Cheese Tea Sandwich Cookies

Yield: 12 sandwich cookies

Ingredients

Cream Cheese Cookies:

1 cup + 2 Tbsp (225g) granulated sugar
²/₃ cup (150g) unsalted butter, softened
²/₃ cup (150g) full fat cream cheese, softened
1 ½ cups (180g) all-purpose flour
¾ tsp salt
kosher or flaky sea salt

Milk Tea Russian Buttercream:

½ cup + 3 Tbsp (155g) unsalted butter, softened & divided*
1 1.2-oz sachet (33g) Kola Goodies Sri Lankan Milk Tea
pinch of salt
½ cup + 2 Tbsp (200g) sweetened condensed milk, room temp**

*Since some of the butter will remain behind when we sieve the tea-steeped butter, you will need to add a little extra during the re-measure/re-weigh. (For example, we had to add 30g more.)

**This is 7 ounces or half of a 14-oz. can. We stored the leftover sweetened condensed milk in the fridge and used it in our morning tea.

Directions

Heat oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat sugar, butter, and cream cheese on medium-high until light and fluffy.
Add flour and salt, mixing on low until it’s almost all incorporated. Scrape down bowl, then mix a wee bit more.
Drop 24 dough blobs onto prepared baking sheets. (This is 1 ½ tablespoons of dough per cookie. A #40 cookie scoop is super helpful here!) Sprinkle a wee bit of kosher or flaky sea salt on top.
Bake for 11–13 minutes or until edges are set and lightly golden.
Transfer baking sheets to wire racks. For perfectly round cookies, try Erin Clarkson’s cookie scoot method when they’re fresh out of the oven.
Allow cookies to cool for 5–10 minutes on baking sheets, then transfer cookies to wire rack to cool completely.
While cookies are cooling, let’s make some Russian buttercream! In a small pot over medium-low heat, melt ½ cup (113g) butter. Add milk tea powder and simmer 1–2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Turn off the heat, then cover and allow to steep for 15 minutes.
Set a fine-mesh sieve over a bowl. Pour steeped butter through sieve. Discard milk tea blend.
Place infused butter in fridge for 30–45 minutes so it can firm up. You want the butter to have the consistency of softened butter before making your frosting.
Once steeped butter is the proper consistency, remove from fridge. Re-measure/re-weigh and add as much additional softened plain butter as necessary to reach ½ cup (113g) total.
NOTE: We had to add 30g (roughly 2 tablespoons).
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat milk tea butter on high for 5–6 minutes until light and fluffy. Add a pinch of salt.
With mixer on medium, slowly pour in sweetened condensed milk. Pause and scrape down bowl as necessary. Beat until thoroughly combined and fluffy.
NOTE: At this point, you could beat in some confectioners’ sugar (½ cup [57g] at a time) if you want your buttercream to be stiffer and/or sweeter. However, for our tastes, we found it perfect without any additional sugar!
Once cookies are totally cool, spread or pipe buttercream on half of the cookies. Top with remaining cookies, gently pressing each cookie sandwich together.