Soft and thick with a melt-in-your-mouth texture, these Lavender Earl Grey Cookies taste like a London Fog with more floral brightness. Earl grey brings the cozy tea flavor, while a lovely lavender glaze adds just enough flowery sweetness without going overboard.
These cookies have the kind of texture I crave: somewhat cakey, incredibly soft, and tender enough to practically melt on your tongue. Earl grey tea is blended into the cookie dough, then each cookie gets a simple lavender glaze with a beautiful pale purple color.
The combination tastes like a London Fog latte with a light floral finish. I’ve worked with a lot of edible flowers over the years, and I’ve found that a light hand is usually best, especially with lavender. This recipe keeps the lavender subtle, letting the earl grey shine through.
Best of all, these are wonderfully easy to make. No chilling, no fussy techniques, and just a few simple steps stand between you and a batch of seriously delicious, super soft cookies.
👉 This recipe is based on my Lemon & Rosemary Flower Sugar Cookies, but here, we’re swapping in earl grey tea and using dried lavender buds for the glaze.
Recipe highlights
- Soft & cakey: Melt-in-your-mouth texture
- Tea time flavor: Tastes like a London Fog latte!
- Just the right amount of lavender: Complements without overpowering
- Quick & easy: No chilling required; just mix, scoop, and bake
- Pretty lavender-colored glaze: Colored naturally with berries!
Recipe overview
⏱️ Prep: ~10 mins • Bake: 9-12 mins • Total: <30 mins
🍴 Yield: About 32 cookies
💪 Skill level: Beginner
😋 Flavor notes: Bright, floral, black tea. Pairs well with: Tea lattes (especially London Fog, of course), hot coffee, cold milk, lemonade.
What type of lavender to use
Make sure to use culinary lavender for this recipe. This is typically English lavender (Lavandula angustifolia), which has a sweeter, more delicate flavor. Avoid ornamental lavender varieties, which can taste overly floral, perfumey, or even medicinal. Always make sure the lavender was grown and processed specifically for culinary use, without pesticides or other chemicals not intended for food.
How to make lavender earl grey cookies
Find the full ingredients list and detailed recipe instructions in the recipe card at the bottom of this post. Here’s a quick step-by-step overview of how to make this recipe:
- Mix tea with sugar: Blend together sugar and earl grey tea, mixing for a few minutes, until fragrant.
- Cream butter: Add soft butter, mixing until well combined. Beat in egg and vanilla.
- Add dry ingredients: Fold in flour, salt, and baking powder.
- Scoop & bake: Portion the dough and bake just until the centers are set.
- Glaze: Once cooled, drizzle with lavender glaze. Sprinkle additional lavender buds on top, or decorate with other edible flowers.
Baker’s tips for perfect soft sugar cookies
Use culinary grade lavender. Not all lavender is good for eating!
Weigh your flour. If you have a kitchen scale, I highly recommend weighing out your flour instead of using cups. It’s much more accurate and will ensure your cookies have the right texture.
Don’t overbake. Bake cookies until lightly golden brown on bottom but still pale on top. The tops will be just set, giving a little resistance if you press them gently. This ensures that the cookies stay soft after baking.
Sift your powdered sugar. When making the glaze, I highly recommend sifting your powdered sugar first. This prevents lumps and keeps the icing smooth and shiny.
Variations & substitutions
Feel free to adapt these cookies depending on your preferences. Here’s just a few ideas on how you could change them up:
Use a different flower: Swap the lavender for dried chamomile or dried rose petals.
Use a floral sugar: Skip the earl grey tea and use a floral sugar in place of regular sugar in the cookie dough. Try this recipe made with Lilac Sugar, Fennel Pollen Sugar, or Dandelion Sugar.
Roll the cookies in sugar before baking: Skip the glaze and roll the cookies in sugar before baking for a lightly crunchy, sparkly finish. Sugar infused with a little lemon zest or dried lavender would be lovely! For further instructions and inspiration, see my Lemon Fennel Pollen Cookies or Fig Leaf Snickerdoodles.
Storage & make ahead
Store lavender earl grey cookies at room temperature. To keep them moist and soft, it’s best to store the baked cookies in an airtight container. They’ll store for up to 4 days, but they will dry out a bit after the first couple of days.
To freeze the dough: Scoop cookie dough into balls and place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet in the freezer. Once frozen solid, move cookies to a freezer bag and freeze for up to 3 months. Bake straight from frozen (they may take an extra minute or two to bake).
More edible flower cookies:
- Magnolia Shortbread Cookies
- Lemon Fennel Pollen Sugar Cookies
- Dandelion Shortbread with Strawberry Glaze
- Lemon & Rosemary Flower Cookies
- Vanilla Lilac Snickerdoodles
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Lavender Earl Grey Cookies
Ingredients
Earl grey cookies
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon earl grey tea*, (2-3 bags)
- 8 ounces (1 cup) unsalted butter, soft, room temperature
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 ¾ cups (330 grams) all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
Lavender glaze
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 2 teaspoons dried culinary lavender
- 3-4 tablespoons milk
- pinch of salt
- 3-4 fresh or frozen, thawed blackberries or blueberries, optional, for color
- edible flowers, optional, for decorating
Instructions
- Prep: Preheat oven to 350° F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Mix tea with sugar: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or simply using a large bowl and wooden spoon), blend together 1 cup sugar and 1 Tbsp earl grey tea. Mix for a minute or two, until fragrant.
- Cream butter & eggs: Add 8 oz soft butter, mixing until well combined. Beat in 2 eggs, one at a time, blending until well incorporated and scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Blend in 2 tsp vanilla.
- Add dry ingredients: Whisk together 2 ¾ cup (330 grams) flour, 2 tsp baking powder, and 1 tsp salt. Fold dry ingredients into butter mixture, blending just until combined and no streaks of flour remain.
- Scoop & bake: Use a spring-loaded scoop or a spoon to portion the dough into 1 Tbsp balls. Place about 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets and bake just until the centers are set, about 9-12 minutes. The bottoms should be lightly browned, but the tops should still be pale.Remove to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely.
- Make the glaze: In a large bowl, sift the 1 ½ cups powdered sugar. Remove about 1 Tbsp of powdered sugar and pulse a few times in a spice grinder** with the 2 tsp of lavender buds, until the flowers are broken down into tiny pieces.Whisk this lavender sugar into the remaining powdered sugar, along with a pinch of salt and about 3 tablespoons of the milk. Add more milk as necessary to get a smooth, pourable glaze.
- (Optional) add color: Squeeze the juice of a few berries into the glaze and whisk in well. I like to smash the berries into a fine mesh sieve, letting the juices drip into the icing bowl below while keeping out the seeds.You can also use food coloring if you like.
- Glaze & decorate the cookies: Spoon about 2 tsp of lavender glaze over each cookie, swirling over tops and tilting cookies to allow icing to drip down the sides a little. Decorate with additional lavender buds or edible flowers, if desired, before glaze sets.
Notes
Did you try this recipe?
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