Rosemary Shortbread

These tender and buttery rosemary shortbread cookies are incredibly easy to make and packed with flavor. Mix, cut, bake and voila - you can start munching on your herbed shortbread within the hour.

Shortbread Method

Shortbread has always been one of my favorite treats - they're characteristically not very sweet and there are so many different flavors that you can incorporate in the dough to jazz them up. There are only six ingredients needed for this recipe - here we will be using rosemary as our primary flavoring agent!

In general, when making shortbread, the first step is to combine all ingredients other than the flour and your flavoring together and mix. By waiting to add your flour until the last minute, you are avoiding the potential of the dough getting over-mixed and the gluten overdeveloping. If this happens, your shortbread will end up quite tough rather than tender. I prefer using a food processor for this stage as it helps to cut your softened butter into the dough evenly, and very quickly!

You then will pour your rosemary and flour mixture into the food processor and pulse until the dough comes together. Separate the dough into two portions and shape into disks. Wrap each disk in plastic and start the process of chilling your dough.

The Importance of Chilling - Two Steps

I’ve seen a number of shortbread recipes where the recipe requires your dough to chill overnight so the shortbread solidifies, yet I prefer to remove my dough from the fridge and roll it out once it’s slightly cool to the touch. You should only have to chill the dough for about 20 minutes after mixing before you are ready to cut your dough into your preferred shapes.

Once you have cut your shapes, it's important to place your cookies in the freezer. This freezing process helps to solidify the fat in your dough prior to baking. Since shortbread is primarily made of butter, freezing the dough before baking prevents the cookies from spreading in the oven. This way they retain their crisp shape!

Baking Shortbread to Perfection

Another trick to successful shortbread cookies is to make sure you do not over-bake them! Tender, buttery shortbread cookies that melt in your mouth is the goal. Making sure your oven temperature is set accurately is imperative. I am a huge advocate of purchasing an oven thermometer in order to make sure that your oven temperature is accurate. While baking, if you start to see even the slightest browning near the bottom or top of your shortbread, it's time to remove them from the oven, transfer them to a cooling rack, and allow them to cool.

Flavoring Shortbread

The flavor of shortbread cookies can be modified and adapted easily! Here are a few ideas to incorporate into the dough to get you started:

Storage

These baked cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for a month. Instead of baking all your shortbread at once, another option is to keep the majority of your cut shortbread wrapped in the freezer. Then, when you get another craving, pull a few out and bake them fresh!