We recently went to check out Amai Tea & Bake House, because we love tea and because we are big on supporting food bloggers in their endeavors (Amai is run by the blogger behind Lovescool).

The tea was lovely, and we particularly enjoyed the little cookies they called "tea sweets". So when we got home, we were thrilled to find that the recipe for Amai's green tea sweets was available online.

Instead of using matcha (powdered green tea), we ground up some oolong tea to a powder in a clean coffee grinder to flavor our cookies. Perfect.

The tea flavor is subtle but unmistakably present. The cookies have the slight crumbliness of butter cookies, but are more tender than most, and are particularly satisfying when eaten with a sip of tea between each bite.

Read the full recipe after the jump.

Tea Cookies
(adapted with very minor variations from Lovescool/Amai Tea & Bake House)
3/4 C (2.25 oz) confectioners sugar
5 oz unsalted butter (5/8 C, or 1 and 1/4 stick), straight from the fridge, cut into 1 tbsp slices
1 3/4 C (8.5 oz) all-purpose flour
3 large egg yolks (save the whites to make tuiles or macarons)
1 1/2 tbsp ground tea of your choosing
1 C granulated sugar (for coating)

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, mix the sugar and ground tea together. Add the butter and continue mixing until smooth and pale.

Add the flour and mix until well combined.

Add the egg yolks and mix just until the eggs are fully incorporated and a mass forms.

Form the dough into a disk and chill in the refrigerator until firm - the original recipe calls for at least 30 minutes, but with our fridge we prefer to let dough chill for at least a couple of hours before rolling it out.

Which is what you're doing next, of course - rolling it out. To about 1/2" thick, which will feel surprisingly thick to those of us more used to rolling out pie crusts.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Cut the dough with small cookie cutters of whatever shape you like. Ours were about 1" diameter.

Toss each cut cookie in a bowl of granulated sugar to coat.

Place the sugar-coated cookies onto a parchment lined baking sheets, about 1" apart. Bake for 12-15 minutes, rotating from top to bottom and back to front halfway through the baking time. When they are done, they will be slightly golden around the edges.