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Have you ever baked a sweet dessert with herbs? I’ll be honest, this is the first time I’ve tried it and I don’t think I’m ever going back to my non-herb baking days. These Rosemary Lemon Shortbread Cookies are a surprise with every bite. Buttery shortbread infused with sweet and tangy citrus and a subtle earthy herbal note from the rosemary. All of these flavors are set off by the slight crunch of the sparkling sugar at the edge of each little cookie. Seriously, these cookies will continue to delight you even as you find yourself eating the entire batch all by yourself. I’m not admitting to anything other than the fact that I may need a cookie intervention.
Along with my cookie intervention I may need an intervention for all of my ‘kicks’ this year. And by kicks, I mean short lived obsessions during which I explore and cook and bake with a certain ingredient until my family can’t stand to even look at it anymore. And then I move on. Luckily, each kick has gently given way to the next one so that the previous is not thought about in completely negative light, but rather thought of fondly. At least I like to think that’s the case. I just can’t help myself. I get so into a particular ingredient or food and I can’t quite seem to think about anything else until I’ve exhausted all of my ideas; or at least until the next shiny ingredient comes along and turns my head.
These Rosemary Lemon Shortbread Cookies seem to embody several of my kicks, especially when paired with my Rosemary Citrus Spritzers. I have been on a crazy citrus kick lately, going from Meyer lemons to key limes and now a combination of lemon and mandarin orange. The Rosemary Lemon Shortbreads are also giving way to my latest kick: baking with herbs. Stay tuned for more of that because if I know myself at all, this isn’t over by a long shot. But you should definitely try them for yourself. I’m quite sure you won’t be sorry that you did.
Do you have any ingredients that you just can’t get enough of? Please tell me I’m not the only one.
Rosemary Lemon Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients:
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest (from 1 lemon)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup white whole wheat flour
- 1 Tablespoon fresh rosemary, minced
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- Sanding sugar for rolling, optional
Directions:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add lemon zest, vanilla and egg and beat until incorporated.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together both kinds of flour, salt and rosemary.
- With the mixer on low, gently add dry ingredients into butter mixture. Mix until ingredients are well combined and a stiff dough is formed.
- Cut two 12x16 inch pieces of plastic wrap. Divide dough in half placing one half of the dough on each piece of plastic wrap. Use your hands to form two 1 ½ inch diameter logs. Open the plastic wrap and sprinkle logs with sanding sugar (if using) and roll a bit more to coat the logs well in the sugar. Wrap logs tightly in the plastic wrap, place on baking sheet and freeze logs for 1 hour or until firm.
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Remove dough logs from the freezer and remove the plastic wrap. Slice dough into ¼ inch thick slices and place on prepared baking sheets 1 inch apart.
- Bake until cookies are just golden at the edges, about 16-18 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on wire racks. Store cookies in an air tight container for up to 4 days.
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These look absolutely lovely! Rosmeary is my favorite herb, and these cookies look delightful to go with my afternoon tea.
Thanks, Tracy! They are perfect with tea. I may have tried it with a dozen or two ;)
I love the lemon and rosemary combo – I get rave review for lemon-rosemary sugar cookies. I also make a rosemary apple pie. Blackberry and sage go well together (I actually made a blackberry sage jelly this year). Basil and honey. And so on. Yummy stuff!
Wow, thanks for all of the ideas, PJ! I just bought 4 packages of blackberries at the store and now I really think I’ll need to try to pair it with sage. I love that idea! Thank you so much for stopping by!!
I love shortbread and adding new flavours seems a great idea. Will give this a go. Thanks
These are pretty awesome!
These looks delish! I think anything with course sugar gets my vote haha
Me too, Michael! It just makes things look so fancy :) Thanks so much for stopping by!
Must give all these herb ideas a try! Love anything lemon already…but these cookies look like something special!
I’m way too ADD to stick with one ingredient (except maybe butter!) for very long. I’ve never tried herbs in baking, but these sound incredible.
I couldn’t agree more that butter is definitely something to stick with ;) You should totally try these, Loretta! It’s great to see you again!
I loooove baking with herbs or pairing herbs with desserts in general. I find it so unexpected and people kind of look at you a little strange when you tell them there’s basil in their sorbet or rosemary in their lemonade. But they’re almost always pleasantly surprised. These cookies sound like they are incredible! I especially love lemons as rosemary together. Oh and as far as kicks, I’m totally there with you. I had my herb kick last summer. I was on a goat cheese baked into anything and everything kick for a while in the fall. Oh, and lest we forget, my bacon desserts craze. That kick still continues to be experimented with.
Kate, I think you and I are totally on the same page with kicks! I buy goat cheese in these huge packages from Costco (and I’m not ashamed) because we go through so much. It’s crazy! I can also completely get on board with a bacon kick, anytime :)
savory cookies?? madness!
I’ve never tried baking sweets with herbs even though my mom’s tried to get me to do it for years! I guess I’ll have to try it out!