Brown Butter Hojicha Earl Grey Cookies (Print Version)

Aromatic fusion cookies featuring nutty brown butter with roasted Japanese hojicha and British Earl Grey tea.

# What You'll Need:

→ Brown Butter

01 - 3/4 cup unsalted butter

→ Dry Ingredients

02 - 2 cups all-purpose flour
03 - 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
04 - 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
05 - 1 tablespoon hojicha powder
06 - 2 teaspoons Earl Grey tea leaves, finely ground

→ Wet Ingredients

07 - 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
08 - 1/4 cup granulated sugar
09 - 1 large egg
10 - 1 large egg yolk
11 - 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

→ Optional Add-ins

12 - 2/3 cup white chocolate chips or chopped white chocolate

# How To Make:

01 - In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the butter foams and turns golden brown with a nutty aroma, approximately 5-7 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes.
02 - In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, hojicha powder, and ground Earl Grey tea leaves.
03 - In a large mixing bowl, combine the cooled brown butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Beat until well combined. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract; mix until smooth.
04 - Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing just until incorporated. Fold in white chocolate chips if using.
05 - Cover and refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour, or up to overnight, for best flavor and texture development.
06 - Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop dough into 2-tablespoon mounds, spacing 2 inches apart.
07 - Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges are set and the centers are still slightly soft.
08 - Let cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

# Expert Tips:

01 -
  • The aroma while baking will fill your kitchen with something nobody can quite name but everyone wants to eat.
  • These cookies taste sophisticated without demanding you be a pastry chef.
  • Brown butter does the heavy lifting of flavor, so the teas shine without overpowering.
02 -
  • The dough will seem too soft when you scoop it, but that's exactly right, and chilling it overnight is when the magic actually happens because the tea flavors bloom and the butter sets properly.
  • These cookies keep baking on the hot sheet even after you pull them out, so taking them off a few seconds early prevents them from turning hard and bitter on the edges.
03 -
  • Always cool brown butter to room temperature before mixing with sugars, because warm brown butter melts the sugar instead of creaming it, and creaming is what gives you that tender texture.
  • These cookies freeze beautifully, so scoop the dough into portions on a tray, freeze until solid, then transfer to a bag and bake straight from frozen, adding just a minute or two to the bake time.
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