Tea Bag Cookies

Now here's an idea so simple, if you're like me you'll want to knock yourself upside the head for not having thought of it sooner. I submit to you ... The Tea Bag Cookie!

Now I just *know* I must have gotten this idea from Pinterest, but I can't find a "pin" of this at all on my boards. So I herewith confess that I did not invent this idea, merely was inspired by it. But wow, how fun to make individual shortbread cookies that look like tea bags! Really, you can just look at them and make up your own recipe if you like.

But if you *don't* like to make up your own recipe, I'll share the one I used. It's basically a dolled-up version of the Scotch Shortbread recipe from Betty Crocker's classic 1963 "Cooky Book." (And yes, Betty spelled "cooky" that way. Don't blame me!)

Tea Bag Cookies

3/4 cup butter or margarine (I used margarine)
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups plain flour
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon shortening

In bowl of electric mixer, blend margarine and sugar. Slowly add flour until well combined. You may have to knead it a bit with your hands at the end of mixing to incorporate all the flour. When you have a nice ball of dough, refrigerate it for about 30 minutes. Then roll it out 1/4-inch thick and cut into rectangles. Using a knife, cut the corners off the top of each rectangle to resemble a tea bag shape. I made mine a little larger than a real tea bag. Use a drinking straw to cut out a small hole in the top. Bake on parchment paper-lined cookie sheets for 20-25 minutes. Let cool. Using a small saucepan on your stovetop, over low heat combine chocolate chips and shortening until melted completely. Dip lower edge of cookie in chocolate to represent the tea. Place cookies in refrigerator and allow chocolate to harden before assembling with "strings" of ribbon or twine and stapling on "tags" of stamped images, scrapbooking paper or whatever you like! Yields 24 (really cute) cookies.