Rosemary butter cookies

The second part of the edible Christmas gifts ...

{rosemary butter cookies}

These are simple but the texture is excellent and the rosemary makes it interesting. Bonus - no cookie cutters needed. Log cookies are my fave. You could easily make these ahead of time and freeze the logs (wrap well in saran wrap and then with aluminum foil). I find they cut more easily if they aren't completely frozen, so I would let them defrost in the fridge before cutting.

{rosemary butter cookies}

For the packaging, I just used stuff I already had lying around. I tucked 6 cookies into small wax paper bags and then tucked those inside my larger kraft paper bags. Kraft paper on its own isn't ideal for cookies because you'll end up with grease stains. I had stamped the kraft paper bags with a holiday stamp I designed for us this year. On the folded down flap, I used my favorite green pen to hand write and draw a simple illustration (can you tell that it's supposed to be rosemary? drawing is not my strong suit) and secured it with a bit of washi tape.

{rosemary, kitchen}

Rosemary butter cookies (supposed to make about 5 dozen, but I found it to be closer to 3 dozen, somehow - recipe from here, I didn't make changes, but I'm reposting because the MS website tends to delete recipes and move links, which is really frustrating if you find this post a year from now)

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg white, beaten (the egg white is for right before baking, so don't bother with it if you plan to freeze them for later)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 cup fine sanding sugar (ditto egg white note)
 

:: Beat butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, at least two minutes. Mix in whole egg and vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add flour, rosemary, and salt, and mix until combined. 

:: Halve dough; shape each half into a log. Place each log on a 12-by-16-inch sheet of parchment. Roll in parchment to 1 1/2 inches in diameter, pressing a ruler along edge of parchment at each turn to narrow log. Transfer to paper-towel tubes to hold shape, and freeze until firm, about 1 hour. 

:: Preheat oven to 375. Brush each log with egg white; roll in sanding sugar. Cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds. Space 1 inch apart on baking sheets lined with parchment. Bake until edges are golden, 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks. Store in airtight containers at room temperature up to 3 days.

The recipe doubles easily, so I made four logs at once and got about 7 dozen cookies out of the deal. D and I ate the leftovers the following week and we both agreed they were even better than the day they were baked.