Earl Grey tea

50g of milk

150g of unsalted butter (room temperature)

100g of icing sugar

1 egg yolk

¼ tsp vanilla essence

Optional Ingredient

1 egg white

Steps:

1. Measure the dry ingredients, mix well and store in refrigerator.

2. Warm milk over low heat, avoid boiling the milk. Add Earl Grey tea and simmer for 2mins, remove from heat source and leave the tea to steep for 5 to 10min.

3. Strain the tea leave from the mixture, scoop 1tsp of the tea leave and add it back into the Earl Grey infused milk. Cool and store in refrigerator.

4. Cream the butter and icing sugar with a whisk in a big bowl until you get a smooth and creamy consistency. The mixture should lighten considerably to a creamy white colour.

5. Add the beaten egg yolk in bit by bit (I added mine in 3 portions) and mix well after each portion. Add vanilla essence and mix well.



6. By now the Earl Grey milk tea should be chilled enough, add this into the wet mixture bit by bit and mix well.

Note: Chilling the milk tea prevents cooking of the butter and egg yolk in the mixture. It also increases the viscosity of the mixture which I find to be more manageable. 

7. Take out the dry mix from the refrigerator and add it into the wet mix in 4 portions. Fold in the dry ingredients into the wet mixture.

Do not over mix, stop once you see the last dry bit disappear. In fact, I will save that last fold and leave the final bits of dry ingredients in the cookie dough.

8. Transfer the dough onto a piece of plastic wrap. Use the plastic wrap roll the cookie dough into a log of about 4cm in thickness. Reduce the thickness of the roll if you want smaller cookies. Wrap tightly and keep in the freeze for 1 to 2 hours.

I got so focused and engrossed into making the roll that I complete forgot to snap a photo. So I sheepishly found one online that has close resemblance of what I did.

Courtesy from www.thelittleepicurean.com

9. Once the dough firms up to a chilled butter consistency, slice the dough to make cookies. I kept them all at ½ cm thick so that they will bake uniformly.

10. This step is optional, brush some egg white onto each cookie for a glazed finish.

11. Preheat oven to 170 degree Celsius and bake the cookies for 20min. Flip the cookies and bake for another 2min.

12. Remove from oven and make sure to cool the cookies completely before packing.

I offered some of the cookies and some were able to detect faint traces of Earl Gary, I personally could not. Hence, expectations of achieving Bam!-Earl-Grey-aroma-in-your-face cookies was not met. however it may be due to me not feeling my best for the past 2 weeks... Well, try this for yourself to find out!

Maybe I should double the dose of tea leave next time or prepare and use Earl Grey infused butter instead… but for this round, they are good enough to have with a cup of steaming hot Earl Grey tea while I reminisce.