Rosemary Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies make a tasty addition to your traditional holiday cookie spread, but they’re also a great year round treat. I’ve taken a very simple slice-and-bake shortbread cookie recipe and jazzed up with finely diced fresh rosemary and mini chocolate chips. The rosemary may seem like an odd ingredient for a cookie, but don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. The subtle flavor of fresh rosemary translates into something more like mint. The salty minty shortbread is a highly addictive snack.
Baked Goods: Giving is Better than Receiving
Receiving baked goods as gifts is almost as good as giving them. There’s something about spending a long weekend baking up a variety of goodies, sorting them into cute little packages and boxing them up that gives me joy.
Rosemary Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies are great for gifting because they last much longer than most homemade baked goods so they work well for those who like to plan for their baked good gifts in advance.
If you keep a jar of Rosemary Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies on hand, you’ll have the perfect hostess gift at the ready when the need arises last minute.
Rosemary in Cookies?
Using herbs to flavor cookies might seem a little out there. I can’t remember what made me decide to try this but I remember going through a rosemary obsession a few year ago so it probably happened then.
Adding fresh finely-chopped rosemary to this shortbread cookie makes them incredibly fragrant in a Christmassy way, and it leaves just a subtle hint of mint in the flavor (more than it tastes like actual rosemary).
It must be the magic of butter. Butter makes everything better.
There is also a hit of salt that compliments the rosemary and that is what makes these little bite-sized treats totally addictive. Trust me on this. Tasting is believing.
Slice and Bake Cookies
Rosemary Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies are a slice and bake recipe. That means you make the dough, roll it into logs and refrigerate it for a few hours before slicing and baking. It’s an extra step, but it’s also ideal for staging the holiday cookie baking process in your kitchen.
Let’s say you are planning to do baked good gifts for friend, teacher and hostess gifts this season. You can make a batch of Rosemary Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies on a Sunday afternoon and bake them in batches later as you need them.
You can also bake them all at once and just store them. The beautiful thing about Rosemary Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies is they last for several weeks unlike many cookies that get too hard to enjoy after just a few days.
This recipe makes 60 bite-sized cookies. A serving size is 5 cookies.
Life is Short. Lick the Spoon. Or the Beater Paddle.
One of the joys of baking is getting to taste the batter. I always end up eating a couple spoonfuls of any batter than involves butter, sugar and flour.
Equipment
- 4 parchment, wax paper or plastic wrap
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter (2 sticks)
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups flour
- 1 pinch kosher salt
- 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips
- 1 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
Instructions
Prepare the Dough
- Using a stand mixer, beat the butter, powdered sugar and vanilla extract until fluffy. Use medium to medium high speed for 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add the flour. Mix on low speed until the flour begins to combine, then raise to a medium-low speed until flour is incorporated and the dough begins to form a clump around the mixer paddle. Do not over mix.
- Remove the dough from the bowl. Divide into 4 equal sections. Using a flat surface or cutting board, roll each section into a log a little larger in diameter than a quarter. Start by using your hands to shape some dough into a loaf shape. Use one hand to roll the loaf across the board, pick it up and place it back on the other end and roll across the board again. Keep doing this four or five times until you have a nice log. Repeat with the other 3 pieces of dough.
- Wrap each log in parchment, wax paper or plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours but ideally overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350℉. Remove the cookie dough logs from the refrigerator and allow to sit at room temperature while oven preheats. Slice each log into 1/2" pieces and place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Bake for 12-14 minutes until just barely beginning to brown on the edges. Better to under do it than over do it. Remove from oven and cool before storing.
Nutrition
Need more ideas for holiday baking and gift giving? Check out Cinnamon Sugar Roasted Cashews, an even faster recipe that delivers high-yield for holiday gift giving.
