Retro Desserts: Cream-filled Chocolate Cupcakes

My friend M and I decided to take a class at our local Sur La Table recently. The title was "Retro Desserts" and the menu included cream-filled chocolate cupcakes (think Hostess cupcakes), chocolate whoopie pies, baked doughnuts, and strawberry chiffon pies. The hands-down favorites were the cupcakes and the whoopie pies (recipe to come at a later date!).

I was never a huge fan of the Hostess cupcake growing up, but I certainly had it in my lunch from time to time. I guess you could say that although I wanted processed lunches like every other elementary schooler, I was likely a dessert snob from day one. These cupcakes are a great update on a "classic"... can you see vanilla bean flecks (I adore this vanilla bean paste) in the original? Don't think so.

Also? They were fun to make, even if it does include a large chunk of time for cooling/filling/frosting/decorating... and dishes. It was only my second attempt at a filled cupcake (using the cone method), but the results were impressive. I'm making several dozen to bring into work this week (update: it was a huge, huge success)! Check back later too. The cake recipe was so incredibly moist and delicious that I turned this cupcake recipe into a triple-layer cake for my husband's 30th birthday. Details to come!

Cream-filled Chocolate Cupcakes
makes 24
1/2 c. unsalted butter, room temperature
2 c. sugar
3 large eggs
3/4 c. sour cream (low-fat or regular will do)
1 t. vanilla extract
2 c. flour
2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/4 c. cocoa powder
2 oz. dark chocolate (I used 1/3 c. bittersweet morsels)
1 cup water, boiling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line two 12-cup muffin tins (or one muffin tin in two batches!).

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in eggs one at a time, followed by about half of the sour cream and all of the vanilla.

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer on, add about half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, followed by the remaining sour cream, followed by the remainder of the flour mixture, mixing well between additions. Mix just until no streaks of flour remain (overmixing flour = tough cupcakes).

Measure out 1 c. water in a glass measuring cup and microwave until boiling. Whisk cocoa powder and dark chocolate into the boiling water until well combined. Gradually pour "chocolate water" into the batter and stir (by hand—it will splatter if you use the mixer!) until uniform in color.

Evenly distribute batter into prepared baking cups. Bake for 15–17 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean and the cakes spring back slightly when lightly pressed. Turn cupcakes out onto a wire rack to cool completely before filling or frosting.

Vanilla Cream Filling:
3 T. flour
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. unsalted butter
1/2 c. sugar
1 t. vanilla extract (or 1/2 scraped vanilla bean, etc.)

Whisk together the flour and milk and cook in a small saucepan over medium heat until thick. This will only take a few minutes. Stir continuously to avoid clumping and do not bring all the way to a boil. When thickened (consistency of a thin pudding), strain with a mesh strainer into a small bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let cool completely to room temperature.

When the milk mixture is cool, cream the butter and sugar together in a medium bowl until light. Add in the milk/flour mixture and the vanilla and beat at high speed with an electric mixer for 7 minutes, until light and very fluffy. Scrape into a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip (or a large zip-top plastic bag with the corner cut off) and set aside until ready to fill your cupcakes.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:
1/2 c. unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 c. cocoa powder
2–3 c. powdered sugar
1/4 c. milk
1 t. vanilla extract

Cream butter well with an electric mixer. Add cocoa and powdered sugar alternately with milk. Add vanilla. Beat to smooth, thick (but still spreadable) consistency—add more milk a little at a time if needed. Taste often!

Assembly
Take a completely cooled cupcake and, using a small paring knife, cut a cone of cake (1 inch across by 1 inch deep) out of the top. Trim off pointy end of cone (you can eat that!), leaving a flat circle of cake. Set to the side and continue process for all cupcakes.

Take the cream filling and squeeze a tablespoon or so into each cupcake cavity. Top off with the flat circle of cake to plug up the hole and keep the filling in place.

Using a small offset spatula, frost each cupcake with a layer of chocolate buttercream. Spread from the center to the sides to evenly cover the cake plug and help prevent tearing/crumbs.

If you have leftover vanilla cream filling, transfer it to a fresh zip-top bag, cut off a very small opening in one corner of the bag, and pipe a decorative swirl down the center of each cupcake. Store cupcakes in an airtight container.

