Slightly salty, buttery, and flecked with rosemary & fennel these are grown up sugar cookies for the holidays. These cookies are the best of both worlds, both flavorful & visually inspiring. You won’t find bland, play dough cookies here.
Ingredients
- 2 sticks 1/2 lb, 232 g unsalted butter, room temp
- 3/4 cup 165 g granulated sugar
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 egg room temp
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp natural orange flavor optional
- 2.5 cups 315 g all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon fennel seeds ground to a powder
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer beat the sugar, salt, and butter until pale and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Scrape down the bowl half way through.
- Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, mix flour, fennel, and rosemary.
- Add in the egg, vanilla, and orange and beat on low to incorporate.
- With mixer off add in the flour mixture. Beat on low until just incorporated.
- Using a spatula make sure the dough is well combined, and then form it into two disks and wrap in plastic. Chill at least one hour and up to over night. Set out for about five minutes before rolling out.
- Heat oven to 350°F. Line a sheet tray with parchment and lightly grease the parchment.
- Roll out cookies on a floured work surface. If your dough is cracking, it’s too cold. Just smoosh it together and let it get to a workable consistency & temperature. Don’t give up on it!
- Cut cookies into desired shapes (whether that be a delicate snowflake or Darth Vader’s head) and place on the sheet tray about 1″ apart.
- Bake 8-10 minutes until very barely golden around the edges.
- Cool fully on a rack and store at room temperature in an air tight container.
Notes
I use Alton Brown’s ratio for royal icing. You can find it here
Balsam Fir Syrup
I can’t imagine anything that tastes more like Christmas than this pine & warm spiced syrup. The acid in it cuts the sweetness making it the perfect mixer for cocktails (especially gin), tea (hot or iced), and it makes a wonderful instant soda mixed with sparkling water. But don’t stop there! You can also pour it over baked goods, drizzle it on yogurt, make marshmallows with it, make a sweet +savory glaze for fowl or game… sky’s the limit!
Ingredients
- 8 cups of water
- 4 cups granulated sugar
- 4 cups light brown sugar
- 3 cinnamon sticks crushed
- 1 nutmeg crushed
- 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
- pinch of ground cloves or 6 whole cloves lightly crushed
- pinch of mace optional
- pinch or two of salt
- 2 tsp citric acid or 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
- 1.5 cups balsam fir or other edible conifer needles roughly chopped
Instructions
- In a large saucepan bring the sugar and water to a boil together, stirring frequently to dissolve the sugar.
- Remove from heat and stir in all the other ingredients. Let steep at least until the mixture is completely cooled. I prefer to steep mine over night. Stir occasionally. The next morning strain through a cheese cloth lined mesh strainer into bottles. Store in the fridge. Should keep a few months due to the acid.
Notes
Make sure you wash your trimmings very, very thoroughly unless you are certain you have a tree that wasn’t sprayed with chemicals.
My name is Beth, Elizabeth Evelyn to be exact. A native Tennessean, I was born in the South.
I am the author behind Local Milk Blog.