The Finer Cookie:
Vanilla Ice Wine Tea Cookies

The pairing of vanilla with the intensity of black tea

By Kimberlie Robert

Vanilla is one of those ubiquitous ingredients that is baked into almost every sweet thing, with good reason. It heightens the flavours of all the other ingredients, and deepens the sweetness, and the richness of the butter. Without it, baking is flat and somewhat uninteresting. But what happens when you push the vanilla forward by intensifying it? And what happens when you accent the vanilla with black tea leaves? You get the Vanilla Ice Wine Tea Cookie. The ice wine flavouring lends a fruity sweetness to the sultry black tea leaves. The texture of the cookie is dense and crunchy on account of the coarse sugar coating, making the flavour intriguing and very special. It is a beautiful cold weather cookie.

I just happened to have an Ice Wine Black Tea in my pantry, and I thought it would work perfectly with the richness of the vanilla. It’s a beautiful choice for these cookies, but you can choose practically any tea that you like: green, or herbal included. I prefer the pairing of vanilla with the intensity of black tea.

Click here for the Vanilla Ice Wine Tea Cookie recipe.

More Finer Cookie recipes:

Lemon Macaron with a Tart Lemon Curd Center
Sour Cherry Amaretti
Sesame Coconut Shortbreads
Panellete de Pinyon
Hazelnut Lime Sticks
Espresso Chocolate Fudge Cookies
Coconut Alfajores
Cinnamon Wafers
Sweet Ricotta Peach Cookies
Currant Caraway Shortbreads
Chocolate Pretzels
Orange Truffles
Churros with Cinnamon
Pecan Polvorones with Muscovdo
Flourless Peanut Butter with Bourbon Soaked Peanuts and Smokey Bacon
Corn Meal and Olive Oil Biscotti
Browned Butter and Red Wine Brownies
Elsa’s Rye Cookies
Sweet Sheep Sugar Cookies
World Peace Cookie

Photographed by Kimberlie Robert