Gluten Free Tea Cookies

With fall finally here, and winter on its way, the time has come for big mugs of hot tea, good books, and warm fuzzy blankets. Of course you also need cookies to go along with your tea, and what goes better than shortbread? My quest for the perfect cookie has been going on for quite some time now, made all the more difficult by the discovery that my husband has celiacs. This means that I have no rye, wheat, or barley in the house whatsoever. Makes making cookies a little bit complicated.

I came across a Martha Stewart recipe for Shortbread cookies with ground tea leaves in them and thought, wow those would be amazing! Any of you who have ever had experience baking gluten free know that one cannot simply substitute gluten free flour for regular flour and expect it to come out right, though, so, after a couple hours of searching and comparing recipes for gluten free shortbread, some minor kitchen mishaps, and a few failed tries later, I finally came up with my own. 

When you are making this you will want to make sure that the tea leaves are ground very finely, otherwise your cookies will be very gritty. I used my spice/coffee grinder on some loose leaf Earl Grey I had and got it down to a fine dust, which worked just fine. I also suggest using a very finely ground salt for this, I used kosher salt in my first try, and the cookies left a salty flavor behind when eaten.

The nice thing about making shortbread without the gluten is that you can re-roll them as many times as needed to use every bit of the dough. You do need to make sure you don't fluff the butter and sugar overmuch however, you don't want light and fluffy shortbread. 

Shortbread Tea Cookies Sans Gluten

2 cups gluten free flour blend (I suggest Gluten Free Mamas coconut blend)

1/2 cup corn starch

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp xanthan gum

2 Tbsp Finely ground tea leaves

3/4 cup confectioners sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup unsalted butter (two sticks)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 300°F.  Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

1. In a small bowl, mix together the flour, cornstarch, salt, baking powder, xanthan gum, and tea leaves till thoroughly combined.

2. In bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter, sugar, and vanilla extract together, on medium-low speed, until a thick paste forms, about 30 seconds.

3. Add the dry ingredients and mix till a soft dough forms, about 3 minutes.

4. place the dough on a dusted cutting board, roll into a ball and wrap in plastic. Chill for 30 minutes. 

5. Roll out chilled dough about ¼-inch thick and cut out the cookies. Place them on the prepared baking sheet about two inches apart. 

6. Bake until cookies are lightly golden brown on the edges, 20-30 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on the pan for five minutes and then transfer to wire rack to cool. Repeat using remaining dough.

Makes about two dozen cookies.