Easy Lemon Basil Shortbread Cookies
These Lemon Basil Shortbread Cookies will melt in your mouth, they’re rich, sweet, and flaky. Made with butter, confectioners’ sugar, flour, lemon zest, basil, and salt, they’re perfect for tea, parties, or snacking!
Lemon Basil Shortbread Cookies. Okay, first of all, I know what you’re thinking. No, no, trust me, I know. You’re thinking “basil in cookies, that doesn’t seem right”, but I can assure you, it’s so good you’ll want to eat the whole dang batch by yourself!
You’re probably also thinking that if you are going to eat basil cookies, you should probably do it in the summer, so why am I serving these babies up now that the leaves have started to change.
Well, because they were a bit of a spontaneous recipe and once the idea was in my head, I just couldn’t resist.
You guys seem to love my Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies and my Vanilla Chai Shortbread Cookies, that I thought it was about time we served up a new batch up buttery, flaky, sugary goodness. And each of those factors is only compounded by the zingy herb goodness laced throughout.
But let’s talk about herbs for a minute. Raise your hand if you buy packages of fresh herbs just to watch most of them rot.
Raise your hand if you’ve tried to grow your own herb garden just for your black thumb to kill any plant that tried to thrive. Raise your hand if you want a better way to incorporate fresh herbs into your food.
Good, I’m glad you’re all with me (and like me) and want an easier solution. That’s where Dorot comes in. Dorot can be found in the frozen food section at Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods. Each cube is perfectly measured so there’s no prep or mess to deal with.
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Lemon Basil Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies:
- 1 cup 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 2 Dorot Basil Cubes 2 teaspoons, softened
- 2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest about 1 lemon
Icing:
- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 3 tbsp lemon juice about 1 lemon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large bowl or stand mixer fitter with a paddle attachment, cream butter, confectioners’ sugar, and basil until smooth.
- Add in the remaining ingredients and beat until a smooth dough forms. Dough will seem quite crumbly at first but will come together to form a slightly stick dough.
- Transfer dough to a well-floured surface and roll with a well-floured rolling pin, making sure to re-flour as needed.
- Use a floured 2-inch round cookie cutter to cut out the cookies and place 1 to 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet.
- Bake for 18 to 20 minutes until edges are light golden and transfer to a cooling rack to cool.
- Whisk together confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice to form the icing and drizzle over the cooled cookies.
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If using fresh chopped basil instead of the cubes, how much oil/fat needs to be added to the recipe?
I would just swap for 2 teaspoons of minced fresh basil.
Oh my GOD! They are so buttery and
to-die-for!! Definitely a new addiction!
This is about three years late, but do you know how much basil to use if I’m using fresh leaves? I’m not American, so I can’t really reference the size of the Dorot cubes
Hi Alice, 1 Dorot Cube equals 1 packed teaspoon, I hope this helps! You’ll want to make sure the basil is finely minced so it spread throughout the dough.
Thank you <3
Your photos are SO gorgeous, I just want to pluck that plate of cookies right out of my screen!
Awe, thank you so much, Sharon! I promise they’re worth plucking (and hoarding)!