Chamomile Shortbread
There is never a bad time for a good slice and bake cookie recipe. This is adapted from a recipe I use at work for rosemary shortbread and it’s quick, easy, and the cookies are very crave-able.
Ingredients
227 g butter, 2 sticks
113 g powdered sugar
Zest of half of a lemon
3 g salt
3 bags of chamomile tea (approximately 6 g if using loose leaf)
2 Tablespoons vanilla
240 g flour, 2 cups
1 egg white (optional)
Turbinado or demerara sugar for decorating.
Instructions
Add your room temperature butter, powdered sugar, salt, and lemon zest to the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment. Mix until thoroughly combined- mixture should look homogenous.
Scrape the bowl and paddle and add your chamomile. Mix until incorporated.
Scrape the bowl again and add vanilla.
Now add your flour all at once. Start mixing slowly, then increase the speed to make sure it is thoroughly combined. But don’t mix for too long, you don’t want to over mix and make your cookies tough.
Take dough out of the stand mixer.
Knead a few times if you feel that might help bring the dough together into a more cohesive mass.
Roll into an 8.5 inch log by lightly flouring your work surface and your dough.
Wrap the log in parchment paper or plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator overnight, or up to 2 days.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350.
Remove completely chilled dough from the fridge and unwrap. If you want a crunchy ring of sugar on each cookie, before slicing them, use a pastry brush to paint the log of dough with egg whites. Sprinkle roughly half a cup of turbinado or demerara sugar onto a baking tray and roll the washed log in the sugar, making sure to cover it all.
Using a sharp blade, cut ¼ inch slices from the log, resulting in 20 cookies.
Place the sugared cookies back in the fridge to chill for at least 15 minutes. You want the cookies to be cold when they go in the oven. Alternatively, freeze the sliced cookies on a tray or plate and then place in a bag for storage once frozen. You can bake from frozen, just know that they may take slightly longer to bake.
Place the cookies on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper, leaving 1 inch in between. Bake for 7 minutes, then rotate the tray and bake for 7 more. The outer edges should be just beginning to brown.
Rest the cookies on their tray for 15 minutes after baking and then move to a cooling rack. Cookies can be kept in a sealed container at room temperature for 5 days.