Herby Peppery Shorties
Gluten-free
While I spend most of my time dreaming up sweet treats, I do like something a little more savory (and my friends do too).
I became addicted to Allison Roman’s insta-famous cookies. I loved making them, but always found myself tweaking things. I loved the saltiness, but wanted a little bit more brightness. I made citrus ones, maple ones, honey pistachio ones. I found myself adding more brown sugar than granulated sugar and experimented with using butter alternatives.
Her basic recipe is so simple, no eggs involved, all in one bowl in the stand mixer so less to clean up. So easy. That’s where I started.
Get Herby With It
Something about rosemary feels like fall. Maybe that is just me. I wanted to make something with that lovely fragrant rosemary flavor, a hint of spice and a little sweet background. These cookies do all of that. I was worried that the rosemary would be too potent, but it is perfect. The black pepper gives the right amount of spice and coconut sugar provides enough sweetness without being too sweet.
I love onions. Love them. I don’t love the idea of putting straight up onions in a biscuit. Onions are potent, but chives give a more subtle onion flavor. Normally, I add way more chives than I have listed below, but I LOVE onion. Spice is something that is a great pairing with the floral flavor of rosemary and the savory chives. Spice just wakes everything up. So don’t be afraid of the pepper.
So why do I call these “shorties?” Well, they are not your traditional shortbread in terms of texture. Since these cookies have a decent amount of fat in them, they are pretty crumbly. They have a short texture, so shorties.
Recipe
9 tbsps salted butter or dairy-free butter, cut into cubes
1/4 cup coconut sugar
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tbsp + 1 tsp fresh, chopped chives
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp + 1 tsp fresh, chopped chives
1 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp ground coriander
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1 1/4 cups gluten-free measure-for-measure flour
Get a longish piece of plastic wrap ready; this dough needs to chill before baking.
Whisk together the flour, rosemary, coriander, cayenne and black pepper in a small bowl, set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, place the cubed butter, coconut sugar, chives Aand salt. With the paddle attachment, beat until lighter in color and a little fluffy. You don’t want to see any big chunks of butter. It takes about 4 minutes. Scrape down the sides of bowl.
Add half of the flour to the butter mixture and beat on low until most of the flour is absorbed. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the remaining flour mixture and beat again on low.
Once most of the flour is absorbed again, add the chopped pistachios and increase the speed of the mixer slightly until all the flour is absorbed. Since this is gluten-free, no need to worry about over-mixing. You want to keep mixing until all bottom of the bowl is clean-ish.
Using your hands, collect the dough, kneading it together on the sides of the bowl, picking up any additional bits of flour or pistachio that didn’t get mixed in. Transfer the dough to the ready plastic wrap.
As you did with play-doh when you were younger, form the dough into a long, thin log of dough. I like mine to be about the side of half-dollar coin. Once shaped, wrap the dough tightly in the plastic and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350F and line a cookie sheet with parchment. Unwrap your dough and, using a sharp knife, slice 1/4 inch thick slices of cookie dough. Place the rounds on your cookie sheet, leaving about an inch and a half between each cookie.
Top each cookie with sea salt and bake for 12 minutes. Let cool for 30 minutes. These are delicious with quince paste, cranberry jam or a dairy-free cheese.
Note: I highly recommend using a stand mixer for these. You can use a hand mixer, but it will take longer and get a little messier.