Here are Miss M's cute swirls!

Check back at another time for the other recipes (and by "other recipes" I mean the chocolate ones... so whoopie pies!).

Nigella's Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Sauce

Hold on to your aprons, everyone.

If you dream in peanut butter and chocolate, make this recipe. You'll thank me. As Nigella says, "Hand them 'round and wait for people to weep with gratitude."

The expectant momma from my previous post mentions this fudge sauce enough that we thought it would be an excellent idea to make it for her surprise baby shower for an ice cream sundae bar. I had a slight issue with the ingredients separating due to some confusion between the British and the American recipe (and different ingredients), but I got it all sorted out for Mother's Day to serve on top of these brownies. Both times, the sundaes were devoured in complete silence. Eerie, really. I think that's a good sign. :) Speechless!

Nigella's Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Sauce
3/4 c. heavy cream
4 ounces chocolate, chopped (about 2/3 c. semisweet morsels was perfect)
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
3 T. sweetened condensed milk
Salted peanuts, roughly chopped or left whole to taste (garnish)
ice cream of your choosing

Put the cream, chocolate, peanut butter, and sweetened condensed milk into a saucepan and put it on the heat to melt, stirring occasionally. In about 2 minutes you should have your sauce ready.

Get out four sundae glasses and put a few scoops of ice cream in each (Nigella recommends toffee, caramel, chocolate, and vanilla).

Pour the warm chocolate peanut butter fudge sauce over the ice cream and sprinkle with salted peanuts or other toppings of your choice.

It's that simple yet that divine!

Cocoa Brownies

There's no point in reinventing the wheel here. SmittenKitchen recently blogged about these brownies, I was craving brownie sundaes and needed a recipe for Mother's Day, I made the life-changing discovery that Ghirardelli cocoa is actually cheaper per ounce (at least at my Safeway) than Hershey cocoa (hey, inkpadchocolate is on a budget, sometimes), and SHAZAM. I had to make these brownies.

SK makes the astute observation that the opposite of sweet is not always bitter. Sometimes it's just... intense chocolate. These are super good with ice cream, but keep in mind that I'd probably enjoy ice cream on sauerkraut. (Hmm, that might actually be good...)

Sorry, no time to take many pictures. The moms demanded brownies!

SK's Cocoa Brownies
(which she adapted from Alice Medrich's Bittersweet)
10 T. (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter
1 1/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. + 2 T. unsweetened cocoa powder (natural or Dutch-process)
1/4 t. salt
1/2 t. vanilla extract
2 large eggs, cold
1/2 c. all-purpose flour
2/3 c. walnut or pecan pieces (optional)

Preheat oven to 325°F. Line the bottom and sides of an 8×8-inch (I used 9x9) square baking pan with parchment paper or foil, leaving an overhang on two opposite sides.

(What? You don't use garlic and scissors to prevent your parchment from curling? Weirdos. It's all about WHAT YOU HAVE ON HAND.)

Combine the butter, sugar, cocoa, and salt in a medium heatproof bowl and set the bowl above a saucepan of barely simmering water—or use a heatproof glass bowl and microwave in 30-second increments, stirring after each round. Stir from time to time until the butter is melted and the mixture is smooth and hot enough that you want to remove your finger fairly quickly after dipping it in to test (ouch!—about 3 minutes in the microwave for me, stirring every 30 seconds). Remove the bowl from the saucepan or microwave and set aside briefly until the mixture is only warm, not hot. It looks fairly gritty at this point, but don’t fret—it smooths out once the eggs and flour are added.

Stir in the vanilla with a wooden spoon (I used a rubber spatula—it's fine!). Add the eggs one at a time, stirring vigorously after each one. When the batter looks thick, shiny, and well blended, add the flour and stir until you cannot see it any longer, then beat vigorously for 40 strokes with the wooden spoon or a rubber spatula. Stir in the nuts, if using. Spread evenly in the lined pan.

Bake until a toothpick plunged into the center emerges slightly moist with batter, 20 to 25 minutes is Medrich’s suggestion but it took SK at least 10 minutes longer to get them set (me, too). Let cool completely on a rack. (SK goes further and throws it in the fridge or freezer for a while to be able to cut with clean lines.)

