Shortbread tea bags

It's up to you.

15 detailed steps, from preparation to service.

1. Weigh and separate ingredients

   Place a bowl on the scale and weigh 220 g of flour, 60 g of ground almonds and 80 g of icing sugar. Cut the 140 g of cold butter into cubes of about 1 cm. Keep aside the 20 g of finishing icing sugar, the 150 g of jam and the chocolate: they do not go into the dough.

2. Rub in the butter until crumbly

   Add the butter cubes to the bowl. Rub the butter and dry ingredients with your fingertips, lifting the mixture and then letting it settle; it takes 3 to 5 minutes. Stop when you get big, sandy crumbs and there’s almost no visible butter left. Do not knead long with the palm, which would warm the dough.

3. Break the egg and collect the dough

   Break the egg in a small bowl, remove any shell chips and beat it 10 seconds with a fork with 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Pour it on the sand. Mix with the spatula then gently squeeze the preparation with your hands to get a ball; stop working as soon as the crumbs assemble, even if the surface is not perfectly smooth.

4. Resting the dough in the refrigerator

   Flatten the ball into a 2 cm thick disc, wrap it in baking paper or film and place it in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Meanwhile prepare two baking tray covered with baking paper. At the exit of the cold, the dough should be firm; if it splits under the roll, wait 5 minutes before continuing.

5. Spread without adding flour

   Turn the oven on at 170°C in conventional oven setting (no fan) and place an oven rack in the middle. Place the dough between two sheets of baking paper. Pass the roller from the center to the edges, turning the sheets regularly, up to a uniform thickness of 3 mm; wedges of this thickness can help. Remove the top sheet gently.

6. Cut the undersides and tops

   Cut 36 rectangles of 6 x 4 cm with a knife. Cut the top two corners of each rectangle diagonally to evoke a tea bag. Keep 18 pieces whole; in the top 18, remove a central rectangle of 2 x 1 cm, without breaking the edges.

7. Move the cookies and recover the offcuts

   Slide a flat spatula in each shape and place it on the plates leaving 2 cm between the cookies. Gather the offcuts by pressing them, spread them again over 3 mm and complete the 36 pieces. The recipe provides a margin of dough: cook the surplus in small biscuits apart, or pack it to freeze. If the shapes soften, put the plate back in the refrigerator for 10 minutes.

8. Cook without coloring too much

   Bake one baking tray at a time for 10 to 12 minutes. Start looking after 10 minutes: the edges should become barely golden, while the center remains clear. Take out the plate with oven gloves and leave the biscuits on for 5 minutes; they are still brittle when hot. Then bake the second baking tray in the same way.

9. Cool the cookies before assembly

   Transfer each cookie to a rack with a spatula and wait at least 25 to 30 minutes, until the bottom is cold to the touch. Place the 18 openwork pieces on a clean sheet. Put the 20 g of finishing icing sugar in a small colander and powder them lightly, keeping the falling sugar for a possible second pass.

10. Spread the jam

    Stir the 150 g of jam with a spoon to loosen it. Place the 18 undersides face flat up and spread the jam between them, about 8 g per cookie; spread with the back of a small spoon leaving 3 mm of edge free. Place a perforated top on each, then press very lightly on the full edges, never in the middle of the window.

11. Let the sandwiches stick together

    Leave cookies mounted for 30 minutes flat on baking paper. The jam will slightly moisten the faces in contact and keep the two cookies together. Check that no top slips before taking the sandwiches in hand; if it still moves, let it rest a little longer.

12. Prepare chocolate tea and string

    Chop the 60 g of dark chocolate and put them in a small, perfectly dry bowl. Pour 2 cm of water into a saucepan, heat until it simmers and then lower the heat. Set the bowl over the pan without letting it touch the water. Stir with a spatula and remove as soon as the last pieces melt. Wipe the bottom of the bowl: no drop of water should fall into the chocolate. Take about 10 g of melted chocolate in a small paper cone for the strings; keeps the remaining 50 g in the bowl for the bottoms of the sachets.

13. Color the bottom of each bag

    Hold each cookie by the solid sides and dip its lower edge in the chocolate for about 1 cm. Tilt the bowl to collect the chocolate and help yourself with a small spoon when the level drops. Drain two seconds above the bowl, then rest on baking paper; chocolate should not cover the window with jam.

14. Draw an edible string

    Cut a very small opening at the end of the cone. On the top of each cookie, draw a line of chocolate from the top edge to the window, without crossing it. Press regularly and then stop pressing before raising your hand, so as not to form a long tip; this is a drawing, without any real string to add.

15. Allow to be taken and served

    Let the chocolate freeze for about 30 minutes in a cool room. Gently peel the paper under each cookie, rather than pulling on the bag. Present them flat; the scraps of biscuits and any remaining chocolate, spread in a small disc then hardened, can be served in a cup next to it.