Buttery shortbread with the tang of hibiscus from adding tea straight to the dough.  Lovely hibiscus tea shortbread are great with your favorite tea.

Summer is the time for iced-tea. Especially here in Texas. One of my favorite iced teas is our local grocery store’s raspberry hibiscus tea.

It’s naturally sweet and tangy so serving it iced is incredibly refreshing on a hot day. Best of all, it’s herbal so I can drink it late in the day.

I learned to eat tea leaves from my time in Myanmar. They make a salad out of their green tea leaves and serve it as a side with their meal. If you want a quick way to infuse cookies or cakes with the flavor of tea, just open the bag and add the leaves to the batter.

To let the flavor develop as much as possible, I refrigerated my dough overnight. Then I used embossed rolling pins from Pastry Made to make my hibiscus tea shortbread cookies pretty.

They no longer carry the pins I used but the Flory Rolling pin (affiliate link) is similar to the floral one I used.  They will even make a custom pin (affiliate link) in the design of your choice.

Shortbread works really well for embossing because there is no leavening.  If you decide to emboss your cookies, work with cool dough. Roll it out to just a little thicker than 1/8 inch thick. flour the top and then use the embossed pin to imprint the design.

I divided my dough in thirds so my rolled dough wasn’t wider than my embossed rolling pin. 

Yield: 3 dozen

Hibiscus Tea Shortbread

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Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 12 minutes

Additional Time 8 hours

Total Time 8 hours 27 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 8 tea bags Hibiscus tea
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups flour

Instructions

1. Cream butter and sugar.
2. Mix in the egg.
3. Open the tea bags and add the dry tea to the mixture.
4. Mix in the vanilla and salt.
5. Add the flour and work into a dough but be careful not to overwork.
6. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate overnight.
7. Roll to 1/8 inch thick and cut with a 3 inch round cutter (or cutter of your choice).
8. Bake on parchment lined sheets at 350°F for 10-12 minutes.
9. Cool on racks and store in an airtight container.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

18

Serving Size:

2
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 168Total Fat: 11gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 37mgSodium: 86mgCarbohydrates: 16gFiber: 0gSugar: 6gProtein: 2g

Nutrition information is provided as a guide only. Please consult a professional dietician for specific dietary needs.

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