Swedish Tea Cookies

These Swedish Tea cookies are a staple in my family. Generally we make them for Christmas with red and green frosting but they can easily adapt to any holiday with just the change of a few drops of food coloring.

Cookies:

1 Cup Butter (Room Temperature)

1/3 Cup Half & Half

2 Cups Flour (With additional for rolling out dough)

White Sugar (For sprinkling on cookies)

Frosting Filling:

¼ Cup Butter (Room Temperature)

2 Cups Powdered Sugar

3 Tablespoons Milk

1 teaspoon almond extract

Food coloring any color (Optional)

Materials needed:

Stand or handheld mixer

small circle cookie cutter or other circular object

rolling pin

Preheat Oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit

In a large bowl measure out 2 cups of flour and 1 cup of room temperature butter. Combine using a fork until the mixture has no large chunks and is an even, sand-like texture

Measure out 1/3 cup of half & half into the same bowl and combine using your hands until the mixture forms a dough

On a clean and dry counter top lay down a sprinkle of flour so the dough doesn’t stick. Section out a handful of dough and use the rolling pin to roll it into a sheet about the thickness of a nickel

Using your small circle cookie cutter or similar circular object (I used half of a tea ball) cut out as many circles as you can. Repeat steps 3 and 4 using the dough scraps and incorporating in fresh dough until all dough has been rolled and cut out.

Place the cookies on a baking sheet. Using a fork poke each cookie twice. These pokes don’t have to go all the way through. They are just to score the dough so the cookies rise correctly

Using a spoon sprinkle cookies with sugar. Don’t fully coat each cookie, just lightly sprinkle

Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Feel free to move on to the next step while the cookies are baking

In a stand mixer or bowl beat ¼ cup of room temperature butter, 3 tablespoons milk, and 1 teaspoon of almond extract. Slowly add 2 cups of powdered sugar until mixture is smooth

Add food coloring of any color. Start with only 3-5 drops and continue to add until frosting is the desired color

Spoon the mixture into a plastic sealable bag. Cut a small hole in one corner. This will be used to apply to frosting to the cookies

Take one cookie and place it poked-side down. Squeeze a small portion of frosting into the center. Then place another cookie on top on the frosting with the poked holes facing up

Ta-Da! You now have completed Swedish Tea Cookies