Lift up the ends of the parchment or foil liner, and transfer the brownies to a cutting board. Cut into 16 or 25 squares. (Ha! SK must live in a portion-controlled dream world! I'm not at all embarrassed to say that I got NINE brownies. It was beautiful. A proud moment.) Serve with ice cream, and perhaps, Nigella's peanut butter fudge sauce, coming soon to a blog near you. (I warmed the brownies up in the microwave first—nothing makes me happier than a molten sundae!)

Texas Sheet Cake

Sorry for the blogging hiatus, but I have a bunch of exciting, super chocolatey recipes waiting in the wings!

I've never been to Texas, but I do love this cake (and that show; hooray, it's back!). I'm no authority on the subject, but from what I've read, this is an old-fashioned, simple, traditional potluck dessert in the South—which was exactly what I needed for an event this weekend. Oh, and it's freaking delicious.

The recipe that inspired me to try it was this one (and I'm grateful to her for the frosting recipe), but I ended up going with an oldie but goodie: a recipe posted in the Washington Post on May 30, 1974 (Thanks, Google)! While almost all recipes were virtually identical, why this one? Sour cream. I'm a sucker for cakes made with sour cream/yogurt/mayo. So moist! But, have a glass of milk ready for this one. It's a stick-to-the-roof-of-your-mouth cake. But who said that's a bad thing?

I'm in a retro mood after a cooking class I took this weekend (details and recipes to come), and what's more, this cake is all beaten by hand with a spoon. No mixer needed!

Texas Sheet Cake
adapted from the Washington Post
1 c. (2 sticks) butter (I used unsalted)
4 T. cocoa
1 c. water
2 c. flour
2 c. sugar
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. baking soda
2 eggs, fork beaten
1/2 c. sour cream (but milk will do if you don't have it on hand)
1 t. vanilla

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Butter and flour* a 13x9-inch pan (called for metal but I only have glass). (*To "flour" a pan when the cake is chocolate, use cocoa so the flour won't show, though it likely won't matter all that much.)

In a medium saucepan, combine the butter, cocoa, and water and bring to a boil.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda.

Pour the hot ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir well with a wooden spoon or spatula.

Add the eggs, sour cream, and vanilla and stir until batter is very smooth.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. While the cake is baking, prepare the frosting (it's frosted when warm).

Remove the cake from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool. Immediately pour the frosting over the warm cake and spread evenly. Let the cake cool completely before cutting.

Frosting
1/4 c. (1/2 stick) butter
3 T. milk
2 T. cocoa
dash of salt
1 t. vanilla
2 c. powdered sugar

In a medium saucepan, combine butter, milk, cocoa, salt, and vanilla. Bring to a boil.

Place the powdered sugar in a large bowl and pour the hot ingredients over the powdered sugar and mix with a wooden spoon until the frosting is very smooth. Add chopped walnuts if desired. Frost cake as indicated above.

Compost Cookies (aka Pregnancy Craving Cookies)

These are fun cookies. Created by a woman who eats pie for breakfast and ice cream for dinner, these cookies are from Momofuku Milk Bar, a concept that could only work in New York, I think. I haven't had the pleasure of trying the cookies from the actual bakery yet (too much food, too little time), but considering two of my friends individually sent me this recipe, I knew I had to give it a try.

My friend is expecting a little Sprout in July and a few of us decided to throw her a surprise "un-baby shower" (i.e., a party in her honor but without cheesy games that make some moms-to-be uncomfortable), and since these cookies are loaded with, well, junk, I decided to rename them Pregnancy Craving Cookies for the occasion. :)

These are so versatile; you could really add just about anything. I tried to keep it as close to the original as possible (which is apparently potato chips, pretzels, coffee grounds, chocolate chips, oats, and butterscotch chips), but other fun options include Fritos, raisins, Raisinettes, Cocoa Krispies, coconut, peanut butter chips, goldfish, Ritz...

Be sure you allow the dough to cool in the fridge for at least an hour before baking. (Reading the recipe all the way through before starting is always a good thing to do so you can be prepared!) If you like these, you might also like Martha's Cowboy Cookies.

