Get the Recipe: Swirled Thai Tea Cookies with Condensed Milk
Bring the flavors of Thai iced tea into a soft, chewy cookie! These swirled Thai tea cookies combine doughs infused with real Thai tea leaves and sweetened condensed milk—easy to make by hand, no mixer required. Perfect for tea lovers and cookie fans alike.
Ingredients
For the Thai Tea Butter
- ¾ cup (6 ounces or 170 grams) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 3 Tablespoons (.75 ounces or 21 grams) Thai tea leaves
- 1 Tablespoon (.5 ounces or 14 grams) unsalted butter, set aside
For the Sweetened Condensed Milk Cookie Dough
- ½ cup (2.25 ounces or 64 grams) all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- pinch kosher salt
- 3 Tablespoons (1.5 ounces or 43 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- ⅓ cup (2.35 ounces or 67 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon (.70 ounces or 20 grams) sweetened condensed milk
- 1 large egg yolk
For the Thai Tea Cookie Dough
- 1 ⅓ cups (6 ounces or 170 grams) all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup (7 ounces or 198 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- ¼ teaspoon orange food coloring
Equipment
- 1-Tablespoon cookie dough scoop
Instructions
- First, make the Thai tea butter. In a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan, melt the butter over low heat, about 10 minutes. Once the cubes have partially melted, add the Thai tea. Stir regularly to prevent the butter from getting too hot—at no point should the butter sizzle, crackle, or pop. Once the butter has completely melted, turn off the heat but keep the saucepan on the stovetop. The butter and tea will continue steeping on low heat as you make the Condensed Milk Dough.
- Make the Condensed Milk Dough. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt to make the dry ingredients for the Condensed Milk Dough. In a medium bowl, use a rubber spatula to mix together the melted butter, sugar, and condensed milk for the Condensed Milk Dough until moistened, about 1 minute. Add the egg yolk and mix until combined.Gradually mix in the dry ingredients until just combined.
- Strain the Thai Tea Butter. Place a fine mesh sieve over a liquid measuring cup Pour the Thai tea butter into the cup.Use a rubber spatula to press the tea leaves against the sieve, straining out as much butter from the tea leaves as possible. You should have ½ cup (4 ounces or 113 grams) of Thai tea butter. You may need to add the reserved 1 Tablespoon (.5 ounces or 14 grams) of unsalted butter.
- Make the Thai Tea Dough. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to make the dry ingredients for the Thai tea dough.In a medium bowl, use a rubber spatula to mix together the Thai tea butter and sugar for the Thai tea dough until moistened, about 1 minute. Add the egg and orange food coloring and mix until combined.Gradually mix in the dry ingredients until just combined.
- Prep the cookies for shaping. Use a 1-Tablespoon cookie dough scoop to portion the Condensed Milk Dough into 12 balls. Wipe down the inside of the cookie dough scoop with a paper towel, then use the scoop to portion the Thai Tea Dough into 30 balls.
- Shape the cookies. Take 3 Thai Tea cookie dough balls and 1 Condensed Milk cookie dough ball and press them gently together. Roll between your palms (like you would a ball of Play-Doh) for a few seconds to combine the dough.
- Refrigerate the cookie dough balls overnight. Loosely cover the cookie dough balls with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
- When ready to bake the cookies, defrost the cookies, and prep the oven and baking pans. Remove the cookie dough from the refrigerator and set on the counter to thaw slightly while you preheat the oven.Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two half sheet pans with parchment paper.
- Bake the cookies. Bake one pan at a time for 11 minutes, or until the edges have set but the centers are still gooey.Cool the cookies on the pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes, or until the edges and bottoms of the cookies have set and feel firm to the touch.Repeat with the remaining cookie dough.
- Serve and store. Serve warm or at room temperature. The cookies can be stored in an airtight container or zip-top bag at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Notes
- I like to bake the cookies one pan at a time. I find that doing so makes the best cookies, ensuring that none of them have overly burnt bottoms or raw centers. However, to save time, you can bake two sheet pans at a time. Position a rack in the upper-third position of the oven, and a second one in the lower-third position of the oven. Bake a pan on each rack, swapping their positions half way through the Bake Time.
- Uh oh! Did your cookies come out puffier than expected? Check out my troubleshooting guide on How To Fix Puffy Cookies (And Other Cookie Baking Fails)!
- You can freeze the Thai Tea cookies in the following ways:
- Freeze the UNBAKED cookie dough.
Follow the recipe instructions to make the cookie dough and scoop them out into cookie dough balls. Place the cookie dough balls in a small sheet pan. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 1 hour, or until the cookie dough balls are frozen solid. Transfer the cookie dough balls to a zip-top bag and freeze for up to 1 year. To bake the frozen cookie dough balls, line sheet pans with parchment paper and position the cookie dough balls at least 3 inches apart on the sheet pans. Then, follow the recipe instructions to preheat the oven. Bake for 12 minutes, or until the edges have set but the centers are still gooey. - Freeze the BAKED cookies.
Individually wrap any leftover cookies in two layers of plastic wrap, then a layer of aluminum foil. The aluminum foil will prevent the cookies from absorbing any other flavors or odors in the freezer. When ready to serve, transfer to the refrigerator to chill overnight. Rewarm in the microwave or in the oven at 350°F for 5 minutes before serving.
- Freeze the UNBAKED cookie dough.
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