Browned Butter & Rosemary Shortbread
Could it be December 10th already? How did that happen? That means it’s time for the The Ultimate Baker’s Dozen Christmas Cookie Exchange! How much fun is this: I’ve united with a dozen delicious food bloggers to bring you a virtual Christmas Cookie exchange, since I couldn’t manage to pull one together in real life. (Which I have to say bums me out a little bit – I was fully determined to bring back the cookie exchange this year – think I could swing it in the next two weeks?)
Let me tell you, I had a hard time deciding on ONE cookie recipe for this party. I kept stacks of holiday magazines and Christmas Cookie Special Editions beside my bed to flip through for late-night inspiration. I pondered the ones (Mom’s nut balls, stroopwafels, Hello Dollies) that could not be left out of my own Christmas baking. Bars were excluded, which was a bit of a relief; that restriction narrowed my options by several hundred. Then one day a friend forwarded me an old recipe she had found, knowing it was right up my alley – a recipe for Browned Butter Shortbread. She knows me well.
That’s right – BROWNED BUTTER. Were there ever two words that married so well? Browned butter makes everything better. Since shortbread is a mere vehicle for butter, it makes the perfect candidate for browning. If you’re not familiar, browning the butter caramelizes its natural sugars, intensifying its flavour and giving it a nutty edge.
The recipe was a little odd, adorned with a whole, bald almond, but I took the browned butter idea and ran with it. What would I make? Plain old straight-up shortbread? Brown sugar? I didn’t want anything to interfere with the aforementioned browned butter.
Using browned butter, which has been melted, gives the cookies a sandy texture and a bit of tooth; these aren’t like those whipped shortbreads that -and I may be Grinched (that’s like lynched) for saying this- I find a little dusty in the mouth.
I made two batches. On the second try I thought of mulching the rosemary with the sugar, rather than the flour, which typically helps release as many flavourful oils as possible and distribute them through whatever it is you’re baking. A bit of moisture in the form of honey or maple syrup helped grind the rosemary considerably. The first batch I chilled solid, and had to practically sit on for an hour to render it workable again.
The second I patted into two round cake pans, and pressed around the edges with the tines of a fork. After baking, you cut the disc into wedges while it’s still very warm (it tends to crumble at the tips when completely cool.) I do adore shortbread wedges; the only problem with shortbread in this form is that it’s impossible to resist balancing one on your mug of steaming coffee or tea, even if it’s only 7:30 in the morning. I lived on this stuff for days.
The first batch, once it regained its pliability, was rolled into walnut-sized balls and once on the cookie sheet pressed down with a cookie stamp – little ceramic stamps that make an imprint on cookie dough that doesn’t spread much, like shortbread. Mine was a snowman – I found a couple in my stocking a dozen or so Christmases ago and managed to locate them in the depths of the basement, covered in cobwebs. You don’t need a cookie stamp, you could use the bottom of a glass, or roll the dough out, or shape it into a log and slice it. Really, do whatever you want to do – it’s just shortbread dough. It will be soft at first – you can chill it for a half an hour or so to firm it up, but chill it overnight and it will be hack-apart-with-a-cleaver solid.
Browned Butter & Rosemary Shortbread
1 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar (white or brown)
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary (pull the leaves off the stems)
1 Tbsp. honey or maple syrup
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. saltIn a small saucepan, heat the butter until it melts, foams and then starts to turn brown and smell nutty. Pour into a mixing bowl, scraping out any browned bits on the bottom of the pan, and set aside.
Meanwhile, put the sugar, rosemary and honey or maple syrup into the bowl of a food processor and pulse until well mulched; the mixture will look like wet sand. Add to the browned butter and mix well. Add the flour, baking powder and salt and stir just until well blended.
Chill the dough for half an hour or so to make it workable, then roll into walnut-sized balls, place them on a baking sheet and press down on them with the bottom of a glass or a cookie stamp, or divide the dough in half and press each into the bottom of a 9″ cake pan, and press around the edges with the tines of a fork. Bake at 325F for 15 minutes (for cookies) or 25 minutes (for wedges), or until pale golden around the edges. If you used cake pans, cut into wedges while still warm.
Makes about 1 1/2 dozen shortbread cookies.
Now it’s time to take a trip down the cookie aisle and check out what the other bloggers are baking. The Ultimate Baker’s Dozen Christmas Cookie Exchange website has links and descriptions of all our cookies – and plenty of giveaways – including chances to win actual cookies! They’re giving away 6 cookie-of-the-month memberships, including one that keeps on giving for an entire year! Visit participating blogs to see who snuck a contest in with their cookie recipe. (Quick, the contest ends on Monday, December 16th.)
Christmas is two weeks away – it’s cookie season!
December 10 2009 | cookies & squares | 27 Comments »
