My garden club held its semi-annual fundraiser this week. We are in charge of the garden at the historic Hopemont House here in Lexington, and every other year we host a garden party there to raise money for our gardening projects. The weather was perfect, and the garden has never looked prettier. The members are in charge of providing the food, and I volunteered to make rosemary shortbread cookies. A few years ago I took lavender shortbread cookies, and they were a big hit. Rosemary cookies seemed like a good treat to take this year. The recipe is the classic shortbread recipe with the addition of fresh rosemary. Since I don’t have an herb garden this year (temporarily living in a rental during our new house’s remodel), my friend Sharon said I could snip some of her rosemary to use. These rosemary shortbread cookies aren’t too sweet, and the musky addition of rosemary makes them just delicious. It’s an easy recipe, but allow time for the dough to be in the fridge for an hour.
Rosemary Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
- 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons sugar for tops
Instructions
- Mix butter and sugar till fluffy.
- Add rosemary, flour and salt and mix till well blended.
- Cover and refrigerate for one hour.
- Set oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment or use a silpat
- On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into rectangles. Place cookies 1 inch apart on the lined cookie sheets. Sprinkle the remaining sugar over the tops.
- Bake for 8 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden at the edges. Cool on wire racks, and store in an airtight container at room temperature.
- RECIPE SOURCE - www.allrecipes.com
Some people asked me if you need to use fresh rosemary, and my answer is yes. There’s just a hint of the flavor so it isn’t overwhelming. If people don’t know what is in the cookies, they take a bite and then think to themselves, “What is that flavor? I know I recognize it, but I just can’t figure out what it is.” That’s because one doesn’t usually expect the flavor of rosemary in a cookie. It’s a nice surprise. And one more thing – if you would rather have round cookies than rectangular ones, just use a small round cookie cutter instead of cutting the dough with a knife. I even think a little rosemary flavored icing would be nice on top. Yum!!!
Thank you all for stopping in this week. We have some great selections for our Saturday Selections so we will see you here tomorrow.
Take care.
We stayed several days in a wonderful hotel in the English Midlands. Every afternoon when we returned from our days activities, a maid you come to our room with a pot of tea and the daily shortbread cookie. My favorite was the Rosemary, you have inspired me to make these delicious treats.
Great Beth. You have that nice herb garden and can use your really fresh rosemary.