Lemon Rosemary Cookies for a Great Cause

This past Saturday was the 2012 St. Louis Food Blogger Bake Sale to benefit Share Our Strength’s program to End Childhood Hunger in America. I was so excited to participate and contribute to such a worthwhile cause, and to share time with some fellow St. Louis bloggers. 

I confess, baking is not my forte, so when thinking about what to make for the bake sale I felt a little out of my element.  I decided to bake cookies since they tend to be a bit more forgiving. This Lemon Rosemary Cookie recipe has a savory take with the added rosemary and lemon. Also, the rosemary, lemon and whole wheat flour lend some nutritional merit to these cookies (although they are loaded with butter so I wouldn't call them health food).

This cookie can easily be made without using cookie cutters by simply forming one-inch balls of dough and slightly pressing down on them to flatten before baking.

A couple of variations that might be worth experimenting: replace the rosemary with either fresh thyme to make Lemon Thyme Cookies or with dried lavender to make Lemon Lavender Cookies…certainly something to think about trying for next year’s Bake Sale!

Packaged up, ready to sell!

Lemon Rosemary Cookies (recipe adapted from Winslow’s Home cookie recipe)

1 cup of unsalted butter, softened

¾ cup of granulated sugar

2 tsp. fresh rosemary finely chopped

2 tsp. fresh lemon zest (Tip: use a microplane to get finely grated zest removing only the yellow part of the lemon)

½ tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. salt

½ cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Beat butter with hand mixer for about 30 seconds.

3. Add sugar, rosemary, lemon zest, baking powder, and salt; beat until well combined.

4. Slowly mix in flour; shape into dough ball and refrigerate for about 10 minutes.

5. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to about 1/8 inch thickness; use preferred cookie cutter to cut out shapes, place on cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.

6. Bake for 8 minutes, let cool completely.

until next time...