Great for afternoon tea or coffee. Also a great addition to a food gift basket.
Ingredients:
* 4 sticks (1 lb.) unsalted butter, softened
* 1 1/2 cups sifted confectioners sugar
* 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
* 4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
* 3/4 tsp. salt
* 2 Tbsp. jasmine tea, finely chopped or ground
* 1 Tbsp. freshly grated orange zest (optional)
Directions:
Place butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on medium speed until fluffy. Add vanilla, flour and salt. Beat on low speed until well combined. Stir in the tea and, if desired, orange zest. Divide dough into 4 equal pieces; press each into a flat disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill 30 minutes (or up to 1 day).
Preheat oven to 300oF; place rack in center of oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Remove one disc from refrigerator and let it warm 10-15 minutes. Unwrap and roll out the dough, on plastic wrap, with lightly floured rolling pin to about 1/4' thick. Dip cookie cutter into flour to keep it from sticking. Cut out and transfer with a spatula to prepared pan (I prefer a round, scalloped edge cutter). Bake until edges are golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer cookie sheet to cooling rack. When cool, peel off parchment paper; cookies may be kept at room temperature, in an airtight container, up to 10 days.
Any unused dough may be frozen for up to 2 weeks.
