Royal Icing ...and... Rosemary Shortbread Cookies

These recipes need not be made in combination. I certainly didn't intend them to be perceived that way. I'm only posting them like this because (idiot that I was)...I completely forgot to snap a picture of the cookies before covering them with the icing!

The shortbread cookies are a pretty basic shortbread recipe...with finely chopped rosemary. I'd love to try other herbs that may make the crossover between sweet and savory, but this is where I started -- likely because my rosemary plant is the only one really flourising so far this spring.

The royal icing is also a recipe that's a combination of 3 different royal icing recipes I had - one I found in a baking & pastry textbook, one from this past year's Fall Conference for FCS educators, and one from Allrecipes.com. Trying to take the best of each and arrive at a balanced final product that tasted okay and was a good, workable consistency.

These cookies were my first attempts with royal icing -- usually I'm a buttercream girl! Piled on a plate (where I can hide my less than stellar first attempts on the bottom layer!) they look decent enough if you don't look too closely. At least they were a sweet, bright spot for Easter. (I realized I have no egg shaped cooking cutter!)

Royal Icing Ingredients
1 lb powdered sugar
2 T meringue powder
½ t cream of tartar
5 T water; additional water for 'flooding' consistency
1 T vanilla (or lemon juice)
gel food coloring (s)

Royal Icing Directions
Blend powdered sugar, meringue powder, and cream of tartar. (I throw in a dash of salt as well.) Mix vanilla with 4 T water; blend into powdered sugar mixture. For a good outlining consistency, the icing should run in thick ribbons from the mixing spoon into the bowl, disappearing into the surface in abouat 10 seconds. Add the remaining tablespoon of water if needed.

Divide the icing into smaller bowls before mixing with food coloring(s) for multiple colors. If you only have liquid food colors, just remember that they will thin your icing - especially if you go for brighter or darker colors and not pastels, so adjust the water content accordingly. Outline cookies or areas to be filled with each color using a piping bag with a small round tip (or...use a disposable plastic sandwich bag and snip a tiny corner off). Save some icings at piping/outlining consistency to add details over flooding (once set), if desired. Then...

Add additional water (a LITTLE at a time) to achieve flooding consistency. Fill outlined areas with thinned icing, spreading gently to fill out to edges as needed.

Rosemary Shortbread Cookie Ingredients
1 C butter, diced
½ C powdered sugar (granulated sugar works fine too)
1 T finely chopped rosemary
2 C flour
½ t salt
1 tsp vanilla

Shortbread Cookie Directions
Preheat oven to 300 F°.

Cream butter with sugar and rosemary; add salt and vanilla, blending until well incorporated. Add flower, mixing on low speed until dough just comes together.

Roll or press to  inch thick; slice into squares or cut with cookie cutters. Gently gather scraps, re-roll and cut...

Bake until bottoms are just beginning to brown (about 30 minutes).