I made these cookies for my bridal shower because I was having a tea party theme. They're really cute and the chocolate "tea" makes it even better. Cute idea for a little girl's birthday party too, you can even make them smaller if you like. I bought this tea bag cookie cutter from Cheapcookiecutters.com but you can just use a rectangular cutter and snip the edges off to resemble a tea bag. 

What you need:
Shortbread Cookie Dough (or any other non spreading cookie dough, you can also check out my sugar cookie recipe)
Cookie Cutter (see mynote above)
Small straw or tooth pick
Thread (I used a thicker thread to make it more like the real thing)
Tea Tags (optional)
Chocolate or chocolate candy melts

What to do:
Preheat oven to 350 F.

Cut the chilled cookie dough with your cookie cutters. You can re-use the scrap dough by mixing it back together and rolling it out again, just remember to chill it again after re-rolling it. 

Place the cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Using a small drinking straw (the black ones often used at bars) make a small hole at the top of the cookie. This is where you will weave your thread through the cookie so make sure to go all the way through. If using a toothpick, again make sure to go all the way through to the other end of the cookie and wiggle it around a bit to ensure the hole is big enough. 

Place your cookies into the oven for 12 - 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring them to a cooling rack to finish cooling. Inspect each hole to make sure that it goes all the way through. If it doesn't gently stick a toothpick through the hole to open it up. Be careful not to break your cookie. 

In the meantime using a mug melt your candy melts in the microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring after each interval. If you are using real chocolate, you will have to temper the chocolate otherwise it will not harden and will get white spots on it. It's really your choice, I have tempered my chocolate when making these cookies but if you do not have previous experience with tempering I suggest you stick to the chocolate melts for these cookies. , 

Dip your cookie into the mug about 1/4 of the way down (the narrow but deep mug makes dipping easier) and then pull straight out and wipe the excess chocolate from the back of the cookie by gently scraping it along the side of the mug. Place on parchment paper to dry. 

Once all your cookies are dipped you can add your string and tags. To make the tags I simply printed out tags on card stock and folded them over, double side taped them shut with the ends of the strings inside and then snipped off the corners to complete the look. Weave the thread through the hole in the top of the cookie and bring the tag through it and pull to make a knot. 

And you're done, serve these in a tea box or on a saucer with a tea cup.