Compost Cookies (from Momofuku Milk Bar, NYC)
1 c. butter, room temperature
1 c. sugar
3/4 c. light brown sugar
1 T. light corn syrup
1 t. vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 3/4 c. flour
2 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
2 t. salt (I used about 1.5 t.)
1 1/2 c. your favorite baking ingredients! (I used chocolate chips and butterscotch chips)
1 1/2 c. your favorite snack foods! (I used ridged potato chips and pretzel sticks, broken into pieces)

In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream butter, sugars, and corn syrup on medium high for 2–3 minutes until fluffy and pale yellow.

On a lower speed, add eggs and vanilla. Increase mixing speed to medium-high and start a timer for 10 minutes. During this time, the sugar will fully dissolve, the mixture will become an almost pale white color, and the creamed mixture will double in size.

When time is up, on a lower speed, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix 45–60 seconds just until the dough comes together and there are no streaks of dry ingredients. Do not overmix the dough.

On low speed, add in your favorite baking ingredients and mix for 30–45 seconds until they evenly mix into the dough. Add in your favorite snack foods last, mixing again on low speed until they are just incorporated. (You may need to mix these in by hand a little bit!)

(If junk food in cookies is wrong, I don't want to be right.)

Using an ice cream scoop, portion cookie dough onto a parchment or wax paper lined cookie sheet. (You will not bake on this parchment. It's for refrigerating the dough only; hence, I just used cheap wax paper.)

Wrap scooped cookie dough tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of 1 hour or up to 1 week. DO NOT BAKE your cookies from room temperature or they will not hold their shape.

After the hour is up, preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Arrange your chilled cookie dough balls on a parchment or Silpat-lined sheetpan a minimum of 4" apart in any direction. Bake 9–11 minutes (I needed the full 11) or until browned on the edges and just beginning to brown towards the center. While in the oven, the cookies will puff, crackle, and spread. Cool the cookies on the cookie sheet for several minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container or tin.

And this photo I shall call parchment (left) vs. Silpat (right). On a Silpat, the cookies kept their shape... just sayin'. I will always prefer the Silpat!!!

Happy Un-Shower!

Passover/Easter: Flourless Chocolate Torte II

This is a belated post, for which I apologize. Who knew that April was a busy month for those who work at accounting firms? Anyway, I have three or four flourless chocolate cake recipes that are taking up space in my dessert binders. (Yes, binders.) This, however, is the one I should have made last year. (a) It has a ganache glaze, (b) it's from Bon Appétit, (c) it has a French name :), and (d) it translates to "The Black Beast." Well, hello there.

You'll want to use bittersweet, not semisweet, chocolate because of the addition of a simple syrup. Semisweet + sugar = too sweet for this sophisticated dessert. This is not your typical fallen flourless chocolate cake; in fact, it's somewhat similar to the chocolate pavé, which would have also been suitable for Passover.

La Bête Noire
1 c. water
3/4 c. sugar
9 T. unsalted butter, diced
18 oz. bittersweet chocolate (approx. 3 c. bittersweet Ghirardelli chips for me)
6 eggs, fork beaten

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter 10-inch-diameter springform pan. Line bottom of pan with parchment round (you can trace the bottom part that pops out); butter parchment as well. Wrap heavy-duty aluminum foil around outside of pan, bringing foil to top of rim (this is to protect the torte from the water so nothing seeps in).

Combine the water and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Fill a large tea kettle with water and bring to a simmer. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large saucepan over low heat. Add chocolate and whisk until smooth and glossy. Whisk the sugar syrup into the chocolate; cool slightly (to prevent scrambled eggs!). Add eggs to chocolate mixture and whisk until well blended. Pour batter into prepared pan. Place cake pan in large roasting pan. Place in the oven and add enough hot water from the tea kettle to the roasting pan to come halfway up the sides of the cake pan. (You might need to refill the tea kettle a few times depending on the size of your roasting pan. As long as the water is hot, you'll be fine.)

Bake cake until center no longer moves when pan is gently shaken, about 50 minutes. Remove from water bath; transfer to cooling rack. Cool completely in pan.

