Every December, the same thing happens. You want to bake something for the office party, the family Noche Buena or the neighbours, and you want it to taste a little more special than the usual. Then you look in your cupboard and there it is: the jar of tea you've been drinking all year.
Baking with tea is one of the easiest ways to give simple recipes a flavour people remember. Earl Grey makes butter cookies smell like citrus. Masala chai turns banana bread into something that tastes like Christmas. And you don't need any special skills to do it. Here are the two methods you need to know, plus four recipes to try this season.
Two easy ways to start baking with tea
There are lots of clever techniques, but at home, two cover almost everything:
- Grind it. Blitz loose tea into a fine powder in a spice grinder, small blender or mortar and pestle, then mix it into your flour. You eat the tea itself, so the flavour is bold. Best for cookies, cakes and breads. Grind it as fine as you can, and if your blend has hard spice pieces, sift them out.
- Infuse it. Warm milk, cream or melted butter, add tea, let it sit for about 10 minutes, then strain. The flavour moves into the liquid, and the leaves stay out. Best for truffles, custards, frostings and glazes.
Black teas and flavoured blends work best, because their flavour is strong enough to come through butter and sugar. A rough guide: about 1 tablespoon of ground tea for a batch of cookies, or about 2 teaspoons of loose tea per cup of liquid you're infusing.
1. Earl Grey shortbread (the easiest one)
If you only bake one thing from this list, make it this. Shortbread is just butter, sugar and flour, so the tea really shines. Our Earl Grey Tea is black tea scented with bergamot, a fragrant citrus, and it gives these cookies a lovely, bright aroma.
Makes 16 small squares
- 115g (½ cup) butter, softened, plus extra for the pan
- 1 tablespoon Earl Grey Tea, finely ground
- 60g (½ cup) powdered sugar, sifted
- 125g (1 cup) all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon fine salt
- Heat the oven to 160°C and butter an 8-inch square pan.
- Beat the butter and ground tea until creamy, about 1 to 2 minutes. A wooden spoon works if you don't have a mixer.
- Beat in the powdered sugar, then add the flour and salt and mix just until combined. The dough will be crumbly. That's normal.
- Press the dough evenly into the pan with your fingers.
- Bake for about 30 minutes, until the edges are just golden.
- While warm, mark 16 squares with a knife. Cool for 10 minutes, then cut through.
Make it festive: drizzle with the hibiscus glaze in recipe 4 for a pretty pink-and-gold cookie tin.
2. Masala chai banana bread
Banana bread is a Filipino merienda favourite, and chai spices make it taste instantly like the holidays. Our Punjabi Masala Chai is black tea blended with ginger, cinnamon, cloves, cumin, black cardamom and black pepper, so it brings all the warm spice in one scoop.
Makes 1 loaf (9 x 5-inch pan)
- 3 very ripe bananas (lakatan or latundan), mashed
- 75g (⅓ cup) butter, melted
- 150g (¾ cup) brown sugar
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 teaspoons Punjabi Masala Chai, finely ground and sifted
- 1 teaspoon baking soda and a pinch of salt
- 190g (1½ cups) all-purpose flour
- Heat the oven to 175°C and grease your loaf pan.
- In a bowl, mix the mashed bananas and melted butter. Stir in the sugar, egg, vanilla and ground chai.
- Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and stir in.
- Add the flour and fold gently, just until no dry flour shows. Don't overmix.
- Pour into the pan and bake for 55 to 65 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean.
- Cool for 10 minutes in the pan before slicing.
3. Vanilla cocoa tea chocolate truffles
These look like they came from a fancy shop, but they're just chocolate and cream. Infusing the cream with Vanilla Cocoa Black Tea, a black tea blend with cacao, vanilla and longan, adds a soft, malty depth that makes people ask, "What's in this?"
Makes about 20 truffles
- 170ml whipping cream
- 2 teaspoons (about 5g) Vanilla Cocoa Black Tea
- 175g dark chocolate (60 to 70%), finely chopped
- Cocoa powder, for rolling
- Heat the cream in a small pan until steaming, but not boiling. Turn off the heat, stir in the tea, cover and let it steep for 10 minutes.
- Strain the cream into a cup, pressing the leaves to get every drop out. If it has cooled down, warm it again until hot but not boiling.
- Pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate. Wait 2 minutes, then stir gently until smooth and glossy.
- Cover and chill for about 3 hours, until firm enough to scoop.
- Scoop teaspoon-sized balls, roll quickly between your palms and toss in cocoa powder. Keep chilled. In our heat, they soften fast.
Tip: all-purpose cream works too, but the truffles will set softer. If that happens, just serve them as a spoonable chocolate cream with cookies.
4. Hibiscus glaze (for a natural pink drizzle)
This one isn't a bake on its own, but it makes everything else look like a gift. Hibiscus Tea brews a deep ruby red with a bright, tangy taste, a bit like cranberry, so it turns plain icing a festive pink with no food colouring.
- Pour 60ml boiling water over 1 tablespoon of Hibiscus Tea. Steep for 10 minutes, strain and let it cool.
- Whisk 2 to 3 teaspoons of the hibiscus tea into 120g (1 cup) powdered sugar, a little at a time, until it's thick but drizzly.
- Drizzle over cooled shortbread, banana bread or a store-bought pound cake. Let it set for 20 minutes.
Hibiscus is naturally caffeine-free, so this glaze is a nice touch for kids' treats too.
What to serve with your baking
A good bake deserves a good cup. Black teas stand up well to butter and chocolate, so try a pot of Osmanthus Caramel Black Tea with the truffles, or a simple cup of Earl Grey with the shortbread. For a crowd, brew a big batch and keep it warm, or make a jug the night before using our cold brew tea recipes. A mesh tea infuser makes loose leaf easy, and doubles as a strainer for your tea-infused cream.
Is it worth using loose leaf over tea bags?
You can cut open a tea bag in a pinch, but loose leaf usually gives you more aroma, and you can see exactly what's in it. A single jar goes a long way, too: one batch of shortbread uses just a tablespoon, so the rest of the jar is there for your daily cup. Our Earl Grey starts at ₱340 for a glass jar, so it's an easy way to try baking with tea without a big commitment.
Turn your bakes into gifts
Homemade cookies plus a jar of the tea that's in them is one of the most thoughtful, affordable gifts you can give this Christmas. Tie a ribbon around a tin of Earl Grey shortbread and a small jar of Earl Grey, and you have a gift that says "I made this for you."
Want to make it extra easy? Pick your favourites in a build-your-own gift set, or browse our ready-to-give Gift Sets. Great tea, made simple, and a holiday kitchen that smells amazing.
Shop the teas from this post: Earl Grey, Punjabi Masala Chai, Vanilla Cocoa Black Tea and Hibiscus.