These are buttery, whole-wheat shortbread cookies – aromatic with rosewater, flecked with toasted nuts and dried rose petals. They’ve a crunchy dusting of sugar on high that gives a satisfying, candy tongue scratch, and are punctuated with black sesame. I am not going to lie – it took a couple of makes an attempt to nail them down, as lots of you recognize, coping with floral flavors could be a bit difficult. However now, as written, they’re great!
Rose Shortbread Cookies: Inspiration
These buttery gems happened once I was tasked with bringing dessert to a good friend’s home. She was cooking a formidable Ottolenghi-inspired feast, and I believed these could be a reasonably end, with the rose petals and all. Within the years since that dinner they’ve turn out to be a part of my common shortbread repertoire, and I make them usually for particular events and holidays. I imply, they’re so pretty and engaging!
Baking with Flowers
The trick with cooking or baking with florals is determining how a lot is an excessive amount of, and the way little is simply too little. For instance, with this shortbread recipe, the primary couple of makes an attempt I used dried rose petals solely, and quantity. However the taste bought pushed round a bit, bullied and overpowered by the browning butter.
Second try? I gave the rose notes a lift by layering the petals within the dough with a splash of rose water. The dough instantly turned extra aromatic, balanced, and helped nail what I meant (and hoped for) from the beginning. I recommend utilizing a little bit of warning when baking with rose water, as a result of every bottle appears to range in power, high quality, and scent. Strictly for reference, I am going to point out that I’ve been utilizing Nielsen-Massey Rose Water. In the event you’re not sure in regards to the high quality or power of your rose water, begin with half, and style the dough. You possibly can all the time alter with extra from there. Belief your senses :)!
These little shortbread cookies are excellent alongside different bite-sized treats on a post-dinner sweets board. I like to interrupt up bar of chocolate, embrace some salted caramels, perhaps a couple of dates, and so forth. Or you could possibly do a cookie-only sampler, with a variety of tiny cookies. They’re nice for events and showers and boxed up as a present as nicely. Get pleasure from!