Parmesan Rosemary Savoury Shortbread

I was looking for something to bring to a friend’s house to complement a glass of wine, and came across this tasty recipe.  Unfortunately I didn’t know that this new friend was celiac, so she couldn’t eat any.  So even though I seemed a little insensitive, the others who got to eat the leftovers were more than pleased to eat them up.

This is an Ina Garten/Barefoot Contessa recipe, with only a few little changes.  I used rosemary instead of thyme, so feel free to substitute thyme if you wish. I also added some fleur de sel on top of the crackers, but if you need to have lower sodium content you can leave it out.

You need to refrigerate the dough for a little while, so it works great to make it a day or two in advance, then pull it out and bake it so you have some freshly baked crackers.

What you need:

1/2 cup unsalted butter (or add less salt)

1 cup freshly grated parmesan

1 – 1 & 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped rosemary

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 & 1/4 cups flour

What you do:

1. Cream the butter.  Mix in the parmesan, rosemary, salt and pepper on low speed.

2. Add the flour on low speed, mixing for one minute. You might need to add a teaspoon of water to hold it together a bit, but it will still be a bit of a crumbly mixture.

3. Turn the mixture out onto your counter top and knead it together, then form it into a 9 inch log.  Wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes, or up to 4 days.

4. Preheat the oven to 350F, then cut the log into slices about 1 cm thick with a small sharp knife.

5. Place the slices on a parchment-lined baking sheet and top each slice with a little fleur de sel.  Bake for 20-22 minutes, or until they are just slightly browned.

6. Remove the shortbread from the pan and let them cool on a cooling rack.  Keep any spares in an airtight container.