December is here (already!), and you know what that means....it's time for a holiday baking bonanza! I love this time of year! Last weekend I stocked up on flour, sugar, a heck of a lot of pounds of butter and of course, some chocolate. I'm off to a strong start and it's only going to ramp up from here.
Every year around this time I always debate whether to bake some of my classic Christmas favorites, or try out new cookie recipes. Decisions, decisions. Last year I went with all traditional favorites...
Jam Thumprints (yum...these are my absolute favorite!)
This year I'm going with all new cookies. I paged through holiday magazines, cookbooks and blogs to find a good selection. I had no idea how hard it was going to be to narrow down my selection, everything I found looked soo delicious. I wish I could forget about work and spend the whole month baking cookies, and pies, and cakes and wonderful holiday treats....sigh....maybe one of these days.
Rosemary Shortbread
(Adapted from Gourmet, December 2002)
Makes 16 cookies
2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
Preheat oven to 300°F.
Butter and flour a 9-inch round pan.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder and rosemary.
In a large bowl, combine butter, honey and confectioners sugar with an electric mixer at low speed, then add flour mixture and mix until dough resembles course meal with some small (think pea-size) butter lumps. Gather dough into a ball and transfer to a lightly floured surface. Knead dough until it comes together.
Transfer dough to the prepared pan. Use a fork or piece of wax paper (my preference) or plastic wrap to press dough evenly into the pan. use a fork to score the dough into wedges. Sprinkle with remaining granulated sugar.
Bake until golden brown, about 18 to 24 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire cooling rack.
Enjoy!
These look beautiful. Love that rosemary flavour.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.easyfoodsmith.blogspot.com/
It's always difficult to narrow down your holiday baking list! I'm loving your rosemary shortbread - it's a nice way to spice it up!
ReplyDeleteI really really like this idea of adding rosemary to shortbread. Never thought about it but I'm loving the idea of that savoury touch.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you about wanting to go crazy with baking and it doesn't make it any easier when you spot delicious recipes like this ;)
I love shortbread cookies and I love rosemary so I'm really excited about trying this! Thanks!
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