Rosemary Cookies

These cookies could also be named best cookies in the world, at least at second glance. Because the aroma of rosemary has something so silent and yet unforgettable. I assure you, if you adore rosemary, like me, you’ll come back to these.

And that’s why it’s a mystery that these have not landed here on the blog yet. For more than ten years, they have been favorite cookies in my entire family and are sure to be baked two to three times a year.
Therefore, this time, I quickly noted the ingredients and pulled out the mobile phone for a photo because my father-in-law said he would be “happy about rosemary cookies again”.

The recipe is based on a classic of the great Martha Stewart, but has, over the years, quickly emerged to a less sweet, wholeful and gluten-free version. In my experience anything goes: whether wheat, spelt flour or gluten-free. Only the sugar content I have greatly reduced and increased the amount of fresh rosemary. Priorities.

The rosemary cookies take a bit of planning time as they need to pause one round in the ice box before baking so they are more easily to be cut. But it is very worthwhile!

Depending on how sweet you want the cookies, the sugar content can be adjusted. I like it when the cookies are between slightly sweet and slightly salty. Since we have completely reduced our sugar intake, I now use birch sugar, which behaves in baking exactly like cane sugar with minimal less sweetness, and is even good for the teeth (haha).

I wrote down my gluten-free flour mix (I do not like the to buy pre-mixes) in the notes below, I use it for just about anyything and think it’s a good mix between wholegrain and white. The cookies, however, are a bit more brittle without the gluten, so it is important to process the dough relatively quickly while rolling and to allow the ready-baked cookies to cool well before being touched.
Depending on how big your eggs are, you may need to add 1-2 tablespoons more flour. The dough should be crumbly and malleable but not completely disintegrated. Too much of flour makes the end result very hard and dry.
As for the baking heat, everyone knows his / her stove best. In the original recipe baking time is 18-20 minutes, however they would be almost black in my oven by then.

When I noted the ingredients, I noticed that the quantities are actually a bit unfavourable in metrics, since they are still from the translation of the original recipe. In the future, I’ll re-calculate the recipe to half a pound of butter and then replace it here.

Rosemary Cookies

1/2 bunch of fresh rosemary
225 g butter
80-100 g birch sugar, alternatively raw cane sugar
1 whole egg of medium size
1 egg yolk
315 g gluten-free flour mixture (as below)
1 pinch of ground vanilla or vanilla extract
1 tsp rock salt

Decor:
1 egg white
a few tablespoons of birch sugar

optional: 1 empty kitchen roll

Instructions

1. From a half bunch of rosemary or 1-2 long and fresh branches strip the needles and finely chop with a knife. There should be 2 tablespoons of well-heaped chopped rosemary.

2. Beat the cold butter and sugar until fluffy with the electric hand mixer (or in the food processor) until the sugar is dissolved. Stir in 1 whole egg, egg yolk, vanilla, and salt. Now sift the flour over it and mix quickly until the dough has just formed. I use a hand-held pastry cutter as below.

3. Divide the dough into two parts and form each into an even roll on a piece of sandwich paper or beeswax paper, with a diameter of about 4 cm. This works best if you roll the dough into the paper, hold a long ruler on the outside against it, and pull on the paper (although it does work without, then the cookies look more like mine do here).

4. For super round rosemary biscuits here comes the Martha Stewart trick: push the cookie roll into the paper towel tube (easier with sandwich paper) and let rest for an hour in the freezer.

5. Take the cookie dough rolls out of the freezer, unpack them, preheat the oven to 180-200 degrees Celcius and prepare two sheets with baking paper / baking mat.
Brush the rolls with the egg whites and roll in some extra birch sugar. Cut 6mm thick slices with a strong, sharp knife (if the dough is still too cold, allow to thaw for a short time). Place cookies 2-3 cm apart on the baking sheet and bake for about 12-15 minutes until the edges are slightly golden. Take out immediately and let cool on the plate.

6. The cookies keep airtight and cool for about two weeks.

Voilà! Rosemary love forever.

Notes:
I have had good experiences with a gluten-free flour mixture of the following ingredients: 1 part buckwheat flour, 1 part Teff flour, 1 part whole rice flour, 1 part starch. I just mix it in a big 1.5 liter mason jar.

Product Link:

Pastry Dough Cutter Wood