Day 27: Lemon Rosemary Shortbread with Honey Cream

I love shortbread. Whole Foods sells a shortbread so delicious - plain or lemon lavender - that I could eat the entire package in one sitting. For that very reason I only buy them once in awhile. Then when planning 30 Days of Honey I came across this recipe from Stephanie Meyer (not the Twilight author, though that should be obvious), who was also the source of the bacon jam and with whom I'm kind of obsessed these days.

Anyway... I'm not sure where the honey cream idea originated. I'd like to say it was my own idea, but I'm sure I read it somewhere, I just can't remember where.

Yield: 2-3 dozen cookies

Ingredients

Shortbread:
2 cups unsalted butter, room temp
1 cup sugar
3 1/2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
zest of 1 lemon, grated
2 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
additional flour to knead

Honey Cream:
1 pint heavy cream
2 tsp honey

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

In the bowl of a mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in flavorings. On medium-low speed, mix in flour until just incorporated.

Flour a work surface. Transfer dough—it will be very soft—to work surface and knead for about 5 minutes, adding up to 1 cup of flour to create a soft dough that stays together.

Pat dough out into a 1/2-inch thick rectangle. Cut it into desired shapes. I used a heart-shaped cookie cutter. Because how many opportunities does a grown woman have to make heart-shaped things, outside of V-Day and a <3 Facebook status <3 (used sparingly)?

Space cookies at least 1 inch apart on a lined or greased baking sheet.

Bake at 325 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until lightly golden but not browned. (Mine took exactly 20 minutes at 300 in a convection oven).

Transfer cookies to racks to cool.

While cookies are baking, beat cream until slightly thick. Slowly add honey while continuing to beat until firm.

Serve cookies with a dollop of honey cream and a bit of fruit, if you like.

Looking at this photo, it probably goes without saying that the Whole Foods shortbread is a distant memory.