Melt in your mouth tender shortbread with a surprisingly addicting twist: fresh rosemary. Perfect for your cookie exchange or cookie box during the holidays.

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This rosemary shortbread was so unforgettable to me that it even inspired the name of my home bakery: Salt & Rosemary. While my bakery is now closed, this recipe still holds a special place in my heart, and I love to create variations of it for different seasons.

This particular variation is the original version of the recipe, and shared with me by one of my friend’s mom. My first experience of it is shared in this post, but suffice to say it was love at first site. The rosemary makes it perfect for your holiday cookie parties or cookie boxes. If you’d like to elevate it further, drizzling some chocolate on it will make it even more special.

The fact that variations of this shortbread recipe takes up quite a bit of space in my relatively small recipe index should tell you just how good this recipe is. I am always delighted to share it because it only calls for a few ingredients, is easy to make, and stores really well (fresh up to 5 days in an airtight container). It can also be frozen up to one month in advance!

The shortbread is soft, & melts in your mouth, not crunchy (or dry) like most shortbread. It’s extremely snackable & divine with coffee. I recommend having a plan for where it will go when you make it, or you might accidentally keep them all for yourself in a single afternoon.

Bonus that peoples’ reaction is always,“What is this? It’s amazing.” Enjoy!

Ingredients

1 cup Unsalted butter, browned
1/2 cup sugar + 8 teaspoons, for dusting
1 1/4 teaspoon Sea salt
2 1/2 cups (300gr) All-purpose flour
4 tsp minced rosemary

Equipment you’ll need

Stand mixer or hand mixer: For mixing the dough. I find the hand mixer works particularly well with this recipe.

Large metal mixing bowl: For mixing the dough

Measuring cups & spoons: For measuring the ingredients

Kitchen scale: For measuring the flour, if you own one

Parchment Paper: For lining the baking pan

9x13 baking pan (metal preferred): For baking the shortbread

When I use this recipe

I don’t usually make this recipe for an every day craving, since I tend to eat most of it myself (as I mentioned, extremely snackable). This recipe in particular is originally from my friend’s mom, and she loves to use it for all types of celebratory occasions. I also love to make shortbread for wedding showers, baby showers, and holiday treat boxes. They are the perfect dessert for the person who doesn’t really like sweets since they are small and have a melt in your mouth butter flavor.

Step by step instructions with pictures

Method:

Preheat the oven to 300°F, and line an 9”x13" baking pan with parchment paper. You technically don't need the parchment, but it is much easier to remove when it has parchment, so you can get prettier pieces.

Add sugar to the room temperature butter in the mixing bowl, and whip together for two minutes with a hand mixer, scraping the sides with a rubber spatula as needed. If you decide to “cheat” and soften the butter in the microwave, be very careful. Any wetness in the dough will cause it to be cruncy, and you’ll lose the signature melt in your mouth texture of this shortbread. You are better off cutting the fridge cold butter into 1/2” chunks and giving it a a bit longer to break down in the mixer than melting it in the microwave.

Scrape the sides of the bowl, then add the salt and rosemary, and mix for 30 more seconds until thoroughly combined.

Scrape the side of the bowl with a large rubber spatula. Add the flour (fluff flour with a whisk, and scoop into measuring cup to measure if you aren't measuring by weight. Use the flat side of a butter knife to level; do not shake to level.), and mix on low until butter just starts to coat all of the flour and form very small clumps, like wet sand (see picture below for an example). It should hold together when you squeeze it but be quite loose on it’s own Use a rubber spatula to stir and make sure no dry pockets of flour or chunks of butter are at the bottom.

Press into the prepared baking pan and dust evenly with 8 teaspoons of sugar (like the below picture). I like to use organic granulated sugar because the crystals are larger, but nonorganic sugar works here as well.

Bake for 22-25 minutes, rotating halfway through, until the corners barely start to brown and the middle starts to look puffy. You can kind of see the puffy spots in the below picture.

Let cool for 15 minutes or until the pan is cool to the touch before removing from pan and cutting. I like to cut into 32 squares or rectangles, but sometimes I cut them into triangles. They are slightly more fragile when they are cut into triangles, so be mindful when you store them. Store in an airtight container for up to five days or in the freezer for up to one month.

Can this recipe be halved?

Yes! I halve it all of the time, and make it in a 8”x8” pan. I wouldn’t try to triple or quadruple and bake in a larger pan, because it can be difficult to bake properly and may dry out before fully cooking.

My shortbread turned out crunchy, what went wrong?

You probably over mixed the dough. You want the dough to look like wet sand and barely come together (see the picture). The alternative is that they were over baked. If they start to brown then they have gone too far. Make sure you watch closely at the end of baking and bake on the center rack of the oven.

My shortbread was really dry, what went wrong?

Your probably added too much flour, be extremely careful to fluff the flour before measuring, and use a baking scale to measure if possible.