These cookies are dual flavored like the beverage of their namesake, with one half mellow sweet tea and the other half zesty lemonade. This recipe is from Irvin Lin's excellent cookbook Marbled, Swirled, and Layered. Published with permission.
10tablespoons140g unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4cup165g packed dark brown sugar
1/2cup100g granulated sugar
3/4teaspoonbaking powder
1/2teaspoonbaking soda
1/2teaspoonkosher salt
1cup140g all-purpose flour
1/2cup75g whole-wheat flour
Glaze
4tea bags Lipton Yellow Label tea
1/2cupboiling water
3cups345g powdered sugar, divided and sifted
3-4tablespoonsfresh lemon juice
Instructions
Make the lemonade cookie dough
Preheat the oven to 350°F and line baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpats. Cut the butter into 1/2 inch chunks and place them in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the sugar, lemon zest and lemon extract and beat together on medium speed until the mixture looks lighter in color than when you started, about 1 minute. Add the baking powder, baking soda and salt, beating until the batter is pale yellow, about 30 seconds. Add the egg and beat until incorporated. Add the flour and beat until a dough forms. Scoop out the dough and transfer to a clean bowl.
Make the iced tea cookie dough
Empty the tea bags into a small bowl. Grind the tea if it isn’t finely ground enough (you can do this in a spice grinder or by placing it in a zip-top plastic bag and using a rolling pin to crush the leaves). Add the egg to the bowl and beat to blend. Place the butter and both sugars in the bowl of the stand mixer (no need to wash it).
Beat together on medium speed until the mixture looks lighter in color than when you started, about 1 minute. Add the baking powder, baking soda and salt and beat for about 30 seconds to incorporate. Scrape the egg and tea into the bowl and beat for about 30 seconds more to incorporate., Add both flours and beat until a dough forms.
Pinch off a chunk of the lemon dough the size of a walnut (about 35g) and roll into a ball. Pinch off a same-size chunk of iced tea dough and roll into a ball. Squish the two doughs together and roll into a single ball. If you aren’t glazing the cookies, roll the dough in some additional granulated sugar. Place on the lined baking sheet and flatten the ball with the palm of your hand, so you have a disk about 2 inches across. Repeat with the remaining dough, spacing the disks about 2 inches apart (they spread a lot during baking). Bake until the edges of the cookies are golden brown, 15-18 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheet s for 5 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.
Add the tea bags to the boiling water, let steep for 3-4 minutes. Measure out 2 tablespoons of the extra-strong tea and add it to 1 cup (115g) of the powdered sugar in a medium bowl. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Place the remaining 2 cups (230g) powdered sugar in a separate bowl and add 3 tablespoons lemon juice. Stir to dissolve, adding the additional 1 tablespoon lemon juice if necessary to thin the glaze. Spread a tablespoon of the lemon glaze onto each cookie. Drizzle a teaspoon of the tea glaze on top of the lemon glaze. Using a toothpick, drag the glazes around to marble them together. Let dry before serving.
Notes
I added a drop of yellow food color to the lemonade batter for color.My yield size was slightly larger, at 23 cookies.These spread BIG TIME in the oven, so I’d recommend baking only 4 cookies at a time, well-spaced, on a standard-size cookie sheet.I placed the two glazes in piping bags and drizzled them over the cookies, instead of using the marbling technique in the instructions. If you don’t have piping bags you can use zip-top bags with the corners snipped.