Tea Bag Spice Sugar Cookies with Honey Glaze

One of my best friends is getting married next month, and to help out with her Bridal Shower I made these cookies, and some cake pops. It was a tea party themed shower and I was given free reign on what to make. So I searched for some inspiration on Pinterest, of course. I saw lots of tea bag shaped cookies dipped in chocolate, and set out to try my own versions!

I took my go-to sugar cookie recipe, and downsized it. The original recipe makes probably 100 cookies. I quartered it, and mixed in lots of spices. I was going for a spice cookie, something along the lines of chai tea in cookie form. This is a tea party after all! They turned out perfect! Almost like a gingerbread cookie, without the molasses. And softer, like a sugar cookie!

I tried dipping them in chocolate but I didn't think the flavors blended together very well. I'm sure plain sugar cookies with chocolate would be good, but not my spice ones. So sticking with the tea theme, I made a honey glaze (like putting honey in your tea!) to smooth over half of the cookies. PERFECT!!

I couldn't be any happier with the cookies. They pack a kick of spice, and the honey glaze adds a touch of sweetness to compliment them. But still mellow enough to eat many of.  Not to mention they're freaking adorable! They traveled much better than my poor cake pops did. It was a 3 hour drive. More on that later.

I didn't have a tea bag cookie cutter, and didn't have time to find one online. So I did them by hand, and it was really easy. After rolling the dough out, I used a dough scraper/bench scraper/pastry scraper/whatever you want to call it to cut out rectangles. I used an actual tea bag as a reference for size. Then i just chopped off the top corners to make it the right shape.

I used a plastic straw to poke out holes for the strings to go through, and that's all it took!

These cookies were a hit, and everyone loved them. I'll definitely be making more of these spice sugar cookies.

Spiced Sugar Cookies Recipe:

4 Tb. butter

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 c. sugar

1 egg

1/4 tsp. salt

1-1 1/2 c. flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. corn starch

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/4 tsp. cloves

1/2 tsp. Chinese 5 Spice (or double the nutmeg and cloves)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 F. Grease a cookie sheet.

Cream butter and sugar together for 5 minutes, until light and fluffy.

Beat in the egg and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, stir together dry ingredients (salt, flour, baking powder, corn starch, and spices).

Gently mix in dry ingredients just until incorporated.

Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to about 1/4 inch thick.

Use a cookie cutter to cut out shapes, and place onto cookie sheet. 

Bake at 400 F for 6 minutes. Let cool on the cookie sheet for 1 minute before transferring to a cooling rack.

**To make the tea bag shaped cookies:

Cut the rolled dough to make small rectangles, appx. 2 inches wide, and 3 inches tall. 

Or like I did, use a tea bag as a size reference.

Then cut away the top two corners, leaving a flat top still, to create the tea bag shape.

Using a straw, cut out a circle for the string to go through. (Strings should go on after baking).

After the cookies have baked and cooled, you can run a string through the holes and attach a label.

Honey Glaze:

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 T. honey

Mix the honey and powdered sugar together. Add more honey for a thinner glaze or more powdered sugar for a thicker glaze. Spread on cookies and let the glaze set overnight.