Like me, I am sure you are wondering about the word "evergreen" in the title of this post. The name comes from a special ingredient. That ingredient would be Douglas Fir Tea.
Like the Earl Grey cookies made before, the measurement of the tea leaves is questionable. The recipe states one packet. Based on that, I used the amount found in 1 tea bag. The end result was just a plain butter shortbread cookie - no tea flavor. This recipe is for 2 dz and the Earl Grey recipe for 3 dz indicated to use anywhere from 1-2 tbs of tea leaves. Needless to say, this recipe will require more tweaking to get a more prominent flavor of the tea in the cookies.
However, everybody does favor plain shortbread cookies, so it was not a big issue. Also, I have plenty of tea left for tweaking. The recipe is versatile, so you can add any type of tea leaves that you want, according to your preference.
I still have to try the tea as a drink, so being able to actually taste the flavor is not going to be too difficult. It is described as slightly bitter with notes of citrus.
Evergreen Shortbread Cookies
adapted from Organic and Chic
Ingredients
Douglas Fir Tea (measure to your preference)
2 sticks butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg white
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
green sanding sugar
Prepare 2 baking sheets by lining with parchment paper.
Add butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer. Cream together on medium speed for 5 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl at 1 minute intervals.
In another bowl, sift together flour and sugar. Using a wooden spoon, fold the dry ingredients into the butter mixture. Then mix in the tea leaves.
Shape dough into a log and roll up in plastic wrap and fit inside a cardboard paper towel holder. To create my shape, I buttered the inside of an ice cream mold and lined the long sides with parchment, leaving some overhang. Place in fridge to chill for 30 minutes.
Remove dough from fridge. Take dough out of holder and remove plastic wrap. Take the egg white and beat with a fork for a few minutes. Then coat the dough log with the egg white and roll in sanding sugar.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cut the dough log into 1/4 inch circles, yielding about 2 dozen cookies. Place each circle on prepared cookie sheet about 1 inch apart. After cookies are all formed and on baking sheets, put in the freezer for 5 minutes. Remove and bake about 18-20 minutes. Take pans out of oven and let cookies cool on pans for 2 minutes then transfer to rack to finish cooling.
**LAST YEAR: Tiger Tea Cakes**