*True* Tea Squares: Earl Grey, Chai, + Rooibos
5 Sep
Welp, I found my lost recipe! Phew. And just in time for autumn to arrive — it’s starting to feel a bit chilly in Boulder! I know, I know… Fall is still a dirty word for some of you : ) But I am lovin’ it. I’ve been sipping on tea and nibbling on these tea squares to keep warm.
I had been dreaming of these for a while (read: years) before I attempted a weeklong baking extravaganza during a heatwave last month to finally get a recipe hammered out. I had been frequently disappointed that most tea squares didn’t seem much different than a cookie bar; I wanted them to be distinctly TEA squares — to have tea in them. Thus, these (vegan, GF) tea squares — unlike most I’ve seen — actually contain tea leaves. That may make you curious, freaked out, or titillated. I love tea, so you can imagine where I fell on that spectrum… Anyway, awkwardness aside, these are the perfect pastry-biscuit hybrid to bring to a brunch or — if you have really cool friends and do things like this — a tea party. Why yes, I do plan on having one sometime soon — complete with cucumber sandwiches. How did you guess?
I tried three flavors…
#1 — Rooibos.
An African red tea that is sweet, perhaps nutty, and reminds me of honey.
My mom had a little breakdown when she thought I was taking them home with me. She was a fan.
#2 — Earl Grey.
A nice combination of “bite” from the black tea and citrus, with the balancing undertones of sweetness from the agave.
A classic! I would eat these on the regular.
#3 — Chai.
A comforting blend of aromatic spices and herbs like cardamom, fennel, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves.
It tasted like autumn!
I played with this recipe quite a bit, and though I kind of disagreed with the majority of my (20) tasters (I liked mine with a little less oil and sweetener), I am posting the most popular variation; ’twas hands-down the winner. These bars are chewy, moist but firm, and sweet enough to feel like a treat without being a dessert. This is what I would call a Grown-Up Cookie — unique, mature flavors, and just a hint of that pretentious gourmet flair that you get from classy food magazines. You know what I’m talking about.
Work that pretentious pinky. Work it.
I do not recommend using tea from a bag in this recipe… Don’t be misled by the Twinings in the photo — that was to drink, not to bake with. It would be far too mild to even detect. Instead, you can get just the amount of loose leaf tea you need from many bulk spice sections of grocery stores. My store carries organic and fair trade Frontier brand spices and teas, so that’s what I used. The BFF Manfriend found that one of the teas was a little too big and rough in a couple of the bars, but I didn’t mind the crunch. If you are worried about this, feel free to chop the leaves a tad with a chef’s knife or whir ‘em briefly in a food processor first. These are also pretty heavy on the tea leaves, so you may want to use less for a subtler flavor.
True Tea Squares — GF, Vegan, Grain-Free
Ingredients:
2 C almond flour
1/4 C loose tea leaves (do not use tea from a bag!)
1/2 t salt
1/4 C coconut oil
1/4 C agave (or honey)
1 TB vanilla
Recipe:
1) Preheat oven to 350*.
2) Mix dry ingredients.
3) Add wet ingredients to dry and thoroughly combine with hands.
4) Using wet hands (to prevent sticking), press dough into an 8″ x 8″ glass pan.
5) Bake for 10 minutes, or until golden brown on bottom and top.
Oh, and by-the-by (<– someone please explain this phrase to me)… This weekend, I made one of the best recipes I have ever concocted. Ever. And it has three ingredients.
And I am dying to share it with you.
That is all.
Have a great Labor Day!
Do tea squares freak you out, or excite you?
Hmmm…I think I’ll use Pecan meal for this. I made some the other day for granola and it went fantastically.
That sounds delicious! Pecans always seem so autumnal to me
You almost make the best looking vegan baked goods!
Shoot! Let me know how to make it past “almost” to “for sure”
Hope you are having a fun weekend!
These look amazing! There is a tea restaurant in Columbus that makes tea infused pancakes and waffles. I have a feeling you would love it!
Oh my gosh. That sounds so good! Maple syrup and tea waffles… I’m drooling
I am so excited to try these! I had a tea party in lieu of a bachelorette party (aka ‘hen’s night’ here in Oz), so I think you can guess where I stand on the idea of a tea party
I am curious – how much sweetener and oil did you prefer? I always reduce the oil and drastically reduce the sweetener in recipes because I have no sweet tooth, so it’d be helpful to know how much you used in the variation you preferred!
Sarah, that is so cute! I love that you had a tea party
I used about a tablespoon less sweetener and oil, respectively. They might be a little crumblier, but I tend to associate drier, biscuit-type munchies when I think of tea, so this was what I liked. I don’t have much of a sweet tooth either. I’d take a bag of salty sweet potato chips over a bowl of ice cream any day 
This is awesome…I am definitely going to try out a chai version stat!
Hope you love it! Let me know how it goes
I adore your picture — just beautiful.
