My mother has been here in New York with me all week!
We’ve done a good bit of cooking together during her stay, which, might I add, has been so fun.
It just so happens I love hanging out with her.  Living away from family isn’t the easiest thing in the world, so my heart feels full. I wish you could all meet her.

She isn’t much of a touristy-tourist so other than picnicking Central Park, we’ve mostly stayed local in Brooklyn.

Throughout the week, we pulled our minds together for baking experimentation…one of which resulted in these simply delicious little half-moon shortbread cookies.

We wanted a hint of subtle Jasmine, so she thought to use Jasmine tea leaves.. our recipe unfolded easily and resulted in perfectly flaky coffee dippers when they came out of the oven. Enjoy, my friends!

JAZZY SHORTBREAD COOKIES
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
3 egg yolks
1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp of ground Jasmine Green Tea (tea bag contents)(we used my coffee grinder!)

*for dusting, approx 2 tsp large granule sugar or regular sugar
*for dusting, approx 2 tsp ground Jasmine green tea

Preheat oven to 350.  Mix the flour, baking powder, sugar, and tea bag contents.  Add butter cubes into this dry mixture with a fork or pastry cutter. Crumbly consistency. Separately combine egg yolks and vanilla. Add everything together until a dough forms.

Form into a ball of dough. Roll it out so it’s about 8 inches long. Wrap it in plastic wrap. Put it in the freezer for about 15 min to harden. (don’t forget about it!) OR refrigerate for 1 hour, if you’ve got all the time in the world.

Cut the roll into equal sized pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and press out into a circle on the counter. Using a knife or a pizza cutter, slice each circle in half, and press a fork along the edges for styling.

Place the cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Freezer it again for 10 min.

Remove from the freezer and dab your finger with a *tiny bit of water to barely wet the top of each cookie. Sprinkle each with a light dust of the ground Jasmine tea leaves, and a light dusting of sugar.
Bake at 350 for 11-14 min*.
(*depends on oven + size of cookie – check them at 11 min! ours were done at 13 min, light golden)

Back to Colorado she goes, but I certainly treasure all the mems we’ve made.. I guess it’s my turn to visit the Rockies next (at least that’s what my 5 year old nephew told me on the phone yesterday!) 

from my (+ Mama’s) Tiny Kitchen,
glorieanna