A tea-flavored twist on a classic British sandwich cookie *ahem* biscuit. 442: Strawberry Earl Grey Custard Creams

I have to say, the term “custard cream” is a bit misleading. There’s no whipped cream or pudding-esque custard involved – just simple buttercream with custard powder added for flavor. They came about in the early 20th century in the UK, and they remind me a bit of a rectangular vanilla oreo.

My version is inspired by Benjamina Ebuehi’s tea-flavored beauties, but I went a bit rogue. Thicker shortbread for the cookies and some freeze-dried strawberries added along with the custard powder in the buttercream.

Strawberry powder is going in alllll the things this week. It’s also making an appearance in the frosting for Ellie’s birthday smash cake, mixed with whipped cream on top of two layers of essentially banana bread in the shape of a cake. It’s good to be a 1-year-old!

Life has been very full as of late with both ups and downs, but *fingers crossed* I’m hoping to keep up a semi-regular baking schedule. I’ve been leaning more into comfort baking since my brain has been too fried for creativity. Which means the freezer’s filling up with tried and true chocolate delivery vehicles: brown butter chocolate chunk cookie cups, orange chocolate chip financiers and madeleines dipped in . . . yep, chocolate.

Would it be overkill to eat these with a cup of earl grey? Never enough.

Small batch bbs call for a wooden spoon and properly softened butter. Which means I laid it all out to bake in the morning and got derailed til the afternoon. Voila – perfectly softened butter!

Off for a fridge nap.

*Snaps fingers* And now it’s 30 minutes later!

Could be more uniform, but if you eat them fast enough no one can tell.

If you have any other ideas for using up Bird’s custard powder, let me know! I might have to start using it that way it was meant to and add liquid custard on top of everything. Brownies? Apple crumble? Banana bread? Triple yes.

Thida Bevington’s buttercream recipe coming in clutch yet again. One part soft butter, two parts powdered sugar, a splash of vanilla and milk.

A squiggle might have been cuter, but it’s getting smooshed in a cookie sandwich so who cares!

Polka dots.

My kind of sandwich.

Happy munching!