Earl Grey tea biscuits

Earl Grey is my favourite black tea, and I've had much success using it in chocolate desserts (see my pots de créme au chocolat and chocolate truffle cake). This time I decided to try using it without chocolate and to make biscuits instead. 

Earl Grey tea biscuits

Earl Grey loose leaves toasted

Ingredients

yields 20-22 medium-sized biscuits

2 tbsp loose leaf Earl Grey tea

2½ C almond flour, sifted

1 tsp arrowroot powder

½ tsp baking soda

⅛ tsp Himalayan pink salt

1 tbsp vanilla bean paste

⅓ C coconut oil, melted

3 tbsp organic honey
3 tbsp cold filtered water

Method

1. Heat a small pan on low heat. When the pan is hot, add the tea leaves and shake until the tea leaves form a thin even layer. Toast the leaves for a few minutes until fragrant (be careful not to burn it). Remove from heat and let cool.
2. In a food processor or chopper, pulse the cool tea leaves with the dry ingredients until well combined and the tea leaves are broken down.
   
3. In a standard mixer or in a mixing bowl by hand, slowly combine wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until a dough ball is formed. The dough will be slightly dense and oily (not runny) (around 515g).
4. Let the dough sit in the fridge for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 165°C.
   
5. Using both hands, form the dough into small balls (around 25g each) and, using the back of a spoon, press down lightly onto a silicon baking mat or parchment paper lined baking sheet into rough cookie shapes. (These cookies spread upon baking, so don’t worry about forming perfect shapes and make sure to leave enough space between each cookie.)
   
6. Bake for 10-12 minutes on the middle rack. The cookies will be soft with a squishy top but will harden as they cool.
7. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
   

These biscuits smelled heavenly when baking in the oven and I couldn't resist tasting one before it had completely cooled. It was soft and chewy with a hint of Earl Grey. I'd prefer it with an even stronger aroma of tea, so next time, I will either use more loose leaves or toast the leaves more, or perhaps even both! I also think it would be delicious to use smokey Earl Grey or lavender infused Earl Grey. I imagine chai tea would work beautifully, too, with a dash or two of ground cinnamon and ginger mixed in.

Enjoy with a strong cup of Earl Grey!