Saturday, July 11, 2009

Lemon Rosemary Cookies

Rosemary, one of my favorite herbs. I am always envious of the large bushes I see growing in the Mediterranean and on the West Coast. My plants never get any bigger than the one pictured here, though some grow tall and others sprawl out. But whats not to love about an herb whos name means "dew of the sea"? Rosemary belongs to the mint family and there are many, many varieties out there. For a descriptive list visit the Mountain Valley Growers site. If only they were winter hardy in Massachusetts!

Rosemary pairs well with so many foods. It is a wonderful companion to all meats, blue cheese, and many fruits such as apples, cranberries, and citrus. It is best grown from cuttings rather than seeds, see here for instructions. This is a new discovery for me and I plan on trying it with my current plants before the winter comes.

One of my favorite yet unusual ways to use rosemary is by baking it into light lemony cookies. Below is a wonderful recipe taken from Out of the Earth: A Heritage Farm Coast Cookbook. It is a recipe I don't make often enough and I hope that it will soon become one of your favorites too!

Lemon Rosemary Cookies

  • 1 C sugar, 3 tbsp. butter, softened, 2 eggs, well beaten; cream butter and sugar until fluffy with an electric mixer. Add eggs and beat thoroughly.
  • 3 tsp. lemon rind, 1 tbsp. rosemary, chopped fine; fold into egg mixture.
  • 1 1/2 C flour, 1/4 tsp. salt, 2 tsp. baking powder; Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. Fold into egg mixture.

Drop by sm. spoonfulls onto parchment-lined cookie sheet. Flatten with cup dipped in sugar. Bake for 7 minutes at 325 degrees. Makes 2 dozen.


2 comments:

Erin said...

I want to move back north someday, but I will sure miss my rosemary! I am one of those who is lucky enough to have "hedges" of the stuff! It smells divine...wow, I didn't even realize it wasn't hardy up there...stuff is tough as nails down here at the beach! Now I have one more thing to stress about, lol!!

Kelly said...

Yeah, it gets cold here in the winter. One variety I recently picked up is more cold hardy and the guy at the farm stand said if I covered and mulched the thing it may last through the winter. Fingers crossed!