Evan's Earl Grey Cookies

I often ask around the Math Department for interesting recipe ideas. My lovely Japanese friend Yukie recommended that I make Earl Grey cookies. I personally thought she was crazy when she told me this! Tea cookies do not sound tasty! But, I decided I would at least look up the recipe. I found one online here, and it had such good reviews, I decided I would try it.

Now, every time I see, smell, or think about Earl Grey tea, my dear friend Evan comes to mind. Evan loves tea, especially Earl Grey tea. I was originally going to make these for Evan's birthday/New Year's, but things got hectic around the holidays. So I was thinking I would just mail some to him in Iowa. Unfortunately, someone (*cough* Wayne *cough*) decided to steal my idea (the nerve!) and make these cookies for Evan first.

Now, I don't know how Wayne's cookies tasted, but I knew that I needed to make my cookies extra special. How would I do this? Why, with orange zest, of course! I substituted 1 tsp of orange zest for the vanilla and 1 tsp orange juice for the water. It was a delightful combination! I think you should make these cookies just so you can experience the smell of them baking. O M G, my apartment smelled so beautiful every time I opened the oven. And, they tasted amazing. I really could not stop eating them. They weren't terribly sweet, they were more like a shortbread than anything. I really wish I would've tried them with a hot mug of Earl Grey, but they were gone too quickly for that!

I hope I don't get in trouble for saying this, but I'm pretty sure Evan liked my cookies better than yours, Wayne. (just saying!) And Yukie told me that my cookies were better than the original ones she had tried in San Francisco. Mission accomplished! Anybody have any other challenges?