First of all, this recipe is soo easy, I am kicking myself why I have not making these more often. On top of that, if you have some dough in your freezer at all times, you are ready for any summer apero time. What counts the most is yummy-ness of course… well, this cracker has got plenty of that. So here are my herbs and Parmesan shortbread crackers, you will fall in love with!
Shortbread is a traditional Scottish biscuit made with sugar, butter and flour, baked for a short time in a low temperature oven till just golden.
My variant is savoury, I added grated Parmesan and topped them with fresh herbs and eatable flowers. Alternatively you can chop up some fresh herbs like rosemary or sage and add it to the dough. I used lavender flowers, pretty before baking but less impressive after I found out. I think marigold flowers might look better but they are not in bloom yet in my garden.
The key is to have really soft butter, so leave the butter out for a few hours. And no panic if you do not have a food processor, I don’t either. I used my handmixer for the initial blend and kneaded by hand to combine the dough, works just fine.
Freeze the dough in a cylinder shape this way you can easily cut slices and bake.
The crackers are best kept in a tin, up to 2 weeks. But I dare you to have any left after 3 days.
If you have an abundance of fresh herbs, check out my tips on how to preserve them here.
Herbs and Parmesan shortbread crackers
Yield 24 crackers
Ingredients
- 200 gr flour
- 100 gr Parmesan, grated
- 120 gr butter, room temperature, cut in cubes
- 1 large egg yolk
- leaves of fresh rosemary, sage and lavender flowers
- pinch of salt, pepper
Instructions
- Put the flour, cheese, egg yolk & butter into a bowl, season with pinch of salt and lots of cracked pepper and use either a food processor or handheld mixer to combine the dough. Tip the crumby dough onto a sheet of waxed paper on the counter top and kneed by hand till it comes together. Wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for minimum 45 minutes.
- Roll out a 1/4 of the dough in between 2 sheets of waxed paper, till about 0.5 cm thick, use a 4 cm cookie cutter to cut out circles. Gentle pat down the herb leaves and lavender flowers into the dough circles. Transfer to baking sheet. Repeat with the rest of the dough 1/4 at the time.
- Bake in pre-heated oven at 180 C for about 10 minutes. Let cool and serve with a lovely bubbly in the garden.
Notes
on www.leeksandhighheels.com by Sandra Slawinski
Written and photographed by Sandra Slawinski without commercial deals.