SAVORY ROSEMARY SHORTBREADS

Savory Rosemary Shortbreads image

Yield Makes about 24 shortbreads

Number Of Ingredients 8

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Ingredients

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 stick (1/2 cup) plus 5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
2 large egg yolks
Special Equipment
a pastry or bench scraper; parchment paper; a 3-inch round cookie/biscuit cutter

Steps:

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.
Pulse flour, sugar, salt, and rosemary in a food processor until combined. Add butter and pulse just until mixture resembles coarse meal, then add yolks and process until dough starts to clump together. Turn out onto a work surface (mixture will appear dry and crumbly) and divide into 4 portions. With heel of your hand, smear each portion once or twice in a forward motion to help distribute fat. Gather together dough with scraper and form into a ball. Without dividing dough into portions, repeat smearing process by mentally dividing ball of dough into fourths and working with one fourth of it at a time. Gather and smear one more time in same manner, then gather dough into a ball and flatten slightly into a disk. Chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, 1 hour.
Gently roll out dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper into a 15-inch round (about 1/8 inch thick). Transfer dough (still in parchment) to a baking sheet and chill until slightly firm, about 15 minutes.
Transfer dough to work surface, then peel off top sheet of parchment. Cut out as many rounds as possible (15 to 18) with cutter and transfer from parchment to an ungreased large baking sheet using a small metal spatula. Gather scraps and reroll between parchment, then cut out additional rounds and transfer to another baking sheet. (Reroll only twice; if dough becomes too soft, chill until firm.)
Bake 1 sheet at a time until pale golden all over, about 25 minutes per batch, then transfer to a rack to cool.