Tony Zentgraf
The first tea I tried from Mystic Valley Farm in Rogue River, Oregon was the Stay Well Tea. Drinking the tea, it delivers soothing herbal notes of elderberry, chamomile, calendula, lemongrass and finishes with refreshing peppermint. Modifying an old family recipe to make Peppermint and Elderberry Infused Tea Cookies was a natural fit.
Using Tea as an Ingredient
Discussing with Trinity, owner of Mystic Valley Farm, possible food pairings with her teas, the peppermint and elderberry notes of the tea had my mind drifting off to holidays and developing a peppermint cookie.
“Excellent as an everyday immune support, this delicious herbal tea blend boosts your well-being and tastes great!” – Trinity at Mystic Valley Farms.
Adapting a Passed Down Family Recipe
The recipe is an adaptation of a cookie our family has made for generations that was passed on from my mom’s aunt. I currently have the original recipe of my Great Aunt Mary’s Sugar Cookie scribbled on an old envelope that I had handy when my mom passed it on to me years ago. I guess I should probably get it into a format that wouldn’t be so easy to discard with some junk mail.
How do you get tea into a cookie?
Infusing the Stay Well Tea into the cookie took a couple of tries before I got the tea flavor to come through in the final bake. I attempted to infuse the oil in the recipe by heating the oil with the tea and steeping afterwards. I also made a sugar infusion by putting tea in an infuser and letting it sit in a jar of sugar for a couple of weeks.
The oil method did not produce a bold tea flavor, most likely because the oil saturated the tea ingredients. The sugar method of infusing produced a very fragrant sugar with hints of peppermint in the taste but during the baking process lost some of the flavor as well.
Second Attempt
On my second attempt, I decided to infuse the butter by heating it with the tea allowing for the milk solids in the butter to retain the tea flavor. The butter took on a darker color, not as dark as a cup of tea but I could see that the tea had remained in the butter.
In order to use the infusion in the cookie recipe, I had to strain the tea from the butter. Then chill the butter to get it to solidify, then soften at room temperature. This would allow me to cream the infused butter with the sugars to get a smooth mixture in the first step of the cookie recipe.
There are other methods of infusing tea into baked goods but with the hearty ingredients in the Stay Well Tea I did not feel that grinding the ingredients would make for a cookie that would be appealing to eat with bits of tea.
It Worked!
The butter infusion method leads to a great flavor in the final cookie and does not have bits of ground tea in it that make you wonder, what did I just eat?
I hope you enjoy this flavorful, light textured sugar cookie as much as our family has. Don’t think you only have to make this during holiday time, it is a delicious cookie that your coworkers and friends will enjoy at the next get together!
Head over to Mystic Valley Farm’s website or catch Trinity at a Southern Oregon Growers Market to pick up some of her delicious teas!
Find a tea that you enjoy, peppermint or even chai and infuse these flavors into your own version of Peppermint and Elderberry Infused Tea Cookies.
Enjoy!
Peppermint and Elderberry Infused Tea Cookies
Print RecipeEquipment
- 2 Baking Sheet Pans
- 2 Non Stick Baking Mats or parchment paper
- 1 Small Saucepan for butter infusion
- 1 Mesh Strainer
- Cheesecloth – enough to cover strainer
- 1 Small Scoop to portion dough
- 1 Kitchen Style Mixer or Bowl, Whisk
- 1 1/2 cup measure with flat bottom to press cookies onto sheet pan
Recipe Multiplier
Butter Infusion
- ¾ cup Salted Butter
- 3 tbsp Stay Well Tea Blend (Mystic Valley Farm)
Cookie Recipe
- ½ cup 1/2 cup Butter Infusion (chilled and returned to softened room temperature)
- ½ cup 1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
- ½ cup 1/2 cup Powdered Sugar
- 1 ea Egg
- ½ cup Vegetable Oil
- 3 drops Vanilla Extract
- ½ tsp Baking Soda
- ½ tsp Cream of Tartar
- 2 cups plus 1 tbsp All Purpose Flour
- 3 tbsp Granulated Sugar
Instructions
Infusing the Butter
- Place the butter in the smallpan.
- Add the 3 tbsp of Stay Well Tea to the butter in the saucepan.
- Heat the ingredients over a medium heat until butter is melted.
- Once the butter is melted set a timer for 5 minutes. The butter should be slightly simmering but if there is steam rising from the butter and tea infusion that is good.
- Stir occasionally while cooking the infusion.
- Once the 5 minutes have passed, place the pot on a cold burner and steep the infusion for 10 minutes.
- Place the strainer with the cheesecloth over a bowl. Strain the infusion through the cheesecloth and strainer. Press the tea ingredients to extract as much butter and tea flavor into the butter.
- Reserve the infused butter in the refrigerator to chill the butter.
- Before assembling the cookie dough the infused butter should be allowed to be softened at room temperature.
Assembling the Cookie Dough
- In a mixing bowl with a paddle attachment, add the softened Infused Butter and both the granulated sugar and powdered sugar.
- Turn on mixer and cream together the butter and sugars to a smooth consistency.
- Add the Egg, mix to incorporate the egg into the creamed butter and sugar. Scrape the bowl as needed to incorporate.
- Drizzle in the oil while mixing to allow the oil to slowly incorporate. Scrape the bowl as needed to incorporate.
- Mix to combine the flour, cream of tartar and baking soda.
- Add the flour mixture in ½ cup increments to the mixing bowl. Mixing to combine between additions. Scraping the bowl as needed during the process.
- Once the flour mixture is added, turn out the cookie dough onto plastic wrap and flatten into a round or rectangle about 1" thick. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for 4-24 hours to harden the dough.
Baking the Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350°
- Line the baking sheet pans with the non stick baking mat or parchment paper.
- Using a disher scoop portion a scoop of dough. The dough ball should be about 1 ½" diameter.
- In the palm of your hands, roll the dough into a ball.
- Place the rolled dough ball onto the baking sheet. Continue the process until the baking sheet has 12 cookies spaced evenly apart.
- On a small plate, pour the sugar on to the plate.
- For the first cookie only – Using the ½ cup measure, press on the remaining dough to moisten the bottom of the measuring cup.
- Press the measuring cup onto the sugar on the plate.
- Press the measuring cup onto one of the rolled cookie balls on the baking sheet. Press to about ¼" thick. Remove the measuring cup from the cookie and a fine layer of sugar should be pressed into the cookie.
- Repeat the process for the remaining cookies. Press the measuring cup onto the sugared plate and then onto the rolled cookie on the sheet pan.
- Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes. The cookies should have a slight color change around the edge but it should not be browning.
- While the first batch of cookies are baking, you can scoop the second batch of cookies and press them with the sugared measuring cup.
- Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool for a couple of minutes on the baking sheet. After a couple of minutes, using a spatula, place the cookies onto a wire cooling rack.
- Bake the second batch of cookies when you remove the first from the oven.
- Repeat the process of cooling the second batch of cookies the same as the first. Once cooled, place the cookies in an airtight container. The cookies freeze well for up to 3 months, pull from the freezer and let thaw at room temperature. Enjoy!
These cookies melt in your mouth. It’s hard to eat just one.