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15 Best Cookies for Tea

Fresh cookies for tea are incredible. The best cookies for tea are a sweet treat without being overpowering. They pair nicely with different teas and will take your tea parties to the next level.

15 Best Cookies for Tea

Most of these recipes are so easy to execute, and you’ll have cookies for your table in moments. There are some more complicated cookies, but they are sure to wow your guests and be delicious. Just make sure you plan to make test batches or practice the specific skills you need.

Many of these recipes also use tea, so you can bring that flavor into the cookies while serving the same tea at the table. Yum!

Some are also compatible with other diets like veganism and dairy-free diets so that you can share these cookies with every guest. Any of these will make great additions to your tea party, so keep reading for a list of unique, flavorful cookies.

1. Italian Butter Cookies

Starting strong, these Italian butter cookies are sure to impress all of your guests. They are simple, sweet, and easy to make.

You can make these into all kinds of shapes using cookie cutters, so you can make them match the seasons or themes! Just grab a cookie cutter and start cutting out stars, pumpkins, or trees!

You can even dip these in chocolate for a sweet treat. The chocolate-dipped cookies are great with hot chocolate or adding a chocolatey flavor to your favorite teas.

2. Vegan Shortbread Cookies

This is an excellent choice if you need to accommodate specific dietary restrictions during tea time. These vegan cookies don’t sacrifice flavor for your diet. They are simple and won’t overpower the taste of your tea either, making them perfect for tea time.

This recipe is also a great vegan base for any other recipes that call for shortbread. You could also modify this recipe to match any different flavor combinations you want. Add vegan chocolate chips, and you’ve got chocolate chip shortbread!

3. Pound Cake Cookies

Of all the cookies that go with tea, pound cake cookies are one of the best types. They don’t have the same density level as the cake itself, but they also have the hint of citrus, like a light lemon pound cake.

The real secret with this recipe is to use fresh lemon zest. The fresh zest makes the lemon flavor stand out. This zest will also give your cookies a brighter color, both in the glaze and the cookie itself.

You could even put some bright-colored sprinkles on top for a pop of extra color!

4. Ube Crinkles

If you want a pop of color in your tea cookies, these are the cookies for you! Ube gives these cookies a vivid purple shade that stands out.

Ube is a purple yam commonly used in Southeastern Asian and Polynesian cuisine that has become very popular recently. It isn’t overly sweet and has a distinct starchy flavor.

This specific recipe is Filipino in origin and is a variation of the other crinkle cookie recipes. Most other varieties come in red velvet or lemon, but this variety is wholly unique and sure to give you all kinds of ideas for matching deserts.

5. Canestrelli Delicious Italian Cookies

This Northern Italian cookie recipe is perfect for tea time and one of the best recipes out there.

This recipe is closer to a biscotti and very popular around the winter holidays. However, it’s a great tea cookie and is sure to brighten your table. They are traditionally made in a simple flower shape, but you can make them look however you want.

What makes this recipe particularly interesting is that it is made with hard-boiled egg yolks — yes, hard-boiled egg yolks! They help keep the dough crumbly and are crucial to this recipe.

6. 5 Ingredient Vegan Almond And Tahini Cookies

Another excellent vegan option, these cookies are so easy to make! With only five ingredients, you can whip them up in under fifteen minutes.

The most significant ingredient in this recipe is tahini. It would be best if you got good tahini that is well within its use-by date. Ideally, it should be slightly runny and smooth.

You could also use honey in place of the maple syrup. It may make the cookies darker, but you will still get the same effect and great flavor.

7. Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies

Cookies for tea time usually are entirely different flavors than what is being served at the table. However, these have Earl Grey tea leaves in them to connect them to your party.

What makes this recipe, so good is that you have to use real Earl Grey tea leaves. While it might not sound too great to eat the tea leaves themselves, they pack so much flavor that they’re unforgettable.

To get the best flavor, you need to let the tea leaf compound butter sit for two hours. This will pull so much of that delicious Earl Grey flavor out and pack it into your cookies.

8. Espresso Walnut Shortbread Cookies with Dark Chocolate Ganache

Of all the cookie ideas out there, it might sound counterintuitive to mix coffee and tea at the same party. These espresso walnut cookies are sure to change your mind!

Unlike many of the others on this list, this is a cookie sandwich recipe. Yes, there are two layers of decadent shortbread to enjoy! To top it all off, there is a delicious dark chocolate ganache as the filling and drizzle.

