Lemon and Rosemary Butter Cookies...

Nine days until Valentines day, the day of love, romance and food, but mainly sweet food like cookies and chocolate kinda food! Don't get me wrong there's still room for an awesome steak or some Chilean sea bass but it's the dessert that we remember and after all I don't think theres any aphrodisiac qualities in a sea bass anyway. These crunchy little shortbread cookies could have been any shape but what other time can I pull out the heart shaped cookie cutter, seriously? 

The original recipe did not call for rosemary but why the heck not is the road I was taking. I like this oily fragrant herb with sweet things ever since I threw a bunch of it into some caramels I was making. I'm also thinking it might be awesome in some ice-cream, maybe with some bacon? If I had an ice-cream maker I'd let you know, or more specifically if I had an ice-cream maker paddle then I'd be in business.

Maybe I should have called these lemon brown butter cookies, because that's exactly what I did. I browned the butter to a nice deep golden color and then let it solidify. When I coaxed it out of the bowl to start the recipe it had an awesome caramelised nutty smell to it. It creamed up nicely and gave the dough a dark tinge to it.

I liked these cookies which weren't too sweet and had a good crunch to them. They'd be a great alternative if you needed a sugar cookie without the extra sweetness. You could also try using sage or lavender instead of rosemary. Give these cookies to the teacher, maybe the mail man or the cop who pulls you over for speeding. They say "Hey, I love you have an awesome day"

Here's the recipe from the book, Citrus by Ethel and Georgeanne Brennan.

2/3 cup of room temperature butter- If you want to brown the butter, swirl it in a small pan until it becomes a deep golden color. Pour into a container and stick it in the fridge until hard again. This is totally optional.
2 Tbsp of lemon zest
1/2 cup of sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp of vanilla
2 cups of AP flour
1 tsp of fresh chopped rosemary (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Cream the butter until fluffy. Add the zest and mix for one minute.
Add the sugar and mix until smooth. Add the egg and mix on high until a smooth batter forms.
Add the vanilla and mix. Slowly add the flour and rosemary if using, mix until the dough forms a ball and just releases from the sides of the mixer.
Dump the dough out onto the worktop and form a ball, cover in shrink wrap and chill for about 15 minutes.
Flour a dry flat surface and take the dough from the fridge. Roll it out gently flouring well until about 1/4 inch thick. Cut out the cookies with your favorite cutter and place on a baking sheet or Silpat mat.
Gather up the scraps and roll again until all of the dough has been turned into cookies.
Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden around the edges.
Let cool and drizzle chocolate on top (optional) or dust with some powdered sugar. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.