Strawberry Milk Tea Cookies

These strawberry milk tea cookies will be some of the best cookies you’ve ever had. It’s a bold statement, but I stand by it! A browned butter cookie is filled with freeze dried strawberries, smoky earl grey tea, and decadent white chocolate chips. It’s the perfect balance of sweet, smoky, and tart flavors. In this post, learn how to change the texture of these cookies as well as how to achieve the best flavor every time.

Every day, I’m always trying out new restaurants and bakeries to get some inspiration for my recipes. A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon this Asian pastry stand at the farmers market and tried a few things they were selling. The standout for me was definitely their strawberry milk tea cookies. I loved the way the white chocolate, tea, and strawberries combined together. So I thought I would develop my own version of these cookies using my trusty cookie recipe (this recipe is adapted from my miso chocolate chip cookie recipe). I have to tell you these cookies are amazing. I gave some to a friend, and she said they were the best cookies she’s ever tried from me.

Some deets about key ingredients!

• Earl grey tea – Any kind of black tea would work for this recipe. Earl grey tea is my favorite and what I had on hand, so that’s what I used! Other kinds of tea you can use are jasmine and oolong.
• Light, dark, and granulated sugar – Through testing, I found that the perfect chewiness (in my opinion) and sweetness come from a combination of all 3 sugars. Light and dark brown sugar make the cookie chewier and the granulated sugar helps give it that crispy edge. You can definitely only use light or only dark brown sugar if that’s all you have. Dark brown will make the cookies sweeter and chewier, and light brown sugar will result to less sweetness and less chewiness.
• Vanilla extract – Substitute with an equal amount of vanilla paste or 1 vanilla bean.
• Freeze dried strawberries – I like to use freeze-dried strawberries in my cookies (see strawberry jasmine sugar cookies for another example) because it would add strawberry flavor without adding extra moisture to the cookies. Fresh strawberries would change the texture of the cookies, so I wouldn’t recommend using them.
• White chocolate chips – This gives a little bit of a milky flavor to the cookies and adds great texture. Feel free to substitute with dark chocolate if you don’t like white chocolate.

How to make strawberry milk tea cookies

For a simplified version of this recipe, skip to the recipe card. This section provides a complete breakdown of each step including tips on what to look for and tricks on how to get the desired result.

1. First, brown the butter. Melt the 1/2 cup of unsalted butter over medium high heat until fully melted. Lower the heat to medium low and cook until brown bits start to appear. Pour into a bowl or stand mixer bowl. Set aside.
   • Tip #1: Make sure to pull the butter off the heat just as it starts to brown. Otherwise, it will easily burn.
2. Break down 1 tbsp of earl grey tea into powder using a spice grinder. Add it to a separate bowl. To the bowl with the earl grey tea, add 1 cup + 1 tbsp of all purpose flour, 1/2 tsp of baking soda, and 1/4 tsp of salt. Mix and set aside.
   • Tip #2: If you don’t have a spice grinder, use a mortor and pestle or the back of a knife and a bowl.
3. To the bowl with the browned butter, add 1/4 cup of light brown sugar, 1/4 cup of dark brown sugar, and 1/4 cup of granulated sugar. Mix together until well combined (2-3 minutes on medium speed if using a stand mixer). Add the egg and 1 tsp of vanilla extract. Mix until well combined (2-3 minutes on medium speed).
4. Combine the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients. Be careful not to over mix. Add 1/4 cup of freeze dried strawberries and 1/2 cup of white chocolate chips. Mix until just combined. Cover and let the dough rest in the fridge for 45 minutes. While the dough is resting, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C).
   • Tip #3: Over mixing the cookie dough will create tough cookies because it will increase the amount of gluten in the cookies.
5. Prep 2 baking sheets by covering them with parchment paper. Using a medium cookie scoop (#16 cookie scoop), scoop the dough onto the prepped baking sheets. Bake for 12-14 minutes until the edges are slightly brown. Cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
   • Tip #4: If your cookies come out of the oven a little lopsided, use a round cookie cutter to round out the edges. Place it around the cookie and move in a circular motion. I do this with every batch of cookies.

9 tips for making the best strawberry milk tea cookies

Ingredient Tips

1. Use all room temperature ingredients. This really does matter because butter and eggs don’t like to mix together, especially when they’re at different temperatures, so having them at the same temperature helps them come together better.
2. Why are you using brown butter? This is one of the keys to the intense flavor of these cookies. The brown bits add so much extra flavor to the dough. Make sure to cool it down to room temperature before using because using hot butter will create for a greasy dough.
3. Why are you using both dark brown and light brown sugar? I found that this gives a good balance of sweetness and color to the cookies. Dark brown sugar gives that nice light brown color to the cookies as well as sweetness. I found that using only light brown sugar doesn’t give it the light brown color I like. And using all dark brown sugar makes the dough too wet and too sweet. 

Method Tips

1. Mix the butter, sugars, and egg thoroughly. The biggest mistake people make is not mixing the wet ingredients properly. When you mix the wet ingredients, especially the butter and sugar, you’re really trying to incorporate/dissolve the sugar.
2. Don’t over mix the cookie dough after adding the dry ingredients. You want to mix the dry ingredients as little as possible because mixing encourages gluten formation which creates tough, chalky cookies. I like to mix the dough until there is a little bit of flour not incorporated into the dough. I then add the chocolate chips and finish mixing the dough.
3. How do I make my cookies flat? How do I make them more chunky? This will depend on how much time you allow the dough to rest in the fridge. The more you chill the dough in the fridge, the chunkier the cookie will be. If you don’t chill the dough at all, the cookie will be very flat.
4. For the best flavor chill for at least 24 hours. This is one of the biggest changes I’ve made in my method for baking cookies. The longer the cookie dough rests, the better the flavor and texture will be. This cookie dough can rest in the fridge for up to 72 hours. Personally, I do it for 24 hours because I simply can’t wait any longer! If you can’t wait 24 hours, I would recommend at least 1 hour, but the longer the better.
5. Why is scooping your cookie dough with a scoop important? This is important because the scoop helps give your cookies their round shape. To get the perfect round shape, scoop the dough, press it into the scoop with your hand, and then level it off so you get a flat bottom.
6. Why is cooling your cookies important? I know it is SO HARD to not eat a cookie right away, but your cookies are still baking when they’re on the baking sheet! The center will still look soft but it will slowly get firmer as it sits on the baking sheet.

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