Rosemary, Walnut and Brown Sugar Cookies

It’s weird that just when I get pots of fresh herbs, I stop using them in my cooking. Suddenly, I  don’t need them all that much. And when I don’t have them, I keep getting smacked in the face, recipe after recipe that calls for ‘a sprig of thyme’ (which doesn’t warrant buying an entire packet) or a teaspoon of marjoram (that’s not always available at the supermarket).

 I bought two pots of herbs recently: basil and rosemary. The basil keeps getting plucked for the tomato basil sauce while rosemary is used off and on to make pan roasted potatoes. Lately, I’m trying to put my herbs to use more than usual because I’m afraid they won’t survive the winter.

Today, I made cookies with rosemary.  Buttery crisp and not too sweet, speckled with fresh rosemary and toasted walnuts. I do think that rosemary and walnut is a match made in heaven (but then I discovered that a while ago) and thrown together with soft brown sugar makes for a winning recipe. Because they’re not overtly sweet, you can even indulge with a bit of the best caramel sauce on top (sorry, I’m kinda obsessed).

Some pointers:

• The cookies are unleavened – so all the volume that we need, needs to be whipped into it when mixing the butter and sugar followed by the eggs.
• Bake the cookies until they’re golden-brown on the edges… they’ll be soft so you might think you need to bake them longer, but they are going to firm up on cooling. If after cooling, they’re still a tad soft in the centre, then you can pop them into the oven for a couple more minutes.
• When you add the rosemary to the butter, beat it for a minute or so for the flavour of rosemary to really meld into the butter. Alternatively, you could also rub the rosemary with the sugar together so that the heat from your fingertips releases the oils into the sugar and makes the cookies that much more fragrant.

Rosemary, Walnut and Brown Sugar Cookie Recipe

120g butter
75g brown sugar
1-2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
1 egg yolk
50g walnuts, lightly toasted and coarsely ground
180g flour
1 tsp salt|
Sea salt flakes for sprinkling on the cookies

Equipment: Silicone baking mat (USA | UK)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 170C.
2. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until creamy. Add the chopped rosemary and continue to beat for a minute before you add the egg yolk.
3. Once fully combined, fold in the flour along with the walnuts and salt until it forms a dough.
4. Transfer to a work surface, roll into a log and wrap it up with cling film. Refrigerate for 2 hours or so.
5. Next, cut the log of dough into discs and place them on a cookie sheet lined with a silicone mat or parchment paper.
6. Bake for 9-12 minutes. The baking time may vary based on the size of the discs, so keep an eye on that oven door. This time is for cookies that are 1.5 inches in diameter and 1/4th-15/th of an inch thick.
7. Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack.