Christmas is the time for giving and these deliciously buttery melt-in-the-mouth rosemary shortbread cookies make the perfect Christmas food gift!

Cut out into all kinds of fun festive shapes, these homemade shortbread cookies are embellished with herbs to make them extra special.

Package them up in little boxes or glass jars to gift them to friends, family and colleagues or even serve them up at a Christmas function and they shall be admired and enjoyed!

This post is in collaboration with some of my blogging peers including Sydnee from The One with Infertility, Anna from Wild Caught Mama and Chandelle from The Sky is my Home all about Christmas gifting!

So don’t forget to check out their posts on the topic too, links to their posts will be included below or you can go ahead and click on the links to their blogs above.

Now let’s get on to shortbread!

What is Shortbread?

If you’ve never had shortbread before, then you, my friend have been missing out on some buttery goodness. According to Google, it is defined as ‘a crisp, rich crumbly type of biscuit made with butter, flour and sugar’ (source).

This recipe came together with the help of ratios by Michael Ruhlman, with a few modifications.

Ingredients to make Rosemary Shortbread Cookies

Making your very own homemade shortbread cookies is super simple with the following ingredients…

Plain Flour: To help hold the structure and give the crumbly texture to the shortbread. It is also known as all-purpose flour.

Rice flour: made from finely milled rice. Rice flour doesn’t have much flavour, so it won’t add to the overall taste of the shortbread. It mainly helps to improve the texture, resulting in a nice crisp, light and tender shortbread.

Butter: This recipe includes a generous amount of butter, which is why you need to use one of good quality. I prefer using salted butter for the flavour but unsalted butter may also be used if you add a 1/2 tsp more salt to make up for it!

Rosemary: Gives the shortbread a robust herbaceous flavour that pairs extremely well with the butter and parmesan. Fresh rosemary leaves provide the best flavour, in comparison to dried – so, therefore, this substitution is not recommended.

Tips on how to remove rosemary leaves from the stem here!

Parmesan: The rich salty element in this shortbread enhances the dimension and flavour. Freshly grated parmesan is recommended for the best flavour. As it is such a salty food and an addition to the shortbread, this replaces the need for any salt in the shortbread mixture itself.

Caster Sugar: A fine-grain white sugar. It adds just a touch of sweetness to these shortbread cookies and balances out the savoury flavours.

Herbs: Used as the decorative garnishing element on the top of your cookies. You may go for a selection of your favourite and mix it up! I found that harder herbs such as rosemary and thyme work incredibly well.

Learn more about rosemary and other essential culinary herbs here!

How to make Rosemary Shortbread Cookies

These savoury shortbreads can be made ahead of time and stored in an airtight container.

Here are the steps for putting them all together:

Preheat oven to bake 170*C and line 2 baking trays with parchment/ baking paper.

Combine all the ingredients except the herbs reserved for the garnish in a food processor. Blend until the mixture comes together into a soft dough. Then transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface.

Bring the dough together into a flat dish, cover with plastic wrap and then place in the fridge for 30 minutes, to allow it to chill.

Remove the dough from the fridge and roll out to 1cm thickness between 2 sheets of baking paper. This will make sure it doesn’t stick.

Spread the extra decorative herbs on the dough, then gently roll between the baking paper one more time to allow the herbs to get pushed into the dough slightly.

Rosemary shortbread cookie dough with herbs

Then using Christmas cookie cutters, cut out the dough into your desired shapes.

At this stage, if you find the dough getting a little too soft and it’s rather difficult to work with (particularly if you’re making these on a hot summer’s day), put it back in the fridge for 5- 10 minutes to chill and firm back up. This should make it easier and cleaner to cut through the dough and make neater shapes.

Place cookies on a lined baking tray and bake for 15-20 minutes (for medium cookies) or until lightly browned. Allow to cool for 5 minutes on the baking tray before transferring to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Presenting your Shortbread Cookies

Once you have made all your wonderful rosemary shortbread cookies it’s time to package them up into the perfect savoury Christmas food gift!

Here are some suggestions…

Make up a glass jar of cookies! Then add on a ribbon or two, you could even add on a Merry Christmas tag!

Add them into a box lined with baking paper and then neatly stack them up. There are a few options for how you finish it too. Either cover with the lid, a ribbon and tag attached or cover the open box with cellophane so it can be presented on display!

Make little Christmas gift bags by adding them into fun Christmas-themed paper/ gifting bags which you could decorate, write or draw on before you add in the delicious cookies.

Serve it on a plate as an appetiser/ snack for everyone to enjoy!

Rosemary Shortbread Cookies

Laura | The Culinary Letter

Christmas is the time for giving and these deliciously buttery melt-in-the-mouth rosemary shortbread cookies make the perfect Christmas food gift!

Cut out into all kinds of fun and festive shapes, these homemade shortbread cookies are embellished with herbs to make them extra special.

Package them up in little boxes or glass jars to gift them to friends, family and colleagues or even serve them up at a Christmas function and they shall be admired and enjoyed!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 20

Resting time 30

Total Time 1 5

Course Appetizer, Snack

Cuisine Christmas, Scottish

Servings 40 medium cookies approx

Equipment

Baking trays x 2
Food processor
Rolling Pin
Christmas cookie cutters
Glass jars, boxes or paper bags to package cookies as gifts (optional)

Ingredients

1 ½ cups (188g) plain flour
½ cup (45g) rice flour
200 g salted butter room temperature
2 tbsp (8g) finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
⅓ cup (60g) freshly grated parmesan
¼ cup (38g) caster sugar
extra herb leaves to decorate such as rosemary, thyme, sage (optional)

Instructions

Combine the plain flour, rice flour, butter, rosemary, parmesan and sugar in a food processor. Blend until the mixture comes together into a soft dough. Then transfer the dough to a lightly floured working surface.
Press the dough together into a flat dish, cover with plastic wrap and then place in the fridge for 30 minutes, to allow it to chill.
Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 170°C.
Remove the dough from the fridge and roll it out to 1 cm thickness between 2 sheets of baking paper. This will make sure it doesn't stick.
If using herbs to decorate: Lay the herbs on the dough, then gently roll between the baking paper one more time to allow the herbs to get pushed into the dough slightly.
Then using Christmas cookie cutters, cut out the dough into your desired shapes.
With the leftover dough reshape it into a disk, roll it out then repeat the herb decorating and cutting steps*
Place on a lined baking tray and bake for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned. Allow to cool for 5 minutes on the baking tray before transferring to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
Pile cookies into a glass jar, box or paper bag to package as gifts or alternatively keep them in an airtight container somewhere cool (such as a pantry).

Notes

*TIP: If at any point you find the dough getting too sticky and difficult to work, put it in the fridge to firm up slightly (5 minutes or so) to make it workable and allow the cookies to hold their shape.

Keyword Christmas, Cookies, Rosemary, Savoury, Shortbread

If you give this savoury shortbread recipe a go, don’t forget to tag @theculinaryletter and #theculinaryletter, so I can see all your wonderful creations!