Rosemary and Toasted-Caraway Shortbread

Ingredients

1 teaspoon caraway seeds

1 cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into ½” pieces

½ cup granulated sugar

¼ cup powdered sugar

½ teaspoon kosher salt

2½ cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary, plus whole leaves

1 large egg, beaten to blend

Coarse sanding sugar (for sprinkling)

Recipe Courtesy of Bon Apetit 

Over the winter break, I made these rosemary shortbread cookies for a second time (the first time was for Thanksgiving) and they came out as delicious as ever. Until I tried this recipe, I had never made cookies that combine rosemary and caraway seeds (for some reason, I always thought it was a meat spice?!?). And even though the spice combination is rather unexpected, the resulting taste is really refreshing! Double bonus points for how easy they are to make!  

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°. Toast caraway seeds in a small dry skillet over medium-high heat, tossing occasionally, until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Coarsely chop; set aside.

Using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter, granulated sugar, powdered sugar, and salt until very light and fluffy, 7–10 minutes (beating air into butter makes for tender shortbread). Reduce speed to low and add flour, caraway, and 2 tsp. chopped rosemary; mix just to combine. Dough will look shaggy and a little dry (it’s not!).

Press dough into two 8”-diameter cake pans. Brush with egg, sprinkle with sanding sugar, and top with rosemary leaves.

Bake until shortbread is golden brown and sides pull away from pan, 20–25 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack; let cool in pan before turning out and cutting into wedges or bars.

Do Ahead

Shortbread dough can be made 1 month ahead; wrap tightly and freeze. Shortbread can be baked 1 week ahead; store wrapped tightly at room temperature.