Most ganaches use cream to get their beautiful texture, but this recipe uses butter. It complements the dark chocolate so well and makes the texture even better for working with these cookies.

9. Golden Almond Cookies

When you start thinking about cookie ideas, ginger and turmeric might not be your first choices. However, these golden almond cookies are sweet without being overpowering and perfect for enjoying alongside tea.

These golden almond cookies are a showstopper with their vivid yellow color. This comes from turmeric, the main ingredient in curry powder. Turmeric has all kinds of health benefits while also adding a unique flavor to these cookies.

These cookies are not nearly as sweet and can be easily modified to fit all kinds of other diets like paleo or keto. They are great to indulge in without breaking your dietary rules.

10. Ricciarelli

Another classic Italian cookie, these cracked cookies are full of almond flavor and chewy as all get out. You cannot ignore the almond flavor in these cookies, and if you love macarons, you’ll love these.

Like macarons, you must carefully fold almond and sugar into whipped egg whites and leave them out to dry. The drying step is crucial for their iconic cracked look. This is not a recipe for inexperienced bakers, so be warned!

These pair beautifully with a cup of Earl Grey and other black teas. Their secret ingredient, orange zest, gives these cookies a beautiful color.

11. London Fog Shortbread

London Fog lattes are delicious, so who wouldn’t want to make cookies for a tea party out of them!

These have a rich vanilla flavor and also use Earl Grey tea. The secret to this recipe is to let the dough sit for at least 30 minutes. This will allow the tea to share its flavor with the rest of the dough thoroughly.

You could also cut these cookies up into different fun shapes to match the occasion you’re making them for. They also freeze well, so you can make as much as you want without them going bad. Just make sure to seal them in an airtight container.

12. Chai Spice Biscotti

If you’re looking for unique cookie ideas, these are the cookies for you. They have the flavor of cardamom, cloves, star anise, and cinnamon while staying sweet and rich.

This recipe is dairy-free as well and perfect for dipping into teacups. They pair beautifully with an oat milk chai latte, and the chai glaze mixes perfectly with warm tea.

The glaze is made with chai tea, so you get all of that delicious flavor baked into one amazing cookie and drizzled on top.

13. Butter Pecan Cookies

These cookies use fresh roasted pecans to give them their iconic flavor. They are also rolled in sugar, creating a fragrant, sweet cookie. They taste like home and are so easy to make.

If you want to add another flavor into the mix, you could always include a dash of cinnamon. You don’t need to go overboard, but the extra flavor will bring out the taste of the pecans without overpowering them.

You could also substitute walnuts, almonds, or even peanuts to get a different flavor.

14. Raspberry Almond Shortbread Thumbprint Cookies

Cookies that go with tea have to be several things: sweet without being too much, flavorful without overruling the flavor of your tea, and aesthetically pleasing. These thumbprint cookies meet all of those criteria!

While this recipe does call for raspberry, you could also substitute other types of jellies and jams. Blueberries or strawberries are different great flavors you could use. You could even go out of the box and use something like apple butter for a festive fall flavor.

Ideally, it would be best if you used seedless jelly or jam in this recipe. No one wants seeds stuck in their teeth!

15. Coconut Pecan Cookies

Bringing up the end of this list is this delicious recipe for coconut pecan cookies. It can be hard to come up with ideas to use coconut, but this has to be one of the best.

Make sure to use unsweetened coconut in this recipe. Too much sugar will overpower all the other flavors and make these tooth-achingly sweet.

While those kinds of cookies can be good in moderation, you won’t be able to get through them as quickly as you need to.

15 Best Cookies for Tea

15 Best Cookies for Tea

Yield: 48 cookies
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes
Additional Time: 1 hour 23 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours

Ingredients

  • ¾ c butter
  • 1 c white sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 tbsp corn syrup
  • 1 tsp lemon extract
  • 2 c all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • ½ c white sugar

Instructions

    1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
    2. Cream together ¾ of a cup of butter and 1 cup white sugar until light and fluffy.
    3. Add in 1 egg, 2 tbsp. of corn syrup, and 1 tsp. lemon extract.
    4. Stir in your dry ingredients: 2 cups of all-purpose flour, 1 tsp. of baking soda, and 1 tsp. of baking powder.
    5. Cover dough and chill in the refrigerator for at least one hour.
    6. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and roll cookie dough into even, walnut-sized balls.
    7. Roll the dough balls in ½ of a cup of white sugar and place them on the cookie sheet.
    8. Bake until lightly browned, or twelve minutes.

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