Rosemary Parm Cookies

Rosemary Parm Cookies

From Dorie’s Cookies, by Dorie Greenspan.  Reprinted with the author’s permission

Makes about 60 cookies

3 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh rosemary

2 cups (272 grams) all-purpose flour

½ cup (60 grams) toasted pecans

1/3 cup (30 grams) lightly packed grated Parmesan

½ teaspoon fine sea salt

2 sticks (8 ounces, 226 grams) cold unsalted butter, cut into small chunks

1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten

Working in a small bowl, rub the sugar and chopped rosemary together with your fingertips until the sugar is most and aromatic and maybe even tinged with green.

Put the flour, pecans, Parmesan, salt, and rosemary-sugar in a food processor and pulse to blend.  Drop in the pieces of cold butter and pulse until the mixture turns crumbly.  Add the beaten yolk a little at a time, pulsing as each big goes in, then continue to pulse until you have a moist dough the forms clumps and curds.  [Although the recipe doesn’t specify it, you can add up to a tablespoon of water if it seems too dry and doesn’t clump together when you squeeze some of it in your hand.]

Turn the dough out and divide it in half.  Pat each half into a disk.  Working with one disk at a time, place the dough between two pieces of parchment paper and roll to a thickness of ¼ inch.  Slide the dough, still between the paper, onto a baking sheet – you can stack the slabs – and freeze for at least 1 hour.

Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.  [You can also use one of the pieces of parchment from rolling the dough.]  Have a 1-1/2 inch-diameter cookie cutter at hand.

Working with one piece of dough at a time, peel away the top and bottom papers and return the dough to one piece of paper.  Cut out as many cookies as you can and put them on the lined sheet, leaving about an inch between them.  Gather the scraps, then combine them with the scraps you got from the second sheet of dough, re-roll, freeze, cut, and bake.

Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for about 15 minutes, rotating the baking sheet at the midway mark, or until they’re golden and set.  Let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for 3 minutes, then transfer them to a rack to cook completely.

Repeat with the remaining dough, always making certain you start with a cool baking sheet.

Storing:  The rolled-out dough can be wrapped well and frozen for up to 2 months, cut and bake directly from the freezer.  The baked cookies can be kept in a covered container for up to 1 week at room temperature.