Shortbread Tea Cookies For Your Next Tea Party

Learn how to make delicious shortbread tea cookies using some basic ingredients you probably already have on hand. These tea biscuits are good with tea (of course) but also coffee or ice cream!

I come from a family of five children and we’re all very close. I think that’s what happens when you grow up in a large family and you have to come up with a lot of activities on your own!

My parents were good about encouraging imagination and creativity (and maybe they just wanted some alone time?) so we spent a lot of time doing crafts, playing games, baking, and more. I pretty much had my Home Economics degree by the time I was 10!

One thing we loved to do as children was set up a tea party. My mom would let us bake a very simple shortbread cookie recipe as part of our party. I’m not sure that they tasted very good in actually, but I have the fondest memories of those tea cookies!!

We always paired our tea biscuits with a delicious tea beverage and we’d dress up to attend. We’d pick different names each time and use different accents . . . we’d crack each other up! It was so fun pretending to be someone else from a different time. Ah – being a kid.

My niece Maria is finally at the age where she can start baking and I decided to was time for us to make tea cookies – though this time I created a new recipe from scratch and added a special ingredient: Lipton Iced Tea!

Yes, not only are these tea cookies, but there is actual tea in the cookies. They are delish. Although they are technically tea shortbread cookies, they’re also great with coffee. So don’t limit yourself.

You’ll infuse the cookies with vanilla to add that perfect touch to the recipe. You’ll love the rich taste and sweet flavor!

Note: while this is a great summer recipe, it’s also perfect for Christmas. Think cookie exchange recipe! You can use holiday tea, and they make a great gift.

Shortbread Tea Cookie Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup confectioners sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 large or 2 small bags of Lipton Iced Tea
• 1/4 cup decorator’s sugar (optional)

Tips and tricks for this recipe:

• Don’t skip chilling the dough, however tempted you are. With shortbread cookies it is particularly important because the butter firms up. Then when they are baking, it slowly melts. Your cookies will turn out light and flaky, with less spreading.
• Cold ingredients should be at room temperature (in this case, butter) but don’t leave out too long. You want the butter softened but not melted.
• Let your pan cool between batches of cookies (it helps to have two pans in rotation). This keeps the cookies from spreading a lot.
• Creaming the butter and sugar together separately makes sure they really incorporate before adding to other ingredients. It prevents over mixing because you can’t overbeat the butter and sugar!
• If the shortbread dough feels dry when you pull it out of the fridge to form cookies, add one or two teaspoons of water until you can work with it.
• I swear by USA Pans. They are my absolutely favorite and cook baked items so evenly.
• Check the cookies regularly through the baking process and go by how they look versus the time on the recipe. The edges should be golden brown and set.
• These cookies should stay fresh for approximately five days at room temperature after baking. You can store them in the fridge for a bit longer, and freeze them up to three months.

Since these cookies are made to go with tea, I’ll give you my vanilla tea recipe as well. You can make it hot or cold.

Vanilla Black Tea

Ingredients

• 4 cups boiling water
• 2 bags, Lipton Black Tea – Family Sized
• 2 -3 tbsp vanilla syrup
• 6 cups ice cubes

Directions

1. Place 4 cups of boiling water over two tea bags in a heatproof pitcher.
2. Brew 3 – 5 minutes and then remove the tea bags.
3. Add 2 – 3 tablespoons of vanilla syrup, depending on the sweetness you prefer.
4. Stir in 6 cups of ice cubes until melted and then refrigerate.
5. Pour into glasses with ice.

I’m IN LOVE with this tea biscuits recipe! I’m going to have a tea party with my little niece and teach her this family tradition (that her father used to participate in!) and I’m going to give the rest of the tea cookies away to my neighbors as gifts.

Get the printable recipe below.

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Thanks for checking out my tea cookies recipe! I’m thinking you might want to also try these delicious cookie recipes:

Almond Flour Shortbread • Apple Pie • Apricot Dark Chocolate • Bacon Chocolate Chip • Brownie Chocolate Chip • Buckeye • Butterscotch Chocolate Chip • Butterscotch Popcorn • Caramel Apple • Chocolate Chip (Air Fryer) • Chocolate Chip Pudding • Chocolate Chip Sandwich • Chocolate Crinkles • Chocolate Marshmallow • Chocolate Mint Sandwich • Chocolate Thumbprint • Christmas Butter • Christmas Linzer • Circus Animal • Cotton Candy • Easter M&M • Funfetti • Ginger Molasses • Heath Bar • Lemon Blueberry Thumbprint • Lemon Cream Cheese • Lemon Shortbread • Nutella Stuffed • Oatmeal Chocolate Chip • Paleo Shortbread • Peanut Butter Blossoms • Peppermint Frosted • Peppermint Pudding • Red Velvet Thumbprint • Reese’s Pieces • Ritz S’mores • Rolo • Snickers • Jam Thumbprints (Classic) • Vanilla • White Chocolate Cranberry • White Chocolate Snickerdoodles