Tea Bag Sugar Cookies

   Today's cookies are seriously just the cutest things. I made them a while ago for my daughter's Tea Party Birthday, but hadn't posted about them, so here they are now! 

Tea Bag Sugar Cookies
The dough requires a little refrigeration time)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, room temperature
  
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoons salt
• Chocolate chips (for the "tea")
• Butter (also for the "tea". Approximately 1 tablespoon per 1/2 cup chocolate chips)
• **See note between the two final photos about the chocolate**

Method:

1. Using a stand mixer, or hand mixer, cream butter and sugar until it's light and fluffy. 
   
2. Beat in egg and vanilla, scraping down bowl as needed. 
3. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients and gradually add to creamed ingredients. Beat well.
4. Divide dough into fourths, flatten and wrap quarters with plastic wrap (diving it help with 2 things: 1. It cools faster so you can get working with it sooner, and 2. It keeps you from over-working the dough to help the cookies stay nice and buttery)
5. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before cutting into shapes (trust me, if you don't, the dough will be too soft, and you'll just squish your shapes trying to lift them onto your baking sheet, and then you'll be grumpy.)  
   

....after the dough has chilled....

1. Heat oven to 375 Degrees
2. Let dough soften a little for easier handling (line a cookie sheet while you wait). Roll out dough into a rectangle on a floured surface to approximately  1/4” thickness. 
3. Use a real tea bag (if you have one) to measure the size of the cookies (just lightly mark the dough along the top of the short end of your rectangle. This is the width of your cookie), then use a ruler to cut long strips of dough down from there. Then, using the tea bag again, mark how long each cookie is, and, using the ruler, work your way across cutting the dough. You should now have dough with all little rectangles on them.
4. It's easier to move the rectangles onto the cookie sheet now (I forgot this time around), then using the tea bag as a guide again, cut off the top corners of the triangles.
5. To make the holes, I used a McDonalds straw. They are the perfect size so that when you bake the cookies the holes don't close up. If you have a smaller straw (or some other fancy tool that would cut out a good hole), that would work too, but you may want to place the cookies on their tray into the freezer for 10-15 minutes before baking so they don't loose their shape.
6. Bake for 7-9 minutes or until lightly browned (just on the bottom, not brown on top or these will dry out!) Time may need to be adjusted depending on how thick your cookies are. Smaller cookie=less time. Bigger cookie=more time.    
   
7. Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then move to wire racks to cool completely. 
8. To make the "tea", first lay out a sheet of wax or parchment paper.
9. Melt the chocolate with the butter (either slowly on the stove, or slowly in the micro-wave) in a bowl that is deep bough to get a good "dip" on your cookie. A mug works well (Obviously  if you melt the chocolate on the stove, you would pour it into a mug after melting it).
10. Dip the cookies into the chocolate and lay out onto the wax or parchment paper until completely set. Melt more chocolate/butter as you need to finish dipping all the cookies.
11. Loop a string through the hole, and you've got yourself a tea bag cookie! 

   These cookies do take a bit of 'work', but it's repetitive, and not difficult. Plus, they are just so darn cute when you're done it's completely worth it! 

   These cookies freeze really well (layered between wax paper).
  **If you plan on serving them in a very hot room/event/climate, you may want to consider adding a few (not too many because they taste a little yucky!) chocolate "melts" (the brand I get are Merkens "light chocolate flavoured moulding wafers" from the Bulk Barn). This product is made for melting and setting up properly. But, like I said, they taste kinda gross (it says "chocolate flavoured, so that should be a hint!), so don't substitute all of the chocolate chips for these**

   Well, I hope these darling cookies perked you up on this "hump day" (don't be rude, it's the hump between the beginning and the end of the week!). Sheesh.  :)