Earl Grey Cookies
by Sommer Collier — last updated on Feb 24, 2025 
Earl Grey Cookies – These American Tea Cakes take inspiration from a classic British Teacake recipe, but are softer with a slightly lighter crumb and a sweet lemon glaze.
Why We Love Earl Grey Cookies
Southern Tea Cakes in the United States, also called tea cookies, are different from British teacakes. These Earl Grey Cookies marry the two different sweet snacks to create a wholly new treat!
Let’s first break down tea cakes vs. teacakes vs. tea cookies: Traditional British teacakes are sweet yeast rolls speckled with fruit, meant to be served with hot tea. However, the American version is more like a soft, puffy, chewy cookie made with baking powder or baking soda instead of yeast. Therefore, although they are often called “tea cake” these cakes are actually tea cookies.
Sommer’s Recipe Notes
Since the American version was inspired by British Teacakes, I thought I would give a nod to their origins in this tea cake recipe by adding Earl Grey tea to the cookie dough for flavor. This creates a unique earthy undertone to balance the sweetness of the cookies, including the kiss of lemon glaze on top.
Whatever you want to call them, they’re fabulous for after-school snacks, to serve with hot tea, or to nibble on as you sit out on the front porch drinking iced sweet tea in your rocker! And this tea cookies recipe is great for dessert after a classic Southern dinner. Bring out a batch after a hearty meal of Cheese Grits, Chicken Bog, or Grilled Pork Chops, and watch them fly off the table!
Ingredients for Earl Grey Cookie Dough
- Butter – unsalted, softened
- Granulated sugar – or preferred white sugar substitute, like coconut sugar or sweetener alternative
- Eggs – room temperature
- Vanilla extract – a must-have for most baked treats
- Baking powder – a leavening agent that makes the cookies soft
- Salt – a pinch to balance the sweet flavors
- All-purpose flour – or gluten-free flour, if you like
- Earl grey tea leaves – loose leaf or removed from packaged tea bags, you can also use chai, matcha, or herbal for a caffeine-free version
For the simple cookie glaze, you need only powdered sugar and fresh lemon juice.
How to Make Earl Grey Tea Cookies
Find the full Tea Cookies recipe with ingredient proportions, detailed instructions, storage tips, and a video tutorial in the printable form at the bottom of the post.
Pro Tip: You can make the tea cookies recipe anytime, and freeze as dough or baked teacakes. Then quickly prepare the glaze and dip the cookies shortly before serving!
Tea Cookie Tips & Tricks
- Measure your flour accurately! For fluffy Earl Grey-infused cookies, be careful measuring your flour. Spoon the flour into the measuring up and level it off with the flat edge of a butter knife. This ensures that you won’t add too much flour to the cookies, which can cause dense cookies!
- Don’t over-mix the dough! Once the flour is added to the cookie dough, gluten starts developing. To make sure you have soft cookies, avoid over-mixing the dough.
- Let the cookies cool before you glaze them! To make sure the glaze stays on the cookies, the cookies need to be fully cooled!
- For super soft Earl Grey cookies with a slight crunch, don’t overbake them! The earl grey sugar cookies will look slightly underdone when they are ready to be taken out. They will set up and harden on the hot baking sheet while they are cooking!
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, because it is a black tea, Earl Grey does have quite a good amount of caffeine. But not as much as coffee or energy drinks.
Store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.
You sure can! Prepare the earl grey tea cookies recipe, but do not make the lemon glaze. Instead, cool the cookies and wrap them individually in plastic wrap. (You can also stack them with pieces of parchment paper between the layers.) Then place them together in an airtight ziplock bag, and freeze for up to 3 months.
Thaw at room temperature, then make the glaze and dip the cookies before serving.
If your cookie dough balls spread too much when baking, it could be because your butter was too soft, you didn’t use enough flour, overmixed the dough, or placed the dough on a warm baking sheet. To fix this problem, try chilling the dough for 30 minutes and then try baking them again.
Looking for More Scrumptious Cookie Recipes? Be Sure to Try:
Earl Grey Cookies Recipe
Video
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened (2 sticks)
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon earl grey tea leaves about 3 bags
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 4 teaspoons lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Set out several baking sheets and line them with parchment paper.
- Set out a stand mixer. Add the softened butter and sugar to the mixing bowl. Beat on high for 3 to 5 minutes until the butter is extremely light and fluffy.
- Scrape the bowl, then turn the mixer on low and beat in the eggs, vanilla extract, baking powder, and salt.
- Scrape the bowl again, then turn the mixer on low and add in the flour, 1/2 cup at a time. Quickly add in the Earl Grey tea leaves with the last portion of flour. As soon as the flour is fully blended, turn off the mixer as to not overmix the dough.
- Use a cookie scoop to measure the dough portions out in 1 ½ tablespoon scoops. Roll each scoop into a ball. Place the balls on the cookie sheets, 2 inches apart.
- Bake the tea cakes for 10-12 minutes until puffy in the center and just barely golden around the edges. Allow them to cool on the cookie sheets.
- Meanwhile, set out a small bowl and combine the powdered sugar and lemon juice. Whisk well until the glaze is smooth. Once the tea cookies have cooled, dip the top of each cookie in the glaze and set them back on the parchment paper to dry.
We very much enjoyed these cookies. The unglazed cookie is very nice, and once they are topped with glaze they are really yummy. I needed a quick sweet treat and these were very easy and quick to put together, yet they look and taste kinda fancy. I will definitely plan to make them again. Oh, and I had only one Earl Grey tea bag, so I added one Lady Grey tea bag and it worked well.