These crisp little shortbread cookies have a wonderful lemony flavour, with a hint of rosemary popping up on your tastebuds every once in a while. These are the kind of sophisticated cookies you can serve with tea, even the most discerning palate will approve of, and yet they are devilishly easy to make.

Hint: To finely crumble the rosemary, either use a mortar and pestle or give it a whirl in a spice mill.

 

Ingredients (18-20 cookies)

1 cup flour

½ cup icing sugar

½ cup butter, cut into ¼”- ½” (5-12mm) pieces

2 tsp finely crumbled dried rosemary

1 ½ tsp grated lemon rind

¼ tsp salt

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

 

1. Preheat oven to 375F (190c).

2. In a food processor, pulse all of the ingredients except the lemon juice, until the butter is chopped into small granules.

3. Add the lemon juice and pulse until the dough starts to form in moist clumps.

4. Use a spoon to scoop out enough dough to roll into a 1” (2.5cm) ball. Place the balls on a buttered and floured cookie sheet, with at least 1” (2.5cm) space between balls.

5. Use a fork or flat bottom of a glass to flatten the balls to ¼” (5mm) thick. Dust the fork or glass bottom with icing sugar to prevent sticking.

6. Bake the cookies for 20 minutes, until edges are browned.

7. Transfer to a cooling rack.