I love Rooibos and Chia! Favorite teas for sure! These excite me! I’ve baked with macha and loved it! Congrats on finding the lost recipe! That must have felt good. I hate feeling like I’m organized only to discover I can’t find something that I thought I put away safely! Have a great day my friend!
Thanks Sarena! Hope you are having a lovely Labor Day!
These sound amazing! I can’t wait to give them a try. I’m also curious on how much oil and sweetener you preferred. Thanks so much for the awesome recipe!
Hi Lindsay! I used about a tablespoon less for both the oil and the sweetener. I’m not too crazy for sweets, and liked my squares a bit drier and biscuit-like
Let me know how it goes if you try ‘em!
I’m glad to find another Colorado blogger! I live in Lakewood! I actually tried making blueberry rooibos cookies with coconut flour and they turned out alright. There were too many tea pieces in the cookies but they smelled like blueberry muffins! Nice to stumble across your blog! Fall is definitely imminent here in CO.
Hi Alex! I used to live in Lakewood, a few years back — what a coincidence! The blueberry and rooibos combo sounds intriguing. These are pretty heavy on the tea, but I liked having that robust flavor
So nice to “meet” you!
Should baking powder be added?
Nope; since it’s meant to be a bar, it doesn’t need the leavening
I am really going to try to get into tea this fall/winter. I just never seem to crave it! If I crave a hot drink, it’s coffee, and it’s in the morning. And at night, if I crave something, it’s dessert
Perhaps if I drank it throughout the day?
Perhaps! I drink tea a lot during the day, if it’s cold out. I love, love, looove French pressed coffee, but tea is so very cheap in comparison. Now the tea has grown on me. I usually prefer green tea or a strong English Breakfast (especially on those mornings I would rather have coffee
). One tip? The fruitier stuff like Berry Zinger, with a little stevia, it tastes like a (much healthier) Kool Aid! 
Wow! I love anything that goes with tea!
Then you will love this!
I’m chai mad at the moment so these sound awesome!!
Now I just need to find loose tea… bear in mind I had to buy my chai teabags online *sigh* As for ‘by the by’ I would use that when saying something is irrelevant like ‘yes its green but thats by the by, I still want it.’ I know it can be used to introduce another topic but when in that situation I would say ‘by the way’ Hope that helps! 
Hi Hayley! I hope you can find some good loose leaf chai to try ‘em out. If you do, let me know how it goes! Thanks for the usage tip
xo.
Made these last night with rooibos tea. Followed the directions and ingredients exactly and it did not stay together when I cut it! I kinda just threw the ‘tea crumbles’ in a container in a fridge overnight cause I still wanted to try them. Def should have kept the glass dish in the fridge over night un-cut because I feel like they would’ve stayed together. What’s your tactic for cutting? And also, what’s your take on amaranth flour? (didn’t use it, just wondering).
Hi Deanna! Thanks for letting me know about the issue you had. I’m sorry that they crumbled!
I hope I can help us troubleshoot this. I think you already mentioned what I would suggest first — letting them cool for longer (I’m not sure if the fridge overnight would be necessary, but I doubt it would hurt).
My tactic is to let them cool for a while — I usually sort of forget about them for an hour and then realize I need to cut them! Ha. So I would definitely try cooling them completely, and making them cold in the fridge should keep things together. I also use a very sharp knife or the edge of a thin metal spatula to cut the bars. If that still didn’t work, I would add some extra agave, perhaps, to keep it bound together? One thing that is tricky about this recipe is that the different types of tea will have varying sizes/textures, and I worry about that affecting the outcome (i.e., too-big particles of tea leaves making it hard for the dough to stay together). Thus, another option would be to reduce the amount of tea a little, or pulse it in a food processor to make it blend more smoothly into the dough. Let me know if you don’t think these will help, and we’ll put our heads together again! I’m really bummed that these didn’t work out for you — I hope they will next time! Keep me posted on how I can help.
My take on amaranth flour is that it’s great for things like very “earthy” tasting breads, but personally I don’t digest it very well. I also notice it seems to dry out baked goods a little, but that might just be because I’m used to the moisture of almond flour.
When I’ve had my husband try amaranth, he wasn’t a fan, and I use him as my litmus test for other non-GF eaters and their flavor preferences. I don’t love the flavor of amaranth myself, but I don’t necessarily mind it either. I think what it comes down to is that I can’t digest a ton of grains, and ultimately I defer to almond flour because it doesn’t require a ton of thinking/planning/ingredients like most GF grain-flours do. (In short: I’m lazy. 
)
I’ll definitely try them again before I go back to school. Maybe I’ll make a batch on Thanksgiving to have after dinner while everyone’s eating dessert to sip with some tea..hmmm.. I’m allergic to gluten, too, and I can’t have soy or cane sugar aaand I’m like 70% vegetarian (occasionally eggs, yogurt, cheese and fish). What I’m trying to say is, I’m happy I creeped through many food blogs and stumbled upon your’s !