Rose Shortbread Cookies
These rose shortbread cookies are rich and buttery with a hint of rose from a combination of dried rose petals and a little rosewater.
Servings: 30 cookies*
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons dried rose petals
- 9 ounces unsalted butter very soft
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon rosewater
- 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup cornstarch
- 1/3 cup powdered sugar
- superfine sugar (optional)
Instructions
For the rose sugar:
- In a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder, grind rose petals with sugar until they become a fine powder.
For the shortbread:
- Preheat oven to 325° F.
- Cream butter until light, fluffy, and very soft - it should be the consistency of mayonnaise. Add salt and rosewater and stir to combine well.
- Add rose sugar and powdered sugar; cream with butter until thoroughly combined.
- Sift together flour and cornstarch; stir into butter mixture just until combined.
- Roll dough out between two sheets of parchment paper to about 1/4" inch thickness. Do NOT add flour – it will make the final texture of your cookies tough.
- Chill dough until firm, about 20 minutes.
- Cut out desired shapes. You can use a cookie cutter, biscuit cutter, or a fluted pastry wheel, like I did here. Re-roll any leftover dough scraps to cut more cookies as needed, but try to minimize re-rolling and shaping dough, as it will get tougher the more you work it.
- Chill cut cookies again until firm, about 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 325° F while chilling.
- Bake until cookies are just starting to brown at the edges; middle should still be light, about 12-15 minutes. Adjust cooking time if necessary, depending on cookie size (see notes).
- While still slightly warm, sprinkle superfine sugar over the top of the shortbread cookies.
Notes
*You can make the cookies any size you like. I made mine about 2x2 inches, which will yield 30-36 cookies.
Cookies will keep in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.