For the ganache:
1 c. heavy whipping cream
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Bring whipping cream to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat. Add chocolate and whisk until smooth. Pour over top of cake still in pan. Gently shake pan to distribute ganache evenly over top of cake. Refrigerate cake in pan until ganache is set, about 2 hours. (Can be assembled two days ahead. Cover and keep refrigerated.)

Run knife around pan to loosen cake; release sides. Cut cake into wedges and serve with lightly sweetened whipped cream.

Perfection

Easter: Cold Oven Lemon Pound Cake

It should be no surprise by now that I'm all about the chocolate. In elementary school, I won two successive cakewalks by being on the number 18 (yes I remember what number) when the music stopped. If you won early enough in the evening, you had your choice of alllll the cakes on the table and I'd spend a good 10 minutes inspecting every one, searching for the fudgiest of the bunch. (I'm embarrassed to say that one of those years, I came home with the one my mom made, because really, it doesn't get much more delicious than this and why risk it with some stranger's cake? Mom only made it for my birthday and for the cakewalk. It was special, ok?)

Two summers ago, I made this and this for a bake sale at my office to raise money for a charity we support. You'd be quite surprised to learn that I became absolutely obsessed with a lemon pound cake at the bake sale. After inspecting everything, much like I used to do at the annual cakewalk, it kept calling me back. It was insanely moist and dense and because it seemed to be a treasured family secret, I hesitated to ask the woman for the recipe. But she did tell me that it's a cold oven pound cake.

A what?

It seems to be a Southern thing, but rather than preheating the oven, the cake starts in a cold oven. The gradual increase in temperature does some magic on the batter and affects the crumb, moisture, and density. However, the only cold oven loaf pound cakes I could find online were plain and I desperately wanted lemon for Easter. So this is an Ina recipe that I tweaked to accommodate a cold oven... I intended to make one loaf at Ina's temperature and one with a cold oven, but Safeway only had four lemons left! I'll report back later. :) Ina also makes a glaze, but I didn't—but I did have some issues with the lemon syrup she adds at the end. It just wouldn't absorb, and next time, I might let it absorb in the more porous bottom of the cake then flip it over to finish cooling. Funny, I'm not the only one with this problem. Note that it's important that certain ingredients (as indicated) be at room temperature. Leave the butter out for about an hour so it will cream easily.

This was deliciously tart but not quite as moist as my coworker's cake (which was so moist you could hardly pick up a piece without the weight of it causing it to crumble in half). More butter next time? (pound cake = pound of butter) Still a delicious recipe, perfect for spring. Can easily be halved (I did). For last year's Easter lemon cake, click.

Cold Oven Lemon Pound Cake
Adapted from Ina Garten
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature (save the wrappers!)
2 1/2 c. granulated sugar, divided
4 eggs, at room temperature
1/3 c. grated lemon zest (6 to 8 large lemons)
3 c. flour
1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
3/4 c. freshly squeezed lemon juice, divided
3/4 c. buttermilk, at room temperature
1 t. vanilla extract

Grease and flour two 8.5x4.25x2.5-inch loaf pans with leftover butter wrappers or nonstick spray.

Cream the butter and 2 c. of sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. With the mixer on medium, add the eggs one at a time, then the lemon zest.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In another small bowl, combine 1/4 c. lemon juice, buttermilk, and vanilla extract. With the mixer running, add the flour mixture and buttermilk mixture alternately to the batter, beginning and ending with the flour. (Why? Because I trust Ina with my life, that's why.) Divide the batter evenly between the pans, smooth the tops, and place in a COLD OVEN. (If you don't want to do this, check the Ina link above for her preheating and temperature instructions.) Close the door and turn the oven to 325 degrees. Cook for 60–70 minutes (mine took 70) until light brown and a toothpick inserted near the center comes out mostly clean.

Combine 1/2 c. sugar with 1/2 c. lemon juice in a small saucepan and cook on low until sugar dissolves. When the cakes are done, allow them to cool for 10 minutes before sliding a knife around them and releasing them from their pans. Set them on a rack over a cookie sheet and spoon/brush the lemon syrup over them (see my note above; you may want to do this on the porous bottom of the cake rather than the crusty top). Allow the cakes to cool completely before slicing.

Happy Spring!

Passover: Toffee-Chocolate Matzah

I've been meaning to make this recipe for the past few years, especially since I've already tasted the same recipe but with either Saltines or graham crackers and can attest to its deliciousness. A sprinkle of salt on top is key—aim for either sea salt or kosher salt. It rounds out the other flavors so well!

Toffee-Chocolate Matzah
4 sheets unsalted non-egg matzah (or Saltines, or graham crackers)
1/2 c. (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 c. packed brown sugar
2 c. semisweet chocolate chips
sea salt (or other toppings like nuts)

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper (less cleanup!). Arrange matzah in an even layer on baking sheets and set aside.

(These pictured matzahs don't even know how lucky they're about to become...)

Melt butter in saucepan on medium-low heat. Once melted, add brown sugar and cook, stirring, until the sugar has completely dissolved, it starts to bubble, and the mixture is pourable—about 5 minutes. Drizzle toffee evenly over matzah and spread with a spatula.

Transfer to the oven and bake until toffee has a rich sheen, 10 to 20 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with chocolate chips. Tent matzah with aluminum foil and let stand 20 to 30 minutes.

Remove foil tent and spread melted chocolate over matzah to cover; sprinkle with sea salt. Transfer matzah to refrigerator and let chill at least 2 hours.

Break chilled matzah into pieces. Matzah will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for 4 days, but you may have to keep it in the refrigerator if your kitchen is always hot like ours is!

Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

It's that time of year again! Passover baking usually results in fallen cakes, an overabundant use of coconut, or relying on so many egg whites that you start to feel downright wasteful. (Even though those last linked-to cookies remain my very favorite.) Not these cookies! And who doesn't love peanut butter and chocolate?

Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
adapted from Emeril Lagasse, as featured on Good Morning America
1 c. creamy peanut butter
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar, packed
1/2 c. (or way more...) semisweet chocolate chips
1 egg, fork-beaten
1 t. vanilla extract
sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir with a wooden spoon until combined.

Put a few scoops of sugar in a small bowl. Roll about 1 heaping tablespoon of dough between your hands to form a smooth ball then drop each dough ball into the sugar and roll around until coated.

Place each dough ball onto an ungreased cookie sheet, spacing them 1 inch apart. Using a fork, press on the dough in two directions to form a crosshatch pattern.

Bake cookies until puffed and lightly golden, 10 minutes. Important: Remove baking sheets from oven and let cookies cool on the sheets. Otherwise, they will completely crumble. Then remove them with a spatula once cooled enough to transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

PB+C=Best Combo Ever

Earl Grey Tea Cookies

This is a strange recipe. I'm just going to say that from the start. I would never have thought to cut open a tea bag and mix the contents into cookies. However, my husband loves Earl Grey tea so I've had this one bookmarked for a while. I made them for him for Christmas.

If you're a dough eater (come on, who isn't?), you'll be disappointed with this one. The Earl Grey is bitter bitter bitter and raw tasting in the dough, but the heat of the oven cooks the leaves and makes these cookies surprisingly delicate and fragrant. You could easily try other varieties of tea: Darjeeling, English breakfast, Lady Grey, etc.—but even though I wouldn't choose Earl Grey for drinking, it's great in these butter cookies.

To grind the tea leaves, cut open the tea bags and either empty the contents into a small mini-prep food processor or use a mortar and pestle if you have one. I created my own: I dumped the tea leaves into a small bowl and used the flat head of a meat mallet to grind the leaves down by hand.

These would be perfect for a springtime tea party!

Earl Grey Tea Cookies
makes 8 dozen bite-sized cookies
2 c. flour
2 T. finely ground Earl Grey tea leaves (2–4 tea bags)
1/2 t. salt
1 c. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 c. confectioners' sugar
1 T. finely grated orange zest (I wasn't crazy about this flavor, FYI)

Whisk together flour, ground tea leaves, and salt in a bowl.

Place butter, confectioners' sugar, and orange zest, if using, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually mix in flour mixture until just combined.

Divide dough in half. Place each half in parchment paper, shape into logs, and roll in parchment to 1 1/4 inches in diameter. Transfer parchment logs to the freezer; freeze until firm, about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut logs into 1/4-inch slices with a sharp knife. Space 1 inch apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a Silpat.

Bake cookies until edges are golden, 13 to 15 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire rack.