Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies with Lemon Buttercream

These are absolutely delicious. This makes a small recipe (about 18 small cookies), which is perfect for me. You can leave out the tea, and you'll have a great base for any type of shortbread cookie. Next time, I think I might try lavender shortbread...yum!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter (preferably at room temperature)
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour (I used a mixture of whole wheat pastry and all-purpose)
1 tablespoon of Earl Grey tea, finely ground
a couple pinches of salt (to taste

For the frosting: I made a buttercream out of butter and powdered sugar. Buttercream is so standard to me that I don't even use a recipe anymore. But start with 1/4 c butter, add 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract, 1 T lemon juice, and then add powdered sugar until the frosting is sweet enough and the proper texture.

Instructions:

Cream the butter and powdered sugar together until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and blend again. Mix the flour, tea, and salt together in a bowl, then blend into the butter mixture at low speed. Be careful not to over-mix, or you'll end up with tough and dense shortbread.

Chill dough in fridge for at least a half-hour. Slice log into disks of 1/4-inch thickness and bake at 375 for 8-12 minutes, until edges are just beginning to brown. (I always bake my cookies on a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper, so you may need to grease the cookie sheet if you don't use parchment.) Baking time will depend on how large you decided to cut your cookies, so keep a close eye on them to make sure they don't overbake. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for up to 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Once the cookies are completely cool, mix the frosting and spread over each cookie. You can also frost them with lemon buttercream instead, which I think I'll try next time!