Chai Shortbread Food

CHAI-SPICED SHORTBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
• Grind tea into a fine powder using a spice grinder. Mix in cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, salt, and pepper.
• Beat butter, sugar, and vanilla extract in a bowl using an electric mixer until creamy. Add the spiced tea mixture and mix thoroughly. Fold in flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until a stiff dough forms.
• Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and roll out to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut into 2-inch pieces with a cookie cutter or knife. Arrange cookies on baking sheets.
• Bake in the preheated oven until edges begin to brown slightly, about 20 minutes.

VANILLA CHAI SHORTBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350­°.
• Cream butter and confectioners sugar in a large bowl or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.
• Add in flour, salt, and loose tea leaves. continue to mix until a soft dough forms, the mix will be dry and crumbly at first but will come together.
• Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface until it's ¼ inch thick.
• Cut out cookies using a 2 in round cookie cutter.
• Bake on a parchment-lined baking sheet for 18-20 minutes or until edges are a golden brown and transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
• Once cooled, whisk together icing ingredients until smooth. Dip half of each cookie in the icing, let excess drip off and run a spoon along the edge to remove any extra, then place on wax paper to set.

CLASSIC SHORTBREAD COOKIES IN 4 INGREDIENTS WITH ADDED 1 INGREDIENT VARIATIONS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
• Add the flour, salt, and powdered sugar to a food processor and pulse to combine. Add in the vanilla, the butter and the 1 teaspoon of water. Pulse together just until a dough is formed. Put the dough on a sheet of plastic wrap and roll into a log, about 2 1/2 inches in diameter and 5 inches long. Tightly twist each end of the wrap in opposite directions. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
• Slice the log into 1/3-inch thick disks. Arrange on nonstick cookie sheets, parchment lined or silpat lined baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake until the edges are just light brown, about 12 to 14 minutes, rotating the pans half way through the baking process. Remove from the oven and let cool on the cookie sheets for 5 minutes. Transfer to wire racks and cool until room temperature. Enjoy!
• Variations:
• Pulse together the tea with the flour and salt in a food processor just until the tea is in small pieces evenly distributed throughout the flour. Then add the powdered sugar, vanilla, the butter and the 1 teaspoon of water. Continue as instructed above.
• Pulse the toasted and chopped pecans into the dough and then shape into a flattened round disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. On a flour dusted surface, roll the dough out to approximately 1/3-inch thick. (If the dough is too hard to roll or begins to crack, let it rest at room temperature for a few minutes until pliable.) With a sharp knife, cut the dough into rectangle shapes about 1 by 3-inches. Arrange on the prepared baking sheets and follow the cooking instructions as above. Dust slightly cooled cookies with powdered sugar through a fine mesh strainer.

CHRISTINA'S CHAI SHORTBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife.
• Combine flour with cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, black pepper and powdered sugar.
• Mix well with a whisk.
• Place sugar mixture and butter in a medium bowl; beat well with a mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy.
• Gradually add flour mixture, beating at low speed just until combined (mixture will appear crumbly)
• Sprinkle dough with 1 tbsp ice water; toss with a fork.
• Divide dough in half; shape dough into 2 6inch logs; wrap each log in plastic wrap.
• Chill for 1 hour or until very firm.
• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• Unwrap dough logs and cut each log into 18 slices using a serrated knife.
• Place dough circles 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheets lined with parchment paper.
• Bake at 375°F for 10 minutes.
• Cool on pans for 5 minutes. Remove cookies from pans; cool completely on wire racks.