26-01 FLAVOR OF THE MONTH: EARL GREY

13 Feb, 2026

Part of my cookie series. This is for January.

Edited to include taste test verdict. I totally forgot about that!

Note: This isn't a full-on recipe guide. It is merely an account of one of my newest hobbies: flavoring cookies.

Introduction

Last year, I baked a batch of black sesame white chocolate chip cookies for Boba's birthday party. (For human consumption only).

I used this recipe from Bites by Bianca.

What I loved: The recipe itself. It's simple and bakes a batch of 12 cookies, which is enough for my household.

What I didn't love: The black sesame. I've never been a fan of black sesame anything*, and only chose this flavor because Boba is a black cat and I thought it'd be interesting. 🐈‍⬛

*With the exception of ice cream, but one could argue that ice cream makes everything taste better.

That got me thinking...

If only I could use the same recipe but change out the flavor! So I did just that. The following month, I used this recipe and replaced the black sesame paste with matcha powder. And it was delicious! I brought these cookies to school and my classmates ate 'em all!

I slowly forayed into baking over the last two years. What I love about cookies is that they're really quick to prepare and bake, and the cleanup is pretty mild. Cake batter is gooey and because it's ME, I'll have that bowl sitting in the kitchen sink for a day or 2. Once you roll the cookie dough into a ball, it picks up most of the flour along the way, so cleaning is a breeze!

So what if I added those two ideas together, baking only cookies but swapping out the flavor each time?

Project: Flavor-of-the-Month

One of my hobbies as a kid was making my own calendars and theming the months. Meaning, every month had its own color and visual symbol. January was either a candy cane or snowflake. The color was red or light blue, depending on the symbol. February was pink with hearts. March green with four-leaf-clovers. (If you're American, you're probably recognizing a pattern.)

I don't really do the above anymore, so consider this a homage to child-me, except we're grown up now and we bake cookies! (Though child-me would be shocked, because baking was definitely not our thing.)

Since I was going to London that month and January in Switzerland is foggy and grey, I thought:

EARL GREY WOULD BE THE PERFECT FLAVOR.

I had seen earl grey recipes trending on IG, such as earl grey cakes. I decided to look up an earl grey cookie recipe, just to see if any existed and also to know how does one even add tea to a recipe? Do you brew it as a tea and then... I don't know, mix it into the dough?

Another recipe from Bites by Bianca came up! I considered trying out this recipe, but it didn't mention browning the butter, and I believe that's the secret to making the cookies so delicious. Plus I wanted to stick to the original prompt, which is to use the same recipe from before.

Baking with earl grey

From the sugar cookie recipe:

Add ½ cup unsalted butter and 2 tablespoons earl grey tea leaves into a saucepan and heat until melted. Alternatively, melt in a microwave-safe bowl in 15-second intervals. Let fully cool.

My adjustment:

Add tea leaves to browned butter.

Trial #1

When I first made these in London, I immediately added the tea leaves to the butter, but that was too early! It instantly darkened the butter, so it would be difficult to tell by color whether it had browned or not. Luckily, this wasn't my first rodeo, so I was able to detect by smell—once the butter browns, it emits a nutty scent.

• 
  Cookies I baked in London. Why do they look like scones??

Trial #2

I made the recipe two days ago, and this time, I cooked the butter until the fat started to foam and separate from the oil. That's when I added in the tea. I cooked it until I could smell the nuttiness and poured the melted concoction into a heat-safe bowl.

• 
  Cookies I baked on Wednesday. I think these look way better!

These look like proper cookies! Previously, I saw in an IG video to shape each cookie dough ball into a cone to achieve that chunky cookie. The dough in this recipe seems a bit dense, so the cookie didn't melt into a large, chunky cookie. It just kind of stayed in a scone-like shape.

For these, I rolled them into a ball and even smashed them just a little bit so they would flatten out more. I think it works for this recipe.

• 
  A close-up because I am proud. ʕ◕ᴥ◕ʔ

Taste test

Verdict: ★★★★★

When I made these for my London friends, J commented that it had a "zesty" taste and that surprised her. So when I got back home, I bought a pack of Tetley's British Blends: Zesty Earl Grey to ensure more zest! The flavor pairs well with white chocolate chips. I highly recommend trying this for yourself.

Until next time

The following FOTM posts won't be as long because I'll skip the preamble and go straight to theme. I've also tagged these, so you can find all of the cookie posts in the tagged section of my BLOG ARCHIVES.

I already have February's flavor picked out, but I'm always open to suggestions (might do this project forever, tbh), so feel free to share any ideas you may have. ʕノ◔ϖ◔ʔノ Within reason, obvs.

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