I love the savory, sweet component to these cookies. Shortbread happens to be one of my favorite cookies, so rich and buttery, without a ton of sugar. Add some herbaceous rosemary and some Malden Sea Salt and this is sophisticated and hard to resist.

Tips:

• Cookies can be baked, cut, and cooled 1 week in advance. Transfer (on parchment) to an airtight container and store at room temperature, or freeze for up to 3 months.

• If you don't like rosemary, like my brother, for some reason, just leave it out. The cookies are delicious on their own. You can even dip them in some melted chocolate to make them fancy.

Salted Rosemary Shortbread Cookies

Inspired from Food52 recipe

Makes 32 cookies

PREP 88 minutes (chills for 60 minutes)

COOK 30 minutes

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups (180g) unbleached all-purpose flour

1/3 cup (43g) rice flour (I used brown rice flour)

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, finely chopped

1 cup (2 sticks, 1/2 pound, or 227g) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon (112g) granulated sugar, divided

2 teaspoons finely grated orange or lemon zest

Flaky sea salt, like Malden, for topping

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Line a 8 x 8-inch (20 x 20cm) baking pan (preferably glass) with parchment paper, leaving overhang on two sides. I like to use two metal clips to hold the parchment down while baking.

2. Whisk together all-purpose flour, rice flour, rosemary and salt; set aside.

3. Combine the butter, 1/2 cup sugar, and orange zest in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat with paddle attachment on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes, scraping down bowl as needed. If doing this by hand it will take about 6 minutes.

4. Add flour mixture. Beat on low speed until crumbly, then increase speed to medium and beat until well combined, scraping down bowl as needed, about 2 minutes more. Transfer dough to prepared pan, then use an offset spatula to spread and press dough evenly into pan, smoothing top. Chill until firm, 1 hour.

5. Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). Prick shortbread all over with a fork. Sprinkle evenly with remaining 1 tablespoon sugar, then sprinkle flaky salt over. Bake until golden brown around edges and evenly golden on surface, 30 to 35 minutes.

6. Immediately cut the cookies while still in the pan. Use a sharp knife or bench scraper to make small cookies. Either cut into four 2”-wide strips lengthwise. Rotate pan 90° and make eight 1-inch (2.5cm)-wide cuts perpendicular to the first ones to make 32 rectangular cookies. Or, you can cut into squares by cutting every 1”.

7. After 10 minutes run a thin spatula around edges so that cookies don’t stick to sides of pan as they cool. Let cool completely in pan.

8. When cooled, remove the cookies from the pan, using parchment overhang and gently separate cookies if they stuck a bit while cooling. Enjoy!