Oolong Tea Sugar Cookies
Happy Friday, friends! We are a week away from Lunar New Year and this is the finishing touch on my menu this year : )
I spent an entire year developing Chinese inspired baked goods so I’m a little burnt out right. Instead of developing a completely new recipe, I decided to revisit an OG recipe on the blog and give it a much needed update. I first made these Oolong Tea Sugar Cookies back in 2017!!! Wow 4 years ago! They were really yummy, so soft, and the perfect cookie with tea on a rainy day.
This update refined the flavor and texture and I included a dusting of oolong tea sugar to give a delightful shimmer and crunch! They are still very soft, buttery, and have plenty of strong oolong tea flavor. I love how quick they are too make and how they coincidently look like full moons. Pretty perfect or Lunar New Year!
Double Oolong Tea, please!
I wanted the oolong tea flavor to be stronger in this version, but not too much that a few cookies might keep you up at night (these do have caffeine, just so you know).
First, I simmered butter and tea leaves together to infuse the butter. By doing so you’ve also made browned butter, which gives the cookies a slightly nutty flavor. You then strain out the leaves so the cookies don’t have too many bits of leaves mixed in the dough. A few will slip through and that’s okay.
The oolong tea butter is perfectly ready to mix into the dough as is, no need to chill or anything.
A second layer of oolong tea comes through a coating of oolong sugar. Leaves are finely ground or chopped and mixed with granulated sugar. This gives the cookies a little crunch and a hint of tea flavor right on the tongue.
You could even go triple oolong by sipping on a cup of actual tea while eating a cookie. I’ve done it and it’s great.
Happy almost lunar new year!
I hope you’ve enjoyed the recipes I’ve shared this month and that a few of them make it your LNY table! We have 1 week, which is plenty of time to make a magical feast happen!
I have to go feed my sourdough starter, Hanky, and Reuben now… it’s a full house these days!
Oolong tea sugar cookies
makes 12
cookies:
113g (1 stick) unsalted butter
8g (2 tbsp) oolong tea leaves
125g (1 cup) all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
100g (1/2 cup) granulated sugar
1 egg
oolong tea sugar:
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp ground/finely chopped oolong tea leaves
steps:
In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, melt butter and add tea leaves. Simmer until the butter has browned and smells strong of oolong, 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and allow the butter to cool for 10 minutes. Pour the butter through a fine mesh sieve and into a cup, strain out the leaves and press down on the leaves with a rubber spatula to get every drop of butter.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk to combine flour, salt, and baking soda. In another medium bowl, whisk to combine butter, vanilla, sugar, and egg. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix with a rubber spatula until smooth.
Cover and chill in the fridge until semi-firm and scoop-able, 15 to 20 minutes. If it’s too firm, let the dough sit on the counter at room temperature to soften.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
Combine sugar and ground tea leaves to make the oolong sugar.
With a 1 1/2 tbsp cookie scoop or a spoon, portion out 12 cookies. Roll each portion into a ball and roll in the oolong sugar until fully coated. Arrange the cookies on the baking sheet, spacing at least 2” apart. Flatten the cookies slightly and bake until just barely golden around the edges, 10 to 12 minutes.
Allow the cookies to cool on the sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to continue cooling.