These flavorful Earl Grey cookies are topped with a white chocolate orange ganache, a staple dessert for your next high tea! Earl Grey tea is a black tea mixed with bergamot oil. Bergamot is a fruit part of the orange family where its scent is citrusy, but with a wonderful floral scent. The tea was named after Earl Charles Grey, a British prime minister in the 19th century. Because of its fragrance, Earl Grey tea is truly my favorite kind of tea to drink or to use in baking.

These cookies are already delicious by themselves. Moreover, when topped with a white chocolate orange ganache, they become even more decadent. The combination of Earl Grey with orange and white chocolate in a cookie is divine! When I make these cookies, they smell SO GOOD! I am not a fan of eating raw cookie dough, but I must say it takes a lot of willpower to resist eating this one because of the bergamot fragrance.

Ingredients you need to make this recipe:

Cornstarch: The use of cornstarch will not only prevent your cookie from overspreading onced baked, but also gives a light and chewy texture to it.
Heavy cream & white chocolate chips: Ganache is traditionally made out of heavy cream and chocolate. For this recipe, I am using white chocolate ganache by adding heavy cream with orange juice and zest. This will give extra flavor to the Earl Grey cookies.
Unsalted butter: Unsalted butter should be used for this recipe. If you use salted butter, the salt contained in the butter may overpower the Earl Grey taste.

PRO TIPS FOR MAKING EARL GREY COOKIES WITH ORANGE GANACHE

Grinding tea leaves:

Although this step is optional, if you have a mortar and pestle, this is the perfect occasion to put them into use! Grinding these tea leaves releases all the oils and fragrance of the bergamot. You will get to smell it in your kitchen! It will make your cookies even more flavorful. If you don’t own a mortar and pestle, you can just add the leaves into the flour mixture directly

Beating butter and sugar:

TIP: Your butter and egg need to be at room temperature before making your cookie dough. They act as an emulsion and if are too cold to use, they cannot trap air and therefore, this would result in dense cookies.

In addition to using your egg and butter at room temperature, the second secret in obtaining a delicious cookie texture starts with beating the butter and sugar until it becomes light and fluffy. When you beat those two ingredients together, the air that is trapped increases the volume of your dough. As a result, your cookie will have a soft and light texture. This step takes about 5 minutes.

Finish to mix the batter by hand:

I always finish mixing by batter by hand once I combine the flour mixture into the wet mix. Overmixing your cookie dough can lead too much gluten formation from the flour, which could make a dense cookie.

Resting cookie dough:

Resting your cookie dough for at least 6 hours in the refrigerator will give time for all the ingredients and flavors to combine. This will also prevent your cookies from overspreading.

Making the white chocolate orange ganache:

A ganache is a mix of chocolate (for this instance, white chocolate) and heavy cream on a double boiler and whisk or fold until it becomes smooth. For this recipe, I am also adding orange juice and its zest to maximize all the flavors of the Earl Grey cookies.

Adding ganache to the cookies:

There a two ways to add your ganache on the cookies. The capricorn in me prefers the piping method because it makes an even glaze. However, you can also add the ganache by just using a fork. It will give a more rustic look but the taste will be just as delicious!

Piping bag method: Using a piping bag, add ganache to the bag and cut a tiny opening, less than ⅛ of an inch wide. Pipe over the cooled cookies.

Fork method: Using a fork to pick up the ganache, drizzle ganache over the cooled cookies.

Cookie storage:

Once baked, your cookies can stay at room temperature in an airtight container up to 3 days. You can also freeze unbaked cookie balls in a sealed bag up to 3 months! They will require an additional 2 minutes in the oven to bake.