It’s a certain thing that whenever Mr NQN and I visit his mother Tuulikki, the first thing that she will do is offer us a cup of tea. Her teas are always rooibos or herbal teas and given in knobbly large hand-thrown mugs with honey (no sugar) as a sweetener. And every cup of tea comes with a funny story, often one we’ve already heard, but sometimes she will throw in a new gem into the mix.
Just yesterday, she quietly told me a story about Mr NQN. It was well established through photos and tales, that Mr NQN was a fat baby. So enormous that he has rolls of fat cascading down his arms and chins as prominent as his big brown eyes. She whispered to me “do you know that someone asked me ‘Is there something wrong with your baby as he is so fat?!’” she retold with horror. “Don’t tell him that!” she said her eyes widening in alarm.
“Don’t worry, he’ll laugh” I promised her and an instant later Mr NQN heard about it all and was laughing heartily. I suspect that a lot of it has to do with the fact that he is very skinny now – perhaps it wouldn’t be a matter for merriment if he were heavy.
Mr NQN is also a straight shooting, frank in manner country boy. When I make something during the day, I wait for him to come home like a cat waiting in the corner to pounce. He is usually barely in the door when I grab his arm and show him something and he will always give me an honest answer. When I made these tea bags the first question out of my mouth was “what do you think these are?” I figured that if he could answer correctly then I would be reasonably reassured. I braced myself for a “I think that looks a bit weird” or something of a similar nature.
The idea for these cookies actually came from a reader Ashly Z. who was kind enough to forward me a picture of these adorable tea bag cookies. They looked easy enough and ended up being quite straight forward without requiring any special cookie cutters and just a quick dip in a pond of melted chocolate at the end. I did some low level crafting (the only kind I really know) and made some tags and some thread doubled as the string.
To my relief, he actually guessed what they were and then proceeded to eat pretty much all of them.
It seems fat baby, infuriatingly skinny adult! 
So tell me Dear Reader, do you usually have something to eat with your cup of tea like a biscuit, cookie or cake? And how do you drink your tea? Weak or strong and with or without sugar and milk? And are you good at crafts?
P.S. All of the Dilmah Charitea competition winners have now been contacted so please check your emails (and those spam folders too for any pesky ones that may have slipped through ). Melbourne winners, have a great time today and Sydney winners, I shall see you on the 12th of September at The Langham! x
Tea Bag Cookies
Makes about 30 cookies (depending on size)
- 85 g/3ozs butter, softened
- 140g/5ozs white caster superfine sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 180g/6ozs all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon very finely ground tea leaves from your favourite tea
To decorate
- 200g/7ozs dark chocolate
- 1 tablespoon of copha (optional, to make the chocolate more liquid and dippable)
- Thread
- Paper and stamps to make label
- Sticky tape
DIRECTIONS
1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Stir in the flour and tea leaves. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight but take it out ahead of time to let it become more rollable).
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 inch thick-these look better thinner. Using a knife and a ruler (and a tea bag as a guide if you want), cut out triangles and poke a hole with a chopstick to allow the thread to go through. Cut off the corner of the rectangles just like a tea bag. Place cookies 1 inch apart on parchment paper. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.
3. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or a microwave and add a little copha if using so that it is a little runnier and stir well. Dip the base of the cookie in the chocolate and allow to set on the parchment.
4. Using a stamp and ink pad, make stamps and cut out tea bag tags. Thread a small length of thread through the hole and secure this to the back of the tea bag tag with some sticky tape.
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76 Comments | Add your own
So cute! A great idea.
Cheers,
Rosa
What a cute story! And those cookies not only look like tea bags, but the look delicious too. I don’t drink much tea because I like to have my tea with sugar and I’m trying to cut back the carbs.
These cookies are so adorable, I want to throw a tea party for the sole purpose of making them!
Thank you, thank you for creating these and posting such a lovely presentation of how to make them! I saw something similar on pinterest months ago, that wound up being spam, so never pinned. Now I have a great tutorial and recipe! Beautiful – thank you!
These are gorgeous Lorraine and such a good idea. I think Claire has made these too – just perfect with a cup of tea. A friend of mine has had four girls and they have all been the fattest babies I have ever seen. All born at around 10 pounds and from there they just get fatter and fatter. But, now that they’re all at school, they’re like Mr NQN and getting thinner and thinner and they’re really sporty and wine every event they enter. It’s a complete mystery to me xx
What a lovely idea, Lorraine! Yummy. On tea… I will occasionally have a milky tea with one… prefer Chai, but it has to be a good one, not that powdered stuff. Have a happy day xox
OH i LOVED the cookies. I drink buckets of tea every day, Brookbond red Label with milk. I
was so loopy without my quota of tea the other day i locked my keys in the car with it running, ARGH
Thanks for your great posts.
Susan
very cute!! these would be awesome with Dilmah’s rose & french vanilla tea or T2s melbourne breakfast
I drink a lot of tea so don’t often have something with it (unless it’s my breakfast tea
)
These look like they’d be a delicious accompaniment though. Yum.
These are totally gorgeous. Love them!
Well, I always have home made cookies or some kind of nut or fruit loaf on hand to have with a cuppa. I drink my tea with a pinch of stevia and milk. And yes…I am very crafty. I made a felt monster teddy for my son last night in front of the Telly while having a cup of tea and chocolate chip cookies
And I love your tea bag cookies, I might try them with white chocolate
Haha I hate and find it amusing – fat child, skinny adult! These cookies are gems my friend, I wouldn’t mind honestly having tea which tasted like these biscuits… Or just the biscuits
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
They look adorable! I normally have tea with my cereal, I heard having something to drink with meals helps digestion. I like my tea strong but if there’s black tea only I’ll have it weak with sugar and milk. I love crafts! and can be good if I have the time and motivation. This post goes perfectly with the Dilmah one
So adorable! You know I’m a total tea fiend- especially for Dilmah Earl Grey
Black with Lemon, or a tiny splash of milk. Never any sugar.
Maybe that’s my problem Lorraine, I was a very skinny baby!
Lorraine these are so cute – love them! I have to say I am partial to rooiboos but I do love the classic old Irish breakfast tea. Fennel tea is a new fave too ; )
How utterly adorable are these?! I don’t usually have anything with my tea but would make an exception for these!
These are so adorable! I love them! I like my tea strong with a splash of milk, no sugar. Hmm.. I think I was a skinny baby but am now a fat adult! sigh…
Haha I did the same thing to Will when I made these! He guessed luggage tag which I took as a win. They didn’t have the strings on them yet so pretty close.
Tea tastes better with a biscuit!
Oooh, they look devine! I love how your posts come with interesting stories! Can’t believe Mr NQN was such fat baby!
In terms of how I have my tea: coming from Eastern Europe I like my black tea with some honey (or sugar) & lemon. I also like herbal teas, and every time we come back from Europe my luggage is full of herbal teas that I can’t find here.
These are so adorable Lorraine. I love how the tea bag cookies are a great accompaniement with a cup of tea too
What a great idea for a cookie! And perfect for dunking in tea
Wow, these are gorgeous! Such a brilliant idea. I’m so into cookies now, after my successful attempts with your fool-proof recipe
I have my tea strong (sometimes I use 2 bags), milky, no sugar. I think I’ll have a tea and a slice of leftover cake right now! And I do enjoy crafts
Thank you Lorraine
I’m going to the High Tea today so excited ~
These tea bag cookies are amazing and seems like their quite easy to make! Definitely something i’m gonna make next time I’m going over to a friends place hehe ~ WOO HOO!
I’m so boring, my favourite tea is English Breakfast with one tablespoon of sugar and a dash of milk
And of course cake to go with it is always good!
Very sweet Lorraine – again, great attention to detail.
love the cookies and love those stamps , where did you get them from ?
Those tea bag cookies looks almost too cute to eat!!
Hi Virginia! Thanks! I bought those stamps when I was in Guangzhou although you could probably find them in cute little shops in Chinatown or some of the larger stationary stores might have similar sorts of stamps
These do look different and innovative! Unusual idea I have not seen before. Drink both black and green tea, quite strong, no milk or sugar or anything on the side ever, but a squeeze of lemon in my green and perchance a little cognac in my black
! And I do love various crafts but lack the time to pursue 
!
Aww, Lorraine these are so sweet! Perfect for a lady’s tea party!
CUTE,CUTE,CUTE…You want my address & you can post them to me…or think about..
Nah, I tend to have my tea and coffee straight, except for weekends with my parents (sob missing sob!) when afternoon coffee = chocolate
These are so gorgeous!
These are so cute, so you! Now these would have been great for that tea party theme! I’ll have to get my group to come here to see these, Lorraine. And, they have real tea in them!
Yum! You could dunk these tea bags in coffee and get mocha.
Lorraine, those cookies are the most beautiful and elegant cookies! And I really love your cups. I love drinking tea, and I love to drink my tea from a fine china, and not from a paper cup… I always have 10-15 different teas to choose from, including one of my favorite: a pu-ehr tea. What I like to have with my tea? Most of the time nothing, I just enjoy the tea itself: good quality tea doesn’t need anything. Sometimes I have dried fruits with my tea, usually in the evening. Stop by, I’ll make you a great cup of tea!
What lovely cookies. My mother used to tell the story about how scrawny I was as a little one. Not scrawny now! I wish it had been the other way around.
I like milk with my average strength tea. boring, I know and yes, I like a cookie with it.
I love my tea nice and strong and I will use anything to sweeten it depending on the type of tea I’m drinking.
These cookies would be prefect for an afternoon tea party.
Oh I have to make some of those for my afternoon tea I am having at the end of the month to raise money for Habitat for Humanity.
Your teabag cookies are darling, and the tags really add to the cuteness!
Adorable, once again.
I like biscuits with my tea–and my tea strong, milky, and sweet. If black. Honey or agave nectar if herbal. But what I really want is some of these cookies/biscuits. Lovely.
from the name of the post, I was all prepared for cookies that used tea from a tea bag – seems quite silly now that I see these – brilliant!
I’m not a huge tea drinker. Just green tea first thing in the morning before I eat anything. Very cute t-bag cookies and sweet stamping.
Super cute, I love them!!! I like the biscotti di Prato o cantucci (what people here, and maybe Australia too, call biscotti) and assorted biscuits too (what in Italy we call biscotti
.
I love tea time!!
Ciao
Alessandra
These are gorgeous.. you always amaze me with your creations! Looking at yr photos, these look pretty mess-free, so I guess it’s something I can do with my daughter during the next hols.
What a fantastic idea! I’m so going to make these tea bag cookies and give them away to friends..They look absolutely adorable!And I really do like your delicate tea cups and saucers.
I love a good strong tea with no sweeteners or milk. It would be perfect with a biscotti.
This is such a brilliant idea, Lorraine! They are too cute to be eaten.
I’m going to make these, with mixed spice, a little cardamom and cloves instead of the powdered tea, they might be nice with chai.
I like my tea strong English breakfast, white and one sugar, and have several during the day. The first one is the best though, as it’s always made by my sweetums.
These tea bag cookies are one of your amazing creations again! I love it!!! Your detail work is incredible. I have no patience to make them but really enjoy looking and admiring at these cookies.
I love these! I pinned something similar on Pinterest and have been wanting to make for absolutely ages – you beat me to it!
I’m going to respond from tail to nose for a change,just because I’m in a silly mood today,lol!
Need to get out into the sunshine and walk off the Winter weight gain 
Very much looking forward to The Dilmah High Tea and of course meeting you Lorraine, sooooo excited! I have both daughters vying for the second spot,hehe
I love most crafts: sewing, knitting,hand embroidery, Porcelain doll making, beading but nowadays never seem to have the time as I’m mostly in the kitchen!
I like my tea strong with one teaspoon of sugar and a dash of milk, unless I’m having Chamomile , I like it sweet with 2 teaspoons of sugar and a slice of lemon.
Yes I do like to have something sweet with my cuppa , whatever is in the house but nothing beats freshly-baked straight out of the oven,Yum.
I have seen these tea-bag-cookies on Pinterest , so very clever of you to make your own, loving the sweet stamps and teaspoons as well.
haha how cute !
This is basically the same recipe published by Twinings on their Facebook page back in early May and again late August.
I made them for a girls morning tea in June, very easy and great shortbread recipe. I just ripped all the tags and strings off my unused tea bags to use for these!
Hi Dirtgirl, the actual recipe is my sugar cookie recipe which I’ve been using for years (you can see it here on this blog for the past 4 years). I haven’t seen the Twinings one but as just the photo was sent to me but it is all over Pinterest too.
I bookmarked a picture of this idea on Pinterest a while back. Agree that they’re such a cute idea. Of course, I never got around to making them. Love yours, they look fabulous!
Just gorgeous! Love the stamps you have styled the tags with, very pretty.
I have too many cups of tea most days to have something with them – but my Dad can’t have a cuppa without ‘a little something’ to have with it. These biscuits would be perfect!
I’ve seen these on a few sites now and I think they’re so sweet! I’m not always a tea drinker but I love dipping biscuits. These would be perfect dippers.
Such a clever idea – I love the teabag cookies. Almost a shame to eat them! Although personally I do love a biscuit with my tea.
Clever clever clever!!!!! They look gorgeous and perfect with a cup of tea.
Congratulations to the lucky winners, especially those who live in Sydney – they get to meet you!! I wish I was there too.
Hi Lorraine!
Hope you are doing fine.
Thanks so much for the recipe and inspiration.
These are so simple they are bound to make an impression.
Now I have to ask…….. picture just after the teabag cookies, with three desserts.
What is the one in the foreground?
Keep the recipes coming they are always great!
Have a Joyful Day :~D
Charlie
we have an anual tea and always look for new ideas, cant wait to try these on the ladies!!
Mothers always like stories when we were kids, I don’t, but I can´t wait to have my kids older to start talking about them to their friends
I always like to have something to eat with my tea or coffee, and it could be a little cookie or a big slice of cake.
Absolutely love your tea bag cookies…can’t wait to have a tea party. I usually have a cookie with my Earl Gray tea and drink mine with lemon and sugar.
They are just adorable!!
How cute – think I’ll have a tea party so I will be able to make them but at least share (not eat them all!!).
Hi Charlie! Thank you so much for your kind words. With that photo, that was from the Dilmah Charitea in Perth so I’m not sure what that was but it does look great!
oh such cute cookies and so imaginative!i love rose and vanilla tea,jasmine tea or lemon myrtle..and if you add some milk and honey makes a lil custardy flavor,best topped off with a shortbread:)
if you could detect enthusiasm through the screen and over a couple of continents, you’d realized how excited i am about these. how adorable!
Absolutely adorable! Must make some too.
These are the most gorgeous cookies I have seen. I absolutely love it. I am very inspired by these and will be making them shortly. Will keep you posted. Amazing!!!
I too love my English breakfast tea weak with honey, no milk. Ideally with homemade biscuits… Yum! I also have a theory that chubby babies make skinny adults and visa versa.. that’s the way it works in my family.
These are utterly adorable!
Your chocolate dipped tea bag cookies look just wonderful & you are 1 creative woman, my friend!
Lovely to look at & tasty to savour too!
I love herbal teas & Pukka teas.
I loved hearing about Mr. NQN as a baby and maybe it is true that if chubby as a baby, then skinny(er) as an adult. I was also a very pudgy baby (I’ve seen the pictures and I was fondly referred to as a butterball) but as an adult I’ve remained (relatively) thin.
As for tea, I almost never drink hot tea. I’m a big fan of iced sweet tea, but the hot variety has never really appealed to me. Although, these cookies would persuade me to drink a cup
They’re so cute and I’m featuring this post in today’s Food Fetish Friday (with a link-back and attribution as always). Thank you so much for keeping me inspired with such delicious creations…
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Hi Lorraine – I made these for a recent Afteroon Tea – they were a hit! Thanks for sharing – I blogged about it and linked back to your recipe.
http://dunnntoperfection.blogspot.com.au/2012/11/cup-of-tea-chocolate-dipped-tea-bag.html
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