Finally got the tea cookies right! Or so Samwise tells me. I hate tea.
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment or grease lightly.
1/4 cup loose darjeeling tea leaves
1/3 cup boiling water
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon rose flower water (optional)
Put the tea leaves in a mug and pour the boiling water over them. Allow them to steep, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Strain the tea through a fine strainer into another cup, pressing on the leaves to get as much liquid out as possible. Add the rose flower water to the tea.
Meanwhile, combine all the dry ingredients in the bowl of a mixer (you can also do this by hand, but it’s more work). Beat in the butter a few tablespoons at a time, incorporating it into the flour. Beat for another minute until the mixture is crumbly. Add the tea/rose water and beat for a minute or so until the dough comes together.
Pinch off a piece of dough about 1″ across (smaller than a ping-pong ball) and roll into a ball. Put it on the cookie sheet and flatten with your hand so it is a disc about 1/2″ thick. Repeat with the remaining dough until you have filled up the cookie sheet, leaving about an inch of space in between. On an average size cookie sheet you should be able to fit a dozen cookies.
Bake for 15-17 minutes until just firm but not brown. Remove from the cookie sheet immediately and put on a rack or plate to cool. Makes